Nanjing Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波   28/10/2025 Our journey from Shanghai to Nanjing aboard a Chinese high speed train highlighted China’s remarkable efficiency. This busy connection features four separate tracks in parallel, with trains departing on average every ten minutes. The ...

Shanghai Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波   21/10/2025 The paradox of ATMs in China’s cashless society What purpose do ATMs serve in a society that has entirely abandoned cash? During my four weeks in China, I have not used physical currency once. Everything, from street food ...

Shanghai Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 14/10/2025 ALDI in China The German ALDI supermarket giant opened its first stores in China in June 2019. Today in October 2025, there are some 80 ALDI stores, most in Shanghai. Only since April they started to expand to Suzhou and Wuxi. ALDI has built a ...

Beijing, Shenyang, Dandong Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 07/10/2025 Westerners in China Walking along the streets of Beijing, Shenyang, Dandong and Shanghai, compared to 10 years ago, it is remarkable how few young Europeans or Americans are left in China. These days, there are many Russia ...

Beijing Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 23/09/2025 Core values The 12 core socialist values: 富强 (Fùqiáng) – Prosperity and Strength民主 (Mínzhǔ) – Democracy文明 (Wénmíng) – Civility和谐 (Héxié) – Harmony自由 (Zìyóu) – Freedom平等 (Píngděng) – Equality公正 (Gōngzhèng) & ...

The ideologies we embraced don’t even begin to make sense in light of real-world evidence. Alex Krainer 15/07/2025 This article is re-published with the approval of Alex Krainer, the author of “TrendCompass” For generations now, western economic thought e ...

How Western audiences reveal their programmed biases when confronted with objective analysis of Chinese politics Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波  22.07.2025 The whole situation with the awkward questioning after my lectures bears a strong resemblance to what happened to Marco Polo on ...

When language becomes a weapon The Frontier Man (Larry Johnson) 08/07/2028 Artwork: Rebellion of the Soul. The Frontier Man August 2024 This article is re-published here with the approval of the author at “Sonar21” On 5 February 2003, U.S. Secretary ...

From confrontation to cooperation Jan Oberg  08.07.2025 This is an article, re-published with the approval of the authors of “If You Want To Understand China” – Foreword, Intro and Content of a TFF anthology. In July 2020, former US Secretary of Sta ...

How Confucian culture first delayed and then accelerated China’s innovation.      Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波  04.07.2025 Smashing the European myth For centuries, Western narratives have portrayed science and technology as exclusively Western achievements, ...

China’s long term strategy paid off. The West never saw it coming    Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波  08.07.2025 Since the turn of the 21st century, China has not merely participated in global systems shaped by Western powers; it has decisively reconfigured them. From trade gove ...

The devastating influence of having no future.     Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波  01.07.2025 Losing faith in the future In many western societies, the erosion of faith in the future has become one of the defining psychological and political crises of the 21st century. E ...

How truth decays in a world of tribal narrative.     Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波  23.06.2025 Trust, but verify, lessons in healthy scepticism When my father-in-law boasted of shooting 23 German soldiers in World War II, I didn’t take his word for it. Digging into archives ...

Short-term politics, media puppets, and the death of innovation.     Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波  07.06.2025 The short term vision Western political and economic systems are collapsing under the weight of short-termism, media dependency, and the marginalisation of eng ...

It was high time to cut the cord and to end a toxic dependency.     Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波  02.06.2025 Chinese brands, media, financial institutions and apps The Western grip: an uneasy dependence For more than two decades, I have been acutely aware of the growing ...