Yangyang Cheng
@yangyangcheng.bsky.social
Research Scholar at Yale Law School studying the history of science in China and US-China relations. Particle physicist by training. Writer at various places. Editor at Made in China Journal. Co-host of Dissident at the Doorstep.
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
⏰ Reminder: our 2026 creative non-fiction contest is still open for submissions until 1 March! The theme is ‘In Flux’ – in the era of uncertainty, what are the lingering aftershocks of instability, and how do you respond to the changes?
🔗 More details here:
🔗 More details here:
February 3, 2026 at 3:01 PM
⏰ Reminder: our 2026 creative non-fiction contest is still open for submissions until 1 March! The theme is ‘In Flux’ – in the era of uncertainty, what are the lingering aftershocks of instability, and how do you respond to the changes?
🔗 More details here:
🔗 More details here:
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
Excited to announce that my post doc, Sasha Kaurov, and I are launching
reckoningscience.org/launching-re...
Please take a look, read, and subscribe! All proceeds will go to supporting the underfed post-doc.
reckoningscience.org/launching-re...
Please take a look, read, and subscribe! All proceeds will go to supporting the underfed post-doc.
Launching Reckoning Science
We believe in science and its achievements, but also in the need to examine how it is actually made, including its limits and its entanglements with politics, money, and power.
reckoningscience.org
February 3, 2026 at 9:16 PM
Excited to announce that my post doc, Sasha Kaurov, and I are launching
reckoningscience.org/launching-re...
Please take a look, read, and subscribe! All proceeds will go to supporting the underfed post-doc.
reckoningscience.org/launching-re...
Please take a look, read, and subscribe! All proceeds will go to supporting the underfed post-doc.
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
DOCTOR: I told him he needed to get out to a show, that was how he would cure his depression.
CHOTINER: So you learned this technique in school?
DR: No, not— listen it was good advice. Pagliacci was in town.
C: Right. Is it standard to give advice before learning a patient’s name?
DR: Now look
CHOTINER: So you learned this technique in school?
DR: No, not— listen it was good advice. Pagliacci was in town.
C: Right. Is it standard to give advice before learning a patient’s name?
DR: Now look
February 2, 2026 at 3:58 AM
DOCTOR: I told him he needed to get out to a show, that was how he would cure his depression.
CHOTINER: So you learned this technique in school?
DR: No, not— listen it was good advice. Pagliacci was in town.
C: Right. Is it standard to give advice before learning a patient’s name?
DR: Now look
CHOTINER: So you learned this technique in school?
DR: No, not— listen it was good advice. Pagliacci was in town.
C: Right. Is it standard to give advice before learning a patient’s name?
DR: Now look
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
"It may take time to prove you're right, but you have to stick to it."
- Fred Korematsu
Jailed for refusing to abide by FDR's Exec Order 9066, he took his case against internment all the way to the Supreme Court - and lost. Remember him on Korematsu Day, January 30th. 1/
- Fred Korematsu
Jailed for refusing to abide by FDR's Exec Order 9066, he took his case against internment all the way to the Supreme Court - and lost. Remember him on Korematsu Day, January 30th. 1/
January 30, 2026 at 10:32 PM
"It may take time to prove you're right, but you have to stick to it."
- Fred Korematsu
Jailed for refusing to abide by FDR's Exec Order 9066, he took his case against internment all the way to the Supreme Court - and lost. Remember him on Korematsu Day, January 30th. 1/
- Fred Korematsu
Jailed for refusing to abide by FDR's Exec Order 9066, he took his case against internment all the way to the Supreme Court - and lost. Remember him on Korematsu Day, January 30th. 1/
"Boxer" indemnities🎓
Prominent Harvard alumnus and donor Gerald Chan coordinated with child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2016 to explore building a Boston-area extension of Tsinghua University, according to DOJ emails.
Hugo C. Chiasson and Elise A. Spenner report.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2026...
Hugo C. Chiasson and Elise A. Spenner report.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2026...
Jeffrey Epstein, Gerald Chan Coordinated on Proposed Tsinghua University Campus in Boston | News | The Harvard Crimson
Prominent Harvard alumnus and megadonor Gerald L. Chan coordinated with child sex offender Jeffrey E. Epstein in late 2016 to explore establishing a Boston-area extension of Tsinghua University,…
www.thecrimson.com
January 30, 2026 at 11:58 PM
"Boxer" indemnities🎓
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
I am just very sad for everyone involved. But I’m proud of the student journalism here.
The college at which I'm employed, which has signed a contract with the AI firm that stole books from 131 colleagues & me, paid a student to write an op-ed for the student paper promoting AI, guided the writing of it, and did not disclose this to the paper. www.thedartmouth.com/article/2026...
