Victor Shih
vicshih.bsky.social
Victor Shih
@vicshih.bsky.social

Director, 21st Century China Center at UCSD: elite politics, financial markets, debt….of China of course

Victor Shih is an American political scientist. He is the Ho Miu Lam Chair in China and Pacific Relations at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). He is also a non-resident senior associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies's Freeman Chair in China Studies. .. more

Political science 53%
Sociology 14%

So to understand why Zhang Shengmin was promoted despite being associated with some very corrupt people, I would read my book and this 1973 classic www.amazon.com/Chinese-High...
The Chinese High Command;: A History of Communist Military Politics, 1927-71 (Praeger Library of Chinese Affairs)
The Chinese High Command;: A History of Communist Military Politics, 1927-71 (Praeger Library of Chinese Affairs) [William W. Whitson, Chen-Hsia Huang, Lucian W. Pye] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Chinese High Command;: A History of Communist Military Politics, 1927-71 (Praeger Library of Chinese Affairs)
www.amazon.com

“免去李成钢的中华人民共和国常驻世界贸易组织代表、特命全权大使,兼常驻联合国日内瓦办事处和瑞士其他国际组织副代表职务” wait is he purged? Why? www.news.cn/20251020/f64...
国家主席习近平任免驻外大使-新华网
国家主席习近平任免驻外大使-
www.news.cn

China, India, U.S. are arguably the most dynamic ,impactful countries economically and geopolitically. We @21CenturyChina @GPSIndiaCenter are excited to host @tanvi_madan ,@d_jaishankar Evan Medeiros @SusanShirk1 for an indepth discussion. Join us! gps-ucsd.zohobackstage.com/ShiftingTria...
gps-ucsd.zohobackstage.com

Well the suspected purge was made public today. It is still shocking because these were the trusted lieutenants Xi put in key positions. Whatever corruption they engaged in, it must have been very bad, or some other factor led to their fall www.mod.gov.cn/gfbw/qwfb/16...
何卫东、苗华等9人严重违纪违法被开除党籍军籍 - 中华人民共和国国防部
www.mod.gov.cn

Reposted by Victor Shih

🌍 Join us next week for an exciting virtual panel discussion with: @dhruvajaishankar.bsky.social, @tanvimadan.bsky.social, Evan Medeiros and Susan Shirk

💻 Moderators: @gpsucsd.bsky.social professors Achyuta Adhvaryu and @vicshih.bsky.social

Register ➡️ gps-ucsd.zohobackstage.com/ShiftingTria...

We @ChinaDataLab and @UCIGCC launch med the China Policy Document Navigator, a first-of-its-kind database giving researchers curated access to thousands of hard-to-find Chinese policy documents. Learn how to use it and register here: chinadatalab.ucsd.edu/viz-blog/chi...
China’s Science & Technology Ecosystem, Made Searchable - China Data Lab
Viz Blog
chinadatalab.ucsd.edu

How do promotion prospects drive patterns of repression in China? @baggottcarter, Jonghyuk Lee, and I find that the most promising officials hesitate to use repression for fear of backlash riots, except for in separatist regions www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1...
Who Represses? Career Incentives and the Geography of Repression in China | The Journal of Politics: Vol 0, No ja
www.journals.uchicago.edu

For folks interested in some speculations about leadership turnover in China, @NeysunM was kind enough to host this conversation @FPRI in Philly m.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ7B...
How Will Xi Handle the Succession Process?
YouTube video by Foreign Policy Research Institute
m.youtube.com

Reposted by Victor Shih

Along with our Zhengfawei (soundcloud.com/user-8653541...) colleagues, I've enjoyed a fairly constant on and offline conversation with my friend @vicshih.bsky.social since February 2021, and so it was a delight to continue our chat before a terrific live audience at @fpri.bsky.social yesterday:
How Will Xi Handle the Succession Process?
YouTube video by Foreign Policy Research Institute
www.youtube.com

