“For those who have done long-term research on China, it looks like a much messier picture than any of these portrayals, especially from those in Silicon Valley who juxtapose China against this annoyingly messy and unruly democracy. The Chinese system is full of conflicting interests, rife with corruption. Sometimes Beijing gives a signal and local governments run that way, and then Beijing is like, no, other way. To anyone in Silicon Valley making this neat argument, all I can say is: go talk to people in China. They can tell you how messy it is on the ground.”

Oh, yeah. I mean, for those who actually study China, who have done long-term research on this country and who understand it more closely, it looks like a much messier picture than any of these portrayals, especially from those in Silicon Valley who try to juxtapose China against what they find to be this kind of annoyingly messy and unruly democracy. Like the Chinese system, both within the government and then across industries and government, is full of conflicting interests, rife with corruption. There are lots of times where you have bureaucratic turf wars that spill out into the open. You have missteps, ones that can backfire profoundly. So you see that all the time. You see the local governments not following what Beijing wants or following what Beijing wants, but in the wrong direction, right? Sometimes they're given a signal and they're like, oh, okay, we got to run that way. And then Beijing is like, no, no, no, no, no, other way, other way. So yeah, this happens all the time. And I think, you know, to anyone in Silicon Valley who's trying to make this neat argument, all I can say is like, go talk to people in China. They can tell you how messy it is actually on the ground.