Welcome to a very special anniversary edition of The Chinafornia Newsletter, your digest of news conn
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| November 21 · Issue #43 · View online |
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Welcome to a very special anniversary edition of The Chinafornia Newsletter, your digest of news connecting the Golden State and the Middle Kingdom. This week marks the 1st anniversary of The Chinafornia Newsletter, and we’re celebrating by collecting some of the best articles and videos of the past year. There’s been tons of fascinating Chinafornia activity and lots of great writing on it. I picked some pieces in this edition for newsworthiness, but also tried to grab stories that were particularly well-written, insightful, off-the-beaten-track or just fun. **Couple logistical notes: Email inboxes often cut off newsletters like this. To read the whole thing, scroll to the bottom of the email and click “View Entire Message.” And for Gmail users: if this email ends up in your ‘Promotions’ tab, just drag it into your inbox and click ‘Yes’ to 'Do this for future messages?’** There are plenty of gems in here, but I’ll highlight three fun reads from non-mainstream publications that you might otherwise miss: I’ve also included a few of my own pieces that I felt captured something unique – please excuse the 臭美 (aka “stinky beauty” aka smugness) in putting those in a “best of” edition. Enjoy! The Chinafornia Newsletter is created by me, Matt Sheehan. I’m a fellow at The Paulson Institute and write for the think tank’s site MacroPolo. I spent over five years in mainland China, including two as the first-ever China correspondent for The Huffington Post and The WorldPost. I’m now back in my native California where I’m consulting on market entry and communications for China-related projects, and writing a book on Chinafornia.
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Welcome to Chinafornia: The Future of U.S.-China Relations | RealClearWorld
Chinafornia is where the rubber meets the road in an era of deep, multifaceted engagement between the world’s two superpowers. This engagement is bringing the U.S.-China story down from the realm of geopolitics and directly into the lives of ordinary Americans. Matt: My piece laying out the Chinafornia thesis. I believe the China-California relationship really is the most fascinating and down-to-earth segment of US-China relations. In it we see potential for major local benefits but also really thorny social and ethical tradeoffs for companies, universities, cities and individual people. I feel very lucky to have a chance to investigate and document the evolution of Chinafornia in real time.
My goal is to tell Chinafornia stories in both languages to people in both countries, so this year I also debuted a new mandarin-language web series: 加州精神! aka The California Spirit! The first episode features me getting goofy and exploring my hometown/alma mater: Stanford. Youtube link here, and the QQ Video version here for folks in China.
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Beijing Wants A.I. to Be Made in China by 2030 - The New York Times
A new plan from the top of the Chinese government calls for the country to become a powerhouse in artificial intelligence in just over a decade. Matt: Strong summary of the momentous efforts by the Chinese government to take the lead in A.I. As with all blockbuster announcements by the Chinese central government, there will be major instances of waste and gaps in implementation at the local level. But a focus on specific inefficiencies or gaps misses the forest for the trees: when the potential upside is so huge, highly inefficient efforts can still be hugely successful.
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A Whirlwind Tour Through Tech Trends in China – Andreessen Horowitz
Matt: Lecture by Connie Chan on the totally unique mobile internet environment in China. For years analysts comparing China and Silicon Valley have treated the China-US tech ecosystems like two horses in a race, always asking “who’s ahead” in a given sector. But in the last five years the Chinese internet ecosystem has branched off and taken a different path, one that makes this question of “who leads” misleading. These are now two largely independent ecosystems, ones with rich exchange but very different products and relationships to the “real” economy.
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Silicon Valley’s China Paradox - MacroPolo
This takes us to the heart of the fundamental paradox uniting Silicon Valley and China: while trans-Pacific flows of people, money and ideas have never been greater, technology companies and the Internet itself remain starkly divided by national boundaries.
Matt: My first piece for MacroPolo presented the core of what I’ve observed while moving back and forth between China and the Silicon Valley over the past three years. Since publication, there have been some shifts in the pace of financial flows: a slowdown in Chinese VC funding in the Valley (which I wrote about here), and recent moves by Congress to crack down on Chinese tech acquisitions (which I wrote about just last week). Still, the underlying phenomenon remains the same: cross-border exchanges have flourished at all levels except that of market access for companies.
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Lawsuit Accuses Cisco of Complicity in Oppression Abroad | San Jose Inside
Lee is one of the lead plaintiffs in a class-action claim accusing Cisco of designing software, hardware and training to help China’s ruling party persecute Falun Gong adherents, who believe in self-improvement through exercise and mindfulness. The lawsuit hopes to address an evolving legal question: Can American corporations be held liable if foreign authorities use their product for repression? Matt: A sobering reminder that beneath the rush to gain market access, there can be real human lives at stake when companies either store data in China or provide certain services to the government.
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A California mayor hopes China will save his town from meth labs and neo-Nazis – Vice News
To confront Lancaster’s central problem — a hollowed-out industrial economy and public institutions starved of funding — Parris has turned to an unlikely ally. Matt: My profile of one of the most eccentric (and successful) mayors courting Chinese investment. Rex Parris has tried everything from turning his town’s hospital into a birth tourism hub to building a giant Buddhist statue, all in the name of China-fueled economic development. BYD Motors, which set up shop in Lancaster and survived labor raids by the state, has recently tripled the size of its electric bus facilities in town and expanded hiring.
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Chinese Investment in the United States: Time for New Rules? - Lawfare
It’s time for U.S. policymakers to rethink the country’s open stance toward inbound Chinese investment. Matt: Thoughtful and thorough analysis of the lack of reciprocity in the relationship. Many of these arguments recently bore fruit in new legislation tightening restrictions on Chinese technology investments.
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Know the Numbers - MacroPolo
This heat map product provides a detailed, close up view of what Chinese investments actually mean to workers and communities across the United States.
Based on an underlying data set, the product gives a current snapshot of every single entity in the United States that is majority owned by Chinese companies or investors. Matt: A brand new product from MacroPolo offering the most granular tracking and mapping of Chinese investment, including employment numbers and economic contribution.
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China's Fear of Japan-Style Economic Bust Drives Crackdown on Deals, Says Source - Bloomberg
President Xi Jinping’s top economic adviser commissioned a study earlier this year to see how China could avoid the fate of Japan’s epic bust in the 1990s and decades of stagnation that followed. Matt: One of the more coherent explanations for the freezing up of Chinese investment this year. In the political realm, the CCP is obsessed with the fall of the Soviet Union. In the economic real, it’s the early 90s collapse of Japan’s growth miracle.
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Behind the scenes in the ‘Hollywood’ of China | South China Morning Post
A never-ending stream of aspiring actors heads to Hengdian, a town in Zhejiang province devoted to the movie business. Very few find the fame they crave.
Matt: A very fun look at the rural-town-turned-movie-empire of Hengdian. This piece inspired me to make a trip to Hengdian for research in September and I wasn’t disappointed. The town is a perfect microcosm of China’s efforts in culture and technology: spend massive amounts of money to build up the “hardware” (in this case, a perfect replica of the entire Forbidden City for a movie set) and figure the “software” (storytelling) will work itself out.
It runs counter to the ethos of Silicon Valley and Hollywood, but the last few years have shown that it has some traction.
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Hollywood and China, a Relationship Doomed to Fail | Hollywood Reporter
The industry is pushing forward with a policy of engagement, but as shown by the recently scrapped megadeals and the Trump administration’s hostility, Chinese money is hardly the savior some envision. Matt: The best, most clear-eyed takedown of the China-Hollywood relationships that I’ve read. The author clearly isn’t a raving China basher, but lays out fundamental disconnects that undermine the cheery talk from execs and officials.
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China’s Tough-Talking Theme Park Mogul Surrenders to Minnie Mouse - WSJ
Dalian Wanda Group’s retreat from the business reveals the challenges China faces in becoming a show-business superpower. So far, it hasn’t matched the global success of Hollywood’s film and TV studios, which continue to fuel U.S. theme-park empires.
Matt: 2017 has seen a pretty dramatic fall for Wang Jianlin in film, overseas property, and theme parks. See this piece for Wang’s attempt to get a “money-back guarantee” of an Oscar nomination. I love culture-smashes between these two countries, but Wanda’s ventures in film were all-cash-no-culture. No tears shed over their collapse here.
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Wolf Warrior 2 and the Future of Imported Films in China | China Law Blog
This movie couldn’t have come at a better time for China. Hollywood is in the midst of negotiating the terms of market access to China. US studios’ best argument for expanding access to the Chinese film market has been an economic one: Chinese audiences want to see American movies (and don’t particularly want to see Chinese movies). The success of Wolf Warrior 2 upends all of those arguments. Matt: Wolf Warrior 2 has been the story of the year in Chinese film, and this is one of the most concise explanations of why that matters. Hollywood can smirk all it likes at the plot holes, production values or neo-colonial content, but the reality is that Chinese filmmakers are showing the ability to craft real blockbuster films for domestic audiences. That dramatically shifts the balance of power on market access.
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Pander or Diversify? Hollywood Courts China With ‘The Great Wall’ - The New York Times
The Chinese box office attracts major studios, but the attempts to court it have been a mixed bag.
Matt: Amy Qin of the New York Times picks apart Asian-American anger over white-washing and Chinese anger over inclusion of token Chinese actors. See this open letter to the creators of the Mulan remake that also added new twist: anger over casting a Chinese person as Mulan (instead of a Chinese-American).
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'Here, I am above average': Chinese 'parachute kids' are coming to the U.S. at younger ages - LA Times
China’s wealth boom has produced an ever growing and ever younger contingent of students who come to America to escape the fiercely competitive Chinese education system. Matt: Great piece by Frank Shyong on “parachute kids” sent solo to the US for school, including an interview with one of the Chinese girls involved in a brutal kidnapping/torture of a fellow student.
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China is retaliating against the University of California, San Diego for inviting the Dalai Lama to speak at commencement — Quartz
Beijing has a lesson for overseas universities: Don’t invite speakers who oppose the Communist Party to big events. A branch of the Chinese government has barred Chinese scholars from receiving state funding to study at the University of California, San Diego.
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John Pomfret: Chinese cash at American colleges is a massive problem - SupChina
The “success story” of U.S.-China engagement through higher education is in crisis. Big time. Matt: John Pomfret leveled a strong critique, and received a strong response in this piece by Lawrence Kuok. The two articles present both sides of debate on the impact of Chinese students on American universities and vice versa. I see lots of truth in both sides, but on balance lean toward the argument for engagement.
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Asia In-Depth Podcast: American Universities in China — Free Speech Bastions or Threat to Academic Freedom? | Asia Society
Asia In-Depth explores the controversies surrounding American universities like NYU that have established campuses in China. Matt: Fantastic podcast by Eric Fish, probably the most in-depth and comprehensive looks at ethical/practical dilemmas of American universities setting up shop in China.
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With Trump Going AWOL On Climate, California Governor Seeks China As An Ally | HuffPost
Heading to China Friday, Brown told The WorldPost he aims to ramp up cooperation with Beijing on mitigating climate change. Matt: My interview with Governor Jerry Brown right before his climate mission to China.
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Jerry Brown in China with a climate message to the world: Don't follow America's lead - LA Times
Gov. Jerry Brown’s trip to China culminated Wednesday with a plea for the world to veer in a different direction than the U.S. regarding climate change. Matt: Rundown of Brown’s trip and some of the many agreements signed. The trip was a success on many levels, but also worth reading this piece on the blog Chinese Politics From the Provinces that throws cold water on some of the hype, illustrating how local Chinese media greatly downplayed the “climate” elements in favor of broader CA-China friendship.
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How Chinese Real Estate Money is Transforming the San Francisco Bay Area - MacroPolo
Looking across the bay you see cityscapes being transformed by Chinese money. Depending on where you look, very different sources of Chinese money—from developers, to home-buyers, to investors seeking US residency—are transforming these cities in very different ways. Matt: My dissection of the ways Chinese money is building towers and sparking tensions around the Bay Area.
