Why study China?

• It’s shocking how little anyone knows about China. For example, what is Chinese food? Most North Americans have only ever had “American Chinese food” but don’t realize it isn’t the real thing. This applies to basically every aspect of China. What most people understand about China is some tiny sliver of what it actually is.
• More than a billion people live in China. The country is huge and diverse. Its economy is one of (if not the) largest in the world. A lot of Western people (and companies) are reliant on Chinese goods.
• A major conflict between China and the US seems to be one of the most likely ways the world becomes a lot worse. Having a better understanding of China (their culture, capacity, and goals) would make this less likely to happen.
• A lot of Chinese people know English and are familiar with Western culture, but the opposite is not true. An estimated 200-400 million Chinese speak English, but only a few million native Westerners are learning Chinese (many fewer are fluent).
• Because China is relatively isolated, they have evolved their own versions of a lot of industries like startups, education, and real estate. These can be compared to Western versions and, in doing this comparison, lessons can be learned. Look at WeChat, Douyin, Pinduoduo, Alipay, livestream commerce, group buying, LGFVs and more.
• The West is behind China in lots of ways. For example, mass-market electric cars, high-speed rail, solar, batteries, and drones. If we want to be good at these things, we should learn from them.
• If you think growth is what matters, there has been no country in the history of the world that has grown as fast as China.
• China is one of the world’s earliest cultures. This culture (and its history more broadly) seems to play a more active role in their current culture than in the West. “Old” traditions like Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism still play a huge role in modern society.