Yangyang Cheng
@yangyangcheng.bsky.social
Research Scholar at Yale Law School studying the history of science in China and US-China relations. Particle physicist by training. Writer at various places. Editor at Made in China Journal. Co-host of Dissident at the Doorstep.
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
Amidst the fixation with semiconductors and geopolitics, how did Taiwan become a center of global electronics? Who were the people that powered its rise, and what happens when the tinkerer becomes the tycoon?
I review Honghong Tinn's Island Tinkerers @thenation.com:
www.thenation.com/article/worl...
I review Honghong Tinn's Island Tinkerers @thenation.com:
www.thenation.com/article/worl...
How Taiwan Became the Chipmaker for the World
A new book tells the story of the island-nation’s transformation into a central hub for technological development and manufacturing.
www.thenation.com
January 19, 2026 at 3:51 PM
Amidst the fixation with semiconductors and geopolitics, how did Taiwan become a center of global electronics? Who were the people that powered its rise, and what happens when the tinkerer becomes the tycoon?
I review Honghong Tinn's Island Tinkerers @thenation.com:
www.thenation.com/article/worl...
I review Honghong Tinn's Island Tinkerers @thenation.com:
www.thenation.com/article/worl...
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
All this impending snow.
Reminds me that now we enter into the 24th of 24 micro-seasons: “Greater Cold” #大寒 - the coldest period of the year. Yet also, a period anticipating the beginning of spring and the warmth of the coming lunar new year.
[Kawase Hasui, Evening Snow at Terashima Village, 1920]
Reminds me that now we enter into the 24th of 24 micro-seasons: “Greater Cold” #大寒 - the coldest period of the year. Yet also, a period anticipating the beginning of spring and the warmth of the coming lunar new year.
[Kawase Hasui, Evening Snow at Terashima Village, 1920]
![Woodblock snowscene of Tokyo about a century ago.
Kawase Hasui, Evening Snow at Terashima Village, 1920, from Twelve Scenes of Tokyo (Tôkyô jûnidai)]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:rkgmcmrlwobvdajgjmxlvfya/bafkreif4d6ed7me5yiyrd2vxlyfxrv3r6ke3mnzh6hubf5dhbsoqmwy4ji@jpeg)
January 21, 2026 at 3:55 PM
All this impending snow.
Reminds me that now we enter into the 24th of 24 micro-seasons: “Greater Cold” #大寒 - the coldest period of the year. Yet also, a period anticipating the beginning of spring and the warmth of the coming lunar new year.
[Kawase Hasui, Evening Snow at Terashima Village, 1920]
Reminds me that now we enter into the 24th of 24 micro-seasons: “Greater Cold” #大寒 - the coldest period of the year. Yet also, a period anticipating the beginning of spring and the warmth of the coming lunar new year.
[Kawase Hasui, Evening Snow at Terashima Village, 1920]
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
"Against all the saber-rattling, myth-making, and visions of world domination, [Island Tinkerers] offers a timely intervention and powerful antidote."
@thenation.com reviews @honghongtinn.bsky.social's fascinating #OpenAccess contribution to the history of computing technology:
@thenation.com reviews @honghongtinn.bsky.social's fascinating #OpenAccess contribution to the history of computing technology:
How Taiwan Became the Chipmaker for the World
A new book tells the story of the island-nation’s transformation into a central hub for technological development and manufacturing.
www.thenation.com
January 20, 2026 at 10:48 PM
"Against all the saber-rattling, myth-making, and visions of world domination, [Island Tinkerers] offers a timely intervention and powerful antidote."
@thenation.com reviews @honghongtinn.bsky.social's fascinating #OpenAccess contribution to the history of computing technology:
@thenation.com reviews @honghongtinn.bsky.social's fascinating #OpenAccess contribution to the history of computing technology:
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
"As the world appears entranced by faster chips and smarter electrical brains, elevating a company like TSMC to mythical status, few are pausing to ponder what the computing power is for—and who powers the computers?"
I review Honghong Tinn's important new book, Island Tinkerers, in @thenation.com:
I review Honghong Tinn's important new book, Island Tinkerers, in @thenation.com:
How Taiwan Became the Chipmaker for the World
A new book tells the story of the island-nation’s transformation into a central hub for technological development and manufacturing.
www.thenation.com
January 20, 2026 at 10:41 PM
"As the world appears entranced by faster chips and smarter electrical brains, elevating a company like TSMC to mythical status, few are pausing to ponder what the computing power is for—and who powers the computers?"
