"The two superpowers, the USA and China, are engaged in a political and economic systemic rivalry. The truce agreed upon at the meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in South Korea does nothing to change this. A look at the Chinese leadership's new five-year plan reveals the old and new areas of conflict. Against this backdrop, it is extremely important to better understand how these two rivals, vying for global dominance, operate. This remarkable book offers valuable new insights in this regard.
The author, Dan Wang, who left his native China for the USA with his parents as a child due to a persistent lack of opportunities and is currently a Research Fellow at Stanford University, has given his book the provocative title "Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future."
The author has followed and critically analyzed China's rapid growth over the past decade (and beyond). The book is well-written and engaging, and it is Interspersed with personal experiences, his insights are authentic, reflecting his extensive experience working in China over the past few years.
He notes with respect for Chinese engineers that the People's Republic has built, and continues to build, the world's highest and longest bridges, the most modern railway lines, and large factories—all in record time, unimaginable in the West. The Chinese leadership aims to make China the dominant industrial nation in the world. The country has long since moved beyond its role as the West's workshop and become a formidable competitor to Western industries.
Wang praises the enormous progress made in China in a short time, resulting, for example, in functioning infrastructure. This is something that can only be dreamed of in the West and—as Wang rightly observes—in the USA as well. Wang notes that, unlike the West, China has not followed the path of deindustrialization, and that the provinces are vying to build large, modern factories within their own borders. But that's not all: China also excels in terms of innovation and state-subsidized training. China's high-tech sector has seen significant growth. Chinese companies are outperforming Western, and especially German, companies in many areas. It's undeniable: China's innovative capacity has been underestimated by the West, including German companies, for far too long!
Wang observes that China's stoic adherence to industrial value creation is rooted in the Communist Party's intention to keep strategically selected critical value chains within the country and thus under its control. Under President Xi Jinping, China is, in a sense, being transformed into a fortress with ever-higher walls. In China, the organization of industrial value creation focuses primarily on creating resilient production processes and structures. In contrast, the West overemphasizes the pursuit of efficient processes and structures, driven in part by the capital markets, as well as the relocation of production.
While respecting China's economic achievements, Dan Wang also recognizes the dark side of the path China has taken. He vividly and critically describes what the Chinese leadership has demanded of the population in the interest of rapid modernization. He discusses the brutal lockdowns in detail. during the pandemic, which he experienced firsthand. He also criticizes the long period of the ruthless one-child policy, which has had serious consequences for the country's demographic development. Wang observes that the Chinese government employs rigorous social engineering. Like Joseph Stalin before it, it ultimately wants to be an engineer of the soul.
After reading the book, one gains a better understanding of the strengths, but also the weaknesses, of the architecture of modern China, and one recognizes the significant differences from the economic and social model of the USA, and indeed of the West in general.
Wang clearly demonstrates that China is an autocratic engineering state that operates according to the motto "Engineer the future!" and can therefore at any time slip into dangerous over-engineering.
Indeed, the Chinese government consists of engineers who constantly want to construct something.
This is both a strength and a weakness.
In contrast, Wang sees the USA as a state dominated by lawyers.
Wang He argues that too many lawyers in government delay and often even block economic change. Their focus is on micromanagement processes, not on achieving major results as in China. Meanwhile, in the American context to make matters worse, the interests of the moneyed aristocracy are given undue prominence in the current Chinese situation. This has contributed to the West losing ground in its competition with China.
One doesn't have to accept this simplistic thesis of the author, but it is worth reflecting on. He wishes the Chinese people a state that grants its citizens more freedoms and curbs social engineering.
Dan Wang: "Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the World." Penguin Books, London 2025, 288 pages, 31 euros.” [1]
1. Ingenieure an der Macht: Dan Wangs Blick auf Chinas Industriepolitik. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; Frankfurt. 15 Dec 2025: 16. ROBERT FIETEN
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