Adam Tooze Climbs the China Learning Curve

Sinica Podcast

Kaiser Kuo

Culture, China News, Hangzhou, Chinese, International Relations, Chongqing, Beijing, Sichuan, Currentaffairs, China, Politics, Chengdu, Shanghai, Guangzhou, China Economy, News, China Politics, Business, Film, Shenzhen

4.8 • 676 Ratings

🗓️ 16 July 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

I'm in Shaxi, a wonderful little town in the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, and I was joined here by the Columbia economic historian Adam Tooze, who shared his thoughts on what he sees happening on the ground in China. Adam's been in China for the last month and reflects on his experiences learning about the country — and even attempting the language!

03:49 - The economic situation in China

10:42 - Patterns of consumption in China

14:38 - China’s industrial policy and renewable energy

18:52 - China vs. the U.S. on renewables

26:15 - China’s economic engagement with the Global South

33:13- Beijing’s strategic shift and Europe’s rethinking

37:49- The recent European Parliament paper

42:43 - Learning about China as an “Outsider”

51:31 - Adam’s evolving views on China

59:30 - Paying it Forward

01:01:07 - Recommendations

Paying it Forward: Kyle Chan, Pekingology.

Recommendations: Adam: Caught by the Tide, Jia Zhangke (movie).

Kaiser: Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI, Karen Hao (book), Vera, or Faith, Gary Shteyngart (book).

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to the Cynica podcast, the weekly discussion of current affairs in China.
0:12.8	In this program, we'll look at books, ideas, new research, intellectual currents, and cultural
0:18.2	trends that can help us better understand what's happening in China's politics, foreign relations, economics, and society. Join me each week for in-depth
0:26.2	conversations that shed more light and bring less heat to how we think and talk about China.
0:32.9	I'm Kajigua, coming to today from the lovely town of Sa-Sei in southwest China's Viennan province,
0:38.3	where I'm almost three weeks now into a month-long musical retreat with other members of my band
0:43.6	Chun Xiu, Spring, and Autumn, which reformed in the spring of this year. We are here working
0:49.2	on material for a new album, which we anticipate we'll record later this year and hopefully
0:53.9	release early next year. Cyn'll record later this year and hopefully release
0:54.3	early next year.
0:56.1	Cynica is supported this year by the Center for East Asian Studies at the University
0:59.5	of Wisconsin-Madison, a National Resource Center for the Study of East Asia.
1:04.5	The Cynica podcast will remain free, but if you work for an organization that believes
1:09.0	in what I'm doing with podcast, please consider lending your support.
1:13.5	You can get me at Cinecapod at gmail.com.
1:16.5	And listeners, please support my work at an individual level at Cinecapodcast.com.
1:22.1	Become a paying subscriber and enjoy in addition to the podcast, the complete transcript of the show,
1:28.5	essays from me as well as writings and podcasts from some of your favorite China-focused columnists and commentators.
1:34.1	Do check out the page to see all that's on offer and consider helping me out.
1:39.6	Well, it just so happens that my friend Adam Too's has been in China for much of the last month
1:43.6	as well for the World Economic Forum event in Tianjin for various meetings and talks. And as luck would have it, he was in Yunnan this week. He was able to pop over to Shashi to visit me here, meet my bandmates, and was even able to join us for some early morning mushroom hunting in which you were successful. Yes.
2:01.1	Yeah, I got a good one. Yeah, you got a really good one. Very fleece of
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 27 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Kaiser Kuo, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Kaiser Kuo and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.