I review Honghong Tinn's important new book, Island Tinkerers, in @thenation.com:
I review Honghong Tinn's important new book, Island Tinkerers, in @thenation.com:
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
TSMC’s innovative business model took inspiration from the long history of electronics manufacturing in Taiwan.
https://bit.ly/4a6Iq7K
https://bit.ly/4a6Iq7K
How Taiwan Became the Chipmaker for the World
A new book tells the story of the island-nation’s transformation into a central hub for technological development and manufacturing.
bit.ly
January 21, 2026 at 4:04 PM
TSMC’s innovative business model took inspiration from the long history of electronics manufacturing in Taiwan.
https://bit.ly/4a6Iq7K
https://bit.ly/4a6Iq7K
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
Reupping this as January 21, the anniversary of Orwell’s death, begins in Europe and is midway through in Asia, www.the-independent.com/news/world/g... —by @atasoyemrah.bsky.social & me, in part the piece looks at novels, news, & non fiction of the 1930s-1940s that influenced Orwell’s vision
How George Orwell’s 1984 predicted the global power struggles happening now
Is art replicating life when it comes to Orwell’s most influential novel? Emrah Atasoy and Jeffrey Wasserstrom investigate
www.the-independent.com
January 21, 2026 at 5:26 AM
Reupping this as January 21, the anniversary of Orwell’s death, begins in Europe and is midway through in Asia, www.the-independent.com/news/world/g... —by @atasoyemrah.bsky.social & me, in part the piece looks at novels, news, & non fiction of the 1930s-1940s that influenced Orwell’s vision
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
New review for The Nation by @yangyangcheng.bsky.social, on ISLAND TINKERERS by Honghong Tinn, which explores the history of bottom-up innovation and growth in Taiwan's technology sector, with special attention to the frequently overlooked work of women in the industry.
How Taiwan Became the Chipmaker for the World
A new book tells the story of the island-nation’s transformation into a central hub for technological development and manufacturing.
www.thenation.com
January 20, 2026 at 12:45 PM
New review for The Nation by @yangyangcheng.bsky.social, on ISLAND TINKERERS by Honghong Tinn, which explores the history of bottom-up innovation and growth in Taiwan's technology sector, with special attention to the frequently overlooked work of women in the industry.
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
Amusingly, I just gave a mini-lecture of sorts on this very topic for a comparative politics course. Funny timing.
Amidst the fixation with semiconductors and geopolitics, how did Taiwan become a center of global electronics? Who were the people that powered its rise, and what happens when the tinkerer becomes the tycoon?
I review Honghong Tinn's Island Tinkerers @thenation.com:
www.thenation.com/article/worl...
I review Honghong Tinn's Island Tinkerers @thenation.com:
www.thenation.com/article/worl...
How Taiwan Became the Chipmaker for the World
A new book tells the story of the island-nation’s transformation into a central hub for technological development and manufacturing.
www.thenation.com
January 20, 2026 at 4:41 AM
Amusingly, I just gave a mini-lecture of sorts on this very topic for a comparative politics course. Funny timing.
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
Great review of an important book.
Amidst the fixation with semiconductors and geopolitics, how did Taiwan become a center of global electronics? Who were the people that powered its rise, and what happens when the tinkerer becomes the tycoon?
I review Honghong Tinn's Island Tinkerers @thenation.com:
www.thenation.com/article/worl...
I review Honghong Tinn's Island Tinkerers @thenation.com:
www.thenation.com/article/worl...
How Taiwan Became the Chipmaker for the World
A new book tells the story of the island-nation’s transformation into a central hub for technological development and manufacturing.
www.thenation.com
January 19, 2026 at 3:57 PM
Great review of an important book.
Amidst the fixation with semiconductors and geopolitics, how did Taiwan become a center of global electronics? Who were the people that powered its rise, and what happens when the tinkerer becomes the tycoon?
I review Honghong Tinn's Island Tinkerers @thenation.com:
www.thenation.com/article/worl...
I review Honghong Tinn's Island Tinkerers @thenation.com:
www.thenation.com/article/worl...
How Taiwan Became the Chipmaker for the World
A new book tells the story of the island-nation’s transformation into a central hub for technological development and manufacturing.
www.thenation.com
January 19, 2026 at 3:51 PM
Amidst the fixation with semiconductors and geopolitics, how did Taiwan become a center of global electronics? Who were the people that powered its rise, and what happens when the tinkerer becomes the tycoon?
I review Honghong Tinn's Island Tinkerers @thenation.com:
www.thenation.com/article/worl...
I review Honghong Tinn's Island Tinkerers @thenation.com:
www.thenation.com/article/worl...
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
"Island Tinkerers" tells the story of Taiwan’s transformation into a central hub for technological development and manufacturing. @yangyangcheng.bsky.social calls it "a timely intervention and powerful antidote" to all the saber-rattling and myth-making. www.thenation.com/article/worl...
