“Is a State Just the Biggest Gang?”｜Inside China’s Most Radical Political Experiment
In this episode, I’m Celine — and today we’re talking about a question that hits harder the more you think about it: Is a state really that different from a bandit?
The story takes us back to the early Eastern Han, a time when China was basically a giant battlefield of gangs, warlords, collapsing bureaucrats, and desperate civilians. And right in the middle of the chaos stood Liu Xiu — a man who rebuilt an empire without money, without a functioning government, and without the power to force anyone to follow him.
So how did he pull it off?
26 Oct 2025
The Vanishing Worth of a Degree: Japan’s Lost Generation
Today’s story is “The Vanishing Worth of a Degree: Japan’s Lost Generation.”
It’s about how education, once a promise of upward mobility, became a mirror of stagnation.
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