Podcasts about Hangzhou

durée : 00:02:43 - par : Loïc Pialat, Yann Rousseau - Les tribunaux du monde entier devront bientôt répondre à une question : une entreprise peut-elle licencier un salarié remplacé par l'intelligence artificiel ? Le tribunal de la ville de Hangzhou a répondu : "Non." Vous aimez ce podcast ? Pour écouter tous les épisodes sans limite, rendez-vous sur Radio France

Fluent Fiction - Mandarin Chinese: Unlocking Hearts: A Poetic Day at Hangzhou's Hanmo Ge Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/zh/episode/2026-06-10-07-38-19-zh Story Transcript:Zh: 在杭州的一个五月午后，阳光透过茶馆的雕花窗投下斑驳光影。En: In an afternoon in May in Hangzhou, sunlight filtered through the carved windows of the teahouse, casting dappled shadows.Zh: 这里是一个古色古香的茶馆，名字叫翰墨阁。En: This was a teahouse with an ancient charm, named Hanmo Ge.Zh: 嗅到空气中飘散的淡淡茶香，仿佛能让人心神宁静。En: The faint fragrance of tea wafting through the air seemed to calm the mind.Zh: 活动开始了，今天的龙舟节诗会由秋主持。En: The event began; today's Dragon Boat Festival poetry gathering was hosted by Qiu.Zh: 她是茶馆的一名热心服务生，也是一位热爱诗歌的策划者。En: She was an enthusiastic server at the teahouse and a passionate organizer of poetry.Zh: 她邀请了很多热爱文学的人前来参加。En: She had invited many literature lovers to attend.Zh: “欢迎大家来诗会，”秋微笑着说，“今天，希望大家能在这里找到灵感。”En: "Welcome everyone to the poetry gathering," Qiu said with a smile, "Today, I hope everyone can find inspiration here."Zh: 梅林坐在靠窗的角落，她穿着质朴的旗袍，手中捧着自己的诗稿。En: Meilin sat in a corner by the window, dressed in a simple qipao, holding her poetry manuscript in her hands.Zh: 她心中忐忑，不知道自己能否有勇气朗读这些表达内心真实情感的诗句。En: She felt nervous, unsure if she had the courage to read these poems that expressed her genuine emotions.Zh: 她的梦，是能有一天将诗歌分享给更多的人。但羞怯常常让她却步。En: Her dream was to one day share her poetry with more people, but shyness often held her back.Zh: 此时，甲浩走进了茶馆。En: At this moment, Jiahao walked into the teahouse.Zh: 他是位年轻的设计师，为了找寻创作灵感，总会在不同的地方流连。En: He was a young designer who often lingered in different places in search of creative inspiration.Zh: 他一眼就看到了梅林，注意到这个女孩的沉静和她面前放着的那本诗稿。En: He immediately noticed Meilin, her tranquility, and the poetry manuscript in front of her.Zh: “你好，”甲浩微笑着坐下，“你也是来参加诗会的吗？”En: "Hello," Jiahao said with a smile as he sat down. "Are you here for the poetry gathering too?"Zh: 梅林微微一愣，抬起头来。“是的，但我不太敢上台。”她的声音很轻。En: Meilin was slightly startled and looked up. "Yes, but I'm not very brave about going on stage," she replied softly.Zh: “没关系，如果你的诗能感动一个人，那就值得去尝试。”甲浩随意地说道，目光如暖阳般温暖。En: "No worries, if your poems can move just one person, it's worth a try," Jiahao said casually, his gaze warm like sunshine.Zh: 诗会进行得很顺利，气氛融洽。En: The poetry gathering proceeded smoothly, and the atmosphere was harmonious.Zh: 秋先展示了自己的作品，逐渐带动大家分享出自己的创作。En: Qiu first presented her work, gradually encouraging everyone to share their creations.Zh: 终于，轮到梅林决定是否上台的时刻，En: Finally, it was Meilin's turn to decide whether to go on stage.Zh: 她看向甲浩，对方鼓励的眼神给了她莫大的勇气。En: She looked at Jiahao, whose encouraging eyes gave her immense courage.Zh: 慢慢地，梅林走上了台。En: Slowly, Meilin walked to the stage.Zh: 她深吸一口气，用清澈却坚定的声音开始朗读她的诗。En: She took a deep breath and began to read her poems with a clear yet steadfast voice.Zh: 诗句流淌，仿佛讲述着一个个细腻的心灵故事。En: The verses flowed, telling delicate stories of the heart.Zh: 台下的人都安静地倾听，尤其是甲浩，他眼中闪烁着赞赏的光芒。En: The audience listened quietly, especially Jiahao, whose eyes sparkled with appreciation.Zh: 诗毕，茶馆里爆发出热烈的掌声。En: When she finished, the teahouse erupted in applause.Zh: 梅林下台时，心情豁然开朗，如释重负。En: As Meilin stepped down from the stage, she felt relieved and liberated.Zh: 甲浩走过来，诚恳地对她说：“你的诗很棒，希望将来有更多人能看见它们。”En: Jiahao approached her sincerely and said, "Your poetry is amazing. I hope more people will see it in the future."Zh: 梅林微笑着回应，“谢谢，我会继续努力的。”En: Meilin responded with a smile, "Thank you, I will keep striving."Zh: 这时的她，仿佛已不再害怕面向人群了。En: At that moment, she seemed no longer afraid of facing the crowd.Zh: 他们决定再找时间交流彼此的创作。En: They decided to find another time to discuss each other's creations.Zh: 从那一刻起，两颗心在这座茶馆里找到了共鸣，新的故事在这个温暖的春日开始萌芽。En: From that moment on, in this teahouse, two hearts found a resonance, and a new story began to germinate on this warm spring day. Vocabulary Words:filtered: 透过carved: 雕花dappled: 斑驳wafting: 飘散faint: 淡淡enthusiastic: 热心gathering: 诗会qipao: 旗袍nervous: 忐忑manuscript: 诗稿courage: 勇气linger: 流连tranquility: 沉静startled: 微微一愣harmonious: 融洽steadfast: 坚定delicate: 细腻resonance: 共鸣sparkled: 闪烁appreciation: 赞赏applause: 掌声relieved: 豁然开朗liberated: 如释重负germinate: 萌芽inspiration: 灵感hosted: 主持brave: 不太敢worth: 值得immense: 莫大的striving: 努力

Fluent Fiction - Mandarin Chinese: Serendipity Among Tea Leaves: A Tale of Healing and Hope Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/zh/episode/2026-06-10-22-34-01-zh Story Transcript:Zh: 茶园的空气清新宜人，微风轻拂着茶树枝叶，En: The air in the chayuan is fresh and pleasant, with a gentle breeze lightly brushing the tea tree branches and leaves.Zh: 远处的西湖在阳光下波光粼粼。En: In the distance, Xihu sparkles under the sun.Zh: 杭州市郊的这个茶园，是一个让人放松的好地方。En: This tea garden on the outskirts of Hangzhou is a perfect place for relaxation.Zh: 在这里，明宇和琳花两个人同期来寻找孤独。En: Here, Mingyu and Linhua both came to seek solitude at the same time.Zh: 明宇是一个内向的作家，他正在寻找灵感。En: Mingyu is an introverted writer searching for inspiration.Zh: 他的心中有个未完成的小说，而写作的灵感却如茶园中的雨雾般难以抓住。En: There is an unfinished novel in his mind, yet the inspiration for writing is as elusive as the misty rain in the tea garden.Zh: 琳花则是个活泼的茶爱好者，她刚经历了一场失恋，希望在茶香中找到心灵的宁静。En: Linhua, on the other hand, is a lively tea enthusiast who just went through a breakup and hopes to find peace of mind amidst the fragrance of tea.Zh: 明宇坐在茶园里，手里捧着一本空白的笔记本。但他毫无头绪，只是看着远处发呆。En: Mingyu sits in the tea garden holding an empty notebook, but he is at a loss, just staring blankly into the distance.Zh: 琳花远远地注意到这个沉思的男子，心里生出一丝同情。En: From afar, Linhua notices this contemplative man and feels a tinge of sympathy.Zh: 他们是在茶园的一次偶遇中正式认识的。En: They officially met during an encounter in the tea garden.Zh: 琳花轻声走到明宇身边，笑着打招呼：“你好，你也是来这边放松的吗？”En: Linhua softly approached Mingyu and greeted him with a smile, "Hello, are you here to relax as well?"Zh: 明宇抬起头，看着琳花的笑脸，点了点头。En: Mingyu looked up at Linhua's smiling face and nodded.Zh: 随着交谈的深入，明宇坦承了他的写作瓶颈。而琳花，也悄悄分享了她关于失恋的心情。En: As their conversation deepened, Mingyu confessed his writing block, and Linhua quietly shared her feelings about her breakup.Zh: 他们互相理解，各自的疏离和痛苦因而被打破。En: They understood each other, breaking through their individual loneliness and pain.Zh: 不久，茶园里迎来了热闹的端午节庆祝活动。En: Soon, the tea garden welcomed the lively Duanwu Festival celebration.Zh: 龙舟赛的鼓声在湖面远远传来，人们的欢笑声充满了空气。En: The sound of the dragon boat race drums could be heard from afar across the lake, and laughter filled the air.Zh: 明宇和琳花在庆典上，一起包起了粽子，感受到了节日的温暖。En: Mingyu and Linhua wrapped zongzi together at the festival, feeling the warmth of the occasion.Zh: 就在那时，他们的目光相遇了。En: At that moment, their eyes met.Zh: 明宇突然意识到，他的故事里缺失的，是人与人之间的情感，而琳花的出现正好弥补了这个空白。En: Mingyu suddenly realized that what was missing from his story was the emotion between people, and Linhua's presence filled this void perfectly.Zh: 琳花则发现，明宇带来了她一直期待的陪伴和理解。En: Linhua found in Mingyu the companionship and understanding she had been longing for.Zh: 他们共同度过的时光，像是为他们的心灵注入了活力。En: The time they spent together seemed to revive their spirits.Zh: 当春天的气息渐渐融入夏天，明宇的小说终于写出了新章节，灵感纷至沓来，而琳花也在茶香之间找到了久违的平和。En: As the scent of spring gradually merged into summer, Mingyu's novel finally saw new chapters, with inspiration flowing in, and Linhua found the long-sought peace among the tea aromas.Zh: 他们决定保持联系，也许有机会发展出更深的关系。En: They decided to keep in touch, perhaps opening the door to a deeper relationship in the future.Zh: 在茶园的最后一个夜晚，明宇对琳花说：“谢谢你带给我的灵感和希望。”En: On the last evening in the tea garden, Mingyu said to Linhua, "Thank you for bringing me inspiration and hope."Zh: 琳花微笑着回答：“谢谢你让我重新相信，有值得期待的明天。”En: Linhua smiled and replied, "Thank you for making me believe again that tomorrow is worth looking forward to."Zh: 就这样，他们彼此启发，共同迎来新的开始。En: In this way, they inspired each other, welcoming a new beginning together. Vocabulary Words:introve rted: 内向的inspiration: 灵感elusive: 难以抓住的fragrance: 香味blankly: 发呆地tinge: 一丝contemplative: 沉思的solitude: 孤独confession: 坦承bottleneck: 瓶颈loneliness: 疏离pain: 痛苦drums: 鼓声zongzi: 粽子warmth: 温暖emotion: 情感companionship: 陪伴revive: 注入活力chapters: 章节peace: 宁静deeper: 更深的encounter: 偶遇sparkles: 波光粼粼outskirts: 郊外breeze: 微风loneliness: 孤独transcend: 超越admission: 承认belief: 信念anticipation: 期待

Humanoid robots performing martial arts, robotic dogs demonstrating their agility and robots dancing to foreign folk music have become some of the more unusual scenes on foreign leaders' trips to China this year.今年，外国领导人访华途中出现了一些不同寻常的场景：人形机器人打太极、机器狗灵活跳跃、机器人随外国民族音乐翩翩起舞。Behind the eye-catching moments is a broader trend: China's vast market and technological strength are drawing visiting leaders beyond formal talks in Beijing.这些引人注目的时刻背后，是一个更大的趋势：中国广阔的市场和技术实力正吸引着来访的领导人走出北京的外交会场。The latest is Thongloun Sisoulith, general secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee and Lao president, who is currently making a five-day state visit to China.最新一位是正在对中国进行为期五天国事访问的老挝人民革命党中央总书记、国家主席通伦·西苏里。During a trip to DEEP Robotics in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, shortly after his arrival in China on Tuesday, Thongloun operated a robotic dog and praised it as "very good" and "very flexible".通伦6月2日抵华后不久便前往浙江省会杭州，参观了杭州云深处科技有限公司。他亲自操作了一只机器狗，称赞其“很好”、“非常灵活”。He also visited the headquarters of Chinese tech company Alibaba Group, where he learned how e-commerce platforms help Lao products reach consumers across the Chinese market.他还参观了中国科技公司阿里巴巴集团总部，了解了电商平台如何帮助老挝产品触达中国市场各地的消费者。Thongloun is not alone. Earlier this year, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also included Zhejiang in their China itineraries.通伦并非个例。今年早些时候，塞尔维亚总统亚历山大·武契奇、巴基斯坦总理夏巴兹·谢里夫和德国总理弗里德里希·默茨也都在访华行程中安排了浙江。The province, long seen as an important window on China's reform and opening-up, is also one of the first places where the country's digital economy took root and flourished.浙江长期被视为中国改革开放的重要窗口，也是我国数字经济最早生根发芽并蓬勃发展的地区之一。Observers said the visits are more than lighthearted moments or technology showcases on packed diplomatic itineraries. Against the backdrop of global industrial transformation, the trips reflect a conscious choice by countries to embrace China's innovation drive and connect with its strengths in the digital economy, they said.观察人士指出，这些访问不仅仅是紧张外交行程中的轻松时刻或技术展示。在全球产业转型的背景下，这些行程反映出各国主动对接中国创新驱动发展战略、借力中国数字经济优势的明确选择。Zhejiang has become one of the most visible stops in this process because it allows visiting leaders to see, in one place, how digital platforms, artificial intelligence, robotics and advanced manufacturing are being applied in real industries.浙江之所以成为这一过程中最受瞩目的站点之一，是因为它能令来访的领导人实地看到，数字平台、人工智能、机器人及先进制造等技术如何在实际产业中落地应用。Jian Junbo, a researcher with the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, said the visits reflect foreign leaders' recognition of China's high-tech development, as well as their countries' desire to work with China and benefit from the momentum of its technological progress.复旦大学国际问题研究院研究员简军波表示，这些访问反映出外国领导人对中国高新技术发展的认可，也体现了他们与中国开展合作、借助中国技术进步势头获益的愿望。"They hope to carry out deeper and broader cooperation with China in areas such as sci-tech innovation, education and the application of technological achievements," Jian said.“他们希望与中方在科技创新、教育以及科技成果应用等领域开展更深层次、更广范围的合作，”简军波说。"The main purpose, and also their expectation, is to help drive the growth and development of their own domestic economies," Jian added.“其主要目的和预期，是希望能借此推动自身国内经济的增长与发展，”简军波补充道。Li Xiaopeng, a professor at Hangzhou City University, said: "Effective home-ground diplomacy is not just about meetings, group photos and signing ceremonies. It also requires letting guests see things for themselves — to see a country's development, its capabilities and where its future is heading."浙大城市学院教授李晓鹏表示：“有效的主场外交不仅是会谈、合影和签约，还需要让客人亲眼看一看——看看这个国家的发展、能力以及未来的走向。”Taking Hangzhou as an example, Li said the city has become a highly concentrated example of Chinese modernization. In 2025, Hangzhou's GDP exceeded 2.3 trillion yuan ($340 billion), while the added value of its core digital economy industries reached 678 billion yuan, official data shows.以杭州为例，李晓鹏表示，这座城市已成为中国式现代化的高度浓缩样本。官方数据显示，2025年杭州GDP突破2.3万亿元人民币（合3400亿美元），数字经济核心产业增加值达6780亿元。Behind the figures is an ecosystem that includes platform companies, robotics enterprises, AI startups and advanced manufacturers, forming a broader industrial chain that allows visiting leaders to see more than individual companies, Li said.李晓鹏说，这些数字背后是一个涵盖平台企业、机器人企业、人工智能初创公司及先进制造商的生态系统，形成了更长的产业链，使来访领导人看到的远不止单个企业。Zhejiang is not the only place where such out-of-capital trips have taken place.浙江并非外国领导人离京参访的唯一目的地。Foreign leaders visiting China have also traveled to places such as Shanghai, an international financial center; Xiong'an New Area in Hebei province; and Fujian, Shaanxi and Sichuan provinces — places that showcase Chinese modernization, coordinated regional development, poverty reduction and connectivity.访华的外国领导人还到访了上海这座国际金融中心、河北雄安新区，以及福建、陕西和四川等省份——这些地方展示着中国式现代化、区域协调发展、脱贫攻坚及互联互通建设成就。Jian, the researcher, said that in-person visits by foreign leaders play an irreplaceable role in helping them better understand the reasons behind China's economic success and its future development trends.复旦大学国际问题研究院研究员简军波表示，外国领导人亲身实地参访，在帮助他们更好地理解中国经济成功的原因及未来发展走向方面，发挥着不可替代的作用。"Such visits help them see China more objectively, dispel the interference of certain Western narratives, and put aside prejudice and stereotypes about China," he said.“这些实地参访有助于他们更客观地看待中国，排除某些西方叙事的干扰，摒弃对中国的偏见和刻板印象，”他说。While the Lao top leader was visiting Zhejiang, Yvette Cooper, the United Kingdom's foreign secretary, traveled to Shenzhen, the technology hub in South China's Guangdong province, on Wednesday for a trip focused on science and technology, after meetings in the Chinese capital.就在老挝最高领导人访问浙江期间，英国外交大臣伊薇特·库珀结束了在北京的会谈后，于6月3日前往华南科技重镇广东深圳，进行以科技为重点的参访。If Beijing is where diplomacy is conducted, Shenzhen is where China's industrial innovation takes shape on the ground, experts said.专家表示，如果说北京是开展外交活动的地方，那么深圳就是中国产业创新落地生根的地方。"Shenzhen now stands in the global spotlight, as it will host an important international meeting this year," said Cui Hongjian, a professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University's Academy of Regional and Global Governance.北京外国语大学区域与全球治理高等研究院教授崔洪建表示：“深圳目前备受国际关注，因为今年它将主办一场重要的国际会议。”The city is set to host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders' Meeting in November.今年11月，深圳将主办亚太经合组织（APEC）经济领导人会议。Cui said that Cooper's visit to the city and to technology companies shows that Britain's diplomacy toward China has a clear and targeted agenda — to make economic diplomacy a main thread of its China policy.崔洪建指出，库珀访问深圳及科技企业，表明英国对华外交有明确而具体的议程——让经济外交成为其对华政策的主线。draw /drɔː/吸引itinerary /aɪˈtɪnərəri/行程sci-tech innovation /ˈsaɪ tek ˌɪnəˈveɪʃən/科技创新Chinese modernization /tʃaɪˈniːz ˌmɒdənaɪˈzeɪʃən/中国式现代化international financial center /ˌɪntəˈnæʃənəl faɪˈnænʃəl ˈsentə/国际金融中心coordinated regional development /kəʊˈɔːdɪneɪtɪd ˈriːdʒənəl dɪˈveləpmənt/区域协调发展poverty reduction /ˈpɒvəti rɪˈdʌkʃən/脱贫攻坚dispel /dɪˈspel/消除narrative /ˈnærətɪv/叙事economic diplomacy /ˌiːkəˈnɒmɪk dɪˈpləʊməsi/经济外交main thread /meɪn θred/主线