College approached and paid student to write op-ed in The Dartmouth
The Dartmouth ran the article on Nov. 17 without knowledge that the College had been involved.
www.thedartmouth.com
January 30, 2026 at 2:06 AM
I am just very sad for everyone involved. But I’m proud of the student journalism here.
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
In his acclaimed 'Breakneck', Dan Wang frames China as a fast-moving technocratic 'engineering state' and the US as a rule-bound 'lawyerly society'. In this review, Clark Aoqi Wu argues the contrast is overly simplistic, substituting a memorable slogan for historical explanation.
Engineers, Lawyers, and the Costs of ‘Building’ | Made in China Journal
Today there are two great peoples on earth who, starting from different points, seem to advance toward the same goal … —Alexis de Tocqueville (2012: 655) In 1919, after visiting Bolshevik Russia, th...
madeinchinajournal.com
January 29, 2026 at 3:08 PM
In his acclaimed 'Breakneck', Dan Wang frames China as a fast-moving technocratic 'engineering state' and the US as a rule-bound 'lawyerly society'. In this review, Clark Aoqi Wu argues the contrast is overly simplistic, substituting a memorable slogan for historical explanation.
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
I will simply never recover from reading this sentence:
"Since Georgia implemented work requirements in 2020, they have spent twice as much on Deloitte consultants and administrative costs as on healthcare for people."
"Since Georgia implemented work requirements in 2020, they have spent twice as much on Deloitte consultants and administrative costs as on healthcare for people."
Today, Luke Farrell (@lukef.bsky.social) explains how complex eligibility requirements have turned America’s safety net into a lucrative revenue stream for monopolistic private contractors.
The Means-Testing Industrial Complex
As Republicans tightened work requirements and eligibility rules for Medicaid and SNAP last year, Equifax’s CEO openly celebrated the profits to be made from administering this deprivation.
lpeproject.org
January 28, 2026 at 4:33 PM
I will simply never recover from reading this sentence:
"Since Georgia implemented work requirements in 2020, they have spent twice as much on Deloitte consultants and administrative costs as on healthcare for people."
"Since Georgia implemented work requirements in 2020, they have spent twice as much on Deloitte consultants and administrative costs as on healthcare for people."
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
Some good news! Guan Heng has just been granted asylum in the US, although DHS reserve the right to appeal the decision in the next 30 days.
In late 2020 a Chinese man called Guan Heng travelled to Xinjiang with our BuzzFeed map of detention facilities to provide ground truth for our work - he provided the first corroborating evidence for many sites.
He escaped to the US - then ICE detained him.
www.wsj.com/world/china/...
He escaped to the US - then ICE detained him.
www.wsj.com/world/china/...
ICE Holding Chinese Man Who Documented Uyghur Camps
Heng Guan is awaiting an immigration hearing on Monday that could lead to his removal from the U.S. and ultimately land him back in China, according to his lawyer and a New York-based activist group.
www.wsj.com
January 28, 2026 at 7:58 PM
Some good news! Guan Heng has just been granted asylum in the US, although DHS reserve the right to appeal the decision in the next 30 days.
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
Last year, a human trafficking victim trapped in a crypto scam compound in the Golden Triangle region of Laos contacted me. He then proceeded to leak to me a huge collection of the compound's internal materials.
Then he had to get out alive. This is his story.
🧵👇 www.wired.com/story/he-lea...
Then he had to get out alive. This is his story.
🧵👇 www.wired.com/story/he-lea...
He Leaked the Secrets of a Southeast Asian Scam Compound. Then He Had to Get Out Alive
A source trapped inside an industrial-scale scamming operation contacted me, determined to expose his captors’ crimes—and then escape. This is his story.
www.wired.com
January 27, 2026 at 12:15 PM
Last year, a human trafficking victim trapped in a crypto scam compound in the Golden Triangle region of Laos contacted me. He then proceeded to leak to me a huge collection of the compound's internal materials.
Then he had to get out alive. This is his story.
🧵👇 www.wired.com/story/he-lea...
Then he had to get out alive. This is his story.
🧵👇 www.wired.com/story/he-lea...
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
In an effort to appeal to the youth and confuse the olds, the Doomsday Clock is now 67 seconds to midnight.
January 26, 2026 at 8:24 PM
In an effort to appeal to the youth and confuse the olds, the Doomsday Clock is now 67 seconds to midnight.
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
"The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality."
-James Baldwin, from Notes on the House of Bondage (The Nation, 1980)
#everynightapoem #ofsorts
-James Baldwin, from Notes on the House of Bondage (The Nation, 1980)
#everynightapoem #ofsorts
January 24, 2026 at 1:26 AM
"The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality."
