The Culture of the Empire Strikes Back

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In china, the government already has this power to just stop you in your tracks when you are doing things that they consider to be out of bounds. But then also there they have this responsibility that they innately feel, and the people expect them to take action. And what you might not have expected to hear from the parents is that the number one reason why they wanted to limit screen time was actually worsening vision. So miopia, near sightedness by far a top goal for society. They literally have like, by, five years from now, we want the children's rate of miopia rates to be 5% or less. That's where it were Ba

Who do you think the Chinese government considers its biggest rival? The United States, right? Actually, the Chinese government considers its biggest rival to be its own technology companies.

It's China's tech companies who threaten its capacity to build a competitive China. That's why the Chinese government is cracking down on social media — for example, by limiting the number of hours youth can play video games, and banning cell phone use in schools. China's restrictions on social media use may be autocratic, but may also protect users more than what we see coming from the US government.

It’s a complicated picture.

This week on Your Undivided Attention, we're having a surprising conversation about technology in China. Here to give us a fresh take are two guests: investor, analyst, and co-host of the Tech Buzz China podcast Rui Ma, and China internet expert and author of Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built, Duncan Clark.