Why China's Universities Will Become Harvard with Samo Burja

This week on Upstream, we’re releasing an episode from Turpentine’s show Live Players with Samo Burja. Erik and Samo discuss China’s universities and the future of China’s elites. Access global engineering without the headache and at a fraction of the cost: head to choosesquad.com and mention “Turpentine” to skip the waitlist.
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This show is produced by Turpentine: a network of podcasts, newsletters, and more, covering technology, business, and culture - all from the perspective of industry insiders and experts. We’re launching new shows every week, and we’re looking for industry-leading sponsors - if you think that might be you and your company, email us at [e-mail].
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SPONSORS: SQUAD
💥 Access global engineering without the headache and at a fraction of the cost: head to choosesquad.com and mention “Turpentine” to skip the waitlist.
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Host Sasha Orloff (3x Founder & CEO) is joined by top founders and finance leaders at high growth tech companies who share how they navigated huge make-or-break decisions, rode inflection points, and architected success. If you want to learn the mental models and tactics top business leaders and CFOs, subscribe below. Debut episode features Casey Woo unpacking his wild ride managing billions in budgets at WeWork - arguably one of the craziest capital stories ever.
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X / TWITTER:
/ samoburja (Samo)
/ eriktorenberg (Erik)
/ upstream__pod (Upstream)
/ turpentinemedia (Turpentine)
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TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00:00) - Episode Preview
(00:00:57) - Universities as an example of US-China parallel evolution
(00:02:53) - Academia during The Cultural Revolution
(00:04:00) - The elite Chinese universities
(00:06:00) - Signaling theory of education
(00:06:30) - What the increase in educated leaders means for China’s ruling class
(00:07:52) - China as America’s mirror
(00:08:30) - China’s “woke”
(00:11:29) - How Xi wants China to not fail in the same way the Soviets did
(00:12:50) - Crackdown on university students
(00:14:46) - Sponsor: Squad | Turpentine
(00:15:00) - Rise of student activism in the US
(00:19:05) - The translation of regional/ethnic inequalities into ideological ones
(00:22:30) - The political ideological paradox generates an opportunity to organize young people
(00:24:30) - Role of gender in divergent politics and the East Asian “woke”
(00:27:12) - Chinese feminism
(00:34:58) - The formation of elites in US and China
(00:36:40) - Materialist focused education in China vs legal focused education in US
(00:39:47) - Printing university degrees is like printing money by devaluing degrees
(00:40:19) - Fight over Harvard Extension School
(00:42:20) - Will American universities have as much power in the next 10 years as they do now?
(00:46:05) - What positive and negative changes will China see in the near future?
(00:47:00) - Silicon Valley in China
(00:49:09) - The shift in leadership from businessmen to academia in China
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For guest or sponsorship inquiries please contact [e-mail]

[@amitduwal3726]

China will not be a country run by lawyers as the speaker suggests. It will be one run by Engineers. There are more engineers in the polite buro than other professions combined.

[@CN_SFY_General]

Engineers will always be more important than other disciplines. Chinese always choose STEM as study subjects instead of law, literature, history, etc.

[@JCSY1]

Yes. Exactly. China will have the most STEM professionals than others by a huge margin.

[@user-yz8uo2lk8x]

Ruby Tsao, author of JOURNEY TO CHINA: China has a Confucian tradition to value education. Everyone aspires to a college education, especially at top universities. The competition contribute to their high quality. The entrance exams are anonymous and fair, party members or not. Women have equal rights in the republic since 1912. They achieve equality through education. Jobs are performance based, including top leaders. Education is the key element in China's success.

[@disneybudgetinn3752]

It came as a surprise to me when prominent Western KZbinrs in Beijing noted that the debates among the university elites in Beijing showcased their remarkable level of global knowledge and astute thinking, and remarking that it surpasses their peers overseas.

[@sams8502]

Use your brain, there’s a reason why Chinese pay 100s of thousands of dollars to send their kids overseas. Not only is the education better but employment opportunities too.

[@user-jm7gw5lm3i]

Mr. Torenberg is quite ignorant about China and how the Chinese education system works. It is unclear where he gets the information. Too bad because I think he is articulated and should be able to do a much better job if he gets the fact straight.

[@joeyp1927]

Chinese universities will operate via signaling? They already do; China invented signaling two thousand years ago, using the medium of comprehensive exams to identify talent among tens of thousands of applicants. When the British created their civil service in the 1850s, they modeled it after the Chinese Mandarin system based on civil service exams.

[@trekpac2]

I think that I’d prefer a Chinese academic who has a lengthy background in China to speak on this subject rather than the author. It is extremely difficult for someone from an outside Western perspective to comprehend how the Chinese system works. For instance, the CPC has close to 100 million members, meaning that a huge percentage of the better educated people in society are members who are most active and influential. And it is still a meritocratic system of promoting the most skillful people. Ask a Chinese intellectual with knowledge in this area to explain it well.

[@parttimethinker7611]

As long as there’s a population of people living together in a city or town, greed, lust and anger will be the dominating forces. The natures of these desires are unsatisfactory. Therefore they are called by the Buddha’ as ignorances.

[@medialcanthus9681]

The wave picture looks so Japanese.

[@flamencoguy3000]

Very few people read Marx or Mao in China now. They are into making money and getting rich.

[@peterzhang9492]

Great talk, really nice comparative analysis. Would be great to add some sociology concerning interpersonal relationships and the older Manchurian system and how it carries to the modern days

[@folag]

This man does not know what he's talking about.

[@awjames1121]

Good law if use wisely is good for a nation, ?... But if law is use wrongly like to cheat and tricks and traps innocent people or weak nation, then it is no good laws at all,,,?....

[@Allgood33]

"Mao falls from power"? The man died sitting at the helm of supreme power. After his death, his wife and three others were blamed for the fiasco that resulted from the cultural revolution. Not him. Everyone knows what was. But that's how careful the Chinese were in preserving his legacy. That's just one of the too many little errors stated by this guest speaker.

[@ganboonmeng5370]

Haha..not going to happen...they identify..American ruling class weakness..determine China will not go that way😊

[@xxxmichaelncw]

What put off when you mention about Uighers human rights... So you think Uighers are being suppressed? Have you been to Xinjiang...?

[@trekpac2]

Me, too. If the author doesn’t even know enough about China to understand that this is 100% American propaganda, then I’ll have to pass on listening to his opinion. But he might be popular in the American media..

[@QUARTOPARTITO]

A TOTAL HACK OF THE SYSTEM!!! LOL!!!