How do users in China get access to Claude and ChatGPT through the gray market? What’s really driving China’s apparent “AI optimism”? How is China trying to deal with deepfakes and AI-generated content?

In this episode, I speak with Zilan Qian, a researcher at the Oxford China Policy Lab about the hidden side of China’s AI boom, including:

• How Chinese users use “transfer stations” to access American AI models like Claude and ChatGPT
• Why Chinese users still want to use Claude and ChatGPT even though there are strong Chinese mode
• Why China’s apparent AI optimism is really driven by anxiety about falling behind
• China’s push to label AI-generated content—and the problems with watermarks, detection, and false positives

Links:

• Zilan’s Oxford page
• Zilan on Substack and Twitter / X
• How to Buy Cheap Claude Tokens in China
• China’s AI optimism isn’t what it seems
• Labelling AI-Generated Content in China

How did China build a world-leading EV industry? China didn't just pick winners. Local governments and private entrepreneurs played a critical role alongside a broader national push into batteries and electric vehicle technology.

In this episode, I talk with Fengming Lu, an assistant professor at Australian National University, about China's decades-long effort to build a world-class auto industry, its pivot to EVs, and what lessons other countries might learn.

We discuss:

• How Chinese local governments act like VC investors

• What China learned from foreign automakers like GM, Volkswagen

• The rise of upstarts like Geely, Chery, and BYD

• What caused a wave of Chinese EV startups like NIO, Xpeng, Li Auto

• The "Hefei model"

Links:

• The Rise of China’s Electric Vehicle Industry: Strategic Alliances Between Local Governments and Private Capital

• Fengming's personal website

• Fengming on Twitter / X

For transcripts and more information, check out the High Capacity newsletter.

Follow host Kyle Chan on Twitter / X

Why is China’s biotech industry advancing so quickly? I talk with Abigail Coplin of Vassar College to unpack China’s biotech strategy, BGI, genomics, AI-driven drug discovery, gene therapies, biotech regulation, and what the U.S.-China biotech race means for innovation, national security, and the future of medicine.

• Why has China emerged so quickly as a global biotech powerhouse?
• What gives Chinese biotech companies an edge over their Western competitors?
• How did BGI become one of the world’s most influential genomics companies?
• Why are China’s gene and cell therapies advancing so rapidly?
• What should U.S. policymakers know about China's biotech industry?

Links:

• Abigail’s academic profile
• Abigail’s policy paper for the Penn Project on the Future of U.S.-China Relations: “Getting Biotechnology Right: Managing Risk and Reward Between the U.S. and China in the Life Sciences”
• Yu Zhou and Abigail Coplin. 2022. “Innovation in a Science-Based Sector: The Institutional Evolution behind China’s Emerging Biopharmaceutical Innovation Boom.” The China Review.

For transcripts and more information, check out the High Capacity newsletter.

Follow host Kyle Chan on Twitter / X.