The summit in Beijing produced a "constructive strategic stability" framework and a warming of tone between the two presidents. But heads of state can announce a multi-year horizon; somebody else has to operationalize it. Does the United States have the people — the linguists, the regional experts, the long-haul institution-builders — to do that work?This week, I chatted with two Texans answering that question from very different directions. David Firestein is the inaugural president and CEO of the George H.W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations in Houston. A career State Department officer who served four administrations and spent five years in Beijing, he's one of the few Americans concurrently affiliated with both a Republican and a Democratic presidential legacy institution. Eddie Conger is a retired Marine major and the founder and superintendent of International Leadership of Texas (IL Texas) — a public charter network of 26 campuses serving 26,000 K-12 students and now the largest K-12 Chinese language program in the country. In January, IL Texas became the first-ever K-12 recipient of the Bush China Foundation's George H.W. Bush Award for Educational Excellence in U.S.-China Relations, joining past honorees including Jimmy Carter and Henry Kissinger.The conversation tackles what David calls the Texas paradox: the same state that just forced its cities to dissolve their sister-city ties with China, that pioneered the closure of Confucius Institutes, and that has restricted Chinese land purchases is also where the country's deepest K-12 Mandarin pipeline is taking root — and where the most institutionally Texan China foundation has chosen to plant its flag. David and Eddie talk through engagement honestly (no straw-man Jeffersonian-democracy fantasies), the erroneous strategic assumptions undergirding U.S. China policy, what real national-language capacity would look like operationally, what they each saw in the Trump–Xi summit, and what 5,000 IL Texas graduates are already doing in the world.05:40 — Eddie's path: Marine infantryman to fifth-grade math teacher to the country's largest K-12 Mandarin program09:12 — David on when the Nixon-through-Obama engagement consensus broke (fall 2017) and how the lexicon shifted13:30 — Engagement honestly defined: what its architects actually believed vs. the Jeffersonian-democracy straw man18:30 — The Texas paradox: HB 128, sister cities, Confucius Institutes — and the country's biggest Mandarin program in the same state31:26 — Texas business, Tim Dunn, faith, and the gap between political rhetoric and where Texans actually are41:54 — The Defense Department safety/security story: when one Chinese word ate an entire bilateral agreement46:16 — David's six (or seven) erroneous strategic assumptions: China doesn't want to be us, and it has benefited more than anyone from the current order52:28 — What real national-language capacity would actually look like: NSLI, WALARA, and why the pipeline still runs through one Marine major in Texas01:06:07 — Reading the Beijing summit: the warmth, the "constructive strategic stability" framing, and whether Trump's Taiwan call could blow it all up01:17:10 — Where 5,000 IL Texas graduates are now — White House interns, service academies, doctors, entrepreneurs, and one high-schooler who pulled a stranger out of the surfPaying it ForwardEddie: Carlos Carrasco; Emily, who is heading to Taiwan this fall on a one-year high-school program; and another student bound for the University of Texas at Austin who will be sent to South Korea for a semester as a freshman — a rarity at UT. And he closes with Miles, a high-school senior and Marine scholarship recipient who, just weeks ago at a national competition in Florida, heard someone screaming for help in the ocean, called for a boogie board, and swam out to save a drowning swimmer while a crowd of adults stood on the beach. "Others before self," as Eddie puts it — the IL Texas mission statement made flesh.David:Frank Zhou, who just graduated from Harvard and chaired the Harvard College China Forum; Selina Gong, a recent graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School involved in its annual China conference; and Dean Dai, a recent graduate of Columbia's SIPA who has been deeply involved in many of the most significant student-run China conferences in the country — and who, as it turns out, was one of the organizers of the University of Chicago U.S.-China Economy and Business Summit where Kaiser spoke earlier this month.Recommendations:Eddie: John Pomfret, The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom: America and China, 1776 to the Present (Henry Holt, 2016)David: Stephen Roach, Accidental Conflict: America, China, and the Clash of False Narratives (Yale, 2022)Kaiser: David Grann, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder (Doubleday, 2023)Also mentioned: Stephen R. Platt, The Raider: The Untold Story of a Renegade Marine and the Birth of U.S. Special Forces in World War II (Knopf, 2024) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Lao president Thongloun Sisoulith has visited tech companies in Hangzhou, the first stop of his five-day state visit to China (01:04). Hostilities between the US and Iran have flared up, pushing bilateral negotiations into a stalemate (09:54). Beijing has warned that the Democratic Progressive Party authorities in Taiwan could face consequences for seeking support from external forces at the expense of national interests (18:53).

The Lao president has begun a five-day state visit to China, starting in the eastern city of Hangzhou (01:08). Iran has reportedly halted indirect talks and peace deal negotiations with the United States, while Washington says talks with Tehran are continuing (12:04). Officials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have confirmed more Ebola cases (24:30).

C dans l'air spécial, dimanche 31 mai 2026 - IA : pour le meilleur... et pour le pire ?Jamais une technologie ne s'est imposée aussi vite, aussi profondément, dans autant de dimensions de nos sociétés. L'intelligence artificielle n'est plus une promesse abstraite : elle est dans nos usines, nos hôpitaux, nos champs de bataille. Elle supprime des emplois, réécrit les règles de la démocratie et redessine les rapports de force mondiaux.Mais derrière cette révolution technologique se cache une guerre. « Celui qui deviendra le leader dans le domaine de l'IA sera le maître du monde » déclarait Vladimir Poutine en 2017. Aujourd'hui, deux empires s'affrontent : les États-Unis et la Chine. Une bataille non pas de missiles, mais d'algorithmes, de puces et de data centers, dont l'issue décidera qui maitrisera l'infrastructure de l'intelligence, et avec elle, la hiérarchie du monde.Jusqu'où ira la course à l'intelligence artificielle ? Qui contrôlera l'IA ?Des data centers géants de Virginie aux usines de robots de Hangzhou, de la Silicon Valley aux terres dévastées de Gaza, C dans l'air vous propose une soirée spéciale consacrée à la bataille la plus décisive de notre siècle. Enquête sur un basculement planétaire en marche, éclairée par les experts de C dans l'air et enrichie d'entretiens exclusifs menés par Caroline Roux. Nos experts :- Thierry BRETON - Ancien commissaire européen au Marché intérieur et ancien ministre de l'Économie, des Finances et de l'Industrie, auteur de « Les dix renoncements qui ont fait la France » - Philippe DESSERTINE - Directeur de l'Institut de Haute finance, auteur de « L'Horizon des possibles »- Raphaelle BACQUÉ - Grand reporter au Monde, auteure de « Nos nouveaux maîtres »- Bruno PATINO - Président d'Arte France, auteur de « Le Temps de l'obsolescence humaine »

This Day in Legal History: The First Act of CongressOn this day in 1789, President George Washington signed the first statute ever enacted by Congress under the new Constitution — “An Act to Regulate the Time and Manner of Administering Certain Oaths,” codified at 1 Stat. 23. The substance was modest: the law prescribed the form of the oath that members of Congress, federal judges, and executive officers were to take to support the Constitution, and gave the states a window in which to swear in their own officials. But the symbolism was enormous. It was the first time the new federal government did the thing governments actually do, which is to pass a law and require people to obey it, and the choice of subject was telling.Before Congress regulated commerce, levied taxes, or built courts, it bound its own officers to the Constitution by oath. The oath clauses in Article II and Article VI have been doing quiet doctrinal work ever since: they ground the Supremacy Clause, they undergird Marbury's claim that judges are bound to follow the Constitution as supreme law, and they sit at the center of the Fourteenth Amendment, Section 3 disqualification debate that the Supreme Court took up in Trump v. Anderson just two years ago. The Oath Act of 1789 is not the kind of statute that gets quoted on bar exams, but it is the original instance of Congress speaking in legal form, and everything the federal government has done since rests on top of it.Uber went after one of its own bellwether plaintiffs Friday in the sprawling multidistrict litigation over alleged passenger sexual assaults, asking U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisa J. Cisneros in the Northern District of California to impose sanctions on plaintiff B.L. and her counsel at Wagstaff Law Firm for what Uber called “pervasive bad faith” in discovery.The headline accusation, made by Kirkland & Ellis's Michael Vives for Uber, is that B.L.'s privilege log cites cases that don't exist — what Vives suggested may be “hallucinated case law” generated by an AI tool — and Vives floated that as an independent basis for sanctions on top of the alleged document withholding, redactions, and undisclosed witnesses Uber catalogued in its April motion.he legal vehicle here is Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37, which gives a federal court a tiered menu of sanctions for discovery misconduct — fees and costs at the low end, adverse-inference instructions and claim preclusion at the high end — and Uber is asking the court to throw B.L.'s case out of the next bellwether wave entirely. Judge Cisneros noticed during the hearing that what struck her about the briefing was the pattern, not any single incident; she pointed to one example where the plaintiff identified a person as a “friend” and only later produced a fuller set of text messages showing the person was actually a therapist.The judge ordered the plaintiff to file a sur-reply by Thursday before ruling, which means a sanctions order is now teed up. The case sits within In re Uber Technologies, Inc., Passenger Sexual Assault Litigation (MDL No. 3084) before Judge Charles R. Breyer, and any sanctions ruling will set the tone for how the rest of the bellwether pool conducts discovery. If the hallucinated-caselaw piece sticks, this also becomes one of the first real Rule 11 / Rule 37 hybrid sanctions vehicles for generative AI misuse in the MDL context — and the bar will be reading it closely.‘Pervasive Bad Faith': Uber Targets Sex Assault MDL Plaintiff | Law360The Seventh Circuit on Friday told the Northern District of Illinois that the now-standard practice of serving Chinese e-commerce defendants by email in “Schedule A” trademark cases doesn't fly under the Hague Service Convention — at least not when the convention applies, which is a question the district court has to actually answer first. The dispute came up in Kangol LLC v. Hangzhou Chuanyue Silk Import & Export Co., No. 25-2205, where the hat-maker Kangol sued more than twenty Chinese vendors for trademark infringement and identified them on a sealed “Schedule A” exhibit attached to the complaint — the same procedural pattern that drives the enormous Schedule A docket in Chicago's federal court.Kangol got a default judgment after serving the defendants by email, but one defendant, Hangzhou Chuanyue, appeared and moved to vacate, arguing that the Hague Convention prohibits email service in China and that the convention applies because Hangzhou's address is discoverable. The legal hook is Article 10(a) of the Hague Service Convention, which permits service “by postal channels” only when the destination state has not objected — and China has affirmatively objected to Article 10(a), full stop.The Seventh Circuit, citing the Supreme Court's 2017 decision in Water Splash, Inc. v. Menon, held that whether or not email counts as a “postal channel,” Article 10(a) is unavailable in China, so email service in this case was improper if the convention applied at all. The panel — Judges Thomas Kirsch, Candace Jackson-Akiwumi, and Doris Pryor — reversed the denial of Hangzhou's motion to vacate and sent the case back for the threshold question the district court skipped: did Kangol make reasonably diligent efforts to find Hangzhou's address, which would have triggered the convention.The practical fallout will reach hundreds, possibly thousands, of pending Schedule A cases in Chicago that rely on email service as a matter of course, and plaintiff firms in this space will be scrambling to redo their service strategy.7th Circ. Revives Chinese IP Defendants' Email Service Case | Law360The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation on Thursday transferred Randall King's proposed class action — the vehicle for a proposed $7.25 billion Roundup settlement with Monsanto — into the Northern District of California MDL before Judge Vince Chhabria, despite vehement objections from absent class members who want the case to stay in Missouri state court.The case-within-a-case is unusual: the King action was filed and preliminarily settled in Missouri state court, then a group of objectors (represented by Keller Postman) removed it to federal court under the Class Action Fairness Act, and the JPML then tagged it for transfer to the consolidated Roundup MDL. The legal hook here is 28 U.S.C. § 1407, the JPML's transfer authority — paired with CAFA's removal rules, which the settling plaintiffs argue were misused because the objectors aren't “defendants” within the meaning of § 1453 and so cannot remove.The objectors counter that the $7.25 billion deal “launders a liability-management scheme through the courts” by funneling claims of Roundup cancer victims through a Missouri state-court class that an MDL judge would never approve, and they want federal-court scrutiny under Rule 23 and the standards Judge Chhabria has spent years developing in the Roundup litigation. Monsanto, for its part, is on the objectors' side of the venue question — at least tactically — telling Law360 that the case should go back to Missouri state court and it will move to oppose the transfer order.The whole fight is also tied up with the Supreme Court's pending decision in a separate Monsanto case that will determine whether the deal survives at all, because the proposed $7.25 billion is structured around what the Court does there. Whichever way this remand/transfer fight comes out, it is going to be cited in every future class-settlement-jurisdiction tug-of-war for the rest of the decade.$7.25B Roundup Deal Sent To Calif. MDL | Law360A U.S. district judge in Florida said Saturday she will take a closer look at the settlement the Trump administration has reached with itself — or more precisely, with President Trump in his personal capacity — over a long-running IRS lawsuit, scheduling further proceedings to examine whether the deal can stand.The procedural posture is what makes this one interesting: the case involves a federal agency under the President's control settling claims with the President personally, which raises immediate questions about whether anyone is actually adverse to anyone, and whether the resulting consent decree or stipulation can carry the legal weight a normal settlement does. The legal mechanism the judge appears to be invoking is the federal court's inherent supervisory authority over consent decrees and settlements involving the federal government, an authority that runs through cases like Local No. 93 v. City of Cleveland and that the Tunney Act formalizes for antitrust settlements — though here there is no Tunney Act, just the general principle that a federal court doesn't have to rubber-stamp a settlement when there are serious questions about whether the United States was actually represented in the negotiation.The hearing on the issue was set for late May in Miami, with the judge reportedly skeptical that the deal can be approved without further factual development. The political stakes are obvious, but the legal stakes are arguably bigger: if the court can refuse to approve the settlement on the ground that the executive branch was not adverse to itself in any meaningful way, it would create a precedent that constrains every future administration's ability to make its own personal litigation go away through agency action. Expect this one to generate appellate motion practice within weeks.US judge orders review of Trump's IRS lawsuit settlement | Reuters This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe

C dans l'air spécial, dimanche 31 mai 2026 -Chine/ USA, la guerre de l'IAUn film de Marie Lorand et Barbara Stec.Présentation et entretiens menés par Caroline Roux.Produit par Stéphanie Gillon.Jamais une technologie ne s'est imposée aussi vite, aussi profondément, dans autant de dimensions de nos sociétés. L'intelligence artificielle n'est plus une promesse abstraite : elle est dans nos usines, nos hôpitaux, nos champs de bataille. Elle supprime des emplois, réécrit les règles de la démocratie et redessine les rapports de force mondiaux.Mais derrière cette révolution technologique se cache une guerre. « Celui qui deviendra le leader dans le domaine de l'IA sera le maître du monde » déclarait Vladimir Poutine en 2017. Aujourd'hui, deux empires s'affrontent : les États-Unis et la Chine. Une bataille non pas de missiles, mais d'algorithmes, de puces et de data centers, dont l'issue décidera qui maitrisera l'infrastructure de l'intelligence, et avec elle, la hiérarchie du monde.Jusqu'où ira la course à l'intelligence artificielle ? Qui contrôlera l'IA ?Des data centers géants de Virginie aux usines de robots de Hangzhou, de la Silicon Valley aux terres dévastées de Gaza, C dans l'air vous propose une soirée spéciale consacrée à la bataille la plus décisive de notre siècle. Enquête sur un basculement planétaire en marche, éclairée par les experts de C dans l'air et enrichie d'entretiens exclusifs menés par Caroline Roux. PRESENTATION : Caroline Roux - PRODUCTION DES PODCASTS: Jean-Christophe ThiéfineRÉALISATION : Nicolas Ferraro, Bruno Piney, Franck Broqua, Alexandre Langeard, Corentin Son, Benoît LemoinePRODUCTION : France Télévisions / Maximal ProductionsRetrouvez C DANS L'AIR sur internet & les réseaux :INTERNET : francetv.frFACEBOOK : https://www.facebook.com/Cdanslairf5TWITTER : https://twitter.com/cdanslairINSTAGRAM :https://www.instagram.com/cdanslair/

Eric Olander on how the Global South is reading the Beijing summitsThis week I'm joined again by Eric Olander, founder of the China Global South Project, which runs the most indispensable English-language operation going for understanding China's engagement with Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.I came in with a plan: map, region by region, how the capitals of the Global South were reading the back-to-back Trump and Putin visits to Beijing — relief at a steadier U.S.-China modus vivendi, or foreboding at a G2 condominium squeezing shut their room to maneuver. Eric dismantled the premise within ten minutes. The honest answer, he warned me, is that most of the Global South simply isn't watching the way we are — and the disappointment turned out to be the most interesting thing in the room. What looked like the absence of a story was the story. I'd built my questions around one assumption about what mattered; Eric had built his answers around another, and I cop to being schooled.Once you set the summit framing aside, what Eric's contributors are actually seeing comes into focus: Japan racing to recenter an Asia-Pacific security architecture, a region quietly de-risking from an unreliable United States, fresh cracks in the BRICS, Justin Yifu Lin's “three moves” for Chinese manufacturing, Latin America's “find out” phase, and a Gulf where the Chinese setback so many in Washington insist must exist simply isn't there. We get into all of it — and close on the summit as a remarkable piece of theater, the first since 1945 at which no one quite knew who the most powerful person in the room was.04:27 — The dominant mood: pro forma coverage, exhaustion, and bigger problems at home08:15 — Breaking news: the paused $14B Taiwan arms package and the canceled Colby trip11:15 — The dog that caught the truck: China and the costs of a receding U.S. umbrella13:00 — "Constructive strategic stability" — new equilibrium or just choreography?28:23 — The snub: Beijing sends only an ambassador to the BRICS meeting in New Delhi37:56 — Africa: tariff-free access, the trade imbalance, and Kenya's "collapsed" exports44:34 — Justin Yifu Lin's "three moves": move up-market, localize, move south51:00 — Latin America's "find out" phase in Panama, and very low China literacy57:35 — The Gulf after the war on Iran: who really won?Paying it Forward:Boston University's Global Development Policy (GDP) Research CenterRecommendationsEric: A “rabbit hole” of books on Xi Jinping, currently Party of One by Chun Han Wong (after Kevin Rudd's On Xi Jinping).Kaiser: Angine de Poitrine, a “microtonal math rock” duo from Quebec — think Frank Zappa meets King Crimson — possibly the thing to breathe new life into progressive rock.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Fluent Fiction - Mandarin Chinese: Bridging Tradition and Modern Medicine in Hangzhou's Fields Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/zh/episode/2026-05-24-07-38-19-zh Story Transcript:Zh: 阳光洒在杭州市郊的稻田上，微风轻拂，绿油油的稻杆在微风中轻轻摇晃。En: Sunshine sprinkled over the rice fields on the outskirts of Hangzhou, with a gentle breeze lightly swaying the lush green stalks.Zh: 梅林正跪在田垄上，耐心地拔去田里的杂草。En: Meilin was kneeling in the ridges, patiently weeding the fields.Zh: 她抬头望向远处的山脉，心里却想着母亲莲的病情。En: She looked up at the distant mountains, but her mind was occupied with thoughts of her mother Lian's illness.Zh: 端午节快到了，家家户户忙着准备过节的食材和装饰。En: The Dragon Boat Festival was approaching, and every household was busy preparing festive ingredients and decorations.Zh: 然而，莲最近总是打喷嚏，眼睛红红的，像被花粉刺激了一样。En: However, Lian had been sneezing constantly, her eyes red as if irritated by pollen.Zh: 她的过敏愈发严重，让梅林非常担心。En: Her allergies were getting worse, making Meilin very worried.Zh: 父亲健是个传统的农民，他坚持使用祖传的草药来缓解莲的症状。En: Her father, Jian, was a traditional farmer and insisted on using ancestral herbal remedies to relieve Lian's symptoms.Zh: 可是不管用，莲的过敏越来越重。En: But they were ineffective, and Lian's allergies worsened.Zh: 农田的工作一大堆，父亲也忙不过来。En: There was already a mountain of farm work, and father was overwhelmed.Zh: 梅林很想帮助母亲，她决定偷偷去找当地的医生。En: Meilin wanted to help her mother, so she decided to secretly seek out the local doctor.Zh: 下午，梅林找了个借口溜出了家。En: In the afternoon, Meilin found an excuse to slip out of the house.Zh: 医生是一位和蔼的老太太，她用现代的医疗知识为梅林提出了一些建议。En: The doctor was a kind elderly lady who provided Meilin with some advice using modern medical knowledge.Zh: 梅林带着这些新知识回到了家，心里却有一丝不安。En: Meilin returned home with this new knowledge, feeling a twinge of unease.Zh: 几天后，稻田里繁忙的日子中，莲突然呼吸困难，险些倒下。En: A few days later, in the midst of busy days in the rice field, Lian suddenly had difficulty breathing and almost collapsed.Zh: 梅林急忙跑过去抱住母亲，心跳加速。En: Meilin rushed over and embraced her mother, her heart racing.Zh: 看到母亲痛苦的样子，梅林再也不能隐瞒，她对父亲说出了她的秘密。En: Seeing her mother in pain, Meilin could no longer keep the secret; she told her father about her actions.Zh: 在那个紧急时刻，健终于明白女儿的良苦用心。En: In that urgent moment, Jian finally understood his daughter's good intentions.Zh: 他没有责怪梅林，而是听取了医生的建议，与梅林一起努力帮助莲控制过敏。En: He didn't blame Meilin but instead heeded the doctor's suggestions, working together with Meilin to help Lian manage her allergies.Zh: 从那以后，莲的情况有所好转。En: Since then, Lian's condition improved.Zh: 端午节那天，家人们围坐在一起包粽子，笑声不断。En: On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, the family sat together making rice dumplings, laughter flowing continuously.Zh: 梅林觉得自己找到了勇气，不仅可以追求成为医生的梦想，也能与家人沟通心中的想法。En: Meilin felt she had found the courage not only to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor but also to communicate her thoughts with her family.Zh: 变化带来了新的可能性，田间地头的每一个微小决定，都成为了连结传统与现代的纽带。En: Change brought new possibilities, and each small decision in the fields became a link between tradition and modernity.Zh: 梅林看着母亲开心的笑脸，知道自己正走在正确的道路上。En: Watching her mother's joyful smile, Meilin knew she was on the right path. Vocabulary Words:sprinkled: 洒breeze: 微风stalks: 稻杆weeding: 拔去杂草ridges: 田垄occupied: 想着approaching: 快到了sneezing: 打喷嚏allergies: 过敏ancestral: 祖传的remedies: 草药symptoms: 症状ineffective: 不管用overwhelmed: 忙不过来excuse: 借口elderly: 老太太knowledge: 知识twinge: 一丝unease: 不安embrace: 抱住intentions: 良苦用心blame: 责怪manage: 控制laughter: 笑声pursue: 追求communicate: 沟通thoughts: 想法possibilities: 可能性link: 纽带path: 道路

This week on Sinica, I speak with Andrew Seth Meyer, professor of history at CUNY Brooklyn College and the author of a remarkable new book from Oxford University Press, To Rule All Under Heaven: A History of Classical China from Confucius to the First Emperor. Sixteen years in the making, it's the first proper one-volume narrative history of the Warring States in English aimed at a general reader — a gap in the field that Andy has now decisively filled. We talk about why this period — the roughly 260 years between Confucius's death and Qin's unification in 221 BCE — really is the deepest layer of Chinese political history that still genuinely matters, and we try together to find the line between responsible historical reasoning about modern China and the kind of lazy essentialism that reaches for Han Feizi every time Xi Jinping makes a speech. Along the way we get into the displacement of the hereditary aristocracy by the shi, the Lüshi Chunqiu as a piece of political genius, why the standard caricature of “Legalist” Qin is wrong, and what it means that the Chinese state is still, in some real sense, running on operating software written in the 4th century BCE.8:14 – The 16-year gestation, why no general-reader Warring States book existed in English, and what made Andy think he could be the one to write it11:06 – The romanization headaches: Wei vs. Wey, King Zhao of Qin vs. King Zhao of Yan, and the special agonies of writing about early China for an English audience14:31 – Why he organized the book by state rather than strictly chronologically — and what that structure lets him do18:14 – The relevance question: how to take the deep continuity of Chinese political life seriously without falling into the orientalist “eternal China” trap25:52 – Why the Warring States is properly called a revolution: the destruction of Zhou-era hereditary aristocracy and the rise of the shi33:15 – Fukuyama's claim that Qin built the world's first genuinely modern state — is “modern” the right word?36:30 – Qin's 38 commanderies, why the radical version lasted only 15 years, and the Han retreat: aristocracy or regional autonomy?39:46 – Reading the Hundred Schools as embedded political actors rather than tidy textbook categories — and the Jixia Academy as ancient Brookings44:06 – The Lüshi Chunqiu as a brilliant piece of political propaganda, and what its tripartite cosmological structure was actually arguing52:31 – Why the cartoon-legalist version of the Qin is wrong: the 70 erudites, the Taishan stelae, and what the book-burning episode really was57:05 – The axial age question: pattern-matching or something real?1:00:40 – What the Warring States actually has to teach us about China in 2026: zhong guo as aspiration, not description1:05:08 – How the Warring States is taught in China and Taiwan today, and what archaeology is doing to the field1:08:36 – Constant self-reinvention as the real Chinese legacy, and why no plausible future China fully repudiates the CCPPaying it forward:Avital Rom (postdoc at Cambridge, early Chinese cultural history, editor of a forthcoming volume on disability and impairment in early China)Liang Cai (Notre Dame, new book on Han-era jurisprudence and legal traditions)Recommendations:Andy: Hadestown on Broadway — and Anaïs Mitchell's original concept albumKaiser: To Say Nothing of the Dog: or, How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at Last by Connie Willis (audiobook especially recommended)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Marriage: Mass weddings held across regions to promote simple ceremonies多地举办集体婚礼倡导婚事简办Couples across China are rushing to tie the knot on Wednesday and Thursday — May 20 and May 21 — two dates that sound like "I love you" when said aloud in Mandarin, with marriage registration slots fully booked weeks in advance in several major cities.全国多地情侣争相在5月20日和5月21日登记结婚——这两个日期的中文谐音均为“我爱你”。多个大城市的婚姻登记预约名额早在数周前就已约满。In Chinese, "520" is pronounced similarly to the Mandarin equivalent of "I love you", making May 20 a sought-after day for registering marriages. The following day, May 21 — or "521" — carries a similar meaning, offering a popular and much-needed alternative.在中文里，“520”的发音与“我爱你”相近，因此5月20日成为情侣登记结婚的热门日子。紧随其后的5月21日（“521”）同样寓意美好，为那些错过首日的新人提供了一个同样受欢迎且急需的备选。All slots in the 15 marriage registration offices in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, were fully booked for May 20 by the first week of this month, as they were in Shen­zhen. In Nanjing, Jiangsu province, more than 1,400 couples had reserved May 20 as their chosen date by late April, with scenic registration sites such as the Confucius Temple already at capacity. Some locations were fully booked for May 21 as well.截至5月第一周，广东省广州市15个婚姻登记处5月20日的预约名额已全部约满，深圳的情况同样如此。在江苏省南京市，截至4月底已有超过1400对新人预约了5月20日登记，夫子庙等风景优美的登记点早已满额。部分登记点5月21日的名额也已约满。Wuxi, another city in Jiangsu, has no online slots left for May 20, though local authorities said that couples could still register as walk-ins.江苏省无锡市的5月20日线上预约名额也已告罄。不过当地民政部门表示，新人仍可现场直接办理登记。For one Beijing-based couple, securing a May 20 slot required a midnight digital scramble. Guo Xiangyu, 30, a doctoral student from Xi'an in Shaanxi province, and Yan Xin, 34, an internet worker from Baoji, also in Shaanxi, booked their appointment two weeks in advance. The couple and both sets of parents logged into the system at midnight across PCs and mobile devices, and Yan managed to secure a slot. "We expected it to be crowded, so we feel very lucky," she said.对北京的一对新人而言，抢到5月20日的登记名额需要一场午夜“数字鏖战”。30岁的郭翔宇（音译）是陕西西安人，目前是一名博士生；34岁的闫昕（音译）来自陕西宝鸡，从事互联网工作。两人提前两周就预约了登记。当天午夜，他们和双方父母分头用电脑和手机登录系统，最终闫昕成功抢到了名额。“我们早知道会很火爆，所以感觉特别幸运，”闫昕说。In preparation, the couple had completed free premarital medical checks at a Beijing hospital, taken registration photos at a commercial studio and hired a photographer to document their special day near the civil affairs bureau.为迎接这一天，两人事先在北京一家医院完成了免费婚检，在商业摄影机构拍好了登记照，还专门聘请了一位摄影师，计划在民政局附近记录下这个特殊的日子。The pair met via social media, bonding over photography and skiing, and dated for two-and-a-half years before deciding to marry. They chose May 20 partly because its homophone "520" is a declaration of love in Chinese and is often seen as a Valentine's Day equivalent. "We want to celebrate our anniversary and 520 together," Yan said.两人通过社交媒体相识，因摄影和滑雪结缘，恋爱两年半后决定携手步入婚姻。他们选择5月20日登记，部分原因在于“520”谐音“我爱你”，被视为中国的情人节。“我们想把结婚纪念日和520一起庆祝，”闫昕说。Both originally from Shaanxi but living in Beijing for work and study, the couple benefited from a revised marriage regulation introduced in May 2025. The rule ended a decades-old restriction that required people to register their marriage in a place where either spouse's household registration was recorded. Now, couples can marry anywhere in the country without presenting their household registration booklet. "It saved us time and travel costs, and made us feel more connected to Beijing," Guo said.两人籍贯均为陕西，但因工作和学习长期生活在北京。2025年5月出台的婚姻登记新规让他们受益良多。这项政策打破了延续数十年的限制——过去，新人必须在其中一方的户籍所在地才能办理结婚登记。如今，情侣可以在全国任意城市登记结婚，且无需出示户口本。“新规为我们节省了时间和路费，也让我们对北京更有归属感，”郭翔宇说。Thursday or May 21 is the choice of many this year as it coincides with xiao man, or Grain Buds, a traditional Chinese solar term. Song Jian, an engineer from Sichuan province, chose this date over May 20. "The solar term carries a beautiful saying — a modest half-full state is better than perfection," he said. "That fits our relationship well. You don't have to pursue perfection in life; being content with what you have is enough."今年，5月21日也成为许多新人的首选，因为这一天恰逢中国传统二十四节气中的“小满”。来自四川的工程师宋健（音译）便放弃了5月20日，选择了这一天。“小满这个节气有一句美好的说法——‘人生小满胜万全'，”他说，“这正好契合我们的感情。人生不必事事追求完美，知足常乐就够了。”Multiple provincial-level regions have also organized mass wedding ceremonies on and around the two dates to promote simple ceremonies.多个省份还在5月20日及前后组织了集体婚礼，倡导婚事简办的新风尚。In Hainan province, collective weddings will be held on Wednesday at coastal venues, including Coconut Dream Corridor in Sanya and the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site. Zhejiang province hosted a ceremony on Saturday featuring 520 couples, with a main venue in Hangzhou linked to dozens of sub-venues across the province. Guangdong organized military-civilian collective weddings in Guangzhou on Monday, Zhaoqing on Sunday, Foshan on Friday and Zhongshan on Saturday, involving more than 1,000 couples.海南省于5月20日在三亚椰梦长廊、文昌航天发射场等海滨场地举办了集体婚礼。浙江省于上周末举行了一场集体婚礼，共有520对新人参与，主会场设在杭州，与省内数十个分会场联动。广东省则分别在广州、肇庆、佛山、中山举办了军地共建集体婚礼，参与新人超过1000对。"This collective wedding is a celebration that's both sweet and green, without the complicated preparations," one groom, Zhong Zhiyuan, who was part of the Guangzhou weddings, was quoted by the local media as saying.据当地媒体报道，参与广州集体婚礼的一位新郎钟志远（音译）说：“这场集体婚礼既甜蜜又‘环保'，省去了繁杂的筹备。”But not everyone is keen on getting married on popular dates. Yang Xinran, a marketing professional from the Chinese mainland who now works in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, registered her marriage in Beijing last September and deliberately avoided peak days. "As working people, we have to prioritize our schedules," she said.不过，并非所有人都热衷在热门日子结婚。来自内地、现于香港特别行政区从事市场营销工作的杨欣然，去年9月在北京登记结婚时就特意避开了高峰期。“我们都是有工作的人，得优先考虑自己的时间安排，”她说。Yang and her husband picked several possible dates based on their work calendars, then let their parents make the final call. "Even booking a restaurant for an anniversary is hard enough on popular dates — no need to add to the trouble," she said.杨欣然（音译）和丈夫根据各自的工作日程，先圈定几个可能的日期，最后让父母拍板决定。“热门日子光是预约餐厅庆祝纪念日就已经够难了，没必要再给自己添麻烦，”她说。In the past year, authorities processed more than 682,000 interprovincial marriages, official data showed. China saw a significant surge in marriage registrations in 2025, with 6.763 million couples registering, a 10.76 percent year-on-year increase.官方数据显示，过去一年，全国共办理跨省婚姻登记超过68.2万对。2025年，全国结婚登记数量显著回升，共有676.3万对新人登记结婚，同比增长10.76%。slot /slɒt/名额，时段sought-after /ˈsɔːt ɑːftə/热门的，抢手premarital medical checks /priːˈmærɪtəl ˈmedɪkəl tʃeks/婚前医学检查，婚检civil affairs bureau /ˈsɪvəl əˈfeəz ˈbjʊərəʊ/民政局keen on /kiːn ɒn/热衷，喜爱prioritize /praɪˈɒrɪtaɪz/优先考虑

Fluent Fiction - Mandarin Chinese: Spring Serenity: Finding Love and Strength in Hangzhou Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/zh/episode/2026-05-18-22-34-01-zh Story Transcript:Zh: 茶园的春天清晨，阳光温柔地洒在杭州的茶树上。En: In the spring morning of the tea plantation, the gentle sunlight softly fell on the tea trees in Hangzhou.Zh: 轻风拂过，带来淡淡的茶香。En: A light breeze blew through, carrying with it a faint tea fragrance.Zh: 美玲漫步在绿油油的茶园中，心中有些沉重。En: Meiling strolled through the lush green tea plantation, feeling somewhat heavy-hearted.Zh: 她的新诊断像一片乌云，常常在心中挥之不去。En: Her new diagnosis felt like a dark cloud, often lingering in her mind.Zh: 但她希望这片美丽的茶园可以给她一些平静和力量。En: But she hoped this beautiful tea plantation could offer her some peace and strength.Zh: 一旁的凉亭里，健正在仔细地泡茶。En: In the nearby pavilion, Jian was carefully brewing tea.Zh: 他是这里的茶艺师，曾经是美玲大学时期最好的朋友。En: He was a tea master here, and had been Meiling's best friend during their university days.Zh: 看到美玲的身影，他的心微微一动。En: Seeing Meiling's figure, his heart stirred slightly.Zh: 他想要上前安慰她，却不知道如何开口。En: He wanted to go up and comfort her, but didn't know how to begin.Zh: "姐姐，你看！这里的茶叶好新鲜，"欢喊着跑向她，试图用欢快的语气缓解美玲的忧虑。En: "Sister, look! The tea leaves here are so fresh," Huan shouted, running towards her, attempting to ease Meiling's worries with a cheerful tone.Zh: 他还提到端午节快到了，他们可以一起准备龙船比赛，尝粽子。En: He also mentioned that the Duanwu Festival was coming up, and that they could prepare for the dragon boat race and taste zongzi together.Zh: 这让美玲微微一笑，暂时忘却了一些烦恼。En: This made Meiling smile slightly, momentarily forgetting some of her troubles.Zh: 在接下来的几天里，美玲决定活在当下。En: In the following days, Meiling decided to live in the moment.Zh: 她邀请健一起和欢参加品茶活动。En: She invited Jian to join her and Huan in attending a tea tasting event.Zh: 一边品着香茗，一边互相交流，让她逐渐感受到人与人之间爱的连结。En: As they sipped fragrant tea and conversed, she gradually began to feel the connection between people through love.Zh: 在这些闲暇时光中，美玲和健之间的距离慢慢拉近，但她始终没有对他提及自己的病情。En: During these leisurely times, the distance between Meiling and Jian slowly narrowed, but she never mentioned her illness to him.Zh: 终于，在一个温暖的春夜，茶树下花香四溢，美玲决定敞开心扉。En: Finally, on a warm spring night, with the floral fragrance spreading under the tea trees, Meiling decided to open her heart.Zh: 她告诉健自己的恐惧和希望，希望找到生活的新意义。En: She told Jian about her fears and hopes, wishing to find a new meaning in life.Zh: 健静静地听，然后温柔地握住她的手，坦承自己对她的感情。En: Jian listened quietly, then gently held her hand, confessing his feelings for her.Zh: 他的心意像一股暖流，流入美玲心中。En: His affection, like a warm current, flowed into Meiling's heart.Zh: 美玲感受到从未有过的轻松。En: Meiling felt an unprecedented lightness.Zh: 她不再觉得孤单，明白即使面临疾病，她还有深爱她的家人和朋友。En: She no longer felt alone, understanding that even in the face of illness, she had a family and friends who loved her deeply.Zh: 故事的最后，美玲坐在岸边，看着健和欢忙碌地准备龙船。En: In the story's ending, Meiling sat by the shore, watching Jian and Huan busily preparing the dragon boat.Zh: 她忽然明白，尽管生活有起伏，但在关爱与支持的包围中，她充满力量。En: She suddenly understood that although life has its ups and downs, surrounded by care and support, she was full of strength.Zh: 她微笑着，接受了这一切，心中无比平静。En: She smiled, accepting it all, feeling incredibly serene inside. Vocabulary Words:plantation: 茶园gentle: 温柔breeze: 轻风strolled: 漫步lush: 绿油油diagnosis: 诊断pavilion: 凉亭brewing: 泡comfort: 安慰cheerful: 欢快worries: 忧虑festival: 节dragon boat: 龙船zongzi: 粽子tasting: 品fragrant: 香conversed: 交流leisurely: 闲暇narrowed: 拉近floral: 花香confessing: 坦承affection: 感情unprecedented: 从未有过serene: 平静shore: 岸边support: 支持faint: 淡淡strength: 力量hesitant: 犹豫understanding: 明白

