Tag: technology

The Great China R&D Squeeze of 2021 & the US Obsession with China’s Collapse

Posted on by Jason Li

Lots of gems in this year’s edition of Dan Wang’s annual letter. It is really worth the long read, but today we’re going to hone in on two sections of his analysis on where China is today. First, on the 2021 squeeze on tech companies:

Beijing’s attitude marks a difference with capitalism as it’s practiced in the US. Over…

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How the V&A Museum is collecting & preserving WeChat for the 100-year future

Posted on by Jason Li

The following is an excerpt from the Brendan Cormier (V&A)’s article on How We Collected WeChat:

During our filming at the WeChat campus, the design team pulled us aside and handed us a phone. They had come up with a possible solution for the acquisition. On the phone was the WeChat app. We poked around on it, and asked…

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Starting Up in Shenzhen

On “discovering” Shenzhen and the 459 car brands in China

Posted on by Tricia Wang

Editor’s note: Below are select excerpts from a panel discussion between Tricia Wang, David Li and Philipp Grefer held at NEXT Conference 2017:

Philipp Grefer: 88Rising is a YouTube channel looking for good Asian culture – better than K-Pop. They have found several people who have had some success. We have a Chinese rapper starting to be noticed…

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Starting Up in Shenzhen

Photo Essay: Fidget Spinners, AR Guns and Panda Cams in Shenzhen

Posted on by An Xiao Mina

Editor’s note: Below is a select excerpt of An Xiao Mina’s Instagram posts from her recent trip to China.

Shenzhen, world epicenter of fidget spinners

At the world epicenter of fidget spinners. I see them in my head, spinning spinning spinning in Berlin, New York, Manila, suddenly viral, suddenly memetic.

…

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Ethnography of Tech

VR malls, mobile payments and tuhao-themed parties (#cxinchina 2016 edition)

Posted on by Christina Xu

Editor’s note: Below is a selection of our favorite Instagram posts that  Christina published during her 2016 trip to Beijing, Chengdu & Shanghai to research technology, youth culture and trends.

 

Technology

There are VR kiosks in almost every mid-high end mall I’ve been into in Beijing and Shanghai, as well…

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The History of Chinese Typewriters Needs Your $upport

Posted on by Jason Li
Photo of Chinese Typist
Chinese Typist In 1928
1950s Propaganda Poster Featuring Chinese Typist
1950s Propaganda Poster Featuring Chinese Typist

Tom Mullaney (professor of Chinese history + technology at Stanford) is running a Kickstarter campaign around exhibiting and preserving the fascinating history of the Chinese typewriter. One highlight of his exhibition will be centered around how Chinese engineers cracked the puzzle on creating a typewriter…

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A status update on China’s high-end industrial development

Posted on by Jason Li

China recently announced it will begin producing and selling its first large passenger jet (since 1980 according to Wikipedia). In response, James Fallows penned two great posts, with accompanying charts, about what this means for China’s industrial development. Here’s his summary from the second post:

The chart was a shorthand for the theme I had…

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Starting Up in Shenzhen

Hardware Makers Thrive in the Grey Area of Chinese IP Rights

Posted on by Jason Li

From bunnie’s blog:

About a year and a half ago, I wrote about a $12 “Gongkai” cell phone… that I stumbled across in the markets of Shenzhen, China. My most striking impression was that Chinese entrepreneurs had relatively unfettered access to cutting-edge technology, enabling start-ups to innovate while bootstrapping. Meanwhile, Western entrepreneurs often find themselves trapped in a spiderweb…

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The future of Chinese language learning

Posted on by Jason Li

Victor Mair has some compelling thoughts on the Language Log on the future of Chinese language learning, and how we might soon be rid of brute force “rote memorization (sǐbèi/jì 死背/記 [lit., “deadly memorization”]).”

When I began learning Mandarin nearly half a century ago, I knew exactly how I wanted to acquire proficiency in the language.  Nobody had to tell…

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