Kaiser Kuo 郭怡廣
@kaiserkuo.bsky.social
Host of the Sinica Podcast (https://sinicapodcast.com), former guitarist of Tang Dynasty, about to re-form the band 春秋 (Spring & Autumn). Currently in Chapel Hill, moving back to Beijing soonish. Chinese history, politics, culture, society.
Pinned
Kaiser Kuo 郭怡廣
@kaiserkuo.bsky.social
· Jan 23
New from the Sinica Podcast: a new limited series from our friends at Johns Hopkins SAIS China Research Center — "Studying China in the Absence of Access: Recovering a Lost Art." The first episode features renowned Pekingologist Frederick Tiewes (emeritus, Sydney University). Link below.
This week on @SinicaPodcast, I spoke with Lizzi Lee of the Asia Society Policy Institute about China's 4th Plenum, the anti-involution push, why "overcapacity" is misleading, VAT incentives driving overcompetition, and what really happened at the Trump-Xi meeting in Busan.
Lizzi Lee on Involution, Overcapacity, and China's Economic Model
This week on Sinica, I chat with Lizzi Lee, a fellow on the Chinese economy at the Asia Society Policy Institute and one of the sharpest China analysts working today.
www.sinicapodcast.com
November 5, 2025 at 3:28 PM
This week on @SinicaPodcast, I spoke with Lizzi Lee of the Asia Society Policy Institute about China's 4th Plenum, the anti-involution push, why "overcapacity" is misleading, VAT incentives driving overcompetition, and what really happened at the Trump-Xi meeting in Busan.
I have a new, long piece in The Ideas Letter called “The Great Reckoning: What the West Should Learn from China," arguing that we must learn from China even (or especially) when its successes unsettle our assumptions. Link below.
October 17, 2025 at 6:19 AM
I have a new, long piece in The Ideas Letter called “The Great Reckoning: What the West Should Learn from China," arguing that we must learn from China even (or especially) when its successes unsettle our assumptions. Link below.
Reposted by Kaiser Kuo 郭怡廣
Turns out we're pretty CLUELESS about China in the West...
@kaiserkuo.bsky.social (from the Sinica podcast) joins me for the latest episode of SMART COOKIES to explain why that's probably not a good idea 👇🏻
YT:
youtu.be/uWAkwJlrPuE
Spotify:
open.spotify.com/episode/4jas...
#china
@kaiserkuo.bsky.social (from the Sinica podcast) joins me for the latest episode of SMART COOKIES to explain why that's probably not a good idea 👇🏻
YT:
youtu.be/uWAkwJlrPuE
Spotify:
open.spotify.com/episode/4jas...
#china
August 23, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Turns out we're pretty CLUELESS about China in the West...
@kaiserkuo.bsky.social (from the Sinica podcast) joins me for the latest episode of SMART COOKIES to explain why that's probably not a good idea 👇🏻
YT:
youtu.be/uWAkwJlrPuE
Spotify:
open.spotify.com/episode/4jas...
#china
@kaiserkuo.bsky.social (from the Sinica podcast) joins me for the latest episode of SMART COOKIES to explain why that's probably not a good idea 👇🏻
YT:
youtu.be/uWAkwJlrPuE
Spotify:
open.spotify.com/episode/4jas...
#china
Reposted by Kaiser Kuo 郭怡廣
New book review for @kaiserkuo.bsky.social's Sinica substack subscribers: Calvin Quek on "a welcome and timely update" by Ma Tianjie about environmental issues in China.
Book Review: Ma Tianjie's "In Search of Green China"
A guest post by Calvin Quek, Executive Director, Nature Finance, Oxford Sustainable Finance Group. Director, Transition Asia
www.sinicapodcast.com
July 7, 2025 at 1:45 PM
New book review for @kaiserkuo.bsky.social's Sinica substack subscribers: Calvin Quek on "a welcome and timely update" by Ma Tianjie about environmental issues in China.
This was a ton of fun. Thanks so much to Joe @weisenthal.bsky.social and @tracyalloway.bsky.social for inviting me on and asking great questions!
NEW ODD LOTS:
Why the world keeps getting surprised by Chinese tech gains.
@tracyalloway.bsky.social and I speak with @kaiserkuo.bsky.social, host of the Sinica podcast podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...
Why the world keeps getting surprised by Chinese tech gains.
@tracyalloway.bsky.social and I speak with @kaiserkuo.bsky.social, host of the Sinica podcast podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...
