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The a16z Show

Politics Over Pragmatism

The a16z Show

a16z

Disruption, Culture, Technology, Software Eating The World, Innovation, Science, Entrepreneurship, Business

4.21.2K Ratings

🗓️ 2 June 2016

⏱️ 43 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

"Anybody who is interested in China, who's developing things in China, who's doing business with China needs to be thinking about the instinct towards politics over pragmatism", argues New Yorker staff writer (and former Beijing resident) Evan Osnos....

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi, everyone. Welcome to the A6 and Z podcast. I'm Sonal, and today Michael and I are here in D.C.

0:06.8

I feel like when you say D.C., I have to say our nation's capital.

0:09.4

I wish we had stirring music.

0:10.9

That voice you just heard is Evan Osnows, who is a staff writer at the New Yorker and a fellow at Brookings in the China Center.

0:19.5

And previously, he was a foreign correspondent and has lived all

0:22.7

over the world or you've reported from all over the world. Tell us about that. Yeah, I worked in the

0:27.4

Middle East for a couple of years in Iraq. But really, actually, China was always my focus.

0:32.9

If you're a person who loves stories, who loves sort of the making of nations and how stories happen,

0:39.4

how places sort of come to be what they are, China was really sort of manna from heaven.

0:45.3

Did you, you know, set up in Beijing?

0:47.7

Were you in Shanghai?

0:48.8

Yeah.

0:48.9

Like, where did you go?

0:49.9

I lived in Beijing.

0:51.3

I lived in, and there's a bit of a sort of Red Sox Yankees thing about Beijing and Shanghai.

0:56.4

I lived in Shanghai.

0:57.4

You guys, I'm going to put like a little distance between you.

1:00.4

That's fine.

1:01.0

But it is true.

1:02.3

I mean, does that sound consistent with what you do?

1:05.3

What about that period?

1:06.7

I mean, I do think it's interesting that you framed it as like if you love stories, you're watching this nation building happening.

...

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