One of the most mind-boggling statistics that I’ve ever come across in all my reading was the one by Vaclav Smil on China’s cement consumption: In 2018 and 19, China produced nearly as much cement (about 4.4 billion tons) as did the United States during the entire 20th century (4.5 billion tons) Let that sink … Continue reading Impressions on China from Wang’s ‘Breakneck’
An apocryphal story has it that Confucius once became separated from his students in a strange city. They were searching for him when a local informed them that he’d seen a man who appeared ‘crestfallen, like a homeless wandering dog’. This clue led them to their master. When they told Confucius how the man had … Continue reading Mental Model for Categorizing Intellectuals
Joe Studwell’s ‘How Asia Works’ is a seminal work examining the different trajectories adopted by the Asian countries in the aftermath of the Second World War. India doesn’t figure in the scope of this work. The focus is mainly on Northeast Asia (Japan, Korea), South East Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam) and of course China. Studwell … Continue reading How Asia Works
I spent the Dusshera weekend in Dharamshala. It was only after booking the tickets did I realize that the India-New Zealand World Cup match was also happening there at the same time. With the snow-capped peaks as the backdrop, it is little wonder that the cricket stadium is India’s prettiest. Like a typical tourist, I … Continue reading The Dharamshala Weekend
China used more cement between 2011 and 2013 than the U.S. used in the entire 20th Century. Yes, you heard that right! Now, with this knowledge, it’s not unnatural to imagine China importing lots of crude oil, heavy machinery or vehicles. But the fact is that China’s largest category of imports is an entirely unrelated category … Continue reading The Chip Wars
