Ep 435: A Primer on China

China looms large in our modern world -- and yes, is misunderstood, or not understood at all. Manoj Kewalramani joins Amit Varma in episode 435 of The Seen and the Unseen to put together a primer on China, from ancient times through all the kingdoms through Mao and Deng to Xi and this present moment. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN. ) Also check out : 1. Manoj Kewalramani on LinkedIn , Twitter , Google Scholar , Amazon , Takshashila , Substack and his own website . 2. The Takshashila Institution . 3. The Great Power Show on Spotify , Apple and Substack . 4. Tracking People's Daily -- Manoj Kewalramani's Substack Newsletter. 5. Eye on China -- Anushka Saxena's Substack newsletter (formerly written by Manoj). 6. China in the Changing Geo-economic Landscape -- A Takshashila course on China that begins later this month. 7. The China Dude Is in the House -- Episode 231 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani). 8. What Does China Want? — Episode 143 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani). 9. Chinese Foreign Policy — Episode 81 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani). 10. Foreign Policy is a Big Deal — Episode 170 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Manoj Kewalramani). 11. The Dragon and the Elephant — Episode 181 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Hamsini Hariharan & Shibani Mehta). 12. Keeping India Safe — Episode 219 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sushant Singh). 13. Kanti Bajpai on India vs China -- Episode 234 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. The History of Indian Cricket -- Mihir Bose. 15. The Invention of China -- Bill Hayton. 16. When Marx Met Confucius . 17. Red Roulette -- Desmond Shum. 18. Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China -- Ezra Vogel. 19. China's New Red Guards -- Jude Blanchette. 20. Factional Model-making in China -- Olivia Cheung. 21. America against America -- Wang Huning. 22. The Lying Flat Movement . 23. China Media Project . 24. Probal DasGupta Goes to the Himalayas With Books in His Bag — Episode 412 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. Wealth and Power -- Orville Schell and John Delury. 26. Rethinking Chinese Politics -- Joseph Fewsmith. 27. The Party's Interests Come First -- Joseph Torigian. 28. Prestige, Manipulation, and Coercion -- Joseph Torigian. 29. John Fairbank , Alastair Iain Johnston and Vijay Gokhale on Amazon. 30. The Long Game -- Vijay Gokhale. 31. China Talk -- Jordan Schneider. 32. Sinica -- Kaiser Kuo. 33. The Third Revolution -- Elizabeth Economy. 34. End of an Era -- Carl Minzner. 35. Hrithik Roshan on Dhurandhar . This episode is sponsored by The Six Percent Club . Join them to go from content idea to launch in just 45 days! Amit Varma runs a course called Life Lessons , which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here . And have you read Amit's newsletter?

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Ep 435: A Primer on China is an episode from The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma by Amit Varma.

This episode is 03:47:57 long.

This episode was published on Jan 12, 2026.

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