The Engineering State: Dan Wang on China’s Breakneck Modernization

Roger welcomes Dan Wang, a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution History Lab and author of “Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future.” They discuss Wang’s perspective on China’s technological rise and the contrast he draws between China’s engineering approach to governance and the United States’ lawyerly system, which emphasizes rights, pluralism and individual liberty. Wang also explains how his life in Canada, the United States and China shaped his understanding of the assumptions and incentives that drive each society.They explore China’s intense focus on large-scale industrial and technological projects, as well as the costs and vulnerabilities of this top-down model. Wang discusses the long-term social damage caused by policies such as the one child policy and zero-COVID, which reflected an engineering mindset stretched beyond physical infrastructure into attempts to reshape society itself. Additional topics include America’s challenges with permitting, infrastructure and housing, the limited areas where a modest shift toward engineering thinking could help, and how both countries might navigate the complex and uncertain future of U.S. and China relations.The Liberty + Leadership Podcast is hosted by TFAS president Roger Ream and produced by Podville Media. If you have a comment or question for the show, please email us at [email protected]. To support TFAS and its mission, please visit TFAS.org/support.Support the show