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
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- 2025-10-02
Beijing
Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 30/09/2025
The barbarians in Beijing
The Old Summer Palace, the Yuanmingyuan “圆明园” in Chinese, located in the Haidian district of Beijing, was a large imperial garden that the emperors of the Qing Dynasty operated for over 150 years. It was known as th
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- 2025-09-24
Beijing
Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 16/09/2025
A short report of the first few days in Beijing
Hainan Airlines flight HU494 BRU – PEKLast week, Hainan Airlines quickly swapped its scheduled Airbus A330-300 for a Boeing 787-9. Almost 10 hours in the air. Departed from Zaventem half an hou
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- 2025-09-17
My next adventure unfolds in China and beyond!
Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 09.09.2025
Seventeen Arched Bridge, The Summer Palace, Beijing, China
I’m thrilled to announce that my annual journey to Asia is almost here! This Sunday, 14 September, I’ll be embarking on my
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- 2025-08-26
How China’s Mandate of Heaven redefined legitimacy
Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 20.08.2025
Qing Dynasty (Taoist) painting of the Chinese pantheon, Hunan Museum
For millennia, rulers have sought divine justification for their power but none framed it as conditionally as China’s Mandate o
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- 2025-08-19
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
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- 2025-07-30
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
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- 2025-07-28
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
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- 2025-07-28
The immense cultural differences between China and the West make the discussion about the technology competition pointless.
Peter Peverelli • 15 july 2025
Chinese vs American application of AI; cartoon RedNote (disclaimer)
Culture
What most Westerners fail to understand is that the
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- 2025-07-05
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
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- 2025-06-08
and no light at the end of the tunnel …
guest author Jaak Peeters 26.05.2025
Glenn Diesen
The Norwegian political scientist Prof. Glenn Diesen regularly brings conversations with interesting people from the West and the East.
Some people take the latter amiss, because he
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- 2025-05-26
A plea for a fundamental rethink of Europe’s approach to the conflict in Ukraine.
Guestauthor: Steven Arrazola de Oñate 09/05/2025
Steven Arrazola de Oñate served his country in the Belgian army.He was stationed in Kandahar (Afghanistan),an experience about which he wrote his most r
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- 2025-05-16
One constructed by the west, one lived by the Chinese
Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 12.05.2025
A mirror divided
A friend asked me last week: “Are there two Chinas then ?” His question, while simple, struck at the heart of a deeper truth: our view of China is often not shaped by e
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- 2025-05-04
National identity as a catalyst for collective progress
Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 11.04.2025
A synthesis of cultural heritage and modern nationalism
Introduction
The interplay of peace (和平, hépíng), harmony (和谐, héxié), and happiness (幸福, xìngfú) in China is deeply rooted in its
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- 2025-04-10
The homecoming of Chinese scientists, a testament to China’s vision and global scientific leadership
Chinese students, scientists, professors and researchers leaving the US en masse.
Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 06.04.2025
China’s scientific rise: a new era of Chinese talent returning home
In recent years, a growing number of Chinese scientists, researchers, and students have made the si
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- 2025-04-04