DPS 周刊 207 — Breakneck
上个月 Dan Wang 关于中国的专著 Breakneck 终于正式上市了。这本书的主要论点是：中国是工程师治国，而美国是律师治国；两者其实有很多相似之处，如果可以相互学习，那么未来将会变得非常不一样。
> The future would be better if China could learn to build less, while the United States learns to build more. I've come to realize that there are many ways that China and the United States are inversions of each other.
> As these countries grow apart, they are going to have to do something difficult: The United States will have to regain all the muscle it has lost for building public works as well as manufacturing capacity, and China will have to empower consumers by getting over its fear of making people lazy.
> Chinese and Americans are pragmatic: They have a get-it-done attitude that occasionally produces hurried work. Both countries are full of hustlers peddling shortcuts, especially to health and to wealth. Their peoples have an appreciation for the technological sublime: the awe of grand projects pushing physical limits. American and Chinese elites are often uneasy with the political views of the broader populace. But masses and elites are united in the faith that theirs is a uniquely powerful nation that ought to throw its weight around if smaller countries don't get in line.
> Beijing will never be able to draw on the best feature of the United States: Embracing pluralism and individual rights. The Communist Party is too afraid of the Chinese people to give them real agency. Beijing will not recognize that the creatives and entrepreneurs it is chasing into exile are not the enemy. It will not accept that their creative energy could bring as much prestige to China as great public works.
> But there are still some things that the United States can learn from the engineering state. Although the creative class wants to rùn, the material benefits for most of China's population are widely spread.
Dan Wang 是一位非常精通中国的写作者，他出生于云南，小时候就随父母移居加拿大，然后又搬到美国。成年后，又因为工作“回到”中国，先后在香港，北京和上海生活。
之前曾经连续七年，Dan Wang 每年写一封年度之信，记录他对中国的观察。我们陆续都分享过。
Breakneck 其实是这些观察的沉淀，Dan Wang 在这本书里更系统地分析了中美的异同，辅以翔实的细节，所以让人读起来就放不下。这些细节和他之前在中国的生活不无关系，作为一家智库的分析师，他时常需要采集第一手数据，这就需要他深入各地，不只是大城市，也包括不少边远山区。
他的不少比喻非常精妙，比如把中国的经济比喻成天津的网红图书馆；把重庆称之为 hydropunk，源自 cyberpunk 一词，又结合了重庆丰富的水资源；把解封后的上海比喻成平壤。
中美经济合作最显著的例子就是 iPhone 的诞生，Dan Wang 整整花了一章讨论了这一成就。其中一些细节非常深入，比如美联航在2019年有上海和旧金山对飞的航班，而 Apple 每天都包下了五十张商务座的机票。
类似的合作还有 Tesla 。也正是这样的合作，产生了鲶鱼效应，不仅盘活了上下游产业链，也使得中国的本土企业得以成长，从而与 Tesla / Apple 一拼上下。
通过这两个例子，Dan Wang 解释了中国的产业集群模式：通过市场换技术的模式引进外国先进技术并加以吸收，同时，因为这些先进技术需要下游产业链的配合，所以这些大厂周围往往衍生出一系列产业链。因为低廉的劳动力，使得这些产业链得以存活。而下游产业链的成熟，往往又催生出本土的上游厂商进行整合，从而造就了小米，比亚迪之类的企业。
这种模式并不是简单的一句 MAGA 口号就能复制的，如果只是要求 Apple / Tesla 这样的上游厂商搬回美国，而没有成熟的下游产业链配合，这种复制只是空中楼阁。
https://letters.acacess.com/dps--207
上个月 Dan Wang 关于中国的专著 Breakneck 终于正式上市了。这本书的主要论点是：中国是工程师治国，而美国是律师治国；两者其实有很多相似之处，如果可以相互学习，那么未来将会变得非常不一样。
> The future would be better if China could learn to build less, while the United States learns to build more. I've come to realize that there are many ways that China and the United States are inversions of each other.
> As these countries grow apart, they are going to have to do something difficult: The United States will have to regain all the muscle it has lost for building public works as well as manufacturing capacity, and China will have to empower consumers by getting over its fear of making people lazy.
> Chinese and Americans are pragmatic: They have a get-it-done attitude that occasionally produces hurried work. Both countries are full of hustlers peddling shortcuts, especially to health and to wealth. Their peoples have an appreciation for the technological sublime: the awe of grand projects pushing physical limits. American and Chinese elites are often uneasy with the political views of the broader populace. But masses and elites are united in the faith that theirs is a uniquely powerful nation that ought to throw its weight around if smaller countries don't get in line.
> Beijing will never be able to draw on the best feature of the United States: Embracing pluralism and individual rights. The Communist Party is too afraid of the Chinese people to give them real agency. Beijing will not recognize that the creatives and entrepreneurs it is chasing into exile are not the enemy. It will not accept that their creative energy could bring as much prestige to China as great public works.
> But there are still some things that the United States can learn from the engineering state. Although the creative class wants to rùn, the material benefits for most of China's population are widely spread.
Dan Wang 是一位非常精通中国的写作者，他出生于云南，小时候就随父母移居加拿大，然后又搬到美国。成年后，又因为工作“回到”中国，先后在香港，北京和上海生活。
之前曾经连续七年，Dan Wang 每年写一封年度之信，记录他对中国的观察。我们陆续都分享过。
Breakneck 其实是这些观察的沉淀，Dan Wang 在这本书里更系统地分析了中美的异同，辅以翔实的细节，所以让人读起来就放不下。这些细节和他之前在中国的生活不无关系，作为一家智库的分析师，他时常需要采集第一手数据，这就需要他深入各地，不只是大城市，也包括不少边远山区。
他的不少比喻非常精妙，比如把中国的经济比喻成天津的网红图书馆；把重庆称之为 hydropunk，源自 cyberpunk 一词，又结合了重庆丰富的水资源；把解封后的上海比喻成平壤。
中美经济合作最显著的例子就是 iPhone 的诞生，Dan Wang 整整花了一章讨论了这一成就。其中一些细节非常深入，比如美联航在2019年有上海和旧金山对飞的航班，而 Apple 每天都包下了五十张商务座的机票。
类似的合作还有 Tesla 。也正是这样的合作，产生了鲶鱼效应，不仅盘活了上下游产业链，也使得中国的本土企业得以成长，从而与 Tesla / Apple 一拼上下。
通过这两个例子，Dan Wang 解释了中国的产业集群模式：通过市场换技术的模式引进外国先进技术并加以吸收，同时，因为这些先进技术需要下游产业链的配合，所以这些大厂周围往往衍生出一系列产业链。因为低廉的劳动力，使得这些产业链得以存活。而下游产业链的成熟，往往又催生出本土的上游厂商进行整合，从而造就了小米，比亚迪之类的企业。
这种模式并不是简单的一句 MAGA 口号就能复制的，如果只是要求 Apple / Tesla 这样的上游厂商搬回美国，而没有成熟的下游产业链配合，这种复制只是空中楼阁。
https://letters.acacess.com/dps--207