Why the World Keeps Getting Shocked by China's Technological Progress
Podcast Episode · Odd Lots · 05/10/2025 · 39m
podcasts.apple.com
May 10, 2025 at 3:55 PM
This was a ton of fun. Thanks so much to Joe @weisenthal.bsky.social and @tracyalloway.bsky.social for inviting me on and asking great questions!
Reposted by Kaiser Kuo 郭怡廣
Appearing on the Sinica podcast was a bucket list sort of thing. Thanks to @kaiserkuo.bsky.social for having me on to talk about ethnopolitics in China. There's more I wish I had said, and some things I wish I had said differently, but give it a listen!
www.sinicapodcast.com/p/live-at-pi...
www.sinicapodcast.com/p/live-at-pi...
Live at Pitt: CMU's Benno Weiner on the Evolution of China's Minzu Policy
This week on Sinica, in a show recorded at the University of Pittsburgh, I speak with Benno Weiner, Associate Professor of History at Carnegie Mellon University, about how China's policy toward its mi...
www.sinicapodcast.com
May 1, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Appearing on the Sinica podcast was a bucket list sort of thing. Thanks to @kaiserkuo.bsky.social for having me on to talk about ethnopolitics in China. There's more I wish I had said, and some things I wish I had said differently, but give it a listen!
www.sinicapodcast.com/p/live-at-pi...
www.sinicapodcast.com/p/live-at-pi...
Reposted by Kaiser Kuo 郭怡廣
The Sinica podcast where I discuss my new book on evolution in IR with @kaiserkuo.bsky.social is now out!
Evolutionary Psychology and International Relations, with Jeremy Garlick www.sinicapodcast.com/p/evolutiona...
Evolutionary Psychology and International Relations, with Jeremy Garlick www.sinicapodcast.com/p/evolutiona...
Evolutionary Psychology and International Relations, with Jeremy Garlick
This week on the Sinica Podcast, I chat with Jeremy Garlick, Director of the Jan Masaryk Centre for International Studies, Prague University, and a scholar of China’s international relations.
www.sinicapodcast.com
March 20, 2025 at 6:59 AM
The Sinica podcast where I discuss my new book on evolution in IR with @kaiserkuo.bsky.social is now out!
Evolutionary Psychology and International Relations, with Jeremy Garlick www.sinicapodcast.com/p/evolutiona...
Evolutionary Psychology and International Relations, with Jeremy Garlick www.sinicapodcast.com/p/evolutiona...
If you're in the Bay Area, please come check out this live taping of the Sinica Podcast on Th 5pm PST in Berkeley. Guests are Ryan Hass (Obama NSC, Brookings) and Jessica Chen Weiss @jessicacweiss.bsky.social (Hopkins SAIS). Gonna be a banger! RSVP at the link. events.berkeley.edu/ieas/event/2...
Kaiser Kuo’s Sinica Podcast: China and the US in 2025, with Jessica Chen Weiss and Ryan Hass
RSVP is required.
events.berkeley.edu
March 5, 2025 at 10:44 PM
If you're in the Bay Area, please come check out this live taping of the Sinica Podcast on Th 5pm PST in Berkeley. Guests are Ryan Hass (Obama NSC, Brookings) and Jessica Chen Weiss @jessicacweiss.bsky.social (Hopkins SAIS). Gonna be a banger! RSVP at the link. events.berkeley.edu/ieas/event/2...
Watching people defend USAID solely in terms of 'Great Power Competition' with China is like mourning a burned-down library and condemning the arsonist because now your rival has more books. Maybe — just maybe — foreign aid should have been about, you know, helping people?
February 5, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Watching people defend USAID solely in terms of 'Great Power Competition' with China is like mourning a burned-down library and condemning the arsonist because now your rival has more books. Maybe — just maybe — foreign aid should have been about, you know, helping people?
Reposted by Kaiser Kuo 郭怡廣
Here's my latest interview with @kaiserkuo.bsky.social, founding guitarist of the legendary metal band Tang Dynasty, who will reunite with his other band Chun Qiu in March. Truly a pleasure to have on!
youtu.be/7Jwvwdv4B4U?...
youtu.be/7Jwvwdv4B4U?...
