A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend a lecture conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce. Normally that’s the kind of thing that wouldn’t pique my interest too much, but the speaker they scheduled for this particular event was pretty phenomenal.
They brought Steven Dickinson: American lawyer and co-author of China Law Blog, who’s been in and out of China for several decades. On this trip, the topic which he spoke about was one that has great consequence for China and the world: the Party’s 12th Five Year Plan. The breadth of knowledge that he brought with him to Chengdu Sofitel for his hour long presentation was immense and I left feeling like I had learned a lot.
I frequently witness small events or intricacies of Chinese society or culture that make lights go off inside my head. Like my understanding of China is slowly being connected as the puzzle pieces fall into position. Eventually these construct a larger picture of what’s really happening here on a macro scale, but I rarely give much thought to this. Steve gives a lot of thought to this, so it was a fruitful mental exercise to connect the dots and figure out where China is really headed.
I interviewed him along with Eli and published the interview on Chengdu Living. Click the link below to check it out.