#466 – Jeffrey Wasserstrom: China, Xi Jinping, Trade War, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mao
Lex Fridman Podcast
Lex Fridman
4.7 • 13K Ratings
🗓️ 24 April 2025
⏱️ 194 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep466-sc
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Transcript:
https://lexfridman.com/jeffrey-wasserstrom-transcript
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EPISODE LINKS:
Jeffrey Wasserstrom's Books:
China in the 21st Century: https://amzn.to/3GnayXT
Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink: https://amzn.to/4jmxWmT
Oxford History of Modern China: https://amzn.to/3RAJ9nI
The Milk Tea Alliance: https://amzn.to/42DLapH
SPONSORS:
To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts:
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LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix.
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OUTLINE:
(00:00) - Introduction
(00:06) - Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections
(10:29) - Xi Jinping and Mao Zedong
(13:57) - Confucius
(21:27) - Education
(29:33) - Tiananmen Square
(40:49) - Tank Man
(50:49) - Censorship
(1:26:45) - Xi Jinping
(1:44:53) - Donald Trump
(1:48:47) - Trade war
(2:01:35) - Taiwan
(2:11:48) - Protests in Hong Kong
(2:44:07) - Mao Zedong
(3:05:48) - Future of China
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The following is a conversation with Jeffrey Wasserstrom, a historian of modern China. |
| 0:06.6 | And now a quick few seconds mention of each sponsor. |
| 0:09.5 | Check them out in the description. |
| 0:11.0 | It's the best way to support this podcast. |
| 0:13.4 | We got Oracle for Cloud Computing, Tax Network USA for taxes, Shopify for selling stuff online, Element for Electrolize and Agee1 |
| 0:24.0 | for a daily multivitamin. Choose wasn't, my friends. Let me make the public service announcement |
| 0:31.0 | that I've done a few times about these ad reads. I do them on RSS, I do an Apple podcast on Spotify, based on the feedback I've |
| 0:40.0 | gotten in the survey, at Lexfredman.com slash survey. Many enjoyed a quick, random, non-sequitur |
| 0:50.9 | insights into whatever is going on in this particular mind. |
| 0:55.6 | I don't do the ad reads in a normal way. |
| 0:58.1 | Half the time I don't really even talk about the sponsor. |
| 1:00.6 | I'm just talking about stuff that I'm thinking about. |
| 1:03.1 | Except maybe for a bit of a shout out to the sponsor for being awesome |
| 1:07.0 | and a quick description of what they do. |
| 1:10.3 | Sometimes the sponsor itself, the topic inspires |
| 1:13.0 | me to think about certain kinds of topics. Anyway, that's the point to continuously be |
| 1:18.0 | innovating how to do this podcast thing. What is this? Who am I? And who are you? And why is it the connection between the two of us is so real? |
| 1:34.9 | Me as a podcast fan, I listen to a lot of podcasts, |
| 1:38.3 | and I legitimately feel like I am friends with the person I'm listening to. I think there's a real way in which that is |
| 1:47.2 | fundamentally true. I think people mock that. I think people say that that's not a real connection. |
| 1:54.5 | I think it's a real connection. I don't know. My life is fundamentally better for these friendships. |
| 2:00.7 | Real or not real? Who's to say I can't |
... |
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