Posts tagged “china”:
学中文
There are a multitude of reasons why I wanted to study Chinese. Being the language of the “workshop of the world” naturally offers many business opportunities, but I am more interested in the burgeoning fields of Integrated circuit (ic), r&d, and software development. Planet Emacslife allows me to keep tabs on the goings-on in the Emacssphere, but I also want to be able to read Emacs China; so I figured it might be a good idea to be able to read Chinese.
Continue ReadingA Phenomenology of the PRC
In my musings on deepseek I wrote on the general economic environment in the prc, and how it differs from the central-planning-oriented one that has come to dominate the view in the west, even if subconsciously. Here I wish to offer a less “big picture” perspective, one that is more focused on the boots-on-the-ground perspective of travelling around China. It will not be representative of anything except my own perspective, and they will by definition misrepresent the truth as it is merely a sample size of one.
Continue ReadingDeepseek is not a Chinese OpenAI
The thoughts underlying this thesis have been with me some time, and have been slowly been crystallising more and more clearly as time goes on and I realise that the rest of the world is seemingly diverging more and more with my own thoughts on the subject. This is not a fully formed proposal, and I will not attempt any detailed plan of action. As always, it is instead an attempt to try and formulate my own thinking on the subject, as well as to offer the reader a perspective on the Chinese economic philosophy that is heavily overlooked in the west. While informed by reading scholarly material and following the ongoing discussion about China, it is prompted mainly by my visit there and getting an idea of how the country works. That idea may be incorrect, and so feel free to e-mail me your thoughts on the subject.
Continue ReadingThe Role of Geography in Dynastic China
Throughout Chinese history, there have been two great divides. First, that of the east-west, and later the north-south. These two dynamics have been instrumental in how Chinese society looks today and of how the history of imperial and premodern China played out. While China has had contacts with the outside world since time immemorial, it has been isolated from the outside world due to its geographic boundaries. To the north, large steppes and desert that makes settled agriculture largely impossible, as well as major mountain ranges. The west has large deserts and the major obstacle of the Tibetan plateau in the south-west, and further to the south tropical forests and a dense network of mountains. Finally, to the east lies the world’s largest ocean, the pacific, with only the islands of Japan and Formosa, as well as the Korean peninsula before a reaching expanse. These borders have shaped the Chinese frontier, but a multitude of geographic features have also impacted the Chinese interior.
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