Conversations with Tyler

Yasheng Huang on the Development of the Chinese State

Mar 8, 2023

Yasheng Huang, Professor of Management at MIT Sloan and author on Chinese economic reforms, dives deep into China's unique developmental journey. He contrasts rural entrepreneurship with state-controlled urban growth, highlights the historical impact of the civil service exam, and discusses concerns over foreign investment rather than population decline. Huang reflects on the stagnation of Chinese literacy in the 19th century, the underrepresentation of Chinese Americans in CEO roles, and his favorite historical period, the Six Dynasties, all while offering insights into China's political stability and cultural dynamics.

54:22

Creator website

Episode guests

Yasheng Huang

Highlights

AI Chapters

Episode notes

The Chinese State in the 19th Century

02:14

The Unsustainable Economic Policies of the Chinese Government

01:35

The Decline of the Chinese Communist Party under Xi Jinping

00:56

Two Sides of China: The Political and the Economic Side

04:05

Intro

3min

The Evolution of China's State and Society

22min

Civil Society and Protests in China

7min

Analyzing Stability in Chinese Political Succession

4min

Exploring China's Fragmented Historical Landscape and Cultural Dynamics

5min

Culinary Insights and Cultural Reflections

12min

Exploring the Needham Question in Chinese Technology

2min

Yasheng Huang has written two of Tyler’s favorite books on China: Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics, which contrasts an entrepreneurial rural China and a state-controlled urban China, and The Rise and Fall of the EAST, which argues that Keju—China’s civil service exam system—played a key role in the growth and expanding power of the Chinese state.

Yasheng joined Tyler to discuss China’s lackluster technological innovation, why declining foreign investment is more of a concern than a declining population, why Chinese literacy stagnated in the 19th century, how he believes the imperial exam system deprived China of a thriving civil society, why Chinese succession has been so stable, why the Six Dynasties is his favorite period in Chinese history, why there were so few female emperors, why Chinese and Chinese Americans have done less well becoming top CEOs of American companies compared to Indians and Indian Americans, where he’d send someone on a two week trip to China, what he learned from János Kornai, and more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded January 17th, 2023

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Photo credit: MIT Sloan School

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