Substacks recommended by ChinaTalk

Recommended by ChinaTalk

A weekly resource to help you improve your Mandarin every week, stay informed about China, and communicate with confidence in Chinese.

The Overshoot

By Matt Klein

Making sense of the global economy and financial markets

on a scale from 1 to 10

By vlad chituc — on a scale

understanding how we understand minds

Derek Thompson

A newsletter about abundance and building a better world.

Exponential View

By Azeem Azhar

"One of the best for understanding how tech can solve our biggest problems and shape our society." — Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify

AI, compute, econ

Can the US and China avoid accidental conflict?

Tech Taiwan 胡說科技

Exclusive and in-depth semiconductor trend analysis, covering technological breakthroughs, supply chain shifts, with a strong focus on Taiwan's strategic position :exclusive insights from tech columnist Liang-rong Chen in Taiwan.

Knicks Film School

By Jonathan Macri

Where NBA fans learn about the Knicks.

SemiAnalysis

By Dylan Patel

Bridging the gap between the world's most important industry, semiconductors, and business.

Sinocism

By Bill Bishop

Get smarter about China

what can you say, Bill is the GOAT

- ChinaTalk

The High Side

By Sean D. Naylor

In-depth national security reporting

Chartbook

By Adam Tooze

A newsletter on economics, geopolitics and history from Adam Tooze. More substantial than the twitter feed. More freewheeling than what you might read from me in FT, Foreign Policy, New Statesman.

Adam Tooze is a modern marvel. His range and insightfulness across that range is inspiring and near incomprehensible. I've learned more from him about how to think about global trends, second order effects, and interactions across politics, economics, and society than any other modern thinker.

- ChinaTalk

The Algorithmic Bridge

By Alberto Romero

A blog about AI that's actually about people

The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak

A war correspondent's open notebook, reporting live from Kyiv. Human stories that illustrate what’s happening during the war in Ukraine, and elsewhere on the frontlines for democracy. Issues 3x a week!

Old North Whale Review

By JingYu

Old North Whale = 老北鲸 Lǎo Běi Jīng ≈ 老北京 Lǎo Běijīng. Tracing the tangled roots of modern China’s ‘Chineseness’ across history, culture, and art.

Comment is Freed

By Sam Freedman

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

My personal Substack

Sinology, statecraft, and history amid global geopolitical and technological transformation.

Recode China AI

By Tony

China AI Spotlight: Your weekly guide to China's AI breakthroughs, trends, and stories.

A Letter from Paul

By Paul Podolsky

Practical, jargon-free description of what is going on in international affairs and financial markets from the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of a global macro hedge fund, Kate Capital. And the price is right...free.

kamilkazani

Mein Freund, das grad' ist Dichters Werk, dass er sein Träumen deut' und merk'

Big Serge Thought

Musings and Ponderings

Daniel Petkevich

History, geopolitics, technology, and culture.

Political Currents by Ross Barkan

This is Ross Barkan's newsletter - original essays on politics, society, and culture

I've spent 25 years living in nyc, and could not get invested in local politics until I started reading Ross' newsletter. He's a fantastic reporter and analyst whose left-wing views push me to question my assumptions.

- ChinaTalk

Tracking People's Daily

By Manoj Kewalramani

This blog primarily offers a breakdown of the weekday editions of the People's Daily.

Hors d'Oeuvres of Battle

By Decker Eveleth

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

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.

Asterisk Magazine

Clear writing and clear thinking about the worlds shaping the Bay Area. New pieces on Wednesdays.

TLDR Torah

By Byron

A weekly synopsis of the Torah portion, plus a question for wholesome conversation.

so much torah! fantastic conversation starters at the end of each post

- ChinaTalk

Silver Bulletin

By Nate Silver

Essays and analysis about elections, media, sports, poker, and all the other things I care about.

J Lee

No Crumbs

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

推播助栏 Enrich Podwave

By Enzo

访谈中文世界最好的新闻类/叙事类播客创作者。Reading the exclusive interview with the best Chinese podcasters.

Zixuan Ma’s Blog

A collection of essays on China’s political economy, aiming to improve the world’s understanding of China with holistic perspectives and broad-based analyses.

Interconnects AI

By Interconnects by Nathan Lambert

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.

Abigail's Substack

By Abigail Schneider

My personal Substack

History Does You

By Secretary of Defense Rock

Mostly Musings on History but also Civil-Military Relations, Foreign Policy, and the Indo-Pacific.

Observing Japan

By Tobias Harris

News and views on Japan's politics

Mind of Things

By Justin Mc

Retired Special Forces soldier’s thoughts on defense, technology, parenting, and other things that catch my interest. Occasionally, I have guest writers on.

varied meditations on mil-adjacent topics from a super thoughtful former SOF

- ChinaTalk

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.

Interconnected

By Kevin Xu

On the intersections of tech, investing, geopolitics, and US-Asia relations

Kevin Xu does a fantastic job exploring China + tech

- ChinaTalk

ChinArb

Capturing Structural Alpha via de-ideologized game theory and physical data. Decoding the evolution of global systems. 20+ years embedded in China's policy and industrial frontlines.

One Useful Thing

By Ethan Mollick

Trying to understand the implications of AI for work, education, and life. By Prof. Ethan Mollick

Moly’s Substack

By Chinese Doom Scroll

A translation of all the hottest Weibo posts!

Value Added

By JS Tan

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

Pekingnology

By Zichen Wang

China's opinion page A

Sinocities

By Andrew Stokols

Cities, China, Geopolitics, Technology, and everything in between. By: Andrew Stokols ; Phd, MIT Department of Urban Studies & Planning, Masters in Urban Planning, Harvard.

Peter E. Harrell

Lawyer. Scholar. Writes mostly but not exclusively about international economics.

SatPost by Trung Phan

By Trungphan2

A Saturday email on the latest in tech, business and memes.

MEMES FOR DAYS

- ChinaTalk