In this episode, Steven Van Belleghem, Peter Hinssen and Pascal Coppens unpack Peter's intense week with TSMC and Tesla's stunning TerraFab announcement — a one-terawatt AI chip factory built with Intel and SpaceX, equivalent to 500 nuclear reactors. Pascal counters with Jensen Huang's argument that US export controls have failed, China now dominates mature-node chips and AI researchers, and predicts the coming "Temu of semiconductors." They then dive into the looming IPOs of Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX, the customer-service AI paradox (six surveys show consumers genuinely hate it), China's landmark Hangzhou ruling that makes AI an illegal reason to fire employees, Elon's Mars-colony pay package, the Character.ai lawsuit over chatbots posing as doctors, Steven's upcoming children's thriller Takeover, and Beijing weaponising rare-earth processing as the EU moves to ban Huawei and ZTE. Keywords TSMC, Taiwan chips, Tesla TerraFab, Intel, terawatt, end of the chip war, Jensen Huang, DeepSeek, Huawei Ascend, Temu of semiconductors, Anthropic IPO, OpenAI, SpaceX, Sarah Friar, Cursor, Colossus, customer service AI, chatbot paradox, China AI labor law, Hangzhou ruling, Universal High Income, Mars colony, Character.ai, Takeover, rare earths, Huawei ban

This week I'm sharing the fourth and final installment from the day-long conference convened by the Institute for America, China, and the Future of Global Affairs (ACF) at Johns Hopkins SAIS on April 3rd in Washington — “The China Debate We're Not Having: Politics, Technology, and the Road Ahead.” The first three episodes featured Jessica Chen Weiss's opening remarks and the panels on what China wants, what the United States wants, and tech rivalry and competing visions of the future. This final installment is a fireside conversation between Henry Farrell and Alondra Nelson, followed by Jessica's closing remarks.Once again, my deep thanks to Jessica Chen Weiss, ACF's inaugural faculty director, for organizing this terrific conference and for so generously letting me share this audio with Sinica listeners.Henry Farrell, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Agora Institute Professor of International Affairs at SAIS, sits down with Alondra Nelson — Harold F. Linder Professor of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study and former Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy — for what turns out to be the day's most generative reframing of the AI race. Henry begins by asking how it is that ideas once confined to 1980s science fiction — the singularity, AGI, brains-in-vats — have come to anchor mainstream American AI policy discourse. Alondra traces the genealogy back to the “Californian ideology” and the long history of outré thinking in Silicon Valley, but her real point is that something has shifted: U.S. negative sentiment around AI has been climbing and plateauing high since 2022, even as adoption has spread — the opposite of the usual technology-acceptance curve, and the opposite of what's happening in China, Nigeria, or Brazil.From there the conversation opens up into what I found to be its richest vein: the contrast between a Cartesian, disembodied American conception of AI — “we're working on the brains,” as Sam Altman put it when OpenAI shut down its robotics team in 2022 — and a more embodied approach that integrates the cognitive and the physical, which is part of what's powered China's advances in advanced manufacturing and robotics. Alondra is sharp on the costs of the brain-in-a-vat framing: it treats AI as a state of exception in which existing laws and institutions somehow don't apply, and it lets us float aspirational claims (”AI will cure cancer”) that elide all the clunky institutional stewardship actually required to get from aspiration to outcome.She also offers an incisive reading of the Trump administration's AI policy — which, she argues, is misleadingly described as “deregulatory.” Between export controls, the golden share in Intel, immigration restrictions on STEM talent, and the administration's tight stewardship of who wins and who loses in the AI ecosystem, this is industrial policy by another name — and a narrowing of democratic input over decisions of enormous infrastructural consequence.The conversation closes with Henry asking what a small-d democratic successor administration ought to do, and Alondra's answer is bracingly practical: get rid of the state of exception, take the material supply chain of AI seriously (data centers, electricity, critical minerals, communities), let state-level policy generate evidence about what works, and aim for high-watermark aspirations — North Stars, in the spirit of the AI Bill of Rights — rather than pretending the technology itself will deliver our values.Jessica then offers her closing remarks, thanking the panelists, previewing the ACF Insights Series, and putting out the call for new junior fellows at the Institute.Participants:Alondra Nelson, Harold F. Linder Professor of Social Science, Institute for Advanced Study; former Director, White House Office of Science and Technology PolicyHenry Farrell, Stavros Niarchos Foundation Agora Institute Professor of International Affairs, Johns Hopkins SAISClosing remarks: Jessica Chen Weiss, David M. Lampton Professor of China Studies and Inaugural Faculty Director, ACFSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, I chat with Ali Wyne, Senior Research and Advocacy Adviser for U.S.-China at the International Crisis Group, just hours after President Trump's plane left Chinese airspace at the end of a three-day state visit to Beijing. We dig into the new framework Xi Jinping put on the table — what Beijing is calling 中美建设性战略稳定关系, a "constructive China-U.S. relationship of strategic stability" — and ask whether it's a genuine doctrine of mutual restraint or a rhetorical tripwire that future American moves can be characterized as having violated. Ali and I work through Foreign Minister Wang Yi's morning-after media briefing, including his striking claim that the U.S. side now "does not accept" Taiwan independence — a notable shift from the standard American formulation. We talk about what Trump actually said on Taiwan in his Air Force One press gaggle, the gap between Trump's account of Xi's private remarks on Iran and what Beijing is willing to say publicly, and whether AI can serve as a durable basis for cooperation coming out of the summit. We also turn to the American domestic side: the bind Democrats find themselves in trying to critique Trump's China engagement without out-hawking him, the generational data showing a striking gap in American attitudes toward China that transcends partisan division, and the question of when that shift in mass opinion actually starts to bite on policy.Full podcast page with timestamps and links forthcoming! Just wanted to get this out quickly.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Fluent Fiction - Mandarin Chinese: Tea House Bonds: The Journey from Doubt to Triumph Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/zh/episode/2026-05-14-07-38-20-zh Story Transcript:Zh: 杭州有一家古老的茶馆，小街隐秘，空气中弥漫着茉莉花的香气。En: In Hangzhou, there's an ancient tea house hidden in a small alleyway, with the air filled with the scent of jasmine.Zh: 外面是熙来攘往的街道，里面却安静温馨，飘着茶香。En: Outside, the streets are bustling, but inside, it's quiet and cozy, the air rich with the fragrance of tea.Zh: 这里是梅、姐和欢的学习基地。En: This is Mei, Jie, and Huan's study base.Zh: 梅是个勤奋的大学生，她有一个目标：通过期末考试，取得高分，以便申请夏季实习。En: Mei is a diligent college student with a goal: to pass her final exams with high scores so she can apply for a summer internship.Zh: 然而，她却常常怀疑自己的能力。En: However, she often doubts her abilities.Zh: 和她形影不离的姐，总是乐于助人，但总是爱拖延。En: Her inseparable friend, Jie, is always willing to help but tends to procrastinate.Zh: 最让梅感到压力的是欢，一个才华横溢但沉默寡言的同学，热衷于传统茶道。En: The pressure on Mei comes from Huan, a talented but taciturn classmate who is passionate about traditional tea ceremonies.Zh: 梅望着欢，心里有些自惭形秽，觉得自己远不如他聪慧。En: Mei looks at Huan and feels slightly ashamed, believing she isn't as brilliant as he is.Zh: 梅决定努力备考。En: Mei decides to study hard for her exams.Zh: 她需要欢的帮助，特别是在那些她觉得困难的科目上。En: She needs Huan's help, especially in subjects she finds difficult.Zh: 姐也想参与，但她好像对聊天更感兴趣。En: Jie wants to join in but seems more interested in chatting.Zh: 于是，在茶馆的竹窗旁，三人开始了一场特别的复习。En: Thus, by the bamboo windows of the tea house, the three of them start a special study session.Zh: “梅，我们来试试欢的茶道技艺怎么样？”姐提议，试图缓和紧张的气氛。En: "Mei, why don't we try Huan's tea ceremony skills?" Jie suggests, trying to ease the tension.Zh: 欢微微一笑，点头同意。En: Huan smiles slightly and nods in agreement.Zh: 他开始介绍茶的历史和文化，边泡茶边讲解，手法娴熟。En: He begins to introduce the history and culture of tea, brewing tea while explaining with skillful techniques.Zh: 梅突然意识到，学习不必那么枯燥。En: Mei suddenly realizes that learning doesn't have to be so dull.Zh: 通过与欢的互动，她了解到许多书本上没有的知识。En: Through interacting with Huan, she learns many things that aren't in the books.Zh: 姐在一旁插科打诨，但她的幽默让学习的氛围轻松愉快。En: Jie chimes in with jokes, but her humor makes the study atmosphere light and enjoyable.Zh: 时间过得飞快，通过几周的共同努力，梅不再感到自卑。En: Time flies, and through weeks of joint effort, Mei no longer feels inferior.Zh: 她发现，欢虽然聪明，却也有害羞的一面。En: She discovers that although Huan is smart, he also has a shy side.Zh: 姐虽然爱拖延，但在最后时刻，总是能给予最大的支持。En: Jie, despite her procrastination, always manages to provide the greatest support at the last moment.Zh: 终于考试来临，梅拿出了最好的一面。En: Finally, the exams arrive, and Mei presents her best side.Zh: 成绩发布那天，她取得了理想的高分，不仅通过了考试，还顺利拿到了实习机会。En: On the day the results are released, she achieves ideal scores, not only passing the exams but also securing the internship opportunity.Zh: 在茶馆的一角，三人再次聚集在一起。梅笑着说：“谢谢你们的帮助，我学到了一个重要的道理——合作可以创造奇迹。”En: Gathering once more in a corner of the tea house, Mei smiles and says, "Thank you for your help. I've learned an important lesson—collaboration can create miracles."Zh: 在杭州的春天里，三人对未来充满期待。En: In the Hangzhou spring, the three are full of anticipation for the future.Zh: 梅更加自信，姐继续以笑声影响他人，而欢则找到了分享自己热爱的方式。En: Mei is more confident, Jie continues to influence others with her laughter, and Huan finds a way to share what he loves.Zh: 每个人都在这段过程中收获了成长。En: Each of them has grown throughout this journey.Zh: 茶馆的门外，茉莉花依旧盛开，茶香依然浓郁，而他们的友谊却愈加牢固。En: Outside the tea house, the jasmine blossoms are still blooming, the scent of tea is still strong, and their friendship has become even stronger. Vocabulary Words:ancient: 古老alleyway: 小街bustling: 熙来攘往fragrance: 香气diligent: 勤奋procrastinate: 拖延taciturn: 沉默寡言ceremonies: 茶道inferior: 自卑interact: 互动brewing: 泡茶techniques: 手法chimes: 插科打诨humor: 幽默atmosphere: 氛围ideal: 理想securing: 顺利拿到anticipation: 期待confident: 自信laughter: 笑声scent: 香味jasmine: 茉莉花cozy: 温馨ashamed: 自惭形秽subject: 科目ease: 缓和realizes: 意识到dull: 枯燥miracles: 奇迹firm: 牢固

Auto China 2026 gave us a glimpse of where the automotive industry is heading next. From next-gen EVs and plug-in hybrids to wild new tech and smarter car platforms, China is moving incredibly fast.SoyaCincau.com's Alex, Chapree and Duke were in Beijing for Auto China 2026 where they checked out the latest models from Geely, Zeekr, Omoda, Chery and more. The team also visited Hangzhou to explore Geely's safety facility, test drive new cars, and witness a live crash test demonstration.In this episode of Let's Talk About, Amin and Alex discuss the biggest highlights from the trip, the latest EV and PHEV trends from China, and which upcoming models could potentially make their way to Malaysia. This includes potential Proton e.MAS models in new segments.

The first thing that Yang Weina, a white-collar worker in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, does every day after waking up is to check the sleep score on her smartwatch.浙江省杭州市白领杨维娜（音译）每天醒来后的第一件事，就是查看智能手表上的睡眠评分。"Probably because I have been working late night shifts in recent weeks, I have consistently been getting low scores of around 75 to 85 out of 100," said the 32-year-old.这位 32 岁的上班族表示：“可能是最近几周一直在上晚班，我的睡眠评分一直偏低，满分 100 分通常只有 75 到 85 分左右。”"The score explains how I feel during the day — my heart races at times, and I feel a bit woozy, especially in the afternoons. So I'm considering taking melatonin or visiting a sleep clinic."“分数也印证了我白天的身体状态：有时会心慌心悸，还会有点头晕，下午尤其明显。所以我在考虑服用褪黑素，或是去睡眠门诊就诊。”Yang also finds her smartwatch's heart rate monitor especially useful.杨维娜（音译）还觉得智能手表的心率监测功能特别实用。"When I'm facing a deadline, my heartbeat sometimes races to more than 120 beats per minute.“每当临近工作截止日期时，我的心率有时会飙升至每分钟 120 次以上。When I see that number on the watch, I tell myself to calm down.看到手表上的数值，我就会提醒自己冷静下来。I step away from my desk, take a few deep breaths and look out the window for a few minutes."我会离开办公桌，做几次深呼吸，再望向窗外静坐几分钟。”The rise of wearable technology and artificial intelligence has made it easier for increasingly health-conscious young people to gather information about their bodies and access health advice, fueling a new trend that some netizens have dubbed "cyber wellness".可穿戴设备技术与人工智能的兴起，让越来越注重健康的年轻人能更便捷地了解自身身体状况、获取健康建议，也催生了被网友称作 “网络养生” 的新潮流。Lin Yiran, 28, told Beijing Daily that every morning she takes a photo of her tongue and sends it to an AI medical diagnosis platform to assess her physical condition.28 岁的林怡然（音译）在接受《北京日报》采访时说，她每天早上都会拍一张舌苔照片，上传到人工智能问诊平台来判断自己的身体状况。In traditional Chinese medicine, the tongue is believed to reflect several aspects of overall health.中医认为，舌苔与舌象能够反映人体整体健康的多个状况。Lin said that she brews barley water if the AI report suggests a thick, greasy coating indicating dampness, and drinks rose tea if it suggests liver qi stagnation — a TCM concept that is linked to emotional imbalance.林怡然（音译）说，如果 AI 诊断显示舌苔厚腻、体内有湿气，她就会煮大麦水饮用；若提示肝气郁结 —— 中医里该症状常和情绪失调相关，她就会喝玫瑰花茶调理。Doctors noted that such tools can be helpful for basic monitoring, but should not replace medical diagnosis.医生表示，这类工具可用于基础健康监测，但不能替代专业医疗诊断。Zhang Jin, director of the disease prevention center at Xiyuan Hospital of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, said that digital tools can offer early health alerts.中国中医科学院西苑医院预防保健中心主任张瑾表示，数字化工具能够起到健康早预警的作用。"Many people don't have time to see a doctor," Zhang said.张瑾说：“很多人没有时间去医院就诊。"Using apps and self-study to get an early, basic read about one's condition can help catch problems early.""借助健康 APP、自行了解身体基础状况，有助于及早发现健康隐患。”She said that simple daily checks such as sleep, weight and basic physical parameters can help track health.她表示，日常监测睡眠、体重及基础身体指标等简单方式，有助于长期追踪健康状态。"We often see young people whose tongues clearly reflect high stress," she said.“我们经常看到不少年轻人的舌象明显反映出身心压力过大。"Catching those early signs can prevent symptoms from worsening.""及早发现这些苗头，能避免不适症状进一步加重。”However, Zhang warned against relying on digital tools for diagnosis.但张瑾也提醒，切勿依靠数字化工具自行下诊断结论。"You can't make a diagnosis based on a tongue image alone," she said.她说：“不能仅凭一张舌象照片就判定身体病症。”Jiang Quan, director of rheumatology at Guang'anmen Hospital of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, also supported the use of smart devices for tracking one's health.中国中医科学院广安门医院风湿免疫科主任江荃也支持使用智能设备进行健康监测。She noted that it reflects growing awareness of preventive care among young people.她指出，这体现出年轻人的预防保健意识正在不断增强。Jiang said that data from wearables can help people understand how lifestyle habits — such as keeping late hours, stress-inducing routines and prolonged sitting — affect their bodies.江荃表示，可穿戴设备的数据能让人们清楚了解熬夜、高压作息、久坐等生活习惯对身体造成的影响。But she also urged caution.同时她也提醒大众要保持理性。"An occasional high heart rate or slight dip in blood oxygen is often linked to sitting too long, tension, recent meals, anxiety or staying up late, not necessarily a serious illness," she said.她说：“偶尔心率偏高、血氧轻微下降，大多和久坐、精神紧张、刚吃完饭、焦虑或熬夜有关，未必就是患上了严重疾病。”"Repeatedly checking the same parameters can lead to anxiety and insomnia," Jiang added.江荃补充道：“反复频繁查看各项身体指标，反而容易引发焦虑和失眠。"That can end up draining your energy and upsetting your physical and mental balance.""最终只会消耗精力，打乱身心平衡。”Data from smartwatches and health apps should be treated as early warnings, not diagnoses.智能手表和健康 APP 的数据只应当作健康预警参考，不能当作专业诊断结果。"If you feel unwell or see abnormal readings, go to a hospital for a proper examination," she said.她说：“一旦身体感到不适，或是设备数据出现异常，一定要去医院做正规检查。”wearable /ˈweərəbl/adj. 可穿戴的；n. 可穿戴设备monitor /ˈmɒnɪtə(r)/v. 监测；监控 n. 监视器stagnation /stæɡˈneɪʃn/n. 停滞；郁结preventive /prɪˈventɪv/adj. 预防的；防病的

