Christian Göbel | Lightnews

Christian Göbel @christiangoebel.bsky.social · 18h

天朝物產豐盈，無所不有，原不藉外夷貨物以通有無

China is making trade impossible – Robin Harding in FT: ‘There is nothing that China wants to import, nothing it does not believe it can make better and cheaper, nothing for which it wants to rely on foreigners a single day longer than it has to.’ www.ft.com/content/f294...

www.ft.com

Sense Hofstede @sensehofstede.nl · 21h

China is making trade impossible – Robin Harding in FT: ‘There is nothing that China wants to import, nothing it does not believe it can make better and cheaper, nothing for which it wants to rely on foreigners a single day longer than it has to.’ www.ft.com/content/f294...

www.ft.com

Sense Hofstede @sensehofstede.nl · 3d

📊 In this blog post, I use my visits database to look at Xi Jinping’s changing dominance seen through diplomatic patterns in MFA data: the third term really is different. sensehofstede.nl/xi-jinpings-...

Xi Jinping’s changing dominance seen through diplomatic patterns

Since Xi Jinping has begun his third term, much has been written about him delegating more responsibilities to a new crop of trusted subordinates, both domestically and abroad. This is an important de...

sensehofstede.nl

Christian Göbel @christiangoebel.bsky.social · 3d

Thank you for this tribute. He must have been an amazing mentor. A long time ago, I spent a whole day with him cafe-hopping in snowy Lund, and I will never forget his kindness, wisdom, brilliance and curiosity. I am very grateful for that day, and think about it often.

𝑪. 𝑫𝒂𝒂𝒆́ @christinedaae.bsky.social · 4d

I lied. Put your clothes back on. We’re going to talk about how there are actually female scholars within Confucianism who contributed significantly to Chinese literature, philosophy, and history, and their accomplishments are worthy of note and should be studied just as much as the men

Christian Göbel @christiangoebel.bsky.social · 4d

Stellar, important and painstaking work tracing China's external investments worldwide on a project-by-project level, more than 33k in total. The dataset and very good visualisations available on china.aiddata.org. Can't believe this isn't getting more attention here.

Mike Tierney @miketierneyir.bsky.social · 4d

Interesting conversation on China's lending and investments in the US, UK, and EU. With AidData's Brad Parks, David Culver, and Sailor Miao (all @wm.edu alums). Foreign aid nerds, see Brad's comments on U.S. now emulating China: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8ZL...

Tracking China's Global Influence: A Conversation with CNN and W&M's AidData

YouTube video by William & Mary

www.youtube.com

Christian Göbel @christiangoebel.bsky.social · 13d

In a nutshell

Ariel Edwards-Levy @aedwardslevy.bsky.social · 13d

Leib Littman at CloudResearch notes that acquiescence bias is often exacerbated on some opt-in online panels typically used for consumer research, where fraudulent respondents have an incentive to say "yes" and route themselves into more surveys.

Sheena Chestnut Greitens @sheenagreitens.bsky.social · 13d

Delighted to share a new @carnegieendowment.org report on China’s Foreign Police Training: A Global Footprint. Over 50 entities in China have provided training to at least 138 countries, forming a major pillar of Beijing’s drive to reshape global security:
carnegieendowment.org/research/202...

China’s Foreign Police Training: A Global Footprint

New data reveal how China’s foreign police training programs have become an integral part of Beijing’s strategy to remake global security.

carnegieendowment.org

Cameron D. Campbell 康文林 @camerondcampbell.blog · 15d

New edited volume just dropped! Quantitative History of China: State Capacity, Institutions, and Development edited by Chen Zhiwu, myself, and Ma Debin is now able as a free PDF/ePub download. 1/2
link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Quantitative History of China

This Open Access book showcases a collection of new findings concerning China's political, social, and economic history based on large historical datasets.

link.springer.com

Sense Hofstede @sensehofstede.nl · 19d

Independent Chinese-language film festival in US canceled after pressure campaign – Nikkei Asia: ‘said that he did not feel he was in physical danger but that the relentless messages forced him to shut down the event.’

