Invading Taiwan for Dummies + Chinese Punk Rock

Plus: Harris and Trump on AI

Even though the US was scared off the by prospect during WWII, Taiwan has been successfully invaded a bunch of times!

Based on these historical case studies, ChinaTalk presents, How to Invade Taiwan — a step-by-step tutorial. Check it out on YouTube, and do give us any feedback you have:

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Jordan — A Bipartisan Consensus That It’s Good to Win on AI

Harris’s nomination speech:

Trump on Logan Paul’s podcast:

Well, [AI] is a superpower and you want to be right at the beginning of it, but it is very disconcerting…

I’ve seen it. We have to be at the forefront. It’s going to happen. And if it’s going to happen, we have to take the lead over China. China is the primary threat in terms of that. And you know what they need more than anything else is electricity. They have to have electricity, massive amounts of electricity. I don't know if you know that in order to. Essentially, it's a plant, and the electricity needs are greater than anything we've ever needed before to do AI. At the highest level. And China will produce it because they’ll do whatever you have to do. Whereas we have environmental impact people and you know, we have a lot of people trying to hold us back. Massive amounts of electricity are needed in order to do AI. And we’re going to have to generate a whole different level of energy. And we can do it. And I think we should do it.

Alexa Pan — Chinese Punk Song of the Week

Song: The Trilogy by Oh! Dirty Fingers (脏手指）

I was advised by a friend to put “Dirty Fingers concert” on my bucket list. I’m glad I listened and am spreading the word. Formed in Shanghai in 2014, Dirty Fingers is best known as a punk band. This reputation likely stems both from their early raw, heady musical style, sometimes clashing with the law and social expectations, as well as from their express commitment to individuality and an “aesthetic of ugliness.” Charming as all that, there’s more to their music.

“Trilogy,” first released as a single between their second and third studio albums, suggest — as the album covers do — their reptile-to-mammal evolution: more complex, sophisticated, selective, softer but not necessarily more domesticated. The song opens with instruments lined up for dramatic entrances: broody bass, seductive guitar licks, drum rolls, sparkling mandolin adding handfuls of glitter or broken glass as needed. Vocalist Guan Xiaotian’s raspy whisper rises and pours as smoke (as he says in “Bring in Bo,” “I’m a born champion snorting clouds”), finally erupting amid rattling percussion, resolving — via a sample of Coppola’s The Godfather — in uncertain guitar oscillations. The lyrics express old, genetic ideas: “My world is 1.2 meters by 2 / She is dirtier than the dirtiest corner / And I’m the roach in the corner.” A portrait of Dirty Fingers’ honest, uninviting to some, irresistible to many, spiritual lair.

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Weibo Doomscroll — The Importance of Earnest Moments

To finish off the week, enjoy these vignettes of daily life in China, curated by Moly at Weibo Doomscroll.

First, we have some translated anecdotes about the underappreciated aspects of so-called low-status jobs.

“I used to flip burgers at a Western restaurant and felt like I was Spongebob everyday. It was a ton of fun.”

“I want to quit my job and drive for Uber instead. It feels so fun. I might be lost and I might not know where I’m going, but every single one of my passengers have a destination in mind.”

“I’ve worked my friend’s shift for two days and feel like I’ve aged by a year. I’m not even kidding, I feel my life energy being sucked out of me just by sitting in an office all day.”

“After quitting from ByteDance, I rented a couple of acres in Beijing to farm strawberries. The reason I quit was because of endless status reports.”

To close, enjoy this adorable post, entitled, “Spending 9.2 RMB [$1.30] to Celebrate a Kid’s Birthday.”

I was walking my dog in my development, and [a kid] was rollerskating in the central garden. He wasn’t scared of my dog at all! He squat down and told my dog, “You’re so cute!”

I was really happy to hear praise like that. I was like, “Thank you for not being scared of him. A lot of people are really scared of him.”

He tilted his head and asked me, “Why?”

And I was like, “Maybe because his snout is black and his body is black, so he looks like he’s going to bite?”

And he went quietly, “But that’s just what people think.”

I thought our conversation was done, so I turned to walk somewhere else, but he started walking behind me. Since he had rollerblades on, he was hobbling along while talking to me, about some game he was playing, whether or not I’d seen The Ring, or making me guess if cats were scared of cucumbers. He even asked me, “If my cat went missing, what kind of cat should I ask to help look for him?”

We chatted for maybe about an hour, and I asked him if he had to go home for dinner. And he was like, “I don’t live around here, and we don’t eat this early in my house.”

And I was like, “Oh, I just didn’t see a phone on you. It’s actually past 7 p.m.”

And he was like, “We eat dinner at 8 p.m. in my family.” Then, looking a bit sad, he said, “And nobody ever hangs out with me.”

And I was like, “We [my dog and I] are hanging out with you, aren’t we?”

And he said with disappointment, “Today’s my lunar calendar birthday, but I don’t think anyone remembers.”

And I was like, “Then can I take you out to eat something? You haven’t eaten yet, right?”

And he was like, “But I don’t want to spend your money.”

And I was like, “You’re not the only one eating. I need to get dinner, too.”

And he was like, “Then can we get ice cream?”

And I was like, “Sure, but I can’t have ice cream. I’ll just order something else.” And I asked him where his favorite ice cream place is.

And he was like, “We can go to Busy Snacks. It’s cheaper there.”

And I was like, “I asked you what your favorite ice cream was, not where has cheap ice cream. What you need to do right now is buy ice cream you like, not ice cream that’s cheap.”

And he was like, “But we have to be frugal, don’t we?”

And I was like, “You don’t have to be frugal today. It’s not like you have a birthday every day, right?”

He seemed to accept what I said, but once we went to Busy Snacks, he still picked out the cheapest ice cream. I asked him what else he wanted, and he hesitated for several minutes before he asked if he can have a bottle of Genki Forest [flavored soda water]. I was like, “Sure!”

When I was standing in line to pay for stuff, he asked, “So, big sister, are we friends now?”

And I was like, “Yup, and you can call me auntie.”

He was like, “I’m 11. How old are you?”

And I was like, “I’m almost 30.”

He thought about it and said, “I still wanna call you big sister, since it makes you sound younger.”

And I was like, “Wow, thank you.”

And he mumbled under his breath, “People like you are so rare. You’re so nice.”

It made me really happy to hear. After that, he went back to my development with me and walked my dog for a little while longer. After a while, I told him that it was time for him to go home, since it was getting dark.

He was like, “I live in the next development over. Can I invite you to come over some time?”

And I was like, “Sure, but let me walk you back for now.”