Analyse Asia 204: Myth Busters, the China Edition with John Artman

Editor’s note: This originally appeared on Analyse Asia, a weekly podcast hosted by Bernard Leong, dedicated to dissecting the pulse of business, technology, and media in Asia. The podcast features guests from Asia’s vibrant tech community.

John Artman, editor in chief for Technode and host of China Tech Talk podcast joined us to debunk the narratives on China that has been propagated from different parts of the world. We began with his story and how he came to China. In our discussion, we dissect the different myths about the Chinese government, media censorship, lack of innovation, efficiency and last but not least, education.

Listen to the episode here or subscribe.

Here are the interesting show notes and links to the discussion (with time-stamps included):

• John Artman (@knowsnothing, LinkedIn), Editor in Chief from Technode and Host of China Tech Talk (Apple Podcasts) [0:38]
  • How did you start your career? [1:56]
  • When did you move from the US to China [6:39]
  • In your career journey, what are the interesting lessons you can share with my audience? [7:17]
• Myth Busters, the China Edition [8:43]
  • Myth 1: China is a communist country and only cares about itself. [8:43]
    • What’s does China government care about people? [11:54]
    • With the “One Belt One Road” initiative how does China’s new silk road dreams signify its shift from a regional to a global power? [14:30]
  • Myth 2: Censorship is everywhere & the Chinese government controls everything [17:58]
    • Recently, the Chinese government has pressured Apple to cave on VPN apps in China’s iTunes app store, are they increasing their footprint in censorship? [20:24]
  • Myth 3: There is no innovation in China. [23:35]
    • What are the interesting innovations which the US media seem to miss by propagating the narrative that China only copies and clones? (Wechat, Fintech, AI, Qtum, Alibaba)
    • Changing narrative from Silicon Valley in how they looked at China tech startups
  • Myth 4: China is better at “getting things done” [31:17]
  • Myth 5: China has better STEM education [35:00]
• Closing [41:04]
  • Do you have any recommendations (podcast, books or movies) for my audience?
    • Noah Yuval Hanari, “Homo Deus” and “Sapiens“
    • Cal Newport, “Deep Work”
    • Henry Kissinger, “On China“
  • BL’s recommendation: Henry Kissinger, “World Order“
  • How should my audience find John Artman?

TechNode does not necessarily endorse the commentary made in this program.