How Taiwan Became the Chipmaker for the World
A new book tells the story of the island-nation’s transformation into a central hub for technological development and manufacturing.
www.thenation.com
January 19, 2026 at 1:57 PM
"Island Tinkerers" tells the story of Taiwan’s transformation into a central hub for technological development and manufacturing. @yangyangcheng.bsky.social calls it "a timely intervention and powerful antidote" to all the saber-rattling and myth-making. www.thenation.com/article/worl...
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
"Those who are ready to protest against, and resist, what is happening today are legion, but the political means for doing so are for the moment unclear or absent.
How to wait in this state of forgetfulness?”
John Berger, from "Confabulations (2016), his final book
#everynightapoem #ofsorts
How to wait in this state of forgetfulness?”
John Berger, from "Confabulations (2016), his final book
#everynightapoem #ofsorts
January 16, 2026 at 11:17 PM
"Those who are ready to protest against, and resist, what is happening today are legion, but the political means for doing so are for the moment unclear or absent.
How to wait in this state of forgetfulness?”
John Berger, from "Confabulations (2016), his final book
#everynightapoem #ofsorts
How to wait in this state of forgetfulness?”
John Berger, from "Confabulations (2016), his final book
#everynightapoem #ofsorts
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
A resignation letter:
"We all saw it.
We all saw, with our own two eyes, people getting dragged like dogs and killed.
But we could not write one line about it on the newspaper.
In shame, we put down our pens.
May 20, 1980
All Journalists of Jeonnam Maeil Shinmun"
"We all saw it.
We all saw, with our own two eyes, people getting dragged like dogs and killed.
But we could not write one line about it on the newspaper.
In shame, we put down our pens.
May 20, 1980
All Journalists of Jeonnam Maeil Shinmun"
January 8, 2026 at 1:20 PM
A resignation letter:
"We all saw it.
We all saw, with our own two eyes, people getting dragged like dogs and killed.
But we could not write one line about it on the newspaper.
In shame, we put down our pens.
May 20, 1980
All Journalists of Jeonnam Maeil Shinmun"
"We all saw it.
We all saw, with our own two eyes, people getting dragged like dogs and killed.
But we could not write one line about it on the newspaper.
In shame, we put down our pens.
May 20, 1980
All Journalists of Jeonnam Maeil Shinmun"
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
Each Carnegie Medal finalist was asked by @ala-booklist.bsky.social to share a brief reading list. Here's mine:
January 7, 2026 at 5:42 PM
Each Carnegie Medal finalist was asked by @ala-booklist.bsky.social to share a brief reading list. Here's mine:
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
For a @motherjones.com article, I am looking to speak to caregivers of disabled individuals who are 14 and older who are on Medicaid re Medicaid work requirement exemptions. My email to reach out is [email protected] and reposts are appreciated.
January 6, 2026 at 7:22 PM
For a @motherjones.com article, I am looking to speak to caregivers of disabled individuals who are 14 and older who are on Medicaid re Medicaid work requirement exemptions. My email to reach out is [email protected] and reposts are appreciated.
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
Today marks the beginning of "Lesser Cold" #小寒 in the lunisolar #microseason for the chilliest period of the year (小寒大寒，滴水成冰). More precisely, we are in Lesser Cold's first pentad, "When Wild Geese Fly Northward" #雁北鄉.
[Detail from 芦雁図 Reeds and Geese, 鉄舟徳済 Tesshū Tokusai, 1343 @metmuseum.org]
[Detail from 芦雁図 Reeds and Geese, 鉄舟徳済 Tesshū Tokusai, 1343 @metmuseum.org]
January 6, 2026 at 12:57 AM
Today marks the beginning of "Lesser Cold" #小寒 in the lunisolar #microseason for the chilliest period of the year (小寒大寒，滴水成冰). More precisely, we are in Lesser Cold's first pentad, "When Wild Geese Fly Northward" #雁北鄉.
[Detail from 芦雁図 Reeds and Geese, 鉄舟徳済 Tesshū Tokusai, 1343 @metmuseum.org]
[Detail from 芦雁図 Reeds and Geese, 鉄舟徳済 Tesshū Tokusai, 1343 @metmuseum.org]
What museum-worthy fine art were you making at eight and a half months old?🎨🐣
January 6, 2026 at 1:46 AM
What museum-worthy fine art were you making at eight and a half months old?🎨🐣
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
We’re looking for an experienced newsroom leader with a track record of producing and editing impactful, community-centered journalism. If that sounds like you, apply to be our next editor in chief: buff.ly/jKsWWgE
January 4, 2026 at 11:00 PM
We’re looking for an experienced newsroom leader with a track record of producing and editing impactful, community-centered journalism. If that sounds like you, apply to be our next editor in chief: buff.ly/jKsWWgE
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
We’re kicking off the new year with some good news: Thanks to 114 readers like you, we raised $31,804 during our year-end campaign! We’re ready to tell the stories that need to be told in 2026.
