On Leaving China: Bill Bishop of Sinocism

As regular readers know, I love when someone else writes my blog posts for me. Ryan McLaughlin, an old China hand, now living in remotest Canada (is that redundant?), did that honor for me the other day via his Facebook page.

A couple weeks ago, I listened to a Sinica podcast staring Bill Bishop. For those who don’t know, Bill has been writing Sinocism since forever and anyone who is anyone with respect to China has been reading for that same amount of time. I do not distinguish myself at all by saying that it is one of the first things I read pretty much every day.

Sinica describes the BB episode as follows:

As anyone who reads the Sinocism newsletter knows, Bill Bishop is among the most plugged-in people in Beijing with an uncanny ability to figure out what is actually happening in the halls of power. But as casual readers may not be aware, he is also an excellent podcast guest due to his habit of bringing first cupcakes and now amazingly smooth bottles of Japanese whisky to our recording sessions before trading the latest gossip about the goings-on in Zhongnanhai.

On today’s show we mark Bill’s departure from China and his return to the United States where he plans to live for the next few years with his family. While not exactly your requisite “Why I Am Leaving China” blog post, this show gives Kaiser Kuo and David Moser the chance to talk to Bill about the reasons behind his decision, and explore why he sees an increasingly strained relationship between China and the United States over the next few years.

Like I said, I listened to this podcast a few weeks ago. And at the end of it, I thought about writing on it so as to encourage others to listen to it as well, but not being so good at rapid and concise summarizing, I ended up punting. Until now, upon seeing the following on Ryan’s FB page:

Finally got around to listening to The Sinica Podcast’s recent episode with Bill Bishop. It should be required listening for anyone with even a remote interest in China. Gives a fantastic Reader’s Digest version of the past two decades of China, and does a decent job explaining where things are at today and why…

And something about Bill leaving China.

That’s about it. Oh, and I too recommend that you to listen to it.

The post On Leaving China: Bill Bishop of Sinocism appeared first on China Law Blog.

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