Rapid Triumphs: China's Engineers Overpower U.S. Lawyers' Pace
In a thought-provoking analysis, Dan Wang, a Chinese-Canadian tech analyst, compares the governing styles of China and the United States, likening China to an "engineering state" and the US to a "lawyerly society."
China: The Engineering State
China's governance and development are driven by engineers who employ a "sledgehammer" approach to solve problems, both physical and social. This results in rapid infrastructure building, technological deployment, and social engineering at breakneck speed. The engineering class prioritizes direct solutions, construction, and ambitious projects, reflecting a technocratic mentality rooted in expertise and pragmatic execution.
The US: The Lawyerly Society
In contrast, the American elite, mostly lawyers, focus on rules, processes, and often obstruction. Their approach brings a "gavel" to halt or slow down initiatives, whether beneficial or harmful, due to a complex legal and bureaucratic system geared toward cautious deliberation and conflict resolution through law. This lawyerly dominance means emphasis on process over rapid construction and leads to gridlock and slower decision-making.
Impact on Technological Development
China’s engineering-driven governance enables faster deployment and scaling of technologies, including infrastructure, clean energy, and urban development. The US’s lawyerly system creates barriers and delays through regulatory and legal hurdles, complicating swift innovation and implementation. This difference means China's technological development is more top-down and project-focused, while the US is more adversarial and fragmented.
Impact on Governance
The engineering mindset in China allows for sweeping, centralized interventions and social engineering, changing norms and behaviors swiftly. In contrast, the US’s system decentralizes power across legal and political checks, resulting in slower, more contested governance with frequent standstills in Congress and the courts.
Commonalities and Qualifications
Wang emphasizes that Americans and Chinese are alike in their restlessness and eagerness for shortcuts, cautioning against simplistic categorizations like socialist vs. democratic. Both systems are imperfect and prone to self-sabotage within the intense competition of the 21st century.
Technology and Social Control in China
Wang's book, "Breakneck," discusses the fusion of technological prowess and social control in China. The book highlights the use of drones in Shanghai to enforce lockdown rules, the implementation of the one-child policy, and the detention of over 1 million Uyghurs to inculcate them with Chinese values.
Key Events and Statistics
- By 2030, China will account for 45% of the world's industrial capacity, compared to 38% for all high-income states.
- China has 31 nuclear power stations under construction, compared to just one in the US.
- China now has the capacity to build 60 million cars annually, out of a global market of 90 million cars sold.
- Over the 35 years of the one-child policy, 321 million abortions were performed and 108 million women were sterilized in China.
- The Chinese high-speed railway between Beijing and Shanghai opened in 2011 at a cost of $36 billion and carried 1.4 billion passengers in its first decade.
Dan Wang, the author of "Breakneck," spent time in China and craved for the privileges of pluralism available in the democratic west. However, he also writes with anger about the one-child policy that was antithetical to Chinese familial traditions and has now been reversed.
- Dan Wang's analysis of China and the United States highlights China's governance as an "engineering state," characterized by a rapid deployment of infrastructure, technology, and social engineering.
- In contrast, the US is labeled as a "lawyerly society," often marked by legal and bureaucratic obstacles that lead to slower innovation and implementation in technological development.
- According to Wang's analysis, China's engineering-driven approach enables faster governance and social engineering, while the US's lawyerly system decentralizes power, resulting in slower, more contested governance.
- The technological prowess of China, as discussed in Wang's book "Breakneck," is used to exert social control, as seen in the use of drones, enforced lockdowns, and the one-child policy, among other examples.
