How e-commerce platforms filled a crucial void in China's political economy.
Illustration by Luis Grañena
Dongfeng, an impoverished village in Jiangsu Province, was once characterized as a mere “dumping ground,” because its economy was heavily reliant on plastic waste recycling. This bleak situation led to an exodus of young adults seeking employment opportunities in cities, with one villager even lamenting that “if an elderly person died, the village would not be able to muster four able-bodied men to carry the coffin.”
Han Sun, born in 1982, was among the young people who left Dongfeng
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In an extract from his new book, Breakneck, Dan Wang hops on his bike to explore how China’s problems throw America’s into stark relief. How is it, he asks while biking through Guizhou, that China’s poorest provinces have better infrastructure than America’s richest states.
The dissident scholar discusses public expression in China, the nuances of China-watching, life under government blacklisting, and how patterns of Chinese self-censorship echo across the American political spectrum.
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