Eli Friedman
@elifriedman.bsky.social
Dept of Global Labor and Work at Cornell | China in Global Capitalism w/Haymarket https://t.ly/uySU6 | Labor politics in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan | @aaup.org & @jvp.bsky.social
From Iran to US campuses they are losing because they are terrible at governing. Keep up the pressure.
After Colleges Reject ‘Compact,’ Trump Officials Try a Letter
The open letter from Education Secretary Linda McMahon fell far short of the attempt at a compact last year that dangled research money in return for embracing the Trump administration’s agenda.
nytimes.com
Recorded an episode with @jacobinmag.bsky.social on hukou reform, labor, and imperial competition, among other things
Long Reads: China’s Next Decade w/ Eli Friedman
Jacobin Radio · Episode
open.spotify.com
“Hundreds of Chinese Workers in Kyrgyzstan Continue Unsuccessful Wage Protest (2026.07.20–08.01)” From July 20 to August 1, hundreds of Chinese workers repeatedly demanded their unpaid wages at the “Building 59” project in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.
I'd add that "competitive" manufacturing is also enhanced by strict labor discipline and political subjugation of workers. And without unions or labor parties, there is no organizatuonal basis for forcing political compromise
Michael Pettis@michaelpettis.bsky.social · 4d ago4/6 To resolve weak domestic consumption requires higher wages and social transfers, but these undermine manufacturing competitiveness. It is not just coincidence, after all, that countries with very "competitive" manufacturing sectors also have low household shares of GDP.
Happy to get my first copy of TROOP MOVEMENTS from Penn Press. It looks great. It’s out in September. Pre-order it! I'll be on book tour, from Sep 2026 into 2027 — stay tuned… If you may be interested in doing a book review, podcast, interview, or book event — be in touch!
"police alleged Au had colluded with an unspecified anti-China group outside the city" As with HK book shop, detaining people for unspecified activities. Cowardly, deeply insecure, behavior.
Macao’s first national security case raises concerns over fairness a year after arrest
Since former Macao pro-democracy lawmaker Au Kam San was arrested under a national security law in July 2025, little about his case has been made known.
apnews.com
Great example of how nominally public resources and state intervention are used to help the people who need it least
China’s ‘national team’ buys shares worth $9bn to prop up market
State-owned funds announce stock purchases after sharp AI tech sell-off last week
giftarticle.ft.com
CfP from @madeinchinajournal.com on Hong Kong’s Memory and History of Repression and Resistance
Calls for Papers
Calls for Papers Here you can find the call for papers for the journal issues we are currently working on. The initial pitches should be no longer than 300 words and explain the key argument of your p...
madeinchinajournal.com
Guys you're not going to believe what I saw in Chongqing, they've figured out how to build into the third dimension! I swear influencer discourse about this city is going to make me lose my mind
Appreciate this review. "The engineering state" to the extent it is a real governing logic, is itself a thing to be explained. Obv it wouldn't apply to the PRC circa 1967, so why did it come into existence? Whatever the answer, it's clear there is nothing essentially "Chinese" about it
Public Books @publicbooks.bsky.social · last mo.In a review of Dan Wang’s “Breakneck,” @masonlwong.bsky.social argues that the book “leaves those of us interested in the longer arc of Chinese or world history with very little in the way of how we should fit his theory into a bigger picture.”
Fearless on Palestine, fearless on Tibet. The man has principles.
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani@mayor.nyc.gov · last mo.
Should we dignify anything Roger Waters says with a response? No. Nonetheless, if anyone is interested in Islam and interest, please read Ryan Calder's book
The Paradox of Islamic Finance
How the booming Islamic finance industry became an ultramodern hybrid of religion and markets
press.princeton.edu
Post-Left Watch@postleftwatch.bsky.social · last mo.Jimmy Dore: "What do you attribute the government's subservience to the Zionist program?" Roger Waters says it's because of the Rothschilds and usury, and says that a reason why they oppose Iran is because usury is illegal in Iran.
