Shitong Qiao

Thank you for the review!

The Mysterious Devices Speeding Mining Exploration in Utah Hiking guides hired to carry 20-pound nodes into the mountains were part of a new type of resource survey.

If a quiet method of mineral exploration is successful, it could thread a loophole in the law governing public lands, helping open these areas for mining that much more quickly—and controversially, Lauren Steele reports.

Miami-based #UChicagoLaw alums — come join @adamchilton.bsky.social & me tonight to discuss the future of presidential administration

Kudos to Mayor Mamdani.

This is what economic justice looks like.

And it's a reminder of how we can fight corporate greed at the state and local level. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/01/mamdani-ice-delivery-workers-settlement-backpay-uber-gig-workers-million/

11 Books to Read: The Best Reviews of January A harmonious history of sight and sound, a look at the long-range future of life, a maverick investor’s memoir and more.

www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

‘How Great Ideas Happen’ Review: Building a Brainstorm The romantic idea of an insight that suddenly dawns is misleading. Most breakthroughs come slowly.

Interesting... "The point at which people thought they’d be depleted was often when their best ideas began to emerge. The so-called creative-cliff illusion leads us to abandon the search before it heats up." www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

Five Best: Books on the Creative Spark Selected by George Newman, the author of “How Great Ideas Happen.”

Selected by George Newman, the author of “How Great Ideas Happen.” on.wsj.com/4tcAHMS

‘Marcus Aurelius’ Review: The Mind and the Sword Marcus Aurelius has been acknowledged as a sage. But his reign was marked as much by military affairs as it was by philosophy.

Marcus Aurelius has been acknowledged as a sage. But his reign was marked as much by military affairs as it was by philosophy. on.wsj.com/49xQe0K

“In a hyper-capitalist culture optimised for skimming and distraction, the ability to sit still with a novel is both subversive and truly gratifying.”
www.ft.com/content/da33...
One recommendation: Joanna Kavenna, Zed

Year 1 data on congestion pricing in Manhattan…

* Vehicle traffic: -11%
* Foot traffic: +3.4%
* Storefront vacancy: -0.9%
* Pollution: -22%
* Revenue for mass transit: $548M

So YES this has been a huge success.

The Biggest Mistake Bosses Make When Delegating Too many managers take a hands-off approach, and then get frustrated when things go awry. There is a better way

Too many managers take a hands-off approach, and then get frustrated when things go awry. There is a better way on.wsj.com/44rnncT

"While the Chinese state endeavors to institute the Party’s leadership in all aspects of the society, it has failed in its urban neighborhoods where hundreds of millions of middle-class homeowners, who are backbone of the regime, live." papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/...

"In the case that the primary purpose was to support the local car manufacturing industry, the compensation took the form of subsidizing taxi drivers to replace their old cars with electronic vehicles (“EVs”) manufactured locally." papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

The Democratic Party’s winners this week “arguably got more out of affordability than any other approach,” @dkthomp.bsky.social argues. A party that adopts that approach at the national level “is in a strong position going into 2026”: https://theatln.tc/DJXBANTH

How to Finish the World's Tallest Abandoned Building YouTube video by The B1M

Hard to believe this video interview—where I discuss real estate law and politics in China—has been viewed over 583,000 times in just two months. Two parents of my daughter’s school friends even sent me screenshots of it…
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko25...

China’s Tech Obsession Is Weighing Down Its Economy A decade of cutting-edge investment hasn’t translated into growth.

"Techno-wizardry on one side and struggling villages on the other conveys valuable yet only partially accurate pictures of a complex country."

#PIPFellow @kennedychina.bsky.social and Scott Rozelle discuss China's tech rise for @foreignpolicy.com:

https://bit.ly/47kgElN

The Democracy of HOAs (Seriously) w/ Shitong Qiao One of the most odious sources of small scale authoritarianism in America is a site of actually existing democracy in China

No one in America likes their HOA. However, according to @shitongqiao.bsky.social, HOAs are an important site of actually existing democracy in China that depend on a strong state while potentially threatening it. Alice Liu asks him how this could be.

open.substack.com/pub/uscnpm/p...

Interesting. A similar trend has been happening to their Chinese offices too... Seems that something more fundamental about the U.S. legal market is going on.

Recognition Rules: The Case for a New International Law of Government Recognition - NYU Law Review The last several years have been marked by contentious disputes about which governments represent the states of Venezuela, Libya, Yemen, Myanmar, Afghanistan, and Niger. Such disputes are far from idl...

It's out!

"Recognition Rules: The Case for a New International Law of Government Recognition"

Published in @nyulawreview.bsky.social, with coauthors Justin Cole and Alaa Hachem.

You can download it for free here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Twenty Leading China Specialists Selected for Ninth Round of Public Intellectuals Program The National Committee on U.S.-China Relations is pleased to announce the ninth round of fellows in its  Public Intellectuals Program (PIP), generously funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York. The ...

@ncuscr.bsky.social is delighted to announce the twenty fellows who make up the ninth cohort of our Public Intellectuals Program.

Learn more about the newest #PIPFellows:
www.ncuscr.org/twenty-leadi...

The Waste Management Billionaire Setting Real-Estate Records for Fun Patrick Dovigi has made a hobby out of purchasing some of the country’s priciest properties, and then selling them for even higher prices. ‘I’m trash by day and luxury properties by night.’

Even in the rarefied world of luxury real estate, professional hockey player-turned-waste management billionaire Patrick Dovigi stands out for his ability to write big checks and trade multimillion-dollar homes like chess pieces.

“Our politics revolve around the idea that scarce resources mean keeping people out. We are utterly unprepared for a world in which perhaps the scarcest resource will be people.” www.nytimes.com/2025/01/31/o...

The Machine Stops The neurologist Oliver Sacks on steam engines, smartphones, and fearing the future.

In a letter drawn from a posthumous collection of correspondence, published in 2019, the neurologist Oliver Sacks argued that society had no immunity to the seductions of digital life. “What we are seeing—and bringing on ourselves—resembles a neurological catastrophe on a gigantic scale,” he wrote.

Being the top-ranked golfer in the world comes with a lot of expectations, but Scottie Scheffler revealed Tuesday there was one place where that weight became unbearable: his Venmo account.

More ⤵️

www.nytimes.com/athletic/641...

Grateful to Jed (Purdy!) and The LPE Blog for this book interview, including a critique and response regarding the relationship between property and democracy. lpeproject.org/blog/the-aut...

Hi Ben, Thanks for this post and for your thoughtful questions during the book panel—I really appreciated them. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to say hello afterward; I had to head out quickly to catch a flight. But it's great to finally put a face to the name. I hope our paths cross again soon!

Happy to chair the selection committee. Please spread the news!

The Authoritarian Commons: Neighborhood Democratization in Urban China (book talk) YouTube video by U.S. - Asia Law Institute NYU

Homeowners' associations sound pretty cool, at least in China! Very grateful for this deeply engaging conversation with Prof. Rick Hills about my new book: www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpun....