It felt to me that Adam's position as the 'relative outsider' on China liberates him from a certain baggage that those of us firmly in the China circle can't avoid. Adam's formidable intellect and objectivity as a tangential expert almost forces him to describe China's significance as it is without qualifiers. It's like a parent of a child prodigy being shy of fully recognizing and admitting the child's true capability.
This is why I thought the episode was such a significant one and I'm glad it seems like that sentiment is shared with you. Excited to see where Sinica will go from here!
Earlier this year you were discussing Joseph Levenson's Confucian China and its Modern Fate, the part that always strikes, about how Confucianism wasn't a thing in China, it was everything, so no one even thought to defend or define it. And how you tell when it was that Confucianism was on its way out -- when people like Zhu Xi began to define and defend it.
We here in the west are at a similar inflection point now. I think this is one reason for the taboo on speaking openly about what China's transformation means. Careers might be at risk, or unpleasant disagreements among friends and family might arise.
For myself, I remember the moment I realized what was likely to happen with China. It was 1983 and I was at the National Palace Museum in Taibei. On display, I saw a whole river boat scene carved in exquisite detail from a single apricot pit. On the mainland that year on a hard sleeper ride from Nanjing to Chengdu, the whole train was alive with the spirit of enterprise -- people talking and comparing ways they could make money.
I almost felt like Mao must've felt when he realized that, "In a very short time, in China's central, southern and northern provinces, several hundred million peasants will rise like a mighty storm, like a hurricane, a force so swift and violent that no power, however great, will be able to hold it back. They will smash all the trammels that bind them and rush forward along the road to liberation."
I just read this essay, after having coincidentally listened to the Adam Tooze podcast back-to-back with a Bulwark podcast with David Wallace-Wells. They are perfect companions on the topic of how we should see China and the world through the lens of the green tech revolution that is upon us. Here's a link for anyone interested:
Kaiser, as a longtime follower of China (dating back to my time as a student there in the mid-80's) I cannot agree more with or thank you enough for your insights into how we need to view China by recognizing the magnitude of its transformation and what an impact that has had on the world. I, too, am guilty of failing to adequately adjust my views on China, many of which were formed when it was a much different place.
In trying to articulate my reaction to all of this I stumbled across a 2023 Phrase of the Week post from your China Project site referencing the idiom "一叶蔽目，不见太山." "Be blinded by a single leaf and not see Mount Tai." On the surface, this idiom approximates the English phrase "To miss the forest for the trees" but I think the historical backstory to the idiom captures the fuller extent of what we are talking about. Here is the post's brief but apt summary of the idiom's origin:
It first appears in “The Falcon Crown: Heaven’s Will” (鹖冠子·天则 hé guān zǐ tiān zé). It’s a parable that dates back to the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history (AD 220–280). The parable tells the story of a poor scholar who read that a mantis could hide behind a leaf to prey on cicadas. He went to find the magic leaf so he could become invisible. One day, he thought he found that leaf, so he used it to cover his eyes and started to steal others’ belongings, thinking no one could see him. Of course, everyone could see him and he was immediately caught.
So not only do we distort our perceptions and observations of China, but we do so perhaps willfully, perhaps preposterously, and all to our peril. To me, there's an "Emperor has no clothes" aspect to all of this that cannot be ignored. Of course, I do not wish to put these darker, complex motivations on you, Kaiser, or anyone else, but I have to face them when analyzing the errors in my own views.
Anyways, thank you again. And I vote yes to a summer gathering in Shaxi to exchange views on all of this. Count me in.
It felt to me that Adam's position as the 'relative outsider' on China liberates him from a certain baggage that those of us firmly in the China circle can't avoid. Adam's formidable intellect and objectivity as a tangential expert almost forces him to describe China's significance as it is without qualifiers. It's like a parent of a child prodigy being shy of fully recognizing and admitting the child's true capability.
This is why I thought the episode was such a significant one and I'm glad it seems like that sentiment is shared with you. Excited to see where Sinica will go from here!
Earlier this year you were discussing Joseph Levenson's Confucian China and its Modern Fate, the part that always strikes, about how Confucianism wasn't a thing in China, it was everything, so no one even thought to defend or define it. And how you tell when it was that Confucianism was on its way out -- when people like Zhu Xi began to define and defend it.
We here in the west are at a similar inflection point now. I think this is one reason for the taboo on speaking openly about what China's transformation means. Careers might be at risk, or unpleasant disagreements among friends and family might arise.
For myself, I remember the moment I realized what was likely to happen with China. It was 1983 and I was at the National Palace Museum in Taibei. On display, I saw a whole river boat scene carved in exquisite detail from a single apricot pit. On the mainland that year on a hard sleeper ride from Nanjing to Chengdu, the whole train was alive with the spirit of enterprise -- people talking and comparing ways they could make money.
I almost felt like Mao must've felt when he realized that, "In a very short time, in China's central, southern and northern provinces, several hundred million peasants will rise like a mighty storm, like a hurricane, a force so swift and violent that no power, however great, will be able to hold it back. They will smash all the trammels that bind them and rush forward along the road to liberation."
Great post Kaiser. I am a little confused on what exactly is the "the thing" that we still can’t say (or do). Is it -
1.) to admit that the center of gravity has already shifted
2.) to accept the implications of a world that no longer orbits the same cultural or institutional center.
3.) to let go that that liberal democratic capitalism, though battered, still sets the normative horizon.
4.) to find the language to reckon with it.
5.) all of the above
I just read this essay, after having coincidentally listened to the Adam Tooze podcast back-to-back with a Bulwark podcast with David Wallace-Wells. They are perfect companions on the topic of how we should see China and the world through the lens of the green tech revolution that is upon us. Here's a link for anyone interested:
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/david-wallace-wells-the-us-is-handing
Kaiser, as a longtime follower of China (dating back to my time as a student there in the mid-80's) I cannot agree more with or thank you enough for your insights into how we need to view China by recognizing the magnitude of its transformation and what an impact that has had on the world. I, too, am guilty of failing to adequately adjust my views on China, many of which were formed when it was a much different place.
In trying to articulate my reaction to all of this I stumbled across a 2023 Phrase of the Week post from your China Project site referencing the idiom "一叶蔽目，不见太山." "Be blinded by a single leaf and not see Mount Tai." On the surface, this idiom approximates the English phrase "To miss the forest for the trees" but I think the historical backstory to the idiom captures the fuller extent of what we are talking about. Here is the post's brief but apt summary of the idiom's origin:
It first appears in “The Falcon Crown: Heaven’s Will” (鹖冠子·天则 hé guān zǐ tiān zé). It’s a parable that dates back to the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history (AD 220–280). The parable tells the story of a poor scholar who read that a mantis could hide behind a leaf to prey on cicadas. He went to find the magic leaf so he could become invisible. One day, he thought he found that leaf, so he used it to cover his eyes and started to steal others’ belongings, thinking no one could see him. Of course, everyone could see him and he was immediately caught.
So not only do we distort our perceptions and observations of China, but we do so perhaps willfully, perhaps preposterously, and all to our peril. To me, there's an "Emperor has no clothes" aspect to all of this that cannot be ignored. Of course, I do not wish to put these darker, complex motivations on you, Kaiser, or anyone else, but I have to face them when analyzing the errors in my own views.
Anyways, thank you again. And I vote yes to a summer gathering in Shaxi to exchange views on all of this. Count me in.
Great article Kaiser - haven’t listened to the pod, but will tomorrow night. Thanks as always for your insights!
Great article Kaiser. Keep doing it.
Great read! Looking forward to listening to the podcast on my way home tonight 👍