@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.
Each column is a stretch of time in which the same views came up; a new column starts when one appears or goes quiet. Quiet means nothing on it in our sources for that stretch, which is not the same as a change of mind; Dropped means they said they no longer hold it; tap the card for which claim and when. Revised means the view carries on but one of its claims was dropped. Each row is one view, in the same place all the way along. The number is how many claims in that stretch; we hold 11 in 2020, 0 in 2021, 6 in 2022, 10 in 2023, 10 in 2024, 3 in 2025, 3 in 2026.
Technology lives in the practice of making things; it is path-dependent and is forgotten when practice stops
Their wordsThe skills US workers learned in the process of becoming an industrial giant helped set the US up for technological leadership over the rest of the century.
Their wordsFirst, even if most of the workforce learns little, a few thousand line engineers become the world’s greatest experts in electronics assembly.
Their wordsToday, Chinese workers produce most of the world’s goods, which means that they engage more than anyone else in the technological learning process.
Dan WangWriter and analyst of Chinese technology and industryOn AI, China is behind the US, but not by years. There's no question that American reasoning models are more sophisticated than the likes of DeepSeek and Qwen. But the Chinese efforts are doggedly in pursuit, sometimes a bit closer to US models, sometimes a bit further.↗2025 letterdanwang.co · 1 Jan 2026All korrents from this piece
Their wordsOn AI, China is behind the US, but not by years. There's no question that American reasoning models are more sophisticated than the likes of DeepSeek and Qwen. But the Chinese efforts are doggedly in pursuit, sometimes a bit closer to US models, sometimes a bit further.
Their wordsThough companies are relocating production to India and Vietnam, China is going to remain the world’s largest manufacturer for many more years to come.
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.
Dan WangWriter and analyst of Chinese technology and industryAnd on balance I believe we should think of the Chinese state today as an autocratic regime that is occasionally capable of economic pragmatism rather than a technocratic regime that slips occasionally into Marxist faults.↗2022 letterdanwang.co · 4 Mar 2023All korrents from this piece
Their wordsAnd on balance I believe we should think of the Chinese state today as an autocratic regime that is occasionally capable of economic pragmatism rather than a technocratic regime that slips occasionally into Marxist faults.
Their wordsThe trouble with Xi Jinping is that he is 60 percent correct on all the problems he sees, while his government’s brute force solutions reliably worsen things.
Their wordsChina is an engineering state, which brings a sledgehammer to problems both physical and social, in contrast with America's lawyerly society, which brings a gavel to block almost everything, good and bad.
Dan WangWriter and analyst of Chinese technology and industrySo it feels to me that the US is treating its deficiencies — an inability to build stuff or create a functional system for admitting high-skilled migrants — as mysteries to be endured rather than problems to be solved.↗2023 letterdanwang.co · 23 Jan 2024All korrents from this piece
Their wordsSo it feels to me that the US is treating its deficiencies — an inability to build stuff or create a functional system for admitting high-skilled migrants — as mysteries to be endured rather than problems to be solved.
Dan WangWriter and analyst of Chinese technology and industryThe US focus on efficiency has revealed the brittleness of its economy, which has neither the manufacturing capability to scale up domestic production of goods nor the logistics capacity to handle greater imports.↗2021 letterdanwang.co · 1 Jan 2022All korrents from this piece
Their wordsThe US focus on efficiency has revealed the brittleness of its economy, which has neither the manufacturing capability to scale up domestic production of goods nor the logistics capacity to handle greater imports.
Dan WangWriter and analyst of Chinese technology and industryChina built half of the world’s ships (by gross tonnage) in 2022, while the US had 0.2 percent of capacity: in practice, this meant that while China builds hundreds of new ships a year, the US builds three to five.↗2023 letterdanwang.co · 23 Jan 2024All korrents from this piece
Their wordsChina built half of the world’s ships (by gross tonnage) in 2022, while the US had 0.2 percent of capacity: in practice, this meant that while China builds hundreds of new ships a year, the US builds three to five.
Dan WangWriter and analyst of Chinese technology and industryThe foundations of China’s success in EVs were built a decade ago, when the state decided to bet on batteries, and then bought up a lot of the mines for these metals.↗2023 letterdanwang.co · 23 Jan 2024All korrents from this piece
Their wordsThe foundations of China’s success in EVs were built a decade ago, when the state decided to bet on batteries, and then bought up a lot of the mines for these metals.