"The industry is rebranding itself as 'non-woke', trying to divert government hostility to clean energy." The exact analogue of Chinese companies saying they're making solar panels for the Great Revival of the Chinese Nation
Donald Trump is kicking out Chinese firms, but keeping their tech
China’s stranded assets are creating a new class of American green-tech investors
economist.com
"The CCP did not prioritise supporting the American left-wing or civil rights movements and merely offered ceremonial statements on those issues." Great article that really reminded me of the US-China union exchanges I was on in the late 2000s
Rethinking Comrade and Foreigner | Made in China Journal
This essay rethinks the place of foreign Maoists in the People’s Republic of China through the case of Joan Hinton, one of the most prominent American supporters of the Chinese Revolution. Drawing on ...
madeinchinajournal.com
This law is a real nightmare, creates a legal grounding for the state's assimilationist colonial campaigns
Can China target critics abroad with its new 'ethnic unity' law?
Rights groups fear the new law gives Beijing legal authority to go after people beyond its borders.
bbc.co.uk
Hong Kong's patriots-only legislators aren't afraid to ask the hard questions. At a meeting on the expansion of Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter, the BPA's Ray Wong noted that current plans accommodate only superyachts up to 50m, pressing the government on whether it will make space for mega and gigayachts
立會審議擴建香港仔避風塘工程 有議員關注工程如何推動遊艇經濟
立法會工務小組委員會審議擴建香港仔避風塘工程涉款20.3億。有議員關注相關工程如何推動遊艇經濟，帶動南區發展。民建聯新界東南議員葉傲冬說：「外國有整體規劃能帶動其他經濟，不是純粹泊位。如果日後有遊艇停泊，如果(海洋公園)水上樂園丟空或不理想，很難看。有沒有整體規劃，令避風塘南邊成為世界一流遊艇停泊區...
news.tvb.com
5/9 boost in net exports but rather an equivalent boost in imports. What may look on the surface like a sectoral story (foreigners are buying more Chinese-made solar panels) is in fact a domestic imbalance story (rising production isn’t translating into rising wages and, thus, rising consumption).
It's funny that they put it on an artificial island, if anything goes sideways they can just blow up the bridge and pretend nothing happened
World's first hotel entirely staffed by robots to open in 2027
The first hotel run by robots will open its doors to the public next year. It comes as no surprise that it's happening in China – on the artificial island built for the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link, the cr...
newatlas.com
I understand some believe China is doing automation in a humane way but there is just no evidence to support that “It’s a capitalist operation, driven by personal gain, aiming to monopolise the industry,” said a Shenzhen taxi driver
Chinese tech hub’s shift into robotaxis leaves drivers by the wayside
Shenzhen expands driverless vehicles as growing automation drive threatens gig economy workforce
giftarticle.ft.com
The University of Hong Kong's student union newspaper Undergrad (學苑) announced today it is ceasing operations after 74 years in print. "Our historical role has come to an end," the editorial board wrote on social media.
"Chinese innovation boosts wireless data rates, reduces dead zones and can track people and objects, even underground." So... a giant prison?
My article on hukou reform in Chinese translation
戶口改革？除非你符合資格 — 無國界社運 Borderless movement
戶口制度是否要廢除了？還是只是換湯不換藥？
borderlessmovement.org
Us 21st century Ithacans think about this all the time
Kieran Healy@kjhealy.co · last mo.Incidentally, in another echo from a vanished world, Wittgenstein sailed in to New York harbor on the Queen Mary (third class ticket), disembarked, and then got the train to Ithaca. Imagine the luxury and romance of it all—you could get the train to Ithaca!
Cannot recommend this enough for anyone interested in Taiwan
What is a Left Position on Taiwan? - positions politics
What is a left position on Taiwan? This question was posed to us – the three editors of praxis, Rebecca Karl, Aminda Smith, and Fabio Lanza – at a recent social event in New York. The query came from ...
positionspolitics.org
@elifriedman.bsky.social writing on the "abolition" of hukou for Positions. positionspolitics.org/eli-friedman...
A golden opportunity for the players to seize the means of production, Zohran and the city would have their back and we'd become the Green Bay Packers of the NBA
Knicks will become first NBA team to visit Trump White House, owner James Dolan says
President Trump attended the Knicks' only loss of the NBA Finals, where he was loudly booed.
sports.yahoo.com
#OtD 19 Jun 1982 Vincent Chin, a Chinese American, was beaten to death at his bachelor party by laid off autoworkers blaming Chin for their unemployment. The murderers weren't even jailed, instead getting 3 years' probation stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9117...
