korrents
Dan Wang

Dan Wang

@dan-wang · 41 positions · 1 change of mind · On ppll ↗

Writer and analyst of Chinese technology and industry, for years based in Beijing and Shanghai, best known for his annual letters and for the argument that manufacturing capability lives in accumulated process knowledge rather than in tools or intellectual property.

Dan Wang did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

4 of Dan Wang's claims fit 4 mental models. Most often: Everything decays without maintenance, Feedback loops, Power laws.

Models they name

Their own words name the idea.

Everything decays without maintenance

Institutions, code, cities and knowledge run down by default; keeping something alive is work that has to be paid for.

Used by 28 others

Technological capability has to be practised to be kept: a country that stops making something forgets how.

  1. Dan Wang Writer and analyst of Chinese technology and industry We should think of technology as a living product, which has to be practiced for knowledge even to be maintained at its current level. 2019 letterdanwang.co · 1 Jan 2020All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsWe should think of technology as a living product, which has to be practiced for knowledge even to be maintained at its current level.

    ↗2019 letterdanwang.co

    1 Jan 2020

Specialise and trade

Do what you are relatively best at and trade for the rest (comparative advantage); it holds until power or change breaks it.

Used by 12 others

Beijing deliberately rejects comparative advantage and targets a high level of manufacturing output for its own sake.

  1. Dan Wang Writer and analyst of Chinese technology and industry The leadership is targeting a high level of manufacturing output, rejecting the notion of comparative advantage. 2021 letterdanwang.co · 1 Jan 2022All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsThe leadership is targeting a high level of manufacturing output, rejecting the notion of comparative advantage.

    ↗2021 letterdanwang.co

    1 Jan 2022

Models we see in what they say

Our reading: their claim applies the idea without naming it. The claim is theirs; filing it here is ours.

Feedback loops

Shorten the loop between doing and finding out; whatever a loop rewards is what you become.

Used by 62 others

Putting research and manufacturing in the same place shortens the loop in which industrial knowledge circulates.

  1. Dan Wang Writer and analyst of Chinese technology and industry These hubs allow for tight connections between R&D and manufacturing, shortening the circulation of knowledge in a production loop. 2019 letterdanwang.co · 1 Jan 2020All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsThese hubs allow for tight connections between R&D and manufacturing, shortening the circulation of knowledge in a production loop.

    ↗2019 letterdanwang.co

    1 Jan 2020

Power laws

In many things a few cases account for most of the result, so the average misleads and the outlier decides.

Used by 25 others

Most of China's economy may be dysfunctional, but the small part that works spectacularly well is what threatens American interests.

  1. Dan Wang Writer and analyst of Chinese technology and industry While 50 percent of China’s economy might be dysfunctional, the 5 percent that’s going spectacularly well is pretty dangerous to American interests. 2023 letterdanwang.co · 23 Jan 2024All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsWhile 50 percent of China’s economy might be dysfunctional, the 5 percent that’s going spectacularly well is pretty dangerous to American interests.

    ↗2023 letterdanwang.co

    23 Jan 2024