Views: 16 Vast knowledge but no capacity to learn. Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 23/02/2026 AI’s stupidity exposed. Image generated with ChatGPT5 Some raw, straightforward, ugly and inconvenient facts about the current status of AI systems. The definition What is AI ? There ar ...

Views: 34 Unity and peace for our fractured world, beyond nostalgia. Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 16/02/2026 Zhou Enlai, Mao Zedong and Zhu De during the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China, held in Yan’an in 1945. Help, I’m getting Communist From sceptic ...

Views: 56 From manufacturing to geopolitics: a litany of error. Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 09/02/2026 They were all wrong, very wrong. For years, prominent Western analysts have consistently misjudged China’s trajectory, from its economic resilience to its strategic intentions. T ...

Views: 114 A visitor’s testament to a people who remember how to sing. Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 02/02/2026 All photos © Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 2025 In April last year, I wrote Peace, harmony and happiness in China. That article struck a chord: many of my readers in Europe found it di ...

Views: 40 From grammar to global power Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 26/01/2026 The capital ‘I’ The capital ‘I’ emerged in England over 600 years ago. Although legibility played an initial role, the rule was ultimately cemented by powerful cultural forces that increa ...

Views: 58 The super-conductivity of Han-blue. Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 19/01/2026 The alchemists who conquered colour: how ancient China mastered synthetic chemistry 2,800 years before Europe. Long before European chemists stumbled upon synthetic dyes in their 19th-century laboratorie ...

Views: 96 Divergent paths of control and acceptance.   Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波   05/01/2026 Shadow economies, street vendors and the state’s relationship with ordinary commerce: a comparison of China and the EU The informal economy occupies a peculiar space in mod ...

Views: 85 Europe’s financial surveillance has made ordinary family support a matter for the state. Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波   16/12/2025 There is a curious paradox in how the world’s major powers approach financial support within families. In the European Union, a gr ...

Views: 75 Ideology in the west and the search for analytical rigour in China Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波  17.12.2025 Sociology in crisis: China’s alternative paradigm. This article examines the profound crisis in Western sociological and liberal art education and the vigorous d ...

Views: 133 Freedom, democracy and truth. Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波  10.12.2025 For the fainthearted: In this article, I will invite you to some self-reflection. I will challenge you with some uncomfortable observations about common patterns in our society. For those who prefer not ...

Views: 97 Lessons from Rome for a modern age. Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波   09/12/2025 As a new day breaks in the East, the pillars of the West begin to falter. The Sun has been rising in what we call the east and setting in what we call the west for as long as there has been a ...

Views: 109 Beyond confrontation: How China unveils the West’s imperative to adapt Gordon Dumoulin 22/07/2025 Puji Temple in Putuo Mountain This article is reproduced with the permission of Gordon Dumoulin, the author(s) of “China21 Journal” The gloves of ...

Views: 78 Shanghai (again)   Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波   11/11/2025 After our Nanjing and Taiwan trip, we returned to Shanghai. Chinese coffee brands are brewing a revolutionary new chapter China, the ancient homeland of tea, is in the midst of a profound bever ...

Views: 71 Taiwan province Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波   03/11/2025 Taiwan is a province of China As clearly affirmed by international consensus, including United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758, Taiwan has always been an inalienable part of China’s territory. All ...

Views: 58 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 str ...