Substacks recommended by ChinaTalk

Recommended by ChinaTalk

The cutting edge of AI, from inside the frontier AI labs, minus the hype. The border between high-level and technical thinking. Read by leading engineers, researchers, and investors.

China Story

By Phil Cunningham

Stories about the Central Kingdom and the world around it.

Sinocism

By Bill Bishop

Get smarter about China

what can you say, Bill is the GOAT

- ChinaTalk

Hors d'Oeuvres of Battle

By Decker Eveleth

A blog involving nuclear weapons, alcohol, and whatever else crosses my mind.

Natto Thoughts

By Natto Team

Stories, analysis and insights from the intersection of culture, technology, and security.

Following the Yuan

By Yaling Jiang

Get on-the-ground 'color' in China beyond the earnings calls and market reports.

What Is Called Thinking?

By Zohar Atkins

Philosophy, Religion, and Culture

zohar's newsletter makes me think harder about more important topics than anything else that shows up in my inbox

- ChinaTalk

Factory Settings

How to update the default settings of government, by former CHIPS Program Office leadership.

Culpium, by Tim Culpan

Exclusive news plus unparalleled insights and analysis on the global economy, supply chains, and technology from a veteran of Asian technology journalism. Independent. Culpium: noun [U] — a cure for lack of knowledge, understanding or clarity.

McFaul's World

By Michael McFaul

Explaining international politics, and especially the fight between autocrats and democrats in the world today.

Sergey Radchenko

Wilson E. Schmidt Distinguished Professor. Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs. Johns Hopkins University.

Choosing Victory

By Ryan Fedasiuk

Decision points at the heart of technology, geopolitics, and U.S.-China relations.

波士頓書評 Boston Review of Books

讀嚴肅的書，做有趣的人

High Capacity

By Kyle Chan

China's tech and industrial policy: manufacturing, global supply chains, AI, clean tech, EVs, trade, economic competition.

kyle chan's coverage of industrial policy is second to none

- ChinaTalk

Daniel Petkevich

History, geopolitics, technology, and culture.

Fabricated Knowledge

By Doug O'Laughlin

Let's learn more about the world's most important manufactured product. Meaningful insight, timely analysis, and an occasional investment idea.

Doug is one of the best in the game. I've learned a tremendous amount about semiconductors from him over the years.

- ChinaTalk

Hello China Tech

By Poe Zhao

Decoding China tech for global minds

The Scholar's Stage

By Tanner Greer

Researching the Communist Party of China is my day job. Here I write long reads on international politics, ancient history, and American conservatism.

tanner is the best read and most thoughtful essayist out there. Has forgotten more than I'll ever know about history and China

- ChinaTalk

Comment is Freed

By Sam Freedman

Politics, policy analysis, and foreign affairs from Sam and Lawrence Freedman

Slow Boring

By Matthew Yglesias

Start your day with pragmatic takes on politics and public policy.

Matt is a one of one. He writes without fear and explores similar themes to ChinaTalk on innovation and industrial policy.

- ChinaTalk

Robert Sietsema's New York

I have been writing about New York City restaurants since the 1990s, and specialize in inexpensive eats.

this man taught me how to eat. so great to see robert sietsema on substack!

- ChinaTalk

Consensus Drift

By New

Consensus Drift is a newsletter about the politics and political economy of the digital stack, focusing on how government decisions are reshaping these markets over time.

Wang‘s Mineral Notes

@Jamestown Foundation

Erik Torenberg

By a16z

Explorations and inquiries into my curiosities: culture, politics, tech, business, and human nature

erik's a real lateral thinker and gets into some similar tech themes to chinatalk

- ChinaTalk

CDR Salamander

National security, maritime challenges, naval issues with a flavoring of other things I find interesting.

Stanford SCCEI China Briefs

A biweekly brief series from the Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions that translates data-driven research on China into evidence-based insights

Fantastic digestible breakdowns of policy-relevant academic research on China

- ChinaTalk

Dwarkesh Podcast

By Dwarkesh Patel

Deeply researched interviews

Michael Kovrig's Strategic Narratives

Comment and analysis on geopolitics, geoeconomics, global security, communication, and human values with a focus on China, the Indo-Pacific and great-power rivalry. Posts explore the strategic narratives that shape perceptions and drive decisions.

Career China Newsletter

By Savannah

Welcome! This is a free monthly jobs board for those interested in China-focused careers, or with China experience on their resume.

Arnon Mishkin

Two Marines

By twomarinessub@gmail.com

Newsletter from former US Marine Rob Lee and Ukrainian Marine Dmytro Putiata on the Russian-Ukrainian war, defense technology, and modern warfare.

北海 Northward Seaside

By Chu

An Asian life in Denmark, the good, the cold, and everything in between.

Big Serge Thought

Musings and Ponderings

Pekingnology

By Zichen Wang

China's opinion page A

Yes, I give a fig... thoughts on markets from Michael Green

By Michael W. Green

Thoughts on financial markets and economics from Simplify's Chief Strategist

really sharp and engaging perspectives on macro

- ChinaTalk

Value Added

By JS Tan

Value Added is a newsletter about the political economy of innovation.

The Intrinsic Perspective

By Erik Hoel

Natural philosophy, belles-lettres, polemics.

Erik is a deeply original thinker who is particularly strong on the impact of technology on society.

- ChinaTalk

Sinification

By Thomas des Garets Geddes

The world as viewed from China.

This Week in Rural China

By Nathan Whittaker

Writing on China beyond the skylines.

Concrete Avalanche

By Jake

A newsletter about music from China

The best English language entry point for contemporary Chinese music

- ChinaTalk

@jasmine’s substack

By Jasmine Sun

an anthropology of disruption 📍 essays on AI and Silicon Valley culture

Exponential View

By Azeem Azhar

AI analysis worth reading

Weighty Thoughts

By James Wang

VC on AI, deep tech, startups. Former Bridgewater, Google[x], startup founder. Read by top engineers, fund managers, and policymakers.

Sharp deep tech investor's perspective primarily on AI and semis

- ChinaTalk

Noahpinion

By Noah Smith

Economics and other interesting stuff

Noah is one of the best in the game. He's really unparallelled in his ability to deep dive into econ and econ-adjacent questions. We explore similar themes around industry policy and technological progress. About once a month he puts out a really strong piece on China and, having previously lived in the country, is particularly good on Japan.

- ChinaTalk

Observing Japan

By Tobias Harris

News and views on Japan's politics

Conflict

By Stephen Roach

Can the US and China avoid accidental conflict?

Matt Sheehan's Newsletter

on China, technology and global AI

Matt is as good as it gets on China and AI

- ChinaTalk

New China Literacy

By Yaqi Li

A young Chinese IR scholar-practitioner's notebook — policy analysis, institutional observation, and firsthand dispatches from inside the system that trains a rising power to understand the world.

Rough Diamonds

By Sarah Constantin

Underrated opportunities in science, technology, and society

The Honest Broker

By Ted Gioia

A trustworthy guide to music, books, arts, media & culture by Ted Gioia