La Cina e la robotica, tra leggi sull'"intelligenza incarnata", sentenze contro i licenziamenti di lavoratori sostituiti da AI e tutto quanto bolle nell'attuale capitale mondiale della tecnologia, Hangzhou. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on Sinica, in a special episode recorded as a live joint webcast with NYRB/Poets and Equator Magazine, I sit down with Eleanor Goodman — poet, scholar, research associate at Harvard's Fairbank Center, and one of the most accomplished translators working between Chinese and English — to talk about the extraordinary Sichuan-born poet Zheng Xiaoqiong (郑小琼).Born in 1980 in a mountain village, trained as a nurse, Zheng joined the great tide of internal migration in her early 20s, ending up on the assembly line of a hardware factory in Dongguan in the Pearl River Delta. She picked up a pen after a workplace injury — part of her finger taken off by a lathe — and what came out across poems, essays, and reportage has made her one of the most singular voices in contemporary Chinese literature. Her trajectory from the assembly line to the editorial desk of an official literary magazine is, as far as I know, essentially without parallel.Eleanor has been translating Zheng since around 2013, and the partnership they've built has given Anglophone readers access to a body of work that defies easy categorization — at once intimate and historical, ethnographic and lyric, tender and unsparing. We talk about how they met, about Zheng's resistance to the "migrant worker poet" label, about the bodily feminism that runs through her verse, about her unmoralizing portraits of sex workers, about lost youth and the way the body keeps the ledger of factory time. Eleanor reads Zheng's poem "Woman Worker: Youth Pinned to a Workstation" (女工: 被固定在卡桌上的青春) in both Chinese and her English translation — and it is, every time, devastating.Huge thanks to Abigail Dunn at NYRB Poets and Ratik Asokan at Equator for organizing this conversation and for inviting me to host it, to Eleanor for her generosity and her brilliance, and most of all to Zheng Xiaoqiong, whose voice — even when she cannot be with us in person — comes through with absolute clarity.Eleanor's translation of Zheng Xiaoqiong's In the Roar of the Machine is available from NYRB Poets. The Equator selections, drawn from Zheng's long-form prose, are available at Equator Magazine.05:07 — How Eleanor and Zheng met in 2013, and why a book had to happen08:14 — Navigating the awkward proposition of China for the Western left10:50 — Zheng's trajectory: from a Sichuan village to the assembly line to the editor's desk16:29 — Resisting the "migrant worker poet" (打工诗人) label20:47 — Conventions of the genre: exhaustion, iron, lost identity, the screw in the machine24:58 — Who gets translated into English, and why28:34 — The translator's ethics: how do you render a factory poem honestly?32:42 — Eleanor reads "Woman Worker, Youth Pinned to a Workstation" (女工被固定在卡桌上的青春) in Chinese and English37:14 — Zheng's bodily feminism: irregular periods, a different way of caring40:37 — Lost youth and the passage of time44:36 — Sex work and women's labor: portraits without moralizing49:59 — Whose work actually counts in Chinese urban discourse?52:45 — Why Zheng Xiaoqiong wasn't able to join us, and how censorship really works54:44 — Rose Courtyard and what's next: classical allusions, ancestral homes, embroidering grandmothers57:39 — Audience Q&A: American worker poets, the WeChat communities of migrant writers, and Zheng's standing in Chinese lettersSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week I'm sharing the third installment from the day-long conference convened by the Institute for America, China, and the Future of Global Affairs (ACF) at Johns Hopkins SAIS on April 3rd in Washington — "The China Debate We're Not Having: Politics, Technology, and the Road Ahead." The first two episodes featured Jessica Chen Weiss's opening remarks and the panels on what China wants and what the United States wants. This week's panel — "Tech, Rivalry, and Competing Visions of the Future" — turns to the domain that, more than any other, has come to define how Washington thinks about the U.S.-China relationship: technology, and especially AI. Once again, my deep thanks to Jessica Chen Weiss, ACF's inaugural faculty director, for organizing this terrific conference and for so generously letting me share this audio with Sinica listeners. Moderator Kat Duffy of the Council on Foreign Relations opens by interrogating the very framing of the panel: is "rivalry" actually the right word for what's going on between the U.S. and China in tech? The panelists give a range of answers — from "yes, because both sides believe it is" to Samm Sacks's pithy rejoinder that "rivalry serves specific actors and specific interests." From there the conversation ranges across the FCC's recent move to bar most foreign-made routers, the pitfalls of framing AI competition as a sprint to AGI rather than what Jeff Ding calls a "diffusion marathon," the many internal Chinas that get flattened in DC discourse, the cybersecurity reciprocity problem (Volt Typhoon, Salt Typhoon, and what President Trump tellingly admitted about all of it), and what it would actually mean for the U.S. to compete by being its best self — what one panelist memorably calls "Americamaxxing." There's a lot of substance packed into this hour, and a lot of generative pushback against received DC wisdom. The audience Q&A at the end takes up the role of race and xenophobia in the discourse — a topic that, as one questioner pointedly notes, had been conspicuously absent from the day's earlier discussions. Panelists:— Samm Sacks, Senior Fellow, New America and Yale Law School— Jeff Ding, Assistant Professor of Political Science, George Washington University— Mieke Eoyang, Visiting Professor, Carnegie Mellon University; former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy— Selina Xu, Lead for China and AI Policy, Office of Eric Schmidt Moderator: Kat Duffy, Senior Fellow for Digital and Cyberspace Policy, Council on Foreign RelationsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Tourists shift focus to local destinations as uncertainty looms for outbound trips出境游不确定性隐现，游客目光转向国内目的地Rising jet fuel costs and uncertainty over international air routes are driving a shift from outbound to domestic travel, with Chinese tourism platforms predicting that this year's Labor Day holiday is expected to see a surge in domestic tourism.航空燃油价格上涨、国际航线前景不明，正促使游客从出境游转向国内游。多家国内旅游平台预测，今年五一劳动节假期将迎来国内旅游热潮。The Labor Day public holiday in China this year is a five-day break from May 1 to 5.今年中国劳动节假期为5月1日至5日，共5天。Data from online travel agency Qunar showed that bookings for long-haul trips to domestic destinations over 800 kilometers away have increased more than 30 percent year-on-year, while hotel reservations in popular third-tier and smaller cities have doubled.在线旅游平台去哪儿的数据显示，800公里以上的国内长线游预订量同比增长超30%，而热门三四线及小城市的酒店预订量翻了一番。According to a report by the online travel platform Tuniu, bookings for domestic package tours during the Labor Day holiday increased 10 percent year-on-year, with self-drive tour bookings surging over 50 percent and free independent travel bookings rising nearly 20 percent.途牛旅游网发布的报告显示，五一假期国内跟团游预订量同比增长10%，自驾游预订量增幅超50%，自由行预订量增长近20%。As overseas travel becomes less predictable, many Chinese tourists are opting for more relaxed, immersive domestic experiences. Among emerging trends is "lie-flat travel" — low-key, quality stays in smaller cities, often in star hotels that cost a fraction of those in first-tier cities.随着出境游不确定性增多，不少中国游客开始选择更悠闲、更具沉浸感的国内体验。其中，“躺平式旅行”成为新趋势——在小城市享受低调而高品质的住宿，往往入住星级酒店，花费仅为一线城市的零头。For example, an office worker surnamed Qi from Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, chose Jiayu, a small county in Hubei, about an hour's drive from her home. "Deciding to travel to my doorstep made me feel relaxed," she said. "I booked a very nice hotel for only a third of the price in a first-tier city, saving me 1,000 yuan ($146)."例如，来自湖北武汉的上班族齐女士选择了距家约一小时车程的湖北嘉鱼县。她说：“决定到家门口旅行让我感到格外放松。我订了一家很不错的酒店，价格只有一线城市的三分之一，一下子省了1000元（约合146美元）。”Another traveler, Lyu Qing, a Beijing resident who used to take her child abroad every holiday, opted this time for Luzhou, a lesser-known city in Sichuan province. "Flights to Europe are too expensive without stopovers in the Middle East, and routes to Southeast Asia are uncertain," she said. "So I chose a small domestic city — fewer crowds, cheaper and more reliable."另一位游客吕青家住北京，以往每个假期都会带孩子出境游玩，这次则选择了不那么知名的四川泸州。她说：“飞欧洲的机票不经停中东就太贵了，东南亚航线又充满不确定性。所以我选了个国内小城，人少、便宜，也更靠谱。”Qunar data showed that hotel bookings in destinations such as Ding'an in Hainan province surged 8.7 times year-on-year, while Luzhou in Sichuan saw a fivefold increase and Zhongshan in Guangdong province a fourfold rise. The average price of luxury hotels in popular small cities is more than 40 percent lower than in first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, with some county-level luxury hotels charging as little as 300 yuan per night during the holiday peak period.去哪儿数据显示，海南定安等目的地的酒店预订量同比增长8.7倍，四川泸州增长5倍，广东中山增长4倍。热门小城市的豪华酒店均价比北京、上海等一线城市低四成以上，部分县域豪华酒店在假期高峰每晚仅需300元。The introduction of a spring break from late April to early May in about 30 cities — including Hangzhou and Ningbo in Zhejiang province, Changsha in Hunan province and Shenyang in Liaoning province — has encouraged families to travel earlier, thereby easing congestion during the traditional peak period. Qunar said that staggered spring breaks across regions have effectively extended the holiday period to 17 days, from April 24 to May 10.此外，包括浙江杭州、宁波，湖南长沙和辽宁沈阳在内的约30个城市，在4月底至5月初设置了春假，鼓励家庭提前出行，从而缓解传统高峰期的拥堵。去哪儿表示，各地错峰安排的春假实际上已将假期时段拉长至17天，即4月24日到5月10日。Tuniu said that the travel boom in Zhejiang is expected to start early, from Tuesday, driven by the spring break. The combined spring break and Labor Day holiday has created an extended "3+5" vacation, with local bookings surging by 135 percent year-on-year for the period.途牛称，受春假带动，浙江的出行热潮预计从周二起就已启动。春假与劳动节假期叠加，形成了“3+5”的超长休假模式，当地同期预订量同比飙升135%。According to Qunar, trips during the weekends before and after the holiday have increased by 20 percent year-on-year, with average round-trip airfares about 40 percent cheaper than flying on April 30 or May 5. Meanwhile, bookings for multi-city itineraries — covering two or more destinations — have risen 118 percent year-on-year, while bookings for self-drive tours have climbed nearly 60 percent.据去哪儿统计，五一假期前后的周末出行人次同比增长20%，往返机票均价比4月30日或5月5日出行便宜约四成。同时，涵盖两个及以上目的地的多城行程预订量同比增长118%，自驾游预订量增长近六成。Lyu Ning, dean of Beijing International Studies University's School of Tourism Sciences, said the shift in demand from high-end outbound travel toward domestic long-haul trips would accelerate innovation in domestic tourism products.北京第二外国语学院旅游科学学院院长吕宁表示，从高端出境游转向国内长线游的需求变化，将加速国内旅游产品创新。"Traditional sightseeing is being replaced by immersive experiences, niche destinations, light luxury getaways and loop self-drive tours," said Lyu. "Tourists now prioritize safety, immersive experiences and value for money, and are developing a growing appreciation for China's natural and cultural assets."“传统的观光游正被沉浸式体验、小众目的地、轻奢度假和环线自驾所取代。”吕宁说，“游客如今更看重安全、沉浸式体验和性价比，对国内自然和人文资源的欣赏也在不断加深。”She called on domestic destinations to benchmark international service standards and develop small but refined leisure travel concepts. She said that local governments should tap into county-level cultural and tourism resources, such as Ding'an in Hainan and Luzhou in Sichuan, and integrate hot spring wellness, healing retreats and folk customs to fill the gap in the market for high-end domestic vacations.她呼吁国内旅游目的地对标国际服务标准，打造“小而精”的休闲度假概念。吕宁表示，地方政府应充分挖掘县域文旅资源，如海南定安、四川泸州等地，将温泉康养、疗愈度假和民俗风情结合起来，填补国内高端度假市场空白。Lyu also stressed the need for smart governance. Big data and digital platforms should be used to monitor real-time crowd densities and implement dynamic early warning systems and intelligent diversion strategies. She said that strict caps on scenic area capacity, online reservations, timed entry and route diversification are essential to prevent overcrowding and ensure travel quality.吕宁还强调了智慧治理的必要性。她指出，应利用大数据和数字平台实时监测人流密度，实施动态预警和智能分流策略。严格执行景区容量上限、线上预约、分时入园和路线多样化，对于防止过度拥挤、保障出游品质至关重要。long-haul trip /ˌlɒŋ ˈhɔːl trɪp/长途旅行package tour /ˈpækɪdʒ tʊə/跟团游immersive /ɪˈmɜːsɪv/沉浸式的stopover /ˈstɒpˌəʊvə/中途停留congestion /kənˈdʒestʃən/拥堵staggered spring breaks /ˈstæɡəd sprɪŋ breɪks/错峰春假getaway /ˈɡetəweɪ/短假tap into /tæp ˈɪntuː/挖掘

durée : 00:02:11 - France Inter sur le terrain - La Chine mise très gros sur ce nouveau secteur et a commencé une production de masse de ces robots en forme d'humain, bourrés d'intelligence artificielle. - réalisation : Sébastien Berriot Vous aimez ce podcast ? Pour écouter tous les épisodes sans limite, rendez-vous sur Radio France

Fluent Fiction - Mandarin Chinese: Unveiling the Soul: A Dragon Boat Festival Tale Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/zh/episode/2026-04-25-07-38-19-zh Story Transcript:Zh: 西湖的春日充满了活力。En: The spring day at West Lake was full of vitality.Zh: 空气中漂浮着粽子的香味，船桨拍打湖面的声音与观众的欢呼声交织在一起。En: The air was filled with the aroma of zongzi, and the sound of oars splashing on the lake mingled with the cheers of the crowd.Zh: 那是一个难忘的端午节。En: It was an unforgettable Dragon Boat Festival.Zh: 我，嘉翼，一个满怀热情的摄影师，来到杭州，想在这节日中捕捉一幅完美的照片。En: I, Jiayi, a passionate photographer, came to Hangzhou with the goal of capturing the perfect photo during this festival.Zh: 我独自在湖边徘徊，眼前的景象让我感到震撼。En: Wandering alone by the lakeside, the sight before me was breathtaking.Zh: 船队整齐地在湖面上划动，仿佛一条条巨龙在水中舞动。En: The boat teams glided across the lake in perfect harmony, like giant dragons dancing in the water.Zh: 可是，我始终无法按下快门。En: Yet, I couldn't bring myself to press the shutter.Zh: 照片不止是眼见之物，它需要捕捉灵魂的震颤。En: A photo is more than what meets the eye; it needs to capture the vibrations of the soul.Zh: 就在这时，我决定与当地人交谈，去真正理解这个节日。En: At that moment, I decided to talk to the locals to truly understand the festival.Zh: 我遇见了若兰，一个正在准备龙舟赛的选手。En: I met Ruolan, a competitor preparing for the dragon boat race.Zh: 她的眼中燃烧着热情，又夹杂着一丝不安。En: Her eyes burned with passion but also held a hint of unease.Zh: 我们聊起来了，若兰告诉我，端午节是她已故父亲最爱的节日。En: We started chatting, and Ruolan told me that the Dragon Boat Festival was her late father's favorite holiday.Zh: 她想要赢得比赛，以此告慰父亲的在天之灵。En: She wanted to win the race to comfort his spirit in heaven.Zh: 然而，她感到很大压力，总担心自己会让父亲失望。En: However, she felt pressured, constantly worrying she would disappoint her father.Zh: 我望着若兰，突然意识到，我和她的目标竟然如此相似。En: Looking at Ruolan, I suddenly realized how similar our goals were.Zh: 我们都在寻找某种意义，寻找某个能填补内心空白的时刻。En: We were both searching for a sense of purpose, looking for a moment to fill the void within us.Zh: 比赛开始了，若兰划船时全神贯注，我在岸边静静观察着。En: The race began, and as Ruolan focused intently on rowing, I quietly observed from the shore.Zh: 就在船只即将领前之时，意外发生了，另一艘船突然擦过，若兰的船摇晃不止。En: Just as her boat was about to take the lead, an unexpected incident occurred—a neighboring boat suddenly grazed hers, causing it to sway violently.Zh: 所有人都屏住了呼吸，我快速调动相机，捕捉那短暂的时刻。En: Everyone held their breath, and I quickly adjusted my camera to capture the fleeting moment.Zh: 最终，尽管若兰没能赢得比赛，她却在岸边对我微笑，那是一种释然。En: In the end, even though Ruolan didn't win the race, she smiled at me from the shore, relieved.Zh: 她说：“我父亲不希望我背负这么多负担，只希望我快乐。”En: She said, “My father wouldn't want me to bear such a burden; he just wanted me to be happy.”Zh: 我的相机记录下了若兰努力的瞬间，那张照片中有她坚定的眼神和湖面闪烁的波光。En: My camera captured Ruolan's moments of effort, with her determined gaze and the shimmering waves on the lake.Zh: 后来，那成为了我展览的至爱之作。En: That photograph later became the centerpiece of my exhibition.Zh: 那张照片不但赢得了称赞，我还将其献给若兰已故的父亲。En: The photo not only won acclaim, but I also dedicated it to Ruolan's late father.Zh: 看着她的微笑，我感受到一种从未有过的满足感，不止是一场成功的展览，还有一段新的旅程即将开始。En: Seeing her smile, I felt a satisfaction I had never experienced before—beyond a successful exhibition, a new journey was about to begin.Zh: 对于我和若兰，这一天都变成了心灵新的起点。En: For both Ruolan and me, that day became a new starting point for the soul.Zh: 我们学会了在珍贵的当下找到生活的意义。En: We learned to find meaning in the precious present. Vocabulary Words:vitality: 活力aroma: 香味oars: 船桨mingled: 交织unforgettable: 难忘capturing: 捕捉breathtaking: 震撼harmony: 整齐press: 按下shutter: 快门vibrations: 震颤soul: 灵魂competitor: 选手unease: 不安late: 已故comfort: 告慰pressure: 压力disappoint: 失望focus: 全神贯注incident: 意外grazed: 擦过sway: 摇晃relief: 释然burden: 负担determined: 坚定shimmering: 闪烁acclaim: 称赞dedicated: 献给exhibition: 展览satisfaction: 满足感

