ChinaTalk

We're trying out a different format to explore "Chinese peptides." We talk to biohackers using compounds like BPC-157 to heal extreme injuries, go undercover as peptide buyers, and discuss the challenges of reporting on the Chinese pharmaceutical ecosystem with the legendary Hamilton Morris.

Special thanks to guests Jasmine Sun, Hamilton Morris, Aaron Kesselheim, Marcus, and David. This episode was produced by Lily Ottinger with additional reporting from Irene Zhang and Nick Corvino.

Check out Jasmine's NYT article here.

ChinaTalk merch available now at https://chinatalk.printful.me/. Your purchase helps us make more content like this!
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Admiral Rickover — America’s most famous, perhaps most influential admiral of the second half of the 20th century. To discuss his unbelievable life story, dramatic impact on the Cold War, and implications for the future of what the U.S. government should do when it tries to build hard things, we have two guests — Charles Yang, founder of the Center for Industrial Strategy, who also does AI science work at Renaissance Philanthropy, and Emmett Penney of FAI.

We discuss:


Rickover’s immigrant origin story from Polish village to almost being deported at Ellis Island and his improbable path into the Naval Academy.


Drive, discipline, expertise, and how Rickover bent Washington to his will.


Rickover as tyrant, teacher, technocrat — what his contradictions reveal about leadership, power, and effectiveness.


Why Rickover matters now — nuclear revival, defense procurement reform, engineers vs. lawyers, and a major archival digitization effort.

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Today, we’re discussing all things gaming in China! Our illustrious guest is Daniel Camilo, a Portuguese national who has spent over a decade in the Chinese video game industry. We cover the most important titles, publishing and development trends, and where the industry is headed.

We discuss:


How China’s game industry climbed the value chain from low-cost mobile and PC titles to globally competitive AAA releases,


Why Genshin Impact reset global expectations, becoming the template for live-service “cash cows,”


China’s domestic market’s newfound self-sufficiency, as hundreds of millions of middle-class gamers mean Chinese developers no longer need international success,


Steam’s magical liminal status in China as a de facto gateway for uncensored and imported games,


Why gaming is a global language in ways movies and music aren’t, and how mechanics and genres travel even when stories don’t,


The Wuchang: Fallen Feathers controversy, where nationalist backlash led to patched-out boss deaths and preemptive self-censorship.

We also cover Daniel’s pick for the biggest Chinese game of 2026, the looming Genshin-style live-service bubble, and how a game set in 1984 East Germany channels distinctly Chinese workplace anxiety.
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Minh Tran (https://www.couldabeenatthe.club/), Afra Wang (https://afra.work/) and Lauren Teixeira (https://lrntex.substack.com/) join me to talk about Chinamaxxing — the growing fascination among younger Americans with Chinese short-form content. We discuss why these videos feel so appealing in a moment of pessimism at home, how Trump’s America shapes that gaze, and where the “shiny,” abundance-driven vision of China starts to break down. We also get into what short-form can’t show and review Chinese films and hip-hop!

Chapters

00:00 Cultural Exchange and Chinese Short Form Content

08:14 Influencers and the Appeal of the China Aesthetic

14:13 Contradictions in the Chinese Narrative

25:06 Recommendations for Exploring Chinese Culture

33:33 Jia Zhangke's Cinematic Vision

38:12 Chengdu hip hop

41:48 The Future of Chinese Cultural Products

42:56 Censorship and the Dynamics of Domestic Entertainment in China

Outtro Music:

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Today’s guest is the legendary strategist Edward Luttwak — the Machiavelli of Maryland. He’s consulted for presidents, prime ministers, and secretaries of defense, and authored magnificent books on Byzantine history, a guide to planning a successful coup, and an opus on the logic of strategy and the rise of China. He raises cows, too.

We recorded this episode in Feb of 2024.

Thanks to the Hudson Institute for sponsoring this episode.

Our conversation today covers…


Luttwak’s childhood and formative encounters with war, including an early fascination with the mafia in Sicily,


Technological step-changes in warfare,


Books that shaped Luttwak’s view of war, from Clausewitz to the Iliad,


The costs of “removing war from Europe” post-1945,


China’s strategic missteps,


The psychology of deterrence, including what kind of Middle East policy would actually deter Iran,


The strengths of democracies vs. autocracies.

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