Outstanding travel writing. The bit about driver D explaining how you can pay police to literally erase your identity from databases is wild. Kinda makes you question how much of the surveillance state narrative is actually operatinal vs just projection. I spent time in rural Hunan and the guanxi dynamics were so pervasive that nothing moved without the right relationships, but nobody talks about it this openly.
RE: first part of essay - it was a bummer to read in House of Huawei about all the Huawei sales people who developed health problems later in life due to the strong wine and dine culture. Can't sustain that forever.
Outstanding travel writing. The bit about driver D explaining how you can pay police to literally erase your identity from databases is wild. Kinda makes you question how much of the surveillance state narrative is actually operatinal vs just projection. I spent time in rural Hunan and the guanxi dynamics were so pervasive that nothing moved without the right relationships, but nobody talks about it this openly.
This piece is fire!
Exceptional piece. Thanks for sharing
No wonder the CIA can suborn an entire military!
RE: first part of essay - it was a bummer to read in House of Huawei about all the Huawei sales people who developed health problems later in life due to the strong wine and dine culture. Can't sustain that forever.
In Beijing I have seen some large state owned companies managed by women - mostly rather formidable ladies. But of course, Shanxi isn't quite Beijing.