Thanks for the article! Quite interesting point on DC vs. London, I had a feeling that in London's tech sector (as you mentioned in SF), there are many people interested in the current trend of China. It is interesting to learn that in business / policy field, it is quite different.
thanks Sonya, very interesting obervation! perhaps this reflects the general trend of how the policy these days is always one step lagged behind the tech and innovation development and it is a big issue in terms of developing robust policies around the field.
Do you think “China experts” at Western think tanks: (1) are genuinely experts or “propagandists” (not meaning to be rude but not sure what word to use; (2) contribute to understanding or contribute to misunderstanding; (3) think independently or just reflect pre-existing beliefs; (4) help improve relations between China and the West or make relations worse? I could ask more, but this will do for now.
As an ABC, all this is all too familiar and predictable. I worked on the front lines of K-12 education reform from the 1990s thru 2010. The hope and aspirations at that time were about taking the nascent "multiculturalism" ideas into "21st Century Global Citizenship," across multiple domains, as articulated by such things as the UN Sustainable Development Goals. But the one thing we never fully thought through was how much Toxic Masculinity still needed to work itself out...perhaps it will never resolve. Call it the effects of narcissism or bullying, the "logic" and resentment of the guy who used to be king of the hill... The backlash is a product of something real. Maybe it will always be insurmountable. Maybe the myth of Darth Vader is just that - after all, Greed exists and drives people in all-consuming ways. This is not just about China vs "The West," this is about human psychology. Maybe we will always be no more than animals, as primate psycho-biologists can attest, the social herd dynamics are brutal, unforgiving, and there are always alphas for whom the rest of the herd clears the way. Or else what? Else, violence. Back in my more passionate, activist-bent career, I tried to convince more ABC's and Asian Americans across the board to be aware of and contribute to more "soft power" activities. To mitigate against the backlash, to invest more in cross-cultural dialogue. But as we have seen with Trump's rise to power, perhaps it was always a misbegotten effort. In fact, Chinese people in China should know this well. History is chock full of crazy stories about what people do when their power is threatened, when jealousy overtakes more rational judgment, and there will always be someone who was so degraded and undeveloped as a human being that they yearn for and seek - in both constructive and destructive ways - the power and adoration of others because they were so lacking in nurturing or worse yet, they were "nurtured" to seek power and dominance at all costs. Eat or be eaten. And so these fools, whether British or American, will go around saying what they say... trying to express that dominance in even the most petty ways. Of course, it's not the world many of us want for our children, but we cannot segregate ourselves from that man or woman who is so overwrought with depravity in their souls that they will do whatever destructive thing they need to do in order to seek that dominance. That phenomenon lives in people's workplaces, in our classrooms, in our neighborhoods, in our families....
No more naive than ignoring what is happening in the world’s second largest economy I guess! But sure all this chinamaxxing narative is still very limited in depth.
Great post! I'm a Chinese citizen who used to work at a DC-based think tank. Although I worked at US domestic policy field, I notice that at the end of the day what dominated the Sino-American or other areas of foreign policy is Americans, the "Chinese" staff is just mascot.
Haha! I’ve been called “the token chinese” at work before.
Still I feel envious of how much more money and opportunity and lived experience there is in the US for China expertise. Many American friends whom I met in China have actually gone on to doing interesting work across DC policy organisations and consultancies. Those roles just do not seem to exist in the same way in other parts of the world…
What makes this piece interesting is that it highlights a dynamic that often goes unexamined in policy analysis: the institutional incentives inside the think-tank ecosystem itself. Analysts aren’t just interpreting China—they’re operating within funding structures, policy audiences, and political narratives that subtly shape what kinds of interpretations gain traction.
That doesn’t necessarily produce bad analysis, but it does create feedback loops where certain frames become dominant while others remain underexplored. Over time those institutional filters can narrow the range of strategic imagination on both sides.
In that sense the gap isn’t only cultural or ideological—it’s structural. When policy communities primarily talk to their own governments and donors, the incentive is to produce actionable narratives rather than symmetrical understanding.
The broader lesson is that geopolitical misperception often emerges less from ignorance than from the institutional environments in which analysis is produced.
Thank you for sharing your perspective! I resonate so much with you role about being in the middle. I used to work with foreign companies in China for manufacturing. The “invited for tea”, the retired Businessman trying to make a connection with me about China. I see the humor in it now.
Such unique perspective of being in the middle! Appreciate the advice at the end too.
Thanks for the article! Quite interesting point on DC vs. London, I had a feeling that in London's tech sector (as you mentioned in SF), there are many people interested in the current trend of China. It is interesting to learn that in business / policy field, it is quite different.
thanks Sonya, very interesting obervation! perhaps this reflects the general trend of how the policy these days is always one step lagged behind the tech and innovation development and it is a big issue in terms of developing robust policies around the field.