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Downtown Los Angeles hasn't seen this much construction since the 1920s - LA Times
Downtown Los Angeles is undergoing its largest construction boom in modern times — an explosion juiced by foreign investment that’s adding thousands of residences, construction jobs and a multitude of shops and restaurants. Matt: A similar dissection of the mad building boom going on in LA right now. I recently visited the site of Greenland’s investment and found a chic new hotel crowded with visitors, and many towers still to come. Meanwhile, Wanda’s Beverly Hills investment never got off the ground and is being sold off. |
Arcasia | The World of Chinese
An influx of immigrant wealth has turned a Los Angeles suburb into the “Chinese Beverly Hills.” Matt: Fun look at one of the towns that has undergone the greatest transformation from Chinese money and immigrants.
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AP Investigation of Chinese EB-5 Markets
More than 100,000 Chinese have poured at least $24 billion in the last decade into “golden visa” programs across the world that offer residence in exchange for investment, an Associated Press analysis has found.
Matt: One of the best rundowns of the EB-5 program, with good charts and data. It was a rough year for EB-5 boosters: huge backlogs for Chinese applicants, threats of legislation and the shameless attempt by the Kushner family to leverage Trump connections for Chinese investment. Hopefully that will lead to much-needed reforms that better target investments to job creation in poor neighborhoods, but Congress seems far more likely to continue kicking the can.
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Selling China by the Sleeve Dance | Hazlitt
Beneath the ubiquitous posters for the Shen Yun ballet is a battle between dissidents and the state over the soul of a nation, both at home and across the diaspora. Matt: Utterly fascinating deep dive into the world of diaspora politics through the lens of Shen Yun, a bizarre Faln Gong propaganda performance that tours the US every year. One of my favorite pieces of writing in recent months.
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A Note To Asian-American Activists About New Arrivals | HuffPost
To us, they are very Asian. To them, we are very American. But it need not be “us” versus “them.“
Matt: One of the more interesting and public beefs in Chinese-American politics erupted following this piece by Frank H. Wu, which argued that Asian American activists need to incorporate a new generation of Chinese immigrants who haven’t seen the light on issues of social justice. It was translated into Mandarin and widely circulated amongst recent Chinese immigrants, many of whom found it condescending. This searing response piece by Rupert Li laid bare major generational and political splits within the community.
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Chinatown's swap meets once opened a door to the American dream. Now, their future is uncertain - LA Times
As tourism to the neighborhood declined and online retailers and Chinese commercial centers in the San Gabriel Valley siphoned customers away, the swap meets froze in time. Matt: Great window into the changing economic/social currents of LA Chinatown by Frank Shyong.
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Tyrus Wong, ‘Bambi’ Artist Thwarted by Racial Bias, Dies at 106 - The New York Times
A Hollywood studio artist, painter, printmaker, calligrapher and maker of fantastical kites, Mr. Wong was one of the most celebrated Chinese-American artists of the 20th century. Matt: Obituary for a wonderful and pioneering artist.
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The Struggles of Writing About Chinese Food as a Chinese Person - MUNCHIES
Growing up, I was the weird kid who adored boiled pig intestines and fermented tofu. So imagine my surprise when the 2000s hit and the food of my people was suddenly cool. Matt: Lots of conversation around Chinese food and identity this year, and this was one of the most popular pieces.
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Chinese Tour Groups Suck – Medium
I know this because I’m a Chinese tourist who has traveled in many Chinese tour groups. I also think you know this.They’re in your way just as you’re walking home on Market St. from your startup. You have Bose wireless on, tuning out the city that you *love* but never want to hear at 6PM on a Wednesday. Matt: Maybe my favorite piece of Chinafornia writing this year. Full of nuance, empathy, history and hilarity. Can’t recommend it highly enough.
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Chinese students brilliantly recreate 'La La Land' scene
Students at a Chinese high school have perfectly recreated one of the most iconic moments from La La Land. Matt: I wasn’t even feeling La La Land, but this is just so damn cool. People in these two countries finding inspiration and remixing each others’ culture brings me so much joy. Mad props to these students. Chinafornia文化万岁！H/T Alec Ash.
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