-James Baldwin, from Notes on the House of Bondage (The Nation, 1980)
#everynightapoem #ofsorts
-James Baldwin, from Notes on the House of Bondage (The Nation, 1980)
#everynightapoem #ofsorts
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
According to its new privacy policy, TikTok now collects more data on its users, including their precise location, after majority ownership officially switched to a group based in the US. www.wired.com/story/tiktok...
TikTok Is Now Collecting Even More Data About Its Users. Here Are the 3 Biggest Changes
According to its new privacy policy, TikTok now collects more data on its users, including their precise location, after majority ownership officially switched to a group based in the US.
www.wired.com
January 23, 2026 at 9:32 PM
According to its new privacy policy, TikTok now collects more data on its users, including their precise location, after majority ownership officially switched to a group based in the US. www.wired.com/story/tiktok...
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
TSMC’s innovative business model took inspiration from the long history of electronics manufacturing in Taiwan.
https://bit.ly/4a6Iq7K
https://bit.ly/4a6Iq7K
How Taiwan Became the Chipmaker for the World
A new book tells the story of the island-nation’s transformation into a central hub for technological development and manufacturing.
bit.ly
January 23, 2026 at 4:04 PM
TSMC’s innovative business model took inspiration from the long history of electronics manufacturing in Taiwan.
https://bit.ly/4a6Iq7K
https://bit.ly/4a6Iq7K
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
Amidst the fixation with semiconductors and geopolitics, how did Taiwan become a center of global electronics? Who were the people that powered its rise, and what happens when the tinkerer becomes the tycoon?
I review Honghong Tinn's Island Tinkerers @thenation.com:
www.thenation.com/article/worl...
I review Honghong Tinn's Island Tinkerers @thenation.com:
www.thenation.com/article/worl...
How Taiwan Became the Chipmaker for the World
A new book tells the story of the island-nation’s transformation into a central hub for technological development and manufacturing.
www.thenation.com
January 19, 2026 at 3:51 PM
Amidst the fixation with semiconductors and geopolitics, how did Taiwan become a center of global electronics? Who were the people that powered its rise, and what happens when the tinkerer becomes the tycoon?
I review Honghong Tinn's Island Tinkerers @thenation.com:
www.thenation.com/article/worl...
I review Honghong Tinn's Island Tinkerers @thenation.com:
www.thenation.com/article/worl...
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
All this impending snow.
Reminds me that now we enter into the 24th of 24 micro-seasons: “Greater Cold” #大寒 - the coldest period of the year. Yet also, a period anticipating the beginning of spring and the warmth of the coming lunar new year.
[Kawase Hasui, Evening Snow at Terashima Village, 1920]
Reminds me that now we enter into the 24th of 24 micro-seasons: “Greater Cold” #大寒 - the coldest period of the year. Yet also, a period anticipating the beginning of spring and the warmth of the coming lunar new year.
[Kawase Hasui, Evening Snow at Terashima Village, 1920]
![Woodblock snowscene of Tokyo about a century ago.
Kawase Hasui, Evening Snow at Terashima Village, 1920, from Twelve Scenes of Tokyo (Tôkyô jûnidai)]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:rkgmcmrlwobvdajgjmxlvfya/bafkreif4d6ed7me5yiyrd2vxlyfxrv3r6ke3mnzh6hubf5dhbsoqmwy4ji@jpeg)
January 21, 2026 at 3:55 PM
All this impending snow.
Reminds me that now we enter into the 24th of 24 micro-seasons: “Greater Cold” #大寒 - the coldest period of the year. Yet also, a period anticipating the beginning of spring and the warmth of the coming lunar new year.
[Kawase Hasui, Evening Snow at Terashima Village, 1920]
Reminds me that now we enter into the 24th of 24 micro-seasons: “Greater Cold” #大寒 - the coldest period of the year. Yet also, a period anticipating the beginning of spring and the warmth of the coming lunar new year.
[Kawase Hasui, Evening Snow at Terashima Village, 1920]
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
"Against all the saber-rattling, myth-making, and visions of world domination, [Island Tinkerers] offers a timely intervention and powerful antidote."
@thenation.com reviews @honghongtinn.bsky.social's fascinating #OpenAccess contribution to the history of computing technology:
@thenation.com reviews @honghongtinn.bsky.social's fascinating #OpenAccess contribution to the history of computing technology:
How Taiwan Became the Chipmaker for the World
A new book tells the story of the island-nation’s transformation into a central hub for technological development and manufacturing.
www.thenation.com
January 20, 2026 at 10:48 PM
"Against all the saber-rattling, myth-making, and visions of world domination, [Island Tinkerers] offers a timely intervention and powerful antidote."