Interview with Kaiser Kuo (Spring & Autumn, formerly of Tang Dynasty) | Music Existence
YouTube video by Jake Kussmaul
youtu.be
February 4, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Here's my latest interview with @kaiserkuo.bsky.social, founding guitarist of the legendary metal band Tang Dynasty, who will reunite with his other band Chun Qiu in March. Truly a pleasure to have on!
youtu.be/7Jwvwdv4B4U?...
youtu.be/7Jwvwdv4B4U?...
Imma lose my shit if I ever hear anyone in this fucking administration accuse China of bullying and expansionism.
February 3, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Imma lose my shit if I ever hear anyone in this fucking administration accuse China of bullying and expansionism.
The one and only Jeremy @goldkorn.bsky.social returns to the Sinica Podcast to say why he thinks — with DeepSeek, the TikTok Refugees on Xiaohongshu, and more — a narrative shift on China is now underway in the US. Tell us whether you agree! Link in the reply thread below.
February 3, 2025 at 9:42 PM
The one and only Jeremy @goldkorn.bsky.social returns to the Sinica Podcast to say why he thinks — with DeepSeek, the TikTok Refugees on Xiaohongshu, and more — a narrative shift on China is now underway in the US. Tell us whether you agree! Link in the reply thread below.
Lovely piece by the poet Heather Swan, married to my best friend, abt his bonkers love of winter & skating.
“It’s the closest we get to flying,” he said once as he sailed past me. Another time: “Maybe this is how a dolphin feels carving through the water.”
www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/590...
“It’s the closest we get to flying,” he said once as he sailed past me. Another time: “Maybe this is how a dolphin feels carving through the water.”
www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/590...
Keening for the Cailleach
The best nights are when moonlight comes through the trees, casting indigo shadows across the ice. My partner swoops around, his arms swinging in front of his crouched body. “It’s the closest we get t...
www.thesunmagazine.org
January 31, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Lovely piece by the poet Heather Swan, married to my best friend, abt his bonkers love of winter & skating.
“It’s the closest we get to flying,” he said once as he sailed past me. Another time: “Maybe this is how a dolphin feels carving through the water.”
www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/590...
“It’s the closest we get to flying,” he said once as he sailed past me. Another time: “Maybe this is how a dolphin feels carving through the water.”
www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/590...
I'm curious about the perspectives of folks here on Bsky. Are we in a moment of narrative shift here in the U.S., or more broadly in the "West," regarding China? You know the drivers: DeepSeek, the "TikTok" refugees on Xiaohongshu, all atop growing awareness of China's tech prowess, EV boom etc. 1/n
January 31, 2025 at 6:39 PM
I'm curious about the perspectives of folks here on Bsky. Are we in a moment of narrative shift here in the U.S., or more broadly in the "West," regarding China? You know the drivers: DeepSeek, the "TikTok" refugees on Xiaohongshu, all atop growing awareness of China's tech prowess, EV boom etc. 1/n
Reposted by Kaiser Kuo 郭怡廣
Oh so NOW the AI guys are worried about intellectual property theft
OpenAI says it has evidence China’s DeepSeek used its model to train competitor
White House AI tsar David Sacks raises possibility of alleged intellectual property theft
www.ft.com
January 29, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Oh so NOW the AI guys are worried about intellectual property theft
1/ My flight's delayed and I find myself with a couple of hours in the Zurich airport, so I thought I'd follow on my earlier thread to address a question that's always intrigued me: What is it about China's rise that seems to stick so badly in the American craw?
January 28, 2025 at 4:34 PM
1/ My flight's delayed and I find myself with a couple of hours in the Zurich airport, so I thought I'd follow on my earlier thread to address a question that's always intrigued me: What is it about China's rise that seems to stick so badly in the American craw?
1/ Why does the U.S. seem to be caught off guard so often by what China or Chinese companies accomplish? Here’s an off-the-top-of-my head thread unpacking some reasons—structural, cultural, and epistemological—for this recurring phenomenon.
January 28, 2025 at 2:08 PM
1/ Why does the U.S. seem to be caught off guard so often by what China or Chinese companies accomplish? Here’s an off-the-top-of-my head thread unpacking some reasons—structural, cultural, and epistemological—for this recurring phenomenon.
New from the Sinica Podcast: a new limited series from our friends at Johns Hopkins SAIS China Research Center — "Studying China in the Absence of Access: Recovering a Lost Art." The first episode features renowned Pekingologist Frederick Tiewes (emeritus, Sydney University). Link below.
