Views: 14 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: 62 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: 40 Hidden gems in Shanghai Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 27/04/2026 Sunday afternoon coffee at the crossing of Jianguo road and Jiashan road. Maoming lu The current Maoming Road (茂名路) in Shanghai was once a street with a distinctly European identity, known during the Fr ...

Views: 60 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: 67 Shanghai Frans Vandenbosch 方腾波 13/04/2026 All the common tourist spots in Shanghai Dentist Dental treatment in China definitely is at a higher level than in Europe. No waiting time for an appointment, cost approximately 1/3 of the cost in Europe. The Pudong tower ...

Views: 82 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: 17 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: 22 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: 43 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: 62 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: 70 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: 50 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: 107 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: 90 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: 46 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 ...