Today on Moment of Zen, Erik Torenberg and Samo Burja explore how China's elite universities are creating a ruling class similar to America's, with student activism and credentialism reshaping both nations' power structures.
Make sure to subscribe to Samo Burja's Bismarck Brief and the Live Players podcast to read analyses and briefs like this one:
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Key Highlights
Core Thesis: Elite Convergence
- China and America are creating remarkably similar ruling classes despite being geopolitical rivals with different political systems
- Universities are the primary mechanism driving this convergence in both countries
China's Leadership Evolution
- Historic shift: For the first time, Chinese leaders are educated in China's own elite universities (Peking, Tsinghua, etc.) rather than abroad or through practical experience
- From engineers to lawyers: China moving from technocrats with engineering backgrounds to university-credentialed elites
- Signaling theory: Chinese elite universities now function like Harvard/MIT as intelligence signals
"Chinese Woke" vs Western Woke
- China already has student activism - but it's Marxist/Maoist students organizing workers' unions
- Ideological trap: Communist Party struggles because students use party ideology to critique the party itself
- Future prediction: Chinese "woke" will likely focus on gender/feminism rather than racial/ethnic issues due to China's homogeneity
University Power Dynamics
- Zero-sum tournament: Universities create gatekeeping for elite positions in both countries
- Elite clubs, not education: Universities function more as exclusive clubs than learning institutions
- Defensibility: University power will be extremely difficult to dislodge without radical intervention
Consequences for China
- Positives: Better rule of law, higher status for journalists/lawyers, more humanistic perspective
- Negatives: Loss of business acumen, reduced technical expertise, potential future incompetence as credentials replace competence
Mirror Society Concept
- Both nations face similar paradoxes: Ideological foundations that create unresolvable contradictions
- Generational warfare: Young elites using ideology to displace older generations in both systems
- Talent retention: China increasingly keeping its best students domestically rather than sending them to American universities
Long-term Prediction
China's government may become incompetent as university credentials replace practical experience and technical knowledge