Thank you for your investment in The Xylom! 🎉
Missed the party? Help us start the year strong below:
Thank you for your investment in The Xylom! 🎉
Missed the party? Help us start the year strong below:
Sustain The Xylom!
Support The Xylom's independent reporting by making a monthly recurring donation!
fundrazr.com
January 3, 2026 at 1:30 PM
We’re kicking off the new year with some good news: Thanks to 114 readers like you, we raised $31,804 during our year-end campaign! We’re ready to tell the stories that need to be told in 2026.
Thank you for your investment in The Xylom! 🎉
Missed the party? Help us start the year strong below:
Thank you for your investment in The Xylom! 🎉
Missed the party? Help us start the year strong below:
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
“And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been…”
Rainer Maria Rilke, in a letter to his wife, the sculptor Clara Rilke, on January 1, 1907
(Translated by Jane Bannard Greene and M.D. Herter Norton)
#everynightapoem #january
Rainer Maria Rilke, in a letter to his wife, the sculptor Clara Rilke, on January 1, 1907
(Translated by Jane Bannard Greene and M.D. Herter Norton)
#everynightapoem #january
January 1, 2026 at 6:37 PM
“And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been…”
Rainer Maria Rilke, in a letter to his wife, the sculptor Clara Rilke, on January 1, 1907
(Translated by Jane Bannard Greene and M.D. Herter Norton)
#everynightapoem #january
Rainer Maria Rilke, in a letter to his wife, the sculptor Clara Rilke, on January 1, 1907
(Translated by Jane Bannard Greene and M.D. Herter Norton)
#everynightapoem #january
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
#Caturday 🐱:
Min Zhen 閔貞 (China, 1730–after 1791)
Black #Cat (n.d.; Qing dynasty, 18th c.)
Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Painting: 78.5 x 38.5 cm. (30 7/8 x 15 3/16 in.)
Princeton University Art Museum y1947-65 artmuseum.princeton.edu/art/collecti...
#CatsInArt #ChineseArt
Min Zhen 閔貞 (China, 1730–after 1791)
Black #Cat (n.d.; Qing dynasty, 18th c.)
Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Painting: 78.5 x 38.5 cm. (30 7/8 x 15 3/16 in.)
Princeton University Art Museum y1947-65 artmuseum.princeton.edu/art/collecti...
#CatsInArt #ChineseArt
December 28, 2025 at 4:44 AM
#Caturday 🐱:
Min Zhen 閔貞 (China, 1730–after 1791)
Black #Cat (n.d.; Qing dynasty, 18th c.)
Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Painting: 78.5 x 38.5 cm. (30 7/8 x 15 3/16 in.)
Princeton University Art Museum y1947-65 artmuseum.princeton.edu/art/collecti...
#CatsInArt #ChineseArt
Min Zhen 閔貞 (China, 1730–after 1791)
Black #Cat (n.d.; Qing dynasty, 18th c.)
Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Painting: 78.5 x 38.5 cm. (30 7/8 x 15 3/16 in.)
Princeton University Art Museum y1947-65 artmuseum.princeton.edu/art/collecti...
#CatsInArt #ChineseArt
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
Potato chip flavors on sale for the Hong Kong market. A thread 🧵
Steamed Garlic Shrimp
Steamed Garlic Shrimp
December 13, 2024 at 10:05 AM
Potato chip flavors on sale for the Hong Kong market. A thread 🧵
Steamed Garlic Shrimp
Steamed Garlic Shrimp
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
For many, the end of the year is an opportunity to catch up on reading or to purchase books as gifts. In 2025, a number of authors joined the Tech Policy Press podcast, providing fresh insights into how technology interacts with people, politics, and power. Check out the list:
Tech Policy Press: The Year in Books 2025 | TechPolicy.Press
In 2025, a number of authors joined the Tech Policy Press podcast, providing fresh insights into how technology interacts with people, politics, and power.
www.techpolicy.press
December 22, 2025 at 6:31 PM
For many, the end of the year is an opportunity to catch up on reading or to purchase books as gifts. In 2025, a number of authors joined the Tech Policy Press podcast, providing fresh insights into how technology interacts with people, politics, and power. Check out the list:
Reposted by Yangyang Cheng
Pleased to share the Spring 2026 schedule for the SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN ASIA online seminar series @ Harvard!
Talks are over Zoom on Tuesdays, 10:30–11:45 am EST.
REGISTRATION: seow.scholars.harvard.edu/STinAsia
#histstm #histsci #histtech #histmed #envhist #envhum #sts 🧪
Talks are over Zoom on Tuesdays, 10:30–11:45 am EST.
REGISTRATION: seow.scholars.harvard.edu/STinAsia
#histstm #histsci #histtech #histmed #envhist #envhum #sts 🧪
December 22, 2025 at 9:00 PM