This week on Sinica: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wrapped up his fourth visit to China in as many years last week, and this one may be the most consequential yet. It comes at a moment when Spain has emerged, almost improbably, as the most outspoken voice in Europe challenging the direction of American foreign policy — closing its airspace to U.S. military aircraft involved in the war in Iran, denying Washington the use of the Rota and Morón bases, recognizing Palestine, and getting expelled from the U.S.-led Gaza Coordination Center for its "anti-Israel obsession." Against that backdrop, Sánchez delivered a remarkable speech at Tsinghua University — a speech I wrote about in detail on the Sinica Substack (PM Pedro Sánchez's Tsinghua Speech: A Masterclass in Diplomatic Rhetoric) — defending multilateralism, calling the EU-China trade deficit unsustainable, and naming China "a country rebuilding its greatness."To help make sense of it, I'm joined by Mario Esteban Rodríguez, full professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid, director of its Center for East Asian Studies, and senior fellow at the Elcano Royal Institute. Mario is the scholar most frequently quoted in Spanish and European media coverage of Spain-China relations, and the author most recently of China's Vertical Multilateralism and the Global South (Routledge, 2026). We discuss whether Sánchez is running an updated Merkel playbook or something qualitatively new, how much of the pivot is really about Trump, the sectoral politics of EVs and Iberian pork, the Chery plant in Barcelona, Spain's role as a gateway to Latin America, and whether Madrid is now a trailblazer for a broader European — and transatlantic — reorientation toward Beijing.06:33 — Sánchez's China strategy: pragmatism, consistency, and political capital08:35 — Domestic politics: the PSOE–PP consensus, Vox, and the regional contradiction12:40 — Merkel's playbook vs. Sánchez's: COVID, Ukraine, and the macroeconomic imbalance15:55 — The Tsinghua speech: Matteo Ricci, multipolarity, and the human rights omission28:17 — The Trump factor: Iran, Gaza, and the limits of overestimating the American effect35:48 — Trade, EV tariffs, pork, and Chinese investment in Spain (the Chery plant in Barcelona)47:04 — Agricultural constituencies and the paradox of Vox voters who benefit from China trade49:01 — Spain's influence in Brussels and the conditions for other member states to follow53:09 — Spain as gateway to Latin America, and the wider European (and Canadian) turn to BeijingPaying it Forward: The European Think-Tank Network on China (ETNC) — a network providing country-specific insights on EU member states' approaches to China, including the granular differences and nuances that non-European analysts often miss.RecommendationsMario Esteban: A trip, rather than a book — New Zealand, which he's visiting this summer with his family to mark the 25th anniversary of the release of The Fellowship of the Ring. A nod to his love of Tolkien and tabletop role-playing games (conducted, he is careful to note, in his own basement — not his parents').Kaiser Kuo: CONG — a new large-format magazine published out of Hong Kong (the title is pronounced Kong, though its ambiguous Pinyin-like spelling invites a second reading), now preparing its third issue. Beautifully produced on glossy and textured paper, with broad coverage of the art, culture, and design scene across East and Southeast Asia. Check it out online here: https://www.serakai.studio/congSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Fluent Fiction - Mandarin Chinese: Mystical Treasures and Ancestral Clues in Hangzhou Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/zh/episode/2026-04-19-07-38-20-zh Story Transcript:Zh: 杭州市的清晨，阳光透过樱花的枝叶，洒在热闹非凡的寺庙集市上。En: In the early morning of Hangzhou, sunlight filtered through the cherry blossom branches, spilling over the bustling temple market.Zh: 集市上人声鼎沸，熙熙攘攘。En: The market was a cacophony of voices and crowds.Zh: 摊位里，各式传统小吃、手工艺品和熏香令人目不暇接。En: Stalls offered an array of traditional snacks, handicrafts, and incense, making it hard to take everything in.Zh: 彩灯高悬，空气中弥漫着清明节的祭奠香气与花香。En: Colorful lights hung high, and the air was filled with the fragrance of Qingming Festival incense and flowers.Zh: 梅是一位年轻而充满冒险精神的姑娘。En: Mei was a young woman full of adventurous spirit.Zh: 她与朋友玲和健一起，穿梭在集市间。En: She wandered through the market with her friends Ling and Jian.Zh: 她的心里装着另一个秘密任务——寻找关于自己祖先的线索。En: She harbored a secret mission—seeking clues about her ancestors.Zh: 就在众多的古籍摊位中，梅的目光被一张古老的卷轴吸引了。En: Among the many stalls selling ancient books, Mei's gaze was drawn to an ancient scroll.Zh: 她小心翼翼地展开卷轴，看到了一个古怪的谜题：“藏于岁月的深处，殿门静候归人。En: She carefully unfurled the scroll and saw a peculiar riddle: "Hidden in the depths of time, the temple gate awaits the returner."Zh: ”梅的心扑通扑通地跳着。En: Mei's heart beat excitedly.Zh: 她隐约觉得这条线索通向某个神秘的宝藏，可能与她的家族历史有关。En: She had a vague feeling this clue led to some mysterious treasure, possibly linked to her family's history.Zh: 玲和健对卷轴上的信息显得半信半疑：“梅，这只不过是些古老的故事吧。En: Ling and Jian were somewhat skeptical about the information on the scroll: "Mei, this is probably just some old stories.Zh: 我们还是一起逛集市吧。En: Let's just enjoy the market together."Zh: ”但梅决心要弄明白卷轴的秘密，哪怕这意味着她得独自探寻，因为心中的直觉告诉她，有些东西等待着她去发现。En: But Mei was determined to uncover the scroll's secret, even if it meant exploring alone, as her intuition told her that something awaited her discovery.Zh: 那一天，梅在寺庙的庭院里独自行走，试图解开卷轴中的谜题。En: That day, Mei walked alone through the temple courtyard, trying to decipher the puzzle in the scroll.Zh: 她观察着古老的建筑与雕刻，突然一行字母映入眼帘，墙壁上雕刻的诗句恰如其分地契合了卷轴中的提示。En: She observed the ancient architecture and carvings, and suddenly a row of letters caught her eye—a poetic verse etched on the wall matched the clue in the scroll perfectly.Zh: 梅一颗兴奋的心指引着她向寺庙深处走去。En: Her excited heart guided her deeper into the temple.Zh: 最终，她来到了寺庙的核心。En: Eventually, she reached the core of the temple.Zh: 在那里，她发现了一扇隐藏的石门。En: There, she discovered a hidden stone door.Zh: 推开石门，里面是一个充满尘封已久的古物的房间。En: Pushing it open, she found a room filled with long-forgotten artifacts.Zh: 梅的大脑充满了惊叹，这就是卷轴上神秘的宝藏！En: Mei's mind was filled with awe—this was the mysterious treasure from the scroll!Zh: 这些古物就是她寻找的根基与家族的历史。En: These artifacts were the foundation she was searching for, tied to her family's history.Zh: 当她把这一发现告诉玲和健时，他们对她深表歉意，承认自己最初的怀疑。En: When she shared her discovery with Ling and Jian, they apologized for their initial skepticism.Zh: 三人在一块儿决定，将这些故事珍藏，让更多人了解这些祖先的故事。En: Together, the three decided to treasure these stories, so more people could learn about these ancestral tales.Zh: 梅终于找到了她的答案。En: Mei finally found her answers.Zh: 不仅找到了一段家族史，也找到了属于自己的归属感与探索的目标。En: She not only uncovered a piece of her family history but also discovered her own sense of belonging and purpose for exploration.Zh: 清明节的春风中，三个朋友的心灵都得到了升华，彼此更加紧密地连接在一起。En: In the spring breeze of Qingming Festival, the souls of the three friends were uplifted, connecting them more closely than ever. Vocabulary Words:filter: 透过cherry blossom: 樱花bustling: 热闹非凡cacophony: 人声鼎沸array: 各式incense: 熏香fragrance: 香气festival: 节adventurous: 冒险精神harbor: 装着clue: 线索scroll: 卷轴unfurl: 展开peculiar: 古怪riddle: 谜题vague: 隐约decipher: 解开architecture: 建筑carving: 雕刻etched: 雕刻poetic: 诗句artifact: 古物awe: 惊叹skepticism: 怀疑ancestral: 祖先的uplift: 升华belonging: 归属感purpose: 目标spring breeze: 春风connect: 连接

On today's episode, host Lori Boll speaks with Reabetswe Maarohanye, Lower School Student Support Leader at Hangzhou International School, about what it truly means to build inclusive systems that serve students first.“We don't ask if a student is good enough for HIS, we ask if HIS is good enough for the student.”The conversation explores how this belief shows up in daily practice through a collaborative student support model that blends EAL and learning support, a schoolwide wellness and SEL program, and intentional MTSS problem-solving. Reabetswe also shares how aligning UDL and WIDA standards helps ensure multilingual learners can fully access the curriculum.

This week I'm sharing the next installment from the terrific day-long conference convened by the Institute for America, China, and the Future of Global Affairs (ACF) at Johns Hopkins SAIS on April 3rd in Washington — "The China Debate We're Not Having: Politics, Technology, and the Road Ahead." Last week's episode featured Jessica Chen Weiss's opening remarks and the first panel, "What China Wants." This week, I've got the companion panel — "What Does the United States Want?" — which I think pairs beautifully with that first session, and which takes up a question that's arguably harder and more uncomfortable to answer. The panel is moderated by SAIS Dean James Steinberg, who served as Deputy National Security Advisor in the Clinton administration and Deputy Secretary of State under Obama — and who keeps this moving with real sharpness. He's joined by Matt Duss, Executive Vice President at the Center for International Policy, who starts things off with a bracing observation: the United States does not know what it wants. The old foreign policy consensus has shattered, he argues, and neither the Trump administration nor the Democratic establishment has produced a coherent replacement. He locates the most interesting thinking in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, where he hopes the 2028 primary will force some of these hard questions into the open. Katherine Thompson, a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute who previously served in the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill, brings a military-strategic lens. She makes a sharp case that the new National Defense Strategy, for all its imperfections, at least opens the door to an honest conversation about trade-offs — something Washington has been allergic to. If you're going to prioritize deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, she argues, you have to actually give things up elsewhere, and the Iran situation is making that tension impossible to ignore. Jonas Nahm, the Andrew W. Mellon Associate Professor at SAIS who served in the Biden administration, reframes economic competition with China in refreshingly concrete terms. Rather than abstract great-power framing, he identifies three specific buckets — affordability and energy, technological catch-up, and manufacturing competitiveness — where Chinese capacity could actually help solve American problems, if we had the political imagination to let it. And Leslie Vinjamuri, president and CEO of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, brings striking new polling data showing a 40-percentage-point swing in American favorability toward China since 2024 — now at 53 percent — driven largely by Democrats but with movement among Republicans too. She situates this in the fading of pandemic-era hostility and the absence of sustained anti-China rhetoric from the current administration, and adds an invaluable perspective on how utterly confused America's allies are about what Washington actually expects of them. The conversation ranges across Taiwan and strategic ambiguity, whether allies arming up in the Indo-Pacific helps or hurts, the collapse of U.S. credibility on human rights, the future of dollar dominance, and whether the 2028 election will finally force a reckoning with these questions. It's a rich, candid discussion — and a reminder that the hardest debates in U.S.-China policy may not be about China at all. Panelists:— Matt Duss, Executive Vice President, Center for International Policy— Katherine Thompson, Senior Fellow, Cato Institute— Jonas Nahm, Andrew W. Mellon Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins SAIS— Leslie Vinjamuri, President and CEO, Chicago Council on Global Affairs Moderator: James Steinberg, Dean, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International StudiesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

NIO revealed the ES9 today in Hangzhou. Pre-sales start at 528,000 yuan — about $77,000 — with battery-as-a-service bringing the entry price down to 420,000 yuan. That's 31% lower than the ET9 sedan carrying identical technology — the same Shenji NX9031 autonomous driving chip, SkyRide active chassis, 900V architecture, and 600kW charging. Official launch late May. First deliveries June 1st. NIO Hong Kong shares hit a five month high. Obi used Nord VPN to access the Chinese internet and found Chinese automotive journalists on dealership floors, real buyers pressing their faces against showroom windows, and community members calling the ES9 a Range Rover killer at half the price. Full breakdown of the confirmed specs — 5,365mm length bigger than a Rolls-Royce Cullinan, 520kW dual motor, 620km range, 47 speakers, zero gravity second row seats, electrochromic windows, wire-controlled steering, 5.4 meter turning radius — plus the investment thesis for what the June 1st delivery date means for NIO's trajectory through the rest of 2026.Nord Security Products:NordVPN: ⁠https://go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=143053&url_id=902⁠NordPass: ⁠https://go.nordpass.io/aff_c?offer_id=488&aff_id=143053&url_id=9356⁠Discord: https://discord.gg/GSbp4wR

Opening Remarks & Session 1: What China WantsJohns Hopkins SAIS ACF Conference, April 3, 2026This week's episode features audio from a day-long conference hosted by the Institute for America, China, and the Future of Global Affairs (ACF) at Johns Hopkins SAIS, held on April 3rd in Washington, DC. The conference, titled "The China Debate We're Not Having: Politics, Technology, and the Road Ahead," brought together a wide range of scholars, former officials, and analysts to interrogate some of the foundational assumptions underlying US policy toward China — a conversation I found compelling enough to share directly with Sinica listeners, with the full blessing of the organizers.You'll hear two segments in this episode.Opening Remarks — Jessica Chen WeissACF's inaugural faculty director Jessica Chen Weiss opens the conference by framing its central provocation: that much of the prevailing US policy discourse assumes an intrinsically zero-sum competition with China, and that this assumption has not been adequately examined. She argues for a more rigorous, evidence-based conversation — one that takes seriously the possibility that American and Chinese interests are competitive but not necessarily adversarial, and that may even leave room for complementarity in some domains. She previews the day's three thematic sessions — on what China wants, what the United States wants, and the stakes of technological and AI rivalry — and situates the whole enterprise in what she describes as a hinge moment in world history.Session 1: What China WantsModerated by Demetri Sevastopulo of the Financial Times, the first panel takes up the deceptively simple question of what China is actually trying to achieve on the world stage — and whether its ambitions are as expansive as much US policy discourse assumes.Jessica Chen Weiss argues that China's core objectives remain relatively modest and sovereignty-focused: security, development, and legitimacy within an order long dominated by the United States. She pushes back on the idea that China is eager to assume the burdens of global leadership, noting that Chinese interlocutors are acutely aware of the domestic overextension that has constrained American power. Sevastopulo coins — with Weiss's amusement — the term "China-first" to describe Beijing's orientation.Dan Taylor, drawing on his decades in the Defense Intelligence Agency, urges the audience to take Chinese leadership statements seriously rather than projecting worst-case intentions onto them. He notes that Beijing still sees itself as a developing nation with enormous domestic work ahead, and that its articulated goals leave considerable room for interpretation before one arrives at the conclusion that China seeks to displace the United States as global hegemon.Arthur Kroeber adds an economic dimension, tracing how China's export-driven model has generated massive global surpluses — and why the resulting tensions with trading partners are, in his view, a structural problem rather than evidence of strategic malice. He argues that much of what looks like geopolitical aggression is better understood as the consequence of an economic model operating at enormous scale with insufficient domestic demand to absorb its own output.Shao Yuqun, speaking from her perch at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, offers the most pointed challenge to the panel's relatively sanguine framing. She argues that the United States' own behavior — erratic policy, withdrawal from multilateral commitments, and the disruptions of the Trump era — has itself destabilized the order that American strategists claim to be defending. She is measured but direct, and her presence gives the conversation a texture that too many Washington panels lack.The discussion ranges across China's Iran diplomacy, the prospects for a US-China summit, the question of whether Beijing is exploiting Trump-era tensions to deepen ties with traditional US allies, and — in a lively closing exchange — who the next generation of Chinese leadership looks like (with Kroeber's deadpan answer, "Xi Jinping," getting the biggest laugh of the session).Guests:Jessica Chen Weiss, David M. Lampton Professor of China Studies, Johns Hopkins SAIS; Inaugural Faculty Director, ACFDan Taylor, Adjunct Researcher, Institute for Defense Analyses; Senior Fellow, Johns Hopkins SAIS ACFArthur Kroeber, Founding Partner, Gavekal DragonomicsShao Yuqun, Director, Institute for Taiwan, Hong Kong & Macao Studies, Shanghai Institutes for International StudiesModerator: Demetri Sevastopulo, US-China Correspondent, Financial TimesRemaining sessions from the conference — on what the United States wants, tech rivalry and competing visions of the future, and a fireside chat between Henry Farrell and Alondra Nelson on the AI race reconsidered — will be released over the coming weeks.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Economic historian Adam Tooze returns to Sinica fresh from the China Development Forum and his second extended visit to Beijing in under a year. In this wide-ranging conversation, Adam and I cover the 15th Five-Year Plan — what it signals about Beijing's development priorities and whether it represents a genuine shift away from investment-led growth — and the extraordinary scale of China's renewable energy buildout, which Adam argues may be bringing us to the global peak of CO2 emissions right now.They discuss the concept of the “big green state,” why Western analysts keep dancing around the role of the CPC in driving China's environmental transformation, and what the “Chinamaxxing” phenomenon says about a slow but real reckoning in Western public consciousness. From Europe's evolving posture toward China — caught between EV anxieties and transatlantic rupture — to China's role in the Global South's energy future, the conversation moves through coal transitions, Indonesian nickel zones, African microgrids, and the collapse of the flying geese model.The episode closes with a frank exchange on the Iran war, the postponed Trump-Xi summit, the stunning political silence on American campuses, and what Beijing is most likely doing: sitting pretty and waiting it out. Adam also offers a preview of his forthcoming book on the energy transition — which turns out to be another massive one — and recommends Tim Sahay and Wang Hui as essential reading.02:44 – Adam's Chinese language study: HSK3, the Confucius Institute curriculum, and the joys of chasing characters09:41 – The jìhuà/guīhuà distinction and what the shift in nomenclature from the 11th Five-Year Plan onward actually signals12:01 – The 15th Five-Year Plan: green energy tinkering, sci-tech ambitions, and the human development dimension18:10 – Does Beijing genuinely mean to shift from investment-led growth? Reading “high quality development” and “common prosperity”22:38 – The Great Reckoning: has Western intellectual and policy consciousness actually moved on China?29:45 – Environmental authoritarianism, the CPC as mobilizing institution, and why Xi's “petty bourgeois environmentalism” deserves to be taken seriously33:39 – Persistent misperceptions of China in Western discourse; the “jaundiced American” trench perspective39:16 – European neuralgia: EV overcapacity, Ukraine, and whether transatlantic rupture opens a window for China45:02 – China and the Global South: the end of the flying geese model, African microgrids, Indonesian nickel zones, and BRI record lending59:32 – Mark Carney's “age of rupture”: does the framing capture something real, or does it flatter the West?01:05:18 – What Beijing sees from its windows: Iran, Venezuela, the postponed Trump-Xi summit, and a five-point plan for Chinese hegemony (that won't happen)01:14:55 – Preview of Adam's forthcoming book on the energy transition and the “second world” thesisPaying It Forward: Tim Sahay (PolyCrisis / Phenomenal World)Recommendations:Adam: Wang Hui's The End of the RevolutionKaiser: The Chinese series Shēng mìng shù (Born to Be Alive)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Fluent Fiction - Mandarin Chinese: Finding Heritage: A Qingming Festival Homecoming in Hangzhou Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/zh/episode/2026-04-01-07-38-19-zh Story Transcript:Zh: 春天的阳光洒在杭州的这个安静的社区。En: The spring sunshine sprinkled over this quiet community in Hangzhou.Zh: 玉雯推开社区的大门，心中充满好奇和些许不安。En: Yuwen pushed open the community gate, her heart full of curiosity and a touch of unease.Zh: 她最近才回到杭州，感觉与这片土地的联系似乎有些疏远。En: She had only recently returned to Hangzhou, feeling somewhat distanced from the connection to this land.Zh: 今日是清明节，她受邀去儿时好友玲的家里参加聚会。En: Today was Qingming Festival, and she was invited to her childhood friend Ling's house for a gathering.Zh: 这个社区被盛开的樱花和传统的中式建筑环绕着，空气中弥漫着清香的熏香味。En: The community was surrounded by blooming cherry blossoms and traditional Chinese architecture, with the air filled with the fragrant scent of incense.Zh: 玉雯走在小路上，心里有些紧张。En: As Yuwen walked along the path, she felt a bit nervous.Zh: 她想利用这个聚会，更多地了解清明节的意义，希望能帮助自己找回遗失的文化根源。En: She wanted to use this gathering to learn more about the significance of the Qingming Festival, hoping it would help her recover her lost cultural roots.Zh: 玲站在家门口，热情地招呼玉雯。En: Ling stood at her doorstep, warmly greeting Yuwen.Zh: “玉雯，快进来吧！”玲露出温暖的笑容，“大家都在等你。”En: “Yuwen, come on in!” Ling beamed, “Everyone's waiting for you.”Zh: 走进玲的家，桌上摆满了传统节日美食。En: Entering Ling's home, the table was laden with traditional festival foods.Zh: 家人们在低声交谈，气氛既庄重又温馨。En: Family members were conversing in low tones, creating an atmosphere both solemn and cozy.Zh: 玲看到玉雯脸上的不安，温柔地说：“清明节很重要，不仅是扫墓祭祖，还有思考我们与先人的联系。”En: Seeing the unease on Yuwen's face, Ling gently said, “Qingming Festival is important, not only for grave sweeping and ancestor worship but also for contemplating our connection with our ancestors.”Zh: 玉雯点点头，跟着玲来到庭院。En: Yuwen nodded and followed Ling to the courtyard.Zh: 那里，玲的家人正准备着祭拜祖先的仪式。En: There, Ling's family was preparing for the ancestor worship ceremony.Zh: 玲耐心地解释着每一个步骤，点燃香烛、端上好茶和糕点，跪拜时该说的祭词。En: Ling patiently explained each step, lighting incense candles, offering good tea and pastries, and the words to say during the bows.Zh: 她的声音轻柔而坚定。En: Her voice was soft yet firm.Zh: 在这庄重的仪式中，玉雯静静地站着。En: Amidst this solemn ceremony, Yuwen stood quietly.Zh: 她看到了曾经未曾注意的美丽。En: She saw beauty she had never noticed before.Zh: 这种仪式中藏着与过去的深厚联系，她开始明白：文化不仅仅在书本里，更多的是在这些流传百年的习俗之中。En: This ceremony held a profound connection with the past, and she began to realize that culture is not only in books but also in these centuries-old traditions.Zh: 忽然，一股暖流涌上心头。En: Suddenly, a warm current surged in her heart.Zh: 玉雯意识到，尽管这些年她离开故乡，但这种文化遗产一直在等着她去接受。En: Yuwen realized that although she had left her hometown for years, this cultural heritage had been waiting for her to embrace it.Zh: 她闭上眼，感受着周围的气氛，也感受到心中的那一抹安宁。En: She closed her eyes, feeling the atmosphere around her, and sensed a stroke of peace in her heart.Zh: 仪式结束后，玉雯向玲表示感谢。En: After the ceremony, Yuwen expressed her gratitude to Ling.Zh: “谢谢你，玲。En: “Thank you, Ling.Zh: 今天我的心中充满感动。En: Today, my heart is filled with emotion.Zh: 终于，我找到了与家族与文化的联系。”En: Finally, I've found my connection to my family and culture.”Zh: 玲拍拍她的肩膀，笑道：“我们一直都在这里等你。”En: Ling patted her shoulder and smiled, “We've always been here waiting for you.”Zh: 从那以后，玉雯在杭州的生活变得更加充实。En: From that day on, Yuwen's life in Hangzhou became more fulfilling.Zh: 她不再觉得自己是个外人，而是个真正属于这个地方的人。En: She no longer felt like an outsider, but someone who truly belonged to this place.Zh: 通过玲，玉雯找到了一份失而复得的根，心也变得更加踏实和坚定。En: Through Ling, Yuwen found a lost and regained root, making her heart more steadfast and firm.Zh: 在这个满溢春日阳光的社区，玉雯的心如花般绽放，重新拥抱属于她的文化和传承。En: In this community brimming with spring sunshine, Yuwen's heart bloomed like a flower, once again embracing her culture and heritage. Vocabulary Words:sprinkled: 洒curiosity: 好奇unease: 不安distanced: 疏远fragrant: 清香incense: 熏香nervous: 紧张solemn: 庄重contemplating: 思考ancestor: 祖先courtyard: 庭院ceremony: 仪式patiently: 耐心地offering: 端上pastries: 糕点bow: 跪拜firm: 坚定profound: 深厚cultural roots: 文化根源heritage: 遗产embrace: 拥抱gratitude: 感谢fulfilling: 充实outsider: 外人steadfast: 踏实belonged: 属于brimming: 满溢bloomed: 绽放significance: 意义community: 社区

