Sinocism Live: Understanding China's Exam-centric Education System
This is a recording of my October 31, 2025 discussion with Ruixue Jia and Hongbin Li about their excellent and important new book The Highest Exam - How the Gaokao Shapes China.From a synopsis of the book:In The Highest Exam, authors Ruixue Jia, Hongbin Li, and Claire Cousineau present a sweeping, data-rich account of China’s exam-centered education system — a “centralized, hierarchical tournament” culminating in the Gaokao, a grueling three-day college entrance exam. Drawing on decades of empirical research and lived experience, Jia and Li — both leading economists who took the Gaokao and later taught at top universities in Beijing, Hong Kong, and the U.S. — reveal how this state-managed system shapes education, labor markets, political legitimacy, and social values.You can buy the book here: The Highest Exam - How the Gaokao Shapes China. It is well-written and priced like a normal book, not an academic one. You can not understand China without understanding the Gaokao system, so this is an important and very useful book.If you prefer to consume the Sinocism Live episodes as a podcast, please add this URL to the podcast player of your choice:https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/2/s/7556.rssYou can also listen to it in the app:Thanks for watching/listening. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sinocism.com/subscribe
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Sinocism Live: Rush Doshi on the Trump-Xi meeting and US-China Relations
This is a recording of my October 30, 2025 conversation with Rush Doshi, the C.V. Starr senior fellow for Asia studies and director of the China Strategy Initiative at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and an assistant professor in Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service.Rush Doshi was deputy senior director for China and Taiwan on President Joe Biden’s National Security Council (NSC), where he served from 2021 to 2024 and helped manage the NSC’s first China directorate.During his time in the Biden Administration he worked on multiple Biden-Xi engagements, so I thought he would be a great guest to help us parse through the Trump-Xi meeting in South Korea and what it means for US-China relations. He did not disappoint.Rush is about to launch a new Substack called “The Great Changes 大变局. You can and should subscribe to it here.You can catch up with many of Rush’s recent writings and podcast appearances here on his CFR page.Thanks for watching/listening. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sinocism.com/subscribe
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Sinocism Live: The Fourth Plenum and US-China relations with Chris Johnson
This is a recording of my October 24, 2025 conversation with Chris Johnson, CEO of China Strategies Group and a former top China analyst at the CIA, about the recently concluded Fourth Plenum, and specifically the ongoing purges in the PLA, and US-China relations ahead of next week’s Trump-Xi meeting in South Korea.Chris wrote a guest piece for Sinocism earlier this week on Xi and succession - Forever Xi Jinping? Perhaps Not.If you prefer to consume the Sinocism Live episodes as a podcast, please add this URL to the podcast player of your choice:https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/2/s/7556.rssYou can also listen to it in the app:Thanks for watching/listening. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sinocism.com/subscribe
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Sinocism Live: Council on Foreign Relations President Michael Froman on the US-China trade war
This is a recording of my October 16, 2025 conversation with Ambassador Mike Froman Mike Froman about recent developments in the US-China trade war and US-China relations in general. I learned a lot from this conversation and I think you will as well.Ambassador Froman is president of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), and has had a distinguished career in the private sector and in public service, including as the head of USTR from June 2013 to January 2017. He now writes a weekly newsletter called The World This Week, to which I encourage everyone to subscribe. We also discussed some of his recent writings, including:After the Trade War: Remaking Rules From the Ruins of the Rules-Based System - Foreign AffairsChina Has Already Remade the International System - Foreign AffairsChina, the United States, and the AI Race | Council on Foreign RelationsThanks to everyone who watched our chat live. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sinocism.com/subscribe
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Sinocism Live: The UK-China spy scandal and UK-China relations with Charles Parton
This is a recording of my October 14, 2025 conversation with Charles Parton about the recent UK-China spy case and UK-China relations in general. Charles Parton OBE is the Chief Advisor to the China Observatory at the Council on Geostrategy. He spent 22 years of his 37 year diplomatic career working in or on China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. In his final posting he was seconded to the EU Delegation in Beijing, where, as First Counsellor until late 2016, he focussed on Chinese politics and internal developments, and advised the EU and Member States on how China’s politics might affect their interests.You can follow Charlie on Substack @ Charles Parton.Thanks to everyone who watched our chat live. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sinocism.com/subscribe
Bill Bishop, author of the Sinocism newsletter, chats with experts from around the world to help us all get smarter about China. Topics discussed include politics, foreign relations, business, finance, culture, history and markets. It started as a podcast but is now video too.
Nearly 400,000 investors, policymakers, executives, analysts, diplomats, journalists, scholars and others read Sinocism for valuable insights into China.
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