Indie Chinese film festival in US canceled after pressure campaign

Organizer's reports of harassment echo other allegations of transnational repression

asia.nikkei.com

Christian Göbel @christiangoebel.bsky.social · 20d

Tang Dynasty

Lev Nachman @lnachman32.bsky.social · 21d

In case you missed it, Kerry Brown wrote a book that plagiarized Shelley Rigger’s classic book title.

I, along with others who were asked to review Kerry’s manuscript, said verbatim to change the title.

In the most tacky and unprofessional fashion, he stole her title anyway.

China Digital Times @chinadigitaltimes.net · 22d

Beijing Banner Protester: "Establish a New China That is Free, Humane, and Governed by Rule of Law"

"CDT Chinese editors noted censorship of the following combinations: 'Sanlitun + lift ban on political parties', 'Sanlitun + protest', 'Sanlitun + warrior', 'Sitong Bridge + Sanlitun' …"

Beijing Banner Protester: "Establish a New China That is Free, Humane, and Governed by Rule of Law"

The image above shows a one-man protest that reportedly took place at the high-end Taikoo Li Sanlitun mall (formerly Sanlitun Village) in Beijing on October 25, shortly after the end of the Party’s Fo...

chinadigitaltimes.net

Chenchen Zhang 🤦🏻‍♀️ @chenchenzhang.net · 22d

"a decision by the university not to publish a final phase of the research... was communicated to the National Security Service..." "China is not believed to have an organisation named National Security Service, so it is not clear who the individuals were".
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

China academic intimidation claim referred to counter-terrorism police

Sensitive research into alleged human rights abuses is alleged to have been shut down by Chinese agents.

www.bbc.co.uk

Christian Göbel @christiangoebel.bsky.social · 23d

Local LLM just translated 王文涛 as "Wang Textao" 😂

Finbarr Bermingham @fbermingham.bsky.social · 23d

A British university complied with a demand from Beijing to halt research about human rights abuses in China, leading to a major project being dropped, the Guardian can reveal.

UK university halted human rights research after pressure from China

Exclusive: Leading professor at Sheffield Hallam was told to cease research on supply chains and forced labour in China after demands from authorities

www.theguardian.com

con questi nuovi ritmi americani (she/her) 🏳️‍⚧️🇵🇸🏳 @racheledini.bsky.social · 26d

I'm excited to share my piece in Los Angeles Review of Books @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social, which examines OpenAI's claims about ChatGPT's creative writing skills, Big Tech's weaponisation of grief and nostalgia, and the collapse of the academic humanities. lareviewofbooks.org/article/lite...

Literature Is Not a Vibe: On ChatGPT and the Humanities | Los Angeles Review of Books

Rachele Dini discusses OpenAI’s “A Machine-Shaped Hand” and an academic sector in crisis.

lareviewofbooks.org

Christian Göbel @christiangoebel.bsky.social · Oct 4

I really liked Huntington-Klein, The Effect.

Christian Göbel @christiangoebel.bsky.social · Oct 2

Very solid and entertaining introduction to Labubu mania. Wondered why my visitors from China went into the Vienna Labubu store and straight out again last summer. Now I have an explanation. The Labubu store probably had no Labubus.

Zeyi Yang 杨泽毅 @zeyiyang.bsky.social · Oct 1

In college, I'd always walk past an unremarkable store in Beijing that sold a variety of trendy, but tacky, toys. That store has turned into Pop Mart, the $45-billion Chinese toy empire behind Labubu, the biggest global fad of 2025.

This is my big story/pilgrimage trip to explain how they got here

A Journey Into the Heart of Labubu

I made an epic trek across four countries to answer one question: Why is the world going mad for a plushie monster?

www.wired.com

Zeyi Yang 杨泽毅 @zeyiyang.bsky.social · Oct 1

In college, I'd always walk past an unremarkable store in Beijing that sold a variety of trendy, but tacky, toys. That store has turned into Pop Mart, the $45-billion Chinese toy empire behind Labubu, the biggest global fad of 2025.