January 23, 2025 at 3:19 PM
New from the Sinica Podcast: a new limited series from our friends at Johns Hopkins SAIS China Research Center — "Studying China in the Absence of Access: Recovering a Lost Art." The first episode features renowned Pekingologist Frederick Tiewes (emeritus, Sydney University). Link below.
Reposted by Kaiser Kuo 郭怡廣
Very interesting discussion about Shen Yun & Falun Gong especially in the US w/ New York Times reporters Nicole Hong & @mrothfeld.bsky.social on @kaiserkuo.bsky.social podcast
Inside Shen Yun and the Epoch Times, with NYT's Nicole Hong and Michael Rothfeld
Podcast Episode · Sinica Podcast · 01/09/2025 · 1h 8m
podcasts.apple.com
January 20, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Very interesting discussion about Shen Yun & Falun Gong especially in the US w/ New York Times reporters Nicole Hong & @mrothfeld.bsky.social on @kaiserkuo.bsky.social podcast
Recorded just a couple of hours ago, here's the latest
Sinica Podcast — all about the Xiaohongshu (RedNote) "TikTok Refugees," with Ivy Yang of Wavelet Strategy and David Fishman of the Lantau Group. Fantastic insights from both of them! Links in replies.
Sinica Podcast — all about the Xiaohongshu (RedNote) "TikTok Refugees," with Ivy Yang of Wavelet Strategy and David Fishman of the Lantau Group. Fantastic insights from both of them! Links in replies.
January 19, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Recorded just a couple of hours ago, here's the latest
Sinica Podcast — all about the Xiaohongshu (RedNote) "TikTok Refugees," with Ivy Yang of Wavelet Strategy and David Fishman of the Lantau Group. Fantastic insights from both of them! Links in replies.
Sinica Podcast — all about the Xiaohongshu (RedNote) "TikTok Refugees," with Ivy Yang of Wavelet Strategy and David Fishman of the Lantau Group. Fantastic insights from both of them! Links in replies.
This week on the Sinica Podcast, I speak with @nytimes.com investigative reporters Nicole Hong and Michael Rothfeld about their extensive investigation into Shen Yun, the Epoch Times, and the new religious movement that ties them together, the Falun Gong. Links in replies below!
January 9, 2025 at 3:09 PM
This week on the Sinica Podcast, I speak with @nytimes.com investigative reporters Nicole Hong and Michael Rothfeld about their extensive investigation into Shen Yun, the Epoch Times, and the new religious movement that ties them together, the Falun Gong. Links in replies below!
I posted an essay (with audio narration) I published in the magazine "Insight: The Journal of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai," drawn from a keynote I gave in September in Buffalo at the New York Conference on Asian Studies. Hope you like it. open.substack.com/pub/sinica/p...
High Stakes: Can American Exceptionalism Accommodate Chinese Exceptionalism in the 21st Century?
This essay was first published in Insight: The Journal of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai in the Winter 2025 issue, and was adopted from a keynote address delivered in September 2024 at t...
open.substack.com
January 6, 2025 at 11:07 PM
I posted an essay (with audio narration) I published in the magazine "Insight: The Journal of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai," drawn from a keynote I gave in September in Buffalo at the New York Conference on Asian Studies. Hope you like it. open.substack.com/pub/sinica/p...
The latest "This Week in China's History" column about the UK's recognition of the PRC on Jan 6, 1950, is free for everyone this week. Please support the invaluable work of @jayjamescarter.bsky.social (and the Sinica Podcast!) by becoming a subscriber.
January 4, 2025 at 7:29 PM
The latest "This Week in China's History" column about the UK's recognition of the PRC on Jan 6, 1950, is free for everyone this week. Please support the invaluable work of @jayjamescarter.bsky.social (and the Sinica Podcast!) by becoming a subscriber.
This week on the Sinica Podcast, I chat with @cerny.bsky.social and @rorytruex.bsky.social about their survey research on US foreign policy think tanks and the China discourse. It's a fascinating paper you can read here. Links to the podcast below, in replies. www.rorytruex.com/underpressure
Featured Paper: Under Pressure — Rory Truex
www.rorytruex.com
January 2, 2025 at 6:00 PM
This week on the Sinica Podcast, I chat with @cerny.bsky.social and @rorytruex.bsky.social about their survey research on US foreign policy think tanks and the China discourse. It's a fascinating paper you can read here. Links to the podcast below, in replies. www.rorytruex.com/underpressure