647. China Is Run by Engineers. America Is Run by Lawyers.

In his new book “Breakneck,” Dan Wang argues that the U.S. has a lot to learn from China. He also says that “no two peoples are more alike.” We have questions.

• SOURCES:• Dan Wang (danwang.co/about), research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, author of Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future.

• RESOURCES:• Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future (amzn.to/4mtxGTX), by Dan Wang (2025).
• The Anaconda in the Chandelier: Writings on China (amzn.to/4nHlobM), by Perry Link (2025).
• "Is the U.S. Ready for the Next War? (newyorker.com/magazine/2025/07/21/is-the-us-re…)" by Dexter Filkins (The New Yorker, 2025).
• "How smartphones made Shenzhen China’s innovation capital (vox.com/new-money/2016/11/4/13498504/shenzhen-…)," by Dan Wang (2016).
• How China Escaped the Poverty Trap (cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501764561/ho…), by Yuen Yuen Ang (2016).
• The Art of Not Being Governed (yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300169171/the-art-…), by Jame Scott (2009).

• EXTRAS:• "The Engineering State and the Lawyerly Society: Dan Wang on his new book 'Breakneck (sinicapodcast.com/p/the-engineering-state-and-…),'" by the Sinica Podcast (2025).
• "Is the U.S. Really Less Corrupt Than China? (freakonomics.com/podcast/is-the-u-s-really-les…)" by Freakonomics Radio (2021).

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