Today on Moment of Zen, Erik Torenberg and Samo Burja explore how China's elite universities are creating a ruling class similar to America's, with student activism and credentialism reshaping both nations' power structures.

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Key Highlights

Core Thesis: Elite Convergence

• China and America are creating remarkably similar ruling classes despite being geopolitical rivals with different political systems


• Universities are the primary mechanism driving this convergence in both countries

China's Leadership Evolution

• Historic shift: For the first time, Chinese leaders are educated in China's own elite universities (Peking, Tsinghua, etc.) rather than abroad or through practical experience


• From engineers to lawyers: China moving from technocrats with engineering backgrounds to university-credentialed elites


• Signaling theory: Chinese elite universities now function like Harvard/MIT as intelligence signals

"Chinese Woke" vs Western Woke

• China already has student activism - but it's Marxist/Maoist students organizing workers' unions


• Ideological trap: Communist Party struggles because students use party ideology to critique the party itself


• Future prediction: Chinese "woke" will likely focus on gender/feminism rather than racial/ethnic issues due to China's homogeneity

University Power Dynamics

• Zero-sum tournament: Universities create gatekeeping for elite positions in both countries


• Elite clubs, not education: Universities function more as exclusive clubs than learning institutions


• Defensibility: University power will be extremely difficult to dislodge without radical intervention

Consequences for China

• Positives: Better rule of law, higher status for journalists/lawyers, more humanistic perspective


• Negatives: Loss of business acumen, reduced technical expertise, potential future incompetence as credentials replace competence

Mirror Society Concept

• Both nations face similar paradoxes: Ideological foundations that create unresolvable contradictions


• Generational warfare: Young elites using ideology to displace older generations in both systems


• Talent retention: China increasingly keeping its best students domestically rather than sending them to American universities

Long-term Prediction

China's government may become incompetent as university credentials replace practical experience and technical knowledge