Letter from Beijing, with Han Feizi — #72

Manifold

Han Feizi is the pseudonym of a columnist at Asia Times, who covers the Chinese economy, technology, and US-China competition. The author lives in Beijing, and has an extensive background in finance and investment banking.

Han Feizi's articles for Asia Times: https://asiatimes.com/author/han-feizi/

Chapters:

• (00:00) - Introduction to the guest: Han Feizi
• (01:39) - What it's like in Beijing right now
• (06:38) - Modern Conveniences in Beijing
• (12:11) - What the economy feels like for ordinary people
• (19:09) - China's economic structure: consumption, infrastructure investment, Michael Pettis
• (30:32) - Currency Valuation and PPP: real PRC is significantly larger than the US
• (31:45) - US high living standards and manufacturing competitiveness
• (34:13) - Globalization and its discontents
• (40:15) - Reversing globalization and the myth of American exceptionalism
• (45:58) - China's increasingly high quality standards and quality of life
• (58:09) - Whither China? Xi Jinping

Music used with permission from Blade Runner Blues Livestream improvisation by State Azure.

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Steve Hsu is Professor of Theoretical Physics and of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Michigan State University. Previously, he was Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation at MSU and Director of the Institute of Theoretical Science at the University of Oregon. Hsu is a startup founder (SuperFocus, SafeWeb, Genomic Prediction, Othram) and advisor to venture capital and other investment firms. He was educated at Caltech and Berkeley, was a Harvard Junior Fellow, and has held faculty positions at Yale, the University of Oregon, and MSU. Please send any questions or suggestions to [e-mail] or Steve on X @hsu_steve.