This is my big story/pilgrimage trip to explain how they got here

A Journey Into the Heart of Labubu

I made an epic trek across four countries to answer one question: Why is the world going mad for a plushie monster?

www.wired.com

Christian Göbel @christiangoebel.bsky.social · Sep 30

Genuinely delighted to have received a postcard from @polbehavior.bsky.social today. This is a very nice gesture that truly made my day.

Back of the postcard. "Thank you so much for your recent review for Political Behavior! Your work as a reviewer is invaluable to us as we make decisions and try to provide constructive feedback for the authors. We are glad you are a part of the Political Behavior research community and hope to have more opportunities to work together in the future.
Chris Karpowitz and Jessica Preece
Co-Editors-in-Chief, Political Behavior"

Front of the postcard. A drawing with snowy mountains in the background, a bell tower in the foreground and a yellow sun in the top right corner. In the bottom right corner, it says "Political Behavior".

Zeyi Yang 杨泽毅 @zeyiyang.bsky.social · Sep 4

Here's my epic failure against Trump's tariffs: I placed an order from a Ukrainian woodworking shop on Aug 17, but it's still stuck at the customs. It turns out, big platforms like Temu ends up getting an advantage over indie sellers because they can better handle the post-de minimis tariff regime.

The Unexpected Winners of Trump’s Trade War

Americans are now hit with tariffs when they shop from overseas sellers on eBay and Etsy. Shein and Temu had months to get ahead of the curve.

www.wired.com

Christian Göbel @christiangoebel.bsky.social · Sep 4

A very moving and informative essay with insights on how and why individuals (in China) consult LLMs for medical advice, and how Chinese companies employ LLMs in healthcare already now.

Viola Zhou @violazhou.bsky.social · Sep 2

Not long after DeepSeek R1 launched, I discovered that my mother had started using the chatbot as her virtual doctor.

I worried about her reliance on AI. But over time, I realized Dr. DeepSeek was offering something no human in her life could.

restofworld.org/2025/ai-chat...

My mom and Dr. DeepSeek

In China and around the world, the sick and lonely turn to AI.

restofworld.org

Viola Zhou @violazhou.bsky.social · Sep 2

Not long after DeepSeek R1 launched, I discovered that my mother had started using the chatbot as her virtual doctor.

I worried about her reliance on AI. But over time, I realized Dr. DeepSeek was offering something no human in her life could.

restofworld.org/2025/ai-chat...

My mom and Dr. DeepSeek

In China and around the world, the sick and lonely turn to AI.

restofworld.org

Zeyi Yang 杨泽毅 @zeyiyang.bsky.social · Jan 31

NEW: Yes, everyone knows DeepSeek is heavily censored. But we investigated how the censorship actually works on the application level & the post-training level. Understanding that can lead us to ways of "uncensoring" Chinese open-source AIs and making them more useful.

www.wired.com/story/deepse...

Here’s How DeepSeek Censorship Actually Works—and How to Get Around It

A WIRED investigation shows that the popular Chinese AI model is censored on both the application and training level.

www.wired.com

Christian Göbel @christiangoebel.bsky.social · Feb 1

In his theory of autocratic regimes, Juan Linz argues that authoritarian regimes rely on mass apathy and the depolitization of society. They achieve this by repression and creating/nurturing the perception that resistance is futile. Which it often isn’t.

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · Feb 1

I don’t know what we do. I don’t know if there’s anything to do without leaders. Maybe we all just ride this plane into the ground. Maybe this is so common a feeling in authoritarian countries it’s almost insulting to feel like I’m experiencing something extraordinary.

Rie @rie-c.bsky.social · Feb 1

I think it's so important that everyone knows that Web Archive web.archive.org backs up and mirrors many US government websites.

Wayback MachineHamburger iconInternet Archive logoWeb iconTexts iconVideo iconAudio iconSoftware iconImages iconDonate iconEllipses iconDonate iconUser iconUpload iconSearch iconSearch iconSearch icon...

web.archive.org

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