The convergence of student spring breaks in multiple Chinese cities with the upcoming Qingming Festival, or Tomb Sweeping Day, has created an extended travel period from Wednesday to April 6, forming a key new growth opportunity for the tourism market, according to travel agencies.多家旅行社表示，国内多个城市的学生春假与即将到来的清明假期相连，从4月1日至4月6日形成了一个连续的出游周期，为旅游市场带来了重要的新增长机遇。Industry data showed that the six-day window is driving two distinct travel peaks and fueling a significant surge in domestic and outbound travel. This alignment has effectively bridged the gap between the Spring Festival and May Day holidays.行业数据显示，这六天窗口期催生了两个明显的出游高峰，带动国内游和出境游显著增长。这一安排有效衔接了春节和五一假期。According to the latest booking figures from online travel agency Tuniu, the extended break will give rise to two distinct travel peaks. The first will occur on Wednesday and Thursday, driven primarily by families taking advantage of spring break, while the second peak will fall on Saturday, the first day of Qingming Festival, as vacationers head out for spring outings and flower viewing.途牛旅游网最新预订数据显示，这次连续的假期将形成两个明显的出游高峰。第一个高峰出现在4月1日至2日，主要由利用春假出行的家庭游客构成；第二个高峰则出现在4月4日清明节假期首日，以踏青赏花的休闲游客为主。More than 70 percent of travelers planning trips in early April have chosen to set out between Wednesday and Friday, taking advantage of the staggered schedule to avoid congestion, Tuniu data showed. Nearly 65 percent of these travelers have opted for trips lasting three to five days, striking a balance between travel depth and the demands of work and school.途牛数据显示，超过70%计划在4月初出游的游客选择在4月1日至3日之间错峰出发。近65%的游客选择3至5天的行程，在游玩深度与工作学习安排之间取得平衡。The spring break has unleashed a surge in family travel, with destinations such as Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou in Guangdong province, Sanya in Hainan province, Xi'an in Shaanxi province and Nanjing in Jiangsu province emerging as top choices.春假带动了家庭出游热潮，上海、北京、广州、三亚、西安、南京等成为热门选择。Bookings have risen sharply for theme parks such as Shanghai Disney Resort, Zhuhai Chimelong International Ocean Resort and Universal Beijing Resort, as well as botanical gardens, museums and science education venues.上海迪士尼度假区、珠海长隆国际海洋度假区、北京环球度假区等主题公园，以及植物园、博物馆、科普教育场馆的预订量显著增长。The six-day break has also fueled demand for outbound travel. In addition to China's Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, tropical destinations such as Bangkok and Pattaya in Thailand, Bali, the Maldives, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore are among the most booked overseas choices, according to Tuniu.六天假期也带动了出境游需求。途牛数据显示，除港澳地区外，泰国曼谷、芭提雅，印度尼西亚巴厘岛，马尔代夫，马来西亚吉隆坡，新加坡等热带目的地成为预订量最高的境外选择。The travel platform Qunar also reported a marked increase in expected travel activity from Wednesday to April 6, driven by the combination of spring breaks and Qingming Festival. Bookings show that flight passenger volumes to popular cities have risen 30 percent year-on-year, with the number of under-18 air travelers expected to more than double.去哪儿平台也报告称，受春假与清明假期叠加影响，4月1日至4月6日期间的旅游出行活动显著增加。预订数据显示，热门城市机票旅客量同比增长三成，18岁以下青少年旅客出行量预计增长超一倍。Hotel bookings in Guangzhou surged 180 percent year-on-year, while Sanya saw a 140 percent increase. Luoyang in Henan province and Hangzhou in Zhejiang province each recorded gains of around 120 percent, and bookings in Beijing nearly doubled, according to Qunar.据去哪儿统计，广州酒店预订量同比增长180%，三亚增长140%，河南洛阳和浙江杭州均增长约120%，北京预订量接近翻番。Cities that implemented spring break policies are seeing particularly strong outbound travel demand. In Chengdu, Sichuan province, which accounted for the highest number of outbound flights during the period, the number of travelers scheduled to depart on Tuesday and Wednesday surged 160 percent from the previous two days. Departures scheduled for Wednesday alone rose 530 percent year-on-year.实施春假政策的城市出游需求尤为强劲。四川省成都市在该时段出境航班数量最多，3月31日至4月1日出行的旅客量较前两日增长160%，4月1日单日出行的旅客量同比增长530%。Several cities with spring break travel policies also saw gains in inbound arrivals. In Yibin, Sichuan province, where scenic spots are offering free admission to primary and secondary school students and teachers throughout April, local hotel bookings from Wednesday to April 6 rose 160 percent year-on-year. Mianyang, also in Sichuan, saw hotel bookings increase 95 percent after offering joint ticket discounts for children and parents.多个实施春假政策的城市也迎来入境游增长。四川省宜宾市4月内面向中小学生及教师实行景区免票政策，当地4月1日至4月6日酒店预订量同比增长160%。同样位于四川的绵阳市推出亲子联票优惠后，酒店预订量增长95%。Yang Han, a researcher at Qunar's big data institute, said the alignment of spring break with Qingming Festival has significantly boosted travel demand and helped smooth out peak travel periods. "It offers travelers better value and a more comfortable experience," Yang said.去哪儿大数据研究院研究员杨涵表示，春假与清明假期的叠加有效拉动了出行需求，同时起到了平抑高峰的作用。"这为游客带来了更好的性价比和更舒适的体验。""For cities that introduced spring break policies, the effect has been twofold: sending travelers out while also attracting visitors — a new driver for the cultural tourism market between the Spring Festival and May Day holidays," she added.杨涵表示，"对推行春假的城市而言，既送出了游客，也吸引了游客，成为春节后到五一长假前文旅市场的新增量。"Cheng Yuhan, a freshman at a university in Huai'an, Jiangsu province, will take a five-day break from Thursday to April 6, as her spring break aligns with Qingming Festival.江苏省淮安市某高校大一学生程雨涵今年春假与清明假期相连，将从4月2日至4月6日连休五天。She planned to volunteer at a local kindergarten, attend marathon volunteer training, and then travel with her aunt and uncle from Saturday to Sunday to Changzhou and Suzhou in Jiangsu.她计划先在当地幼儿园做志愿者，并参加马拉松志愿者培训，随后与姑姑姑父于4月4日至5日前往江苏省内常州、苏州游玩。"They are very open-minded and let me plan the whole trip — the itinerary, routes, budget, accommodations, everything," Cheng said. "I'm really looking forward to it.""他们很开明，让我全权规划行程、路线、预算、住宿等等，"程雨涵说，"我真的很期待这次旅行。" travel peaks /ˈtrævəl piːks/旅游高峰staggered schedule /ˈstæɡəd ˈʃedjuːl/错峰安排spring break /sprɪŋ breɪk/春假

This week on Sinica, I welcome journalist and former colleague Chang Che. His recent New Yorker piece "How China Learned to Love the Classics" generated enormous attention. We explore one of the more surprising cultural phenomena in contemporary China: a growing, state-backed enthusiasm for the Greco-Roman classics. We dig into what's actually driving this revival, from the genuine intellectual curiosity of scholars like He Yanxiao, who fell in love with the Odyssey as a Chinese high school student and went on to earn a Chicago PhD, to what might be the more deliberate strategic ambitions of figures like Politburo member Li Shulei and the shadow of philosopher Liu Xiaofeng's Straussianism. We also compare Chang's warmly enchanted 2022 China Project piece on Austrian classicist Leopold Lieb to the politically sharper New Yorker piece four years later — and ask what that shift in tone tells us about what's actually changed. This is an episode about civilizational discourse, soft power, and the strange fate of scholarship when the state decides it finds your obscure passion useful.00:32 – Kaiser introduces the episode from Beijing and reflects on the asymmetry in how the West covers Chinese intellectual curiosity 04:08 – Civilizationist discourse: Spengler, Huntington, and The Civilization Trap 10:56 – Introducing Chang Che and the evolution from his 2022 China Project piece to the New Yorker 15:38 – How Chang first got drawn into the subject: Latin classes, Charlottesville, and young Chinese classicists returning from American PhDs 21:38 – What changed in four years: the state moves from background to foreground 25:28 – Inside the institutional push: what China's "classics departments" actually look like, and who controls the definition of "classics" 31:13 – Xi Jinping's letter to Greek scholars and the move, perhaps, to sever ancient Greece from the modern West 39:57 – Liu Xiaofeng, Leo Strauss, and why Strauss fever gripped Chinese intellectuals after 1989 47:03 – The Padilla Peralta "incident" and the strange porousness between American and Chinese discourse communities on the classics 52:13 – Chenchen Zhang's framework: civilizationist discourse claims difference internationally while enforcing homogeneity domestically 57:30 – He Yanxiao, K-pop, and the idea of "Chinatown classics" 01:07:13 – Where will China's classics revival be in ten years?Paying It Forward: Dongxian Jiang (Fordham) and Simon Luo (Nanyang Technological University)Recommendations: Chang recommends House of the Dragon; Kaiser recommends the Ah-Q Arkestra, led by trombonist Matt Roberts, whose latest album Méiyǒu yìjiàn is on Spotify.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dick Swaab is hersenonderzoeker, emeritus hoogleraar neurobiologie aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam en hoogleraar aan de universiteit van Hangzhou. Hij werd vooral bekend door zijn onderzoek en ontdekkingen op het gebied van hersenanatomie en neurofysiologie en door zijn controversiële wetenschapsfilosofie. Van 1978 tot 2005 was hij directeur van het Nederlandse Instituut voor Hersenonderzoek. Hij heeft meegewerkt aan talloze wetenschappelijke boeken en artikelen en bracht zelf drie boeken uit, waaronder de bestseller ‘Wij zijn ons brein'.  Nog altijd doet Schwaab onderzoek naar Alzheimer, depressie en suïcide. Nu komt hij met zijn vierde boek over zijn leven en carrière ‘Hersenonderzoeker bij toeval. Een neurobiografie'. Femke van der Laan gaat met Dick Swaab in gesprek.

David M. Lampton—“Mike”—is one of America's most distinguished scholars of U.S.–China relations, director of China Studies Emeritus at Johns Hopkins SAIS, and the author of landmark works on Chinese politics and foreign policy. He joins me this week to discuss a striking new Foreign Affairs essay he co-authored with the eminent Chinese international relations scholar Wang Jisi of Peking University: “America and China at the Edge of Ruin: A Last Chance to Step Back from the Brink.”Written against the backdrop of President Trump's planned visit to China (and before the outbreak of the U.S.–Israeli war on Iran), the essay is less a routine policy paper than an urgent intervention — two veteran scholars, one American and one Chinese, throwing a rope across a widening chasm. They argue that strategic rivalry has become self-reinforcing, that the greatest danger is no longer deliberate conflict but accidental war driven by miscalculation and escalation dynamics neither side fully controls, and that a rare, narrow window for “a new normalization” may now be opening.We range across the essay's boldest claims — on Taiwan as the unlikely starting point for stabilization, the corrosive logic of securitization, the ghost of the first Cold War, and the looming talent crisis in serious China studies — in a meaty, substantive conversation.3:39 How the Lampton–Wang Jisi collaboration came together6:31 The division of labor and the essay's unified voice9:15 Wang Jisi's cognitive empathy and his unusual depth of American understanding13:57 The essay's emotional register: veteran scholars and the specter of another Cold War16:32 From reassurance to deterrence—and why deterrence keeps getting harder to maintain25:02 Mirror-image threat narratives as self-fulfilling operating systems32:08 Securitization, the “one-way ratchet,” and whether economic interdependence can be rebuilt39:23 Accidental war: what has changed since Hainan 2001 and Belgrade 199944:16 Where the most damaging choices were made—China's Ukraine pivot, U.S. arms-control withdrawals51:29 The window of opportunity: Trump's China visit, the 4th Plenum, and post-Iran recalculation1:01:30 Taiwan as the counterintuitive starting point for stabilization1:10:03 Collapse fantasies, hubris, and the Pearl Harbor danger of “act now or lose the window”1:13:14 The looming China-talent crisis and the future of the fieldPaying It ForwardMike highlights Rosie Levine, executive director of the U.S.–China Education Trust, where she is leading a major new initiative to expand serious American scholarship in China and encourage Chinese institutions to open their doors wider to foreign researchers and students.RecommendationsMike: The Raider by Stephen R. Platt (Knopf, 2025) — a biography of Major Evans Carlson, the swashbuckling Marine officer who trained with Chinese Communist forces in the 1930s, befriended Zhu De, brought the word “gung-ho” into English, and died in 1947 just in time to miss both the PRC's turn away from liberty and McCarthyism's persecution at home.Kaiser: “How China Learned to Love the Classics,” a New Yorker piece by Chang Che on the remarkable renaissance of interest in Greco-Roman philosophy and literature in contemporary China — and what it says about the world we now inhabit. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What if you could walk out of a bad movie 20 minutes in and get your money back? A theater in Hangzhou is trying exactly that, and China's film industry is taking notice. The experiment pits audience satisfaction against artistic vision in a billion-dollar market. On the show: Steve, Fei Fei & Yushan

This week on Sinica, I speak with Daniela Stockmann and Ting Luo, co-authors of Governing Digital China, a new book that examines how an authoritarian state governs a digital ecosystem it doesn't fully own, can never fully control, and yet fundamentally depends on. Danie — a professor of digital governance at the Hertie School in Berlin and a returning Sinica guest, having joined us way back in 2014 to discuss her earlier book on media commercialization and authoritarian rule — and Ting, associate professor in government and artificial intelligence at the University of Birmingham, together offer a richly empirical account of the triangular relationship between the Chinese state, major platform companies, and ordinary internet users. Rather than treating firms as mere instruments of party control or citizens as passive subjects of surveillance, they develop a framework they call "popular corporatism," which captures how bargaining, incentives, and user preferences shape what is and isn't permissible in China's digital spaces — including the endlessly misunderstood social credit system.4:32 — The digital dilemma: how digital platforms simultaneously empower economic development and create political risk for the party-state — a tension that isn't unique to authoritarian regimes7:45 — Why the command-and-control model falls short: platforms require technical expertise and user engagement the state lacks, and firms like Tencent and Sina have real leverage as a result11:41 — Popular corporatism explained: why users — including the "silent majority" of lurkers — must be foregrounded in any account of China's digital governance, and how firms become state "consultants" and "insiders"21:09 — The survey: GPS-based nationally representative sampling, how to desensitize politically sensitive questions, and why this kind of research can no longer be conducted in China27:22 — Lurkers vs. discussants: the 90-9-1 rule and the counterintuitive finding that users who perceive more openness on platforms like WeChat and Weibo report higher political trust in the central government35:40 — Functional liberalization: why partial openness should be understood as governance strategy, not mere concession — and what the fandom-community doxing wars illustrate about that39:23 — The social credit system: what it actually is, what it is not, and why the Black Mirror version is a myth42:38 — Two subsystems, one misunderstood system: the financial/commercial credit infrastructure, the local-government behavioral programs, and how Sesame Credit and court blacklists actually fit together46:20 — The privacy paradox and political trust: why convenience routinely overrides stated privacy preferences — and why where Alipay is most embedded, residents trust the state most52:42 — Stability, exportability, and the Orwell-versus-Huxley question: what preconditions popular corporatism requires, which other developmental states it might apply to, and why China's digital governance is better understood as a coercion-cooption balancing actPaying It ForwardTing Luo recommends Ning Leng, assistant professor at Georgetown University and author of Politicizing Business: How Firms Are Made to Serve the Party State in China.Daniela Stockmann recommends Felix Garten, postdoctoral researcher at the Hertie School, whose work examines how Chinese tech companies behave when operating in regulatory environments outside China — including the EU, Malaysia, and Singapore.RecommendationsDaniela: The Legend of the Female General 《锦月如歌》, a Chinese historical drama available on YouTube with English subtitles, especially for anyone interested in internal martial arts and martial heroines in Chinese popular culture.Ting Luo：Bordeaux, France — specifically, just going there and drinking excellent wine.Kaiser: Two Substack newsletters for following China's relationship with the Middle East, especially as the American-Israeli war against Iran continues to unfold: Jonathan Fulton's China-MENA Newsletter and Jesse Marks's Coffee in the Desert See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Die Themen: Stuttgart 21 wird wohl frühestens 2029 fertig; AfD jubelt über Teilerfolg im Streit mit Verfassungsschutz; Merz sieht sich Box-Roboter in Hangzhou an; Unterlagen zu Anschuldigungen des sexuellen Missbrauchs gegen Präsident Trump sollen nicht veröffentlich worden sein; Tuttle bleibt vorerst Berlinale-Intendantin und SPD-Mann kauft leckere Gänsepastete aus Frankreich Du möchtest mehr über unsere Werbepartner erfahren? Hier findest du alle Infos & Rabatte: https://linktr.ee/ApokalypseundFilterkaffee Du möchtest Werbung in diesem Podcast schalten? Dann erfahre hier mehr über die Werbemöglichkeiten bei Seven.One Audio: https://www.seven.one/portfolio/sevenone-audio

