Views: 15 Decoding the price tag: How China masters low-cost production Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 01/06/2026 “How is it possible that in China everything costs 1/3 to 1/5 of the price in Europe?” That’s the question I regularly get thrown at me.China is using the same kind of flour to make ...

Views: 20 A voice that China did not ask for, but earned. Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 25/05/2026 30 May 2026 marks five years since Yellowlion.org went online. No announcement was made. No campaign was run. The writing simply began. That quiet beginning makes what followed all the more strik ...

Views: 44 The long way (back) home. Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 18/05/2026 The famous Chinese classic “Journey to the West”i knows eighty-one trials, three fallen disciples, and one monk who walks through fire to bring scripture home. This flight had fewer demons but no fewer detours. ...

Views: 46 Shanghai, trust and confidence growing on every corner. Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 10/05/2026 China is safe Two weeks ago I already noticed it, but I’m still so surprised about this phenomenon that I want to show more photos of unguarded parcels on pavements, this time not on Y ...

Views: 74 Shanghai city life Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 04/05/2026 New shop opening in Shanghai Xujiahui Grand Gateway 66 South Tower. What a mad rush ! Lunchtime on the pavement At lunchtime, the small restaurants are bustling and packed to the brim, so people spill out on ...

Views: 89 Shanghai to Nanjing Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 20/04/2026 HST to NanjingTaken the High Speed Train to Nanjing. There are HST trains almost every 15 minutes to Nanjing. Above and beyondWe cannot thank my close friend Steven Li Zuyang enough!He generously sent his ...

Views: 52 The tea and coffee odyssey. Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 23/03/2026 Tea and coffee at Hengshan Garden hotel in Shanghai on 28.10.2025 From the ancient tea houses of China to the coffee-houses of Vienna, these two beverages have traversed the globe, shaping economies and defining cult ...

Views: 94 A study in civilisational grief Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 16/03/2026 Photo credit: tearsofdeepgrief Symptoms A French veteran shouts at a Beijing waitress in a language she does not understand. Young Americans drift through Shanghai, certain the world owes them a living, and th ...

Views: 23 How Chinese scientists embody a different value Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 09/03/2026 A confronting image When I first travelled to China many decades ago, the internet did not exist. I remember writing on a postcard to my parents: “Everything is different here.” ...

Views: 29 From active ingredients to finished pills, the cost gap explained. Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 02/03/2026 Contentious, complicated, controlled A medicine is a chain: feedstocks processed into key starting materials, synthesised into an active ingredient, combined with excipient ...

Views: 54 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: 110 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 mo ...

Views: 94 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: 49 Reflecting on articles that challenged comfortable narratives. Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波   29/12/2026 The year 2025 stripped away our last illusions as European mirrors reflected only a diminished and unflattering truth. Global events have forced us to acknowledge our f ...

Views: 82 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 ...