Will read for sure

Reposted by Victor Shih

4th term for Xi Jinping may be likely, but succession is inevitable. What can we glean from current signals & past practice about how that process might play out? I am looking forward to welcome my friend @vicshih.bsky.social to discuss these Qs @fpri.bsky.social on Tue: www.fpri.org/event/2025/h...
How Will Xi Handle the Succession Process? - FPRI Events
Xi Jinping has ruled China for well over a decade now, making him the longest serving official leader of China since Mao Zedong. As the prospect sharpens for
www.fpri.org

Someone should do a survey experiment on whether and how these model workers still help bolster the party’s legitimacy. Quite a lot of effort is still expended to select and highlight them, like this model rail worker 车菲菲 zjnews.zjol.com.cn/zjnews/20220...
https://zjnews.zjol.com.cn/zjnews/202209/…

Ok as of now, if you really rely on LLMs for close reading of government regulations, the interpretation will be mediocre to poor. I think Gemini is pretty good for Chinese material but even it misses many things which would be obvious to a trained human analyst

Reposted by Victor Shih

The Wire China is currently seeking applications for a staff writer.

Follow the link below to learn more about the position and how to apply.
Open Postions - The Wire China
The Wire China is Seeking Applications for a Staff Writer.
buff.ly

A very sad day for China studies as we lose one of the great mentors of the field
We are saddened to hear of the passing of Jerome A. Cohen, the eminent scholar of Chinese law. Our condolences to his family and all those who loved him.

He authored many books, most recently the memoir, "Eastward, Westward: A Life in Law."

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Reposted by Victor Shih

We are saddened to hear of the passing of Jerome A. Cohen, the eminent scholar of Chinese law. Our condolences to his family and all those who loved him.

He authored many books, most recently the memoir, "Eastward, Westward: A Life in Law."

(1/2)

Reposted by Victor Shih

Joanna Lewis, Sam Geall, Lauri Myllivirta, I and some others quoted in this Brook Larmer piece on China's global green-tech ambitions. This is part of the focus of my forthcoming book "Chinese Global Environmentalism," out later this year. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/m...
What Will China’s Green-Tech Ambitions Cost the World?
www.nytimes.com

Trump unveils $100K yearly fee on H-1B visas in clampdown on legal immigration / lets dramatically slow down the flow of top stem talent into this country. That’s going to end well. And guess what, that will benefit all of our tech competitors

Reposted by Victor Shih

China’s once-booming property sector is in crisis. Prices are falling, developers are drowning in debt and millions of homes sit empty

Political scientist Victor Shih (@vicshih.bsky.social) explains why China’s housing market has failed to recover.

📺 youtu.be/MAPkc1GxUNA

Wow, the August issue of Contemporary International Relations, a CICIR journal, has an essay entitled "The End of the West" by CICIR vice director Zhang Jian. Provocative and what timing. The full text is on Ai Sixiang oss.aisixiang.com/download/0fe...
oss.aisixiang.com

I have had a few chats with @josephtorigian.bsky.social on his book but this one really turned out well and we addressed some core issues about the party and its history www.ncuscr.org/video/the-pa...
The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping
Through an examination of the life of Xi Zhongxun, Joseph Torigian sheds light on the power of the Chinese Communist Party and how it affects individuals at its highest levels.
www.ncuscr.org

#APSA2025 if you still read books, you need to come to MacLeod’s Books

Normal because the EU had been doing it but the US doesn’t have anything equivalent, just costs write off on taxes

Hong Kong: a comeback with Chinese characteristics / yes finance is doing well but you need tourism to come back to generate employment

Reposted by Victor Shih

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Yes, it's "locked in" only in the sense that if China doesn't dramatically change its domestic economy, and if the rest of the world continues absorbing its surpluses, Chinese surpluses will keep growing.

They are "locked in" only to the same extent that Japanese trade surpluses in the late...

You know i actually read an article today arguing that this large surplus is “locked in” for China. I don’t buy it at all b/c all China has to do is erase all export rebates and transfer proceeds to households directly. Of course trade surplus will not disappear but will shrink
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For all the talk of rebalancing domestic demand in China, Chinese exports continue to climb much faster than imports in 2025. In the first seven months of 2025, exports were up 6.9% in RMB terms, while imports were up 1.2%.
english.news.cn/20250908/e41...
China's foreign trade up 3.5 pct in August
english.news.cn