This week on Sinica, I speak with Yi-Ling Liu, journalist, former China editor at Rest of World, and author of the new book The Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet. Yi-Ling's book traces the arc of Chinese online life through five protagonists — a rapper, a gay rights entrepreneur, a feminist activist, a science fiction writer, and an internet censor — each navigating the creative and constrictive forces of the Chinese internet in their own way. The result is a deeply reported, novelistic account of what it felt like to live, create, and push back in one of the most surveilled and dynamic digital environments on earth. We discuss the book's central metaphor of "dancing in shackles," the early utopian glow of Chinese netizen culture, the parallel fates of hip hop and science fiction under the state's alternating embrace and constraint, and the eerie convergence between the Chinese internet and our own.0:06 — "Wall dancers" as a metaphor: what it captures that "dissident" or "netizen" doesn't0:09 — Why 网民 (wǎngmín) took root in China as a concept of digital citizenship0:13 — The early Chinese internet: more open than we remember, but not as free as the myth suggests0:15 — Ma Baoli: closeted cop to CEO of China's largest gay dating app, and the Gay Talese reporting strategy0:20 — Lan Yu, Beijing Story, and the film that became a coming-out moment for a generation of queer men0:22 — Pragmatism at the heart of the dance: how individuals and the state negotiated the internet together0:28 — Lu Pin and Feminist Voices: from "playing boundary ball" to sudden exile0:35 — Stanley Chen Qiufan and the state's attempt to co-opt science fiction for nationalist ends0:43 — The generational split in Chinese sci-fi: Liu Cixin's cosmic scale vs. the near-future unease of Chen Qiufan and Hao Jingfang0:46 — Hip hop's arc: from underground scenes in Chengdu and Beijing to The Rap of China and sudden constraint0:51 — Eric Liu, the Weibo censor: humanizing the firewall from the inside0:55 — Common prosperity, Wang Huning, and the moral panic behind the crackdown on "effeminate" culture0:59 — Techno-utopianism in retrospect: was the emancipatory internet always a fantasy?1:03 — The convergence of the Chinese and American internets: Weibo and Twitter, TikTok and Oracle1:07 — What it means to be free: how the book expanded Yi-Ling's sense of what freedoms people actually wantPaying it forward: Zeyi Yang, technology reporter at WIRED, and co-author (with Louise Matsakis) of the excellent tech x China newsletter Made in ChinaRecommendations:Yi-Ling: The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai; Machine Decision is Not Final, an anthology of essays on Chinese AI compiled by scholars affiliated with NYU Shanghai.Kaiser: The Coming Storm: Power, Conflict and Warnings from History by Odd Arne Westad (forthcoming); Essays from Pallavi Aiyar's Substack The Global Jigsaw, particularly "How Has China Succeeded in Making People Mind their Manners" and "Why I Would Rather Be Born Chinese than Indian Today."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dave talks about his experience sneaking into Alibaba's headquarters in Hangzhou, China, delving into its history, operations, and the broader Chinese e-commerce landscape. He also shares insights on Alibaba's innovation, working conditions, and the rise of Chinese e-commerce brands, contrasting them with Western markets. Thinking about taking some risk off the table? Or are you looking at taking an extended break from e-commerce in general? Know what your e-commerce business is worth with Quiet Light Brokerage.    I screwed up.  I was scheduled to go to one of Amazon's biggest conferences in China but there was one big problem. I got the dates wrong. Their security guards were doing their job and I couldn't sneak my way into the conference despite having a ticket to the conference the day after.  So what do I do? I snuck into Alibaba instead, like any normal person.  In this episode, I talk about the things I saw while sneaking into the Alibaba HQ in Hangzhou, China. I learned how Alibaba's working conditions look like, how Alibaba grows their local brands, and how any mention of Jack Ma got erased from Alibaba.   Timestamps 00:00 - Introduction and Conference Mishap 01:27 - Visit to Alibaba's Headquarters 02:13 - Background on Alibaba and Chinese E-commerce 03:40 - Alibaba's Evolution and Market Dominance 05:32 - Taobao vs Amazon: The Largest E-commerce Platform 07:30 - Jack Ma's Influence and Controversy 09:25 - Inside Alibaba's Modern Headquarters 10:52 - Language and Leadership at Alibaba 12:47 - Jack Ma's Public Silence and Censorship 15:06 - Working Conditions in China 17:32 - Alibaba's E-commerce Incubator and Innovation 19:50 - Chinese E-commerce Brands and Innovation 21:40 - Cultural Insights and Social Media in China 23:07 - Elon Musk's Popularity in China Resources Mentioned Quiet Light Brokerage Alibaba Official Website Taobao Jack Ma Elon Musk As always, if you have any questions or anything that you need help with, leave a comment down below if you're interested. Don't forget to leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoy content like this. Happy selling and we'll talk to you soon!

This week on Sinica, I speak with Kyle Chan, a fellow at the John L. Thornton China Center at Brookings, previously a postdoc at Princeton, and author of the outstanding High-Capacity Newsletter on Substack. Kyle has emerged as one of the sharpest and most empirically grounded voices on U.S.-China technology relations, and he holds the all-time record for the most namechecks on Sinica's “Paying it forward” segment. We use his recent Financial Times op-ed on “The Great Reversal” in global technology flows and his longer High-Capacity essay on re-coupling as jumping-off points for a wide-ranging conversation about where China now sits at the global technological frontier, why the dominant decoupling narrative misses powerful structural forces pulling the two economies back together, and what all of this means for innovation, choke points, and the global tech ecosystem.4:35 – How Kyle became Kyle Chan: from Chicago School economics to development, railways, and systems thinking 12:50 – The Great Reversal: China at the technological frontier, from megawatt EV charging to LFP batteries 17:59 – The electro-industrial tech stack and China's overlapping, mutually reinforcing tech ecosystems 22:40 – Industrial strategy and time horizons: patience, persistence, and the long arc of China's auto industry 33:45 – Re-coupling under pressure: Waymo and Zeekr, Unitree robots, and the structural forces binding the two economies 40:22 – The gravity model: can political distance overwhelm technological mass? 47:01 – What China still wants from the U.S.: Cursor, GitHub, talent, and the AI brain drain 51:52 – Weaponized interdependence and the danger of securitizing everything 57:30 – Firm-level adaptation: HeyGen, Manus, and the playbook for de-sinification 1:02:58 – The view from the middle: Gulf states, Southeast Asia, and India as geopolitical arbitrageurs 1:10:18 – Engineering resilience: what policymakers are getting wrong about the systems they're buildingPaying it forward: Katrina Northrop; Grace Shao and her AI Proem newsletterRecommendations:Kyle: Wired Magazine's Made in China newsletter (by Zeyi Yang and Louise Matsakis); The Wire China Kaiser: The Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet by Yi-Ling LiuSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, I speak with Patricia Kim, a Fellow at the Brookings Institution's John L. Thornton China Center, where she focuses on U.S. policy toward China and the broader Asia Pacific. One year into Donald Trump's second term, Pattie and her colleague Joyce Yang have published a comprehensive Brookings assessment titled "Making America Great Again? Evaluating Trump's China strategy at the one-year mark," which examines whether the administration's stated objectives on reindustrialization, AI leadership, strategic dependence, and global standing are actually being met. We discuss the paradox of Trump's China policy (which is surprising consistency in goals despite the absence of a formal strategy document), with its mixed results on economic rebalancing and supply chain security, the troubling deterioration in U.S.-China diplomatic and military channels, and why the administration's approach to allies and partners may be undermining its own objectives. Pattie brings analytical discipline and empirical rigor to debates that are often long on rhetoric and short on evidence, cutting through a lot of noise to assess what's actually working, what isn't, and where the strategy is running up against reality.4:45 – Does Trump have a China strategy? Consistency without a formal framework8:15 – Assessing the economic rebalancing goals: reindustrialization and tariffs15:30 – Technology competition: export controls and AI leadership23:45 – Supply chain security and strategic dependence challenges31:20 – The deterioration of diplomatic and military-to-military channels39:50 – The ally and partner problem: how Trump's approach undermines his own goals47:15 – Global standing and American credibility in the Trump era52:30 – Paying it forward: The Lost in Translation series at BrookingsPaying it forward:Lost in Translation Series (Brookings Global China Project)Recommendations:Pattie: To Dare Mighty Things by Michael O'HanlonKaiser: Stalingrad by Vasily GrossmanSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, I speak with Ryan Hass, director of the John L. Thornton China Center at Brookings and one of the most clear-eyed analysts of the U.S.-China relationship working today. Ryan was director for China at the NSC during the Obama Administration.As Donald Trump moves through his second year in office, the bilateral relationship has defied easy characterization. The once-dominant language of great power competition has receded, China hawks have been sidelined, and Trump's personalistic approach—marked by praise for Xi Jinping and a willingness to bracket ideological disputes—represents a sharp departure from recent Washington orthodoxy.Ryan has just published an essay laying out three plausible pathways for the relationship under Trump: a soft landing, a hard split, or what he considers most likely—a period of uneasy calm in which both sides seek stability not out of trust, but out of mutual constraint. We discuss Trump's apparent strategy, the vibe shift in American attitudes, Beijing's choice between managing Trump versus managing uncertainty, the critical importance of Xi's planned April visit, and whether we're headed toward genuine stabilization or just buying time before the next collision.5:24 – Trump's approach: respect for Xi, military deterrence, and the rare earths constraint8:03 – The vibe shift and Trump's “reptilian feel” for American exhaustion with confrontation10:52 – Three scenarios: soft landing, hard split, or uneasy calm through mutual constraint16:30 – Beijing's bet: managing Trump versus managing whoever comes next26:46 – Economic interdependence and why decoupling is like “separating egg whites from a scrambled egg”37:12 – The April visit as a critical test: pageantry, protests, and what both sides are watching for42:18 – Taiwan as the most dangerous variable and where theory meets practice46:58 – Lack of institutional guardrails and the risks of Trump's personalistic foreign policyPaying it forward:Audrye Wong (USC)Recommendations:Ryan: The Conscience of the Party: Hu Yaobang, China's Communist Reformer by Robert SuettingerKaiser: The Last Cavalier (Le Chevalier de Sainte-Hermine) by Alexandre Dumas; Asia Society conversation with Lizzi Lee, Bert Hoffmann, and Gerard DiPippo on rebalancing China's economy; Trivium China Podcast with Andrew Polk, Joe Peissel, Danny McMahon, and Cory Combs on capital expenditure headwindsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, I speak with Afra Wang, a writer working between London and the Bay Area, currently a fellow with Gov.AI. We're talking today about her recent WIRED piece on what might be China's most influential science fiction project you've never heard of: The Morning Star of Lingao (Língáo Qǐmíng 临高启明), a sprawling, crowdsourced novel about time travelers who bootstrap an industrial revolution in Ming Dynasty Hainan. More than a thought experiment in alternate history, it's the ur-text of China's "Industrial Party" (gōngyè dǎng 工业党) — the loose intellectual movement that sees engineering capability as the true source of national power. We discuss what the novel reveals about how China thinks about failure, modernity, and salvation, and why, just as Americans are waking up to China's industrial might, the worldview that helped produce it may already be losing its grip.5:27 – Being a cultural in-betweener: code-switching across moral and epistemic registers 10:25 – Double consciousness and converging aesthetic standards 12:05 – "The greatest Chinese science fiction" — an ironic title for a poorly written cult classic 14:18 – Bridging STEM and humanities: the KPI-coded language of tech optimization 16:08 – China's post-Industrial Party moment: from "try hard" to "lie flat" 17:01 – How widely known is Lingao? A cult Bible for China's techno-elite 19:11 – From crypto bros to DAO experiments: how Afra discovered the novel 21:25 – The canonical timeline: compiling chaos into collaborative fiction 23:06 – Guancha.cn (guānchá zhě wǎng 观察者网) and the Industrial Party's media ecosystem 26:05 – The Sentimental Party (Qínghuái Dǎng 情怀党): China's lost civic space 29:01 – The Wenzhou high-speed rail crash: the debate that defined the Industrial Party 33:19 – Controlled spoilers: colonizing Australia, the Maid Revolution, and tech trees 41:06 – Competence as salvation: obsessive attention to getting the details right 44:18 – The Needham question and the joy of transformation: from Robinson Crusoe to Primitive Technology 47:25 – "Never again": inherited historical vulnerability and the memory of chaos 49:20 – Wang Xiaodong, "China Is Unhappy," and the crystallization of Industrial Party ideology 51:33 – Gender and Lingao: a pre-feminist artifact and the rational case for equality 56:16 – Dan Wang's Breakneck and the "engineering state" framework 59:25 – New Quality Productive Forces (xīn zhì shēngchǎnlì 新质生产力): Industrial Party logic in CCP policy 1:03:43 – The reckoning: why Industrial Party intellectuals are losing their innocence 1:07:49 – What Lingao tells us about China today: the invisible infrastructure beneath the hot showerPaying it forward: The volunteer translators of The Morning Star of Lingao (English translation and GitHub resources)Xīn Xīn Rén Lèi / Pixel Perfect podcast (https://pixelperfect.typlog.io/) and the Bǎihuā (百花) podcasting community Recommendations:Afra: China Through European Eyes: 800 Years of Cultural and Intellectual Encounter, edited by Kerry Brown; The Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet by Yi-Ling Liu Kaiser: Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes by Tamim AnsarySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, I speak with Jia Ruixue and Li Hongbin, coauthors of The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China. We're talking about China's college entrance exam — dreaded and feared, with outsized ability to determine life outcomes, seen as deeply flawed yet also sacrosanct, something few Chinese want drastically altered or removed. Cards on table: I had very strong preconceptions about the gaokao. My wife and I planned our children's education to get them out of the Chinese system before it became increasingly oriented toward gaokao preparation. But this book really opened my eyes. Ruixue is professor of economics at UC San Diego's School of Global Policy and Strategy, researching how institutions like examination systems shape governance, elite selection, and state capacity. Hongbin is James Liang Chair at Stanford, focusing on education, labor markets, and institutional foundations of China's economic development. We explore why the gaokao represents far more than just a difficult test, the concrete incentives families face, why there are limited alternative routes for social mobility, how both authors' own experiences shaped their thinking, why exam-based elite selection has been so durable in China, what happened when the exam system was suspended during the Cultural Revolution, why inequality has increased despite internet access to materials, why meaningful reform is so politically difficult, how education translated into productivity and GDP growth, the gap between skill formation and economic returns, how the system shapes governance and everyday life, and the moral dimensions of exam culture when Chinese families migrate to very different education systems like the U.S.6:18 – What the gaokao actually represents beyond just being a difficult exam 11:54 – Why there are limited alternative pathways for social mobility 14:23 – How their own experiences as students shaped their thinking 18:46 – Why the gaokao is a political institution, not just educational policy 22:21 – Why exam-based elite selection has been so durable in China 28:30 – What happened in late Qing and Cultural Revolution when exams were suspended 33:26 – Has internet access to materials reduced inequality or has it persisted? 36:55 – Hongbin's direct experience trying to reform the gaokao—and why it failed 40:28 – How education improvement accounts for significant share of China's GDP growth 42:44 – The gap: college doesn't add measurable skills, but gaokao scores predict income 46:56 – How centralized approach affects talent allocation across fields 51:08 – The gaokao and GDP tournament for officials: similar tournament systems 54:26 – How ranking and evaluation systems shape workplace behavior and culture 58:12 – When exam culture meets U.S. education: understanding tensions around affirmative action 1:02:10 – Transparent rule-based evaluation vs. discretion and judgment: the fundamental tradeoffRecommendations: Ruixue: Piao Liang Peng You (film by Geng Jun); Stoner (a novel by John Williams) Hongbin: The Dictator's HandbookKaiser: Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right by Laura K. Field; Black Pill by Elle ReeveSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, I speak with Daniel Bessner, the Anne H.H. and Kenneth B. Pyle Assistant Professor in American Foreign Policy at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington and co-host of the American Prestige Podcast. If you follow U.S.-China relations even casually, you can't avoid hearing that we're in a new Cold War — it's become a rhetorical reflex in D.C., shaping budgets, foreign policy debates, media narratives, and how ordinary Americans think about China.But what does it actually mean to call something a Cold War? To think clearly about the present, I find it helps to go to the past, not for simple analogies but to understand the intellectual and ideological machinery that produced and now sustains a Cold War mentality. Danny has written widely about the architecture of American power, the rise of the national security state, and the constellation of thinkers he calls Cold War liberals who helped define the ideological landscape of U.S. foreign policy. We explore how Cold War liberalism reshaped American political life, how the U.S. came to see its global dominance as natural and morally necessary, why the question of whose fault the Cold War was remains urgent in an age of renewed great power rivalry, the rise of China and anxiety of American decline, and what it would take to imagine a U.S.-China relationship that doesn't fall back into old patterns of moral binaries, ideological panic, and militarized competition.6:20 – Danny's background: from Iraq War politicization to studying defense intellectuals11:00 – Cold War liberalism: the constellation of ideas that shaped U.S. foreign policy16:14 – How these ideas became structurally embedded in security institutions22:02 – The Democratic Party's destruction of the genuine left in the late 1940s27:53 – Whose fault was the Cold War? Stalin's sphere of influence logic vs. American universalism31:07 – Are we facing a similar decision with China today?34:23 – The anxiety of loss: how decline anxiety distorts interpretation of China's rise37:54 – The new Cold War narrative: material realities vs. psychological legacies41:21 – Clearest parallels between the first Cold War and emerging U.S.-China confrontation44:33 – What would a pluralistic order in Asia actually look like?47:42 – Coexistence rather than zero-sum rivalry: what does it mean in practice?50:57 – What genuine restraint requires: accepting limits of American power54:14 – The moral imperative pushback: you can't have good empire without bad empire56:35 – Imperialist realism: Americans don't think we're good, but can't imagine another worldPaying it forward: The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and Responsible Statecraft publication; The Trillion Dollar War Machine by William Hartung and Ben FreemanRecommendations:Danny: Nirvana and the history of Seattle punk/indie music (forthcoming podcast project)Kaiser: Hello China Tech Substack by Poe Zhao (hellotechchina.com)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.