Good read. I used to work in the film industry in Hollywood and China (Beijing). So I resonate with a lot that you've written here!
Thank you for your kindness! I'm glad you enjoyed it ☺️
Such a great post, and couldn’t be more timely ☺️🙌
🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳 congrats on your first piece!
Currently you are just good as what they expect from you and since they don’t know themselves, it can be difficult. Change job!
Thank god I’ve left already!
Do you think “China experts” at Western think tanks: (1) are genuinely experts or “propagandists” (not meaning to be rude but not sure what word to use; (2) contribute to understanding or contribute to misunderstanding; (3) think independently or just reflect pre-existing beliefs; (4) help improve relations between China and the West or make relations worse? I could ask more, but this will do for now.
As an ABC, all this is all too familiar and predictable. I worked on the front lines of K-12 education reform from the 1990s thru 2010. The hope and aspirations at that time were about taking the nascent "multiculturalism" ideas into "21st Century Global Citizenship," across multiple domains, as articulated by such things as the UN Sustainable Development Goals. But the one thing we never fully thought through was how much Toxic Masculinity still needed to work itself out...perhaps it will never resolve. Call it the effects of narcissism or bullying, the "logic" and resentment of the guy who used to be king of the hill... The backlash is a product of something real. Maybe it will always be insurmountable. Maybe the myth of Darth Vader is just that - after all, Greed exists and drives people in all-consuming ways. This is not just about China vs "The West," this is about human psychology. Maybe we will always be no more than animals, as primate psycho-biologists can attest, the social herd dynamics are brutal, unforgiving, and there are always alphas for whom the rest of the herd clears the way. Or else what? Else, violence. Back in my more passionate, activist-bent career, I tried to convince more ABC's and Asian Americans across the board to be aware of and contribute to more "soft power" activities. To mitigate against the backlash, to invest more in cross-cultural dialogue. But as we have seen with Trump's rise to power, perhaps it was always a misbegotten effort. In fact, Chinese people in China should know this well. History is chock full of crazy stories about what people do when their power is threatened, when jealousy overtakes more rational judgment, and there will always be someone who was so degraded and undeveloped as a human being that they yearn for and seek - in both constructive and destructive ways - the power and adoration of others because they were so lacking in nurturing or worse yet, they were "nurtured" to seek power and dominance at all costs. Eat or be eaten. And so these fools, whether British or American, will go around saying what they say... trying to express that dominance in even the most petty ways. Of course, it's not the world many of us want for our children, but we cannot segregate ourselves from that man or woman who is so overwrought with depravity in their souls that they will do whatever destructive thing they need to do in order to seek that dominance. That phenomenon lives in people's workplaces, in our classrooms, in our neighborhoods, in our families....
Do you think SF Chinamaxxing is as naive / Trump opposition coded as London's dated view, e.g. not the right frame?
No more naive than ignoring what is happening in the world’s second largest economy I guess! But sure all this chinamaxxing narative is still very limited in depth.
Great post! I'm a Chinese citizen who used to work at a DC-based think tank. Although I worked at US domestic policy field, I notice that at the end of the day what dominated the Sino-American or other areas of foreign policy is Americans, the "Chinese" staff is just mascot.
Haha! I’ve been called “the token chinese” at work before.
Still I feel envious of how much more money and opportunity and lived experience there is in the US for China expertise. Many American friends whom I met in China have actually gone on to doing interesting work across DC policy organisations and consultancies. Those roles just do not seem to exist in the same way in other parts of the world…
What makes this piece interesting is that it highlights a dynamic that often goes unexamined in policy analysis: the institutional incentives inside the think-tank ecosystem itself. Analysts aren’t just interpreting China—they’re operating within funding structures, policy audiences, and political narratives that subtly shape what kinds of interpretations gain traction.
That doesn’t necessarily produce bad analysis, but it does create feedback loops where certain frames become dominant while others remain underexplored. Over time those institutional filters can narrow the range of strategic imagination on both sides.
In that sense the gap isn’t only cultural or ideological—it’s structural. When policy communities primarily talk to their own governments and donors, the incentive is to produce actionable narratives rather than symmetrical understanding.
The broader lesson is that geopolitical misperception often emerges less from ignorance than from the institutional environments in which analysis is produced.
Omg that spad moment is AWFUL, I’m so sorry!!
Aw, thanks girl. Yeah, it did feel pretty racist and sexist too.
Thank you for sharing your perspective! I resonate so much with you role about being in the middle. I used to work with foreign companies in China for manufacturing. The “invited for tea”, the retired Businessman trying to make a connection with me about China. I see the humor in it now.
Great perspective, thank you for sharing!