Geopolitical factors have the US and China looking to increase self-sufficiency and make needed pivots, with greater US production and Chinese consumption. However, the notion of a consumer-driven Chinese economy might be as illusory as hopes of decoupling the US from cheap Chinese products.

It’s becoming clear that the Chinese government may have to take over many of the flats that private developers cannot complete. Turning private homes into affordable public housing could be a way to defuse the real estate crisis and encourage families to have children.

While we hear a lot about ideology and nationalism, we hear less about how China is promoting scientists and technocrats to senior political posts. It’s clear then that Beijing is dreaming of scientific breakthroughs, not bombing Taipei. And science can bring China and the US together.

The artist has memorialised the industrialisation of China’s northeast and its more recent decline, capturing the experiences of voiceless millions who lived through the country’s bloody march to modernity