Lex Fridman Podcast - #466 – Jeffrey Wasserstrom: China, Xi Jinping, Trade War, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mao

Jeffrey Wasserstrom is a historian of modern China.
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Transcript:
https://lexfridman.com/jeffrey-wasserstrom-transcript

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EPISODE LINKS:
Jeffrey Wasserstrom’s Books:
China in the 21st Century: https://amzn.to/3GnayXT
Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink: https://amzn.to/4jmxWmT
Oxford History of Modern China: https://amzn.to/3RAJ9nI
The Milk Tea Alliance: https://amzn.to/42DLapH

SPONSORS:
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OUTLINE:
(00:00) – Introduction
(00:06) – Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections
(10:29) – Xi Jinping and Mao Zedong
(13:57) – Confucius
(21:27) – Education
(29:33) – Tiananmen Square
(40:49) – Tank Man
(50:49) – Censorship
(1:26:45) – Xi Jinping
(1:44:53) – Donald Trump
(1:48:47) – Trade war
(2:01:35) – Taiwan
(2:11:48) – Protests in Hong Kong
(2:44:07) – Mao Zedong
(3:05:48) – Future of China

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Consider This from NPR - Americans are protesting the Trump administration. Do they work?

When you think of a successful protest movement, most Americans probably think of the American Civil Rights movement, and the March on Washington in 1963.

Martin Luther King, Jr. standing behind a podium on the steps of the Lincoln memorial delivered his most famous speech and a line that would come to define the goals of the Civil Rights Movement.

President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act just nine months after the March. A year after that Johnson signed the National Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The quest for equality continues. In the decades since that bright summer day in August 1963, many other Americans have tried to use the model of protest to achieve their political goals.

But do protests work?

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

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NPR Privacy Policy

Consider This from NPR - Americans are protesting the Trump administration. Do they work?

When you think of a successful protest movement, most Americans probably think of the American Civil Rights movement, and the March on Washington in 1963.

Martin Luther King, Jr. standing behind a podium on the steps of the Lincoln memorial delivered his most famous speech and a line that would come to define the goals of the Civil Rights Movement.

President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act just nine months after the March. A year after that Johnson signed the National Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The quest for equality continues. In the decades since that bright summer day in August 1963, many other Americans have tried to use the model of protest to achieve their political goals.

But do protests work?

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Consider This from NPR - Americans are protesting the Trump administration. Do they work?

When you think of a successful protest movement, most Americans probably think of the American Civil Rights movement, and the March on Washington in 1963.

Martin Luther King, Jr. standing behind a podium on the steps of the Lincoln memorial delivered his most famous speech and a line that would come to define the goals of the Civil Rights Movement.

President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act just nine months after the March. A year after that Johnson signed the National Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The quest for equality continues. In the decades since that bright summer day in August 1963, many other Americans have tried to use the model of protest to achieve their political goals.

But do protests work?

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Marketplace All-in-One - Trump aims axe at community lender fund

The Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund supports lenders in far-flung and underserved areas. It also made a laundry list of federal programs President Trump deemed unnecessary and ordered to be “eliminated” last month. In this episode, how local banks are preparing for the possibility of losing that critical funding. Plus, leaders in the past who championed tariffs, retailers fret over consumer stress and apartment construction tapers off.


 

PBS News Hour - Health - What the new FDA commissioner says about possible restrictions on abortion medication

Many conservatives want the FDA to impose tighter restrictions on mifepristone and misoprostol, which can be delivered by mail. The medication accounted for 63 percent of U.S. abortions in 2023. Amna Nawaz spoke with the new FDA commissioner, Dr. Marty Makary, about what the agency may do. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

The Gist - Punchlines and Straw Men

Jeff Maurer, former Last Week Tonight writer, has been knee-deep in century-old New York Times clippings—considering the differences between yesterday’s fascism fears and today’s. In Part 2, Jeff analyzes John Oliver’s recent reliance on straw men and Jon Stewart’s fairly triumphant return to The Daily Show. Plus- who is favored in a trade battle between the US and China contested on questions of tolerance for suffering? 


Join Team Gist


Produced by Corey Wara

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PBS News Hour - Health - Religious directives at Catholic hospitals complicate emergency care for pregnant women

For decades, Catholic leaders in the U.S. have placed restrictions on certain reproductive health services at Catholic-run hospitals. But as abortion is becoming harder to access nationwide, there’s a new spotlight on care at these facilities. Special correspondent Sarah Varney traveled to Eureka, California, to meet one woman who ran into the limits of Catholic-run healthcare. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons - ‘Abbott Elementary’ Star Lisa Ann Walter Is Competitive AF

You know her as the streetwise Melissa Schemmenti from South Philly on the ABC sitcom “Abbott Elementary.” But actress Lisa Ann Walter has more alternate personas in her back pocket – like stand-up comic, memoir writer, and even Jeopardy! Champion. Ahead of her stand-up shows this weekend at Zanie’s in Rosement, Reset sat down with Lisa Ann Walter to ask her: If Melissa Schemmenti had a five-minute comedy set, what would she say? For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

The Daily Signal - Victor Davis Hanson: The ‘Trade War’ That Never Was

Since launching Liberation Day in early April, several countries, most notability South Korea and Japan, have come to the negotiating table, seeking to lessen tariffs, levied across the board, by the Trump administration.


The stock market has recently recovered, somewhat.  


And now, President Trump says he’s willing to lower tariffs on China.


Many on the Left were quick to blast Trump, saying things like, “Oh, he’s caving. This was all unnecessary.”


Bottom line: The Trump administration’s “trade war” wasn’t really a “war” at all, “It was just an effort to stop a 50-year-cycle of chronic American trade deficits that had harmed the industrial interior”, argues Victor Davis Hanson on today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words:


“Now the Left says, ‘Oh, he's caving, he's caving. This was all unnecessary.’ You could interpret it that way. But it's more likely "Art of the Deal." In other words, we're going to invade Panama, but we're not going to invade Panama. We just want Panama to let American companies run the exit and the entry to the canal—and that's probably going to happen.


“Canada's going to be the 51st state. No. It's not going to be the 51st state. But Canada should defend themselves and pay 2% of their GDP, and they need to address a $65-$100 billion deficit.


“But, we want to absorb Greenland. No. We don't. We want Denmark—a colonial power with this huge North American colony—we want them to help them a little bit. And indeed, they're starting to put Greenland on their imperial flags, and they gave them a billion dollars, and the base is secure. And the Greenland people, 50,000 or so, will want U.S. security. So, that is the ‘Art of the Deal.’”


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👉He’s also the host of “The Victor Davis Hanson Show,” available wherever you prefer to watch or listen. Links to the show and exclusive content are available on his website: https://victorhanson.com   

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