@thenation.com reviews @honghongtinn.bsky.social's fascinating #OpenAccess contribution to the history of computing technology:
@thenation.com reviews @honghongtinn.bsky.social's fascinating #OpenAccess contribution to the history of computing technology:
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
"As the world appears entranced by faster chips and smarter electrical brains, elevating a company like TSMC to mythical status, few are pausing to ponder what the computing power is for—and who powers the computers?"
I review Honghong Tinn's important new book, Island Tinkerers, in @thenation.com:
I review Honghong Tinn's important new book, Island Tinkerers, in @thenation.com:
How Taiwan Became the Chipmaker for the World
A new book tells the story of the island-nation’s transformation into a central hub for technological development and manufacturing.
www.thenation.com
January 20, 2026 at 10:41 PM
"As the world appears entranced by faster chips and smarter electrical brains, elevating a company like TSMC to mythical status, few are pausing to ponder what the computing power is for—and who powers the computers?"
I review Honghong Tinn's important new book, Island Tinkerers, in @thenation.com:
I review Honghong Tinn's important new book, Island Tinkerers, in @thenation.com:
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
TSMC’s innovative business model took inspiration from the long history of electronics manufacturing in Taiwan.
https://bit.ly/4a6Iq7K
https://bit.ly/4a6Iq7K
How Taiwan Became the Chipmaker for the World
A new book tells the story of the island-nation’s transformation into a central hub for technological development and manufacturing.
bit.ly
January 21, 2026 at 4:04 PM
TSMC’s innovative business model took inspiration from the long history of electronics manufacturing in Taiwan.
https://bit.ly/4a6Iq7K
https://bit.ly/4a6Iq7K
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
Reupping this as January 21, the anniversary of Orwell’s death, begins in Europe and is midway through in Asia, www.the-independent.com/news/world/g... —by @atasoyemrah.bsky.social & me, in part the piece looks at novels, news, & non fiction of the 1930s-1940s that influenced Orwell’s vision
How George Orwell’s 1984 predicted the global power struggles happening now
Is art replicating life when it comes to Orwell’s most influential novel? Emrah Atasoy and Jeffrey Wasserstrom investigate
www.the-independent.com
January 21, 2026 at 5:26 AM
Reupping this as January 21, the anniversary of Orwell’s death, begins in Europe and is midway through in Asia, www.the-independent.com/news/world/g... —by @atasoyemrah.bsky.social & me, in part the piece looks at novels, news, & non fiction of the 1930s-1940s that influenced Orwell’s vision
"As the world appears entranced by faster chips and smarter electrical brains, elevating a company like TSMC to mythical status, few are pausing to ponder what the computing power is for—and who powers the computers?"
I review Honghong Tinn's important new book, Island Tinkerers, in @thenation.com:
I review Honghong Tinn's important new book, Island Tinkerers, in @thenation.com:
How Taiwan Became the Chipmaker for the World
A new book tells the story of the island-nation’s transformation into a central hub for technological development and manufacturing.
www.thenation.com
January 20, 2026 at 10:41 PM
"As the world appears entranced by faster chips and smarter electrical brains, elevating a company like TSMC to mythical status, few are pausing to ponder what the computing power is for—and who powers the computers?"
I review Honghong Tinn's important new book, Island Tinkerers, in @thenation.com:
I review Honghong Tinn's important new book, Island Tinkerers, in @thenation.com:
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
New review for The Nation by @yangyangcheng.bsky.social, on ISLAND TINKERERS by Honghong Tinn, which explores the history of bottom-up innovation and growth in Taiwan's technology sector, with special attention to the frequently overlooked work of women in the industry.
How Taiwan Became the Chipmaker for the World
A new book tells the story of the island-nation’s transformation into a central hub for technological development and manufacturing.
www.thenation.com
January 20, 2026 at 12:45 PM
New review for The Nation by @yangyangcheng.bsky.social, on ISLAND TINKERERS by Honghong Tinn, which explores the history of bottom-up innovation and growth in Taiwan's technology sector, with special attention to the frequently overlooked work of women in the industry.
Wish I could have been in that class!
January 20, 2026 at 4:57 AM
Wish I could have been in that class!
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
Amusingly, I just gave a mini-lecture of sorts on this very topic for a comparative politics course. Funny timing.
Amidst the fixation with semiconductors and geopolitics, how did Taiwan become a center of global electronics? Who were the people that powered its rise, and what happens when the tinkerer becomes the tycoon?
I review Honghong Tinn's Island Tinkerers @thenation.com:
www.thenation.com/article/worl...
I review Honghong Tinn's Island Tinkerers @thenation.com:
www.thenation.com/article/worl...
How Taiwan Became the Chipmaker for the World
A new book tells the story of the island-nation’s transformation into a central hub for technological development and manufacturing.
www.thenation.com
January 20, 2026 at 4:41 AM
Amusingly, I just gave a mini-lecture of sorts on this very topic for a comparative politics course. Funny timing.