我三人行，必得我师焉。

"我三人行，必得我师焉" - 可是我得仔细挑我的两名同伴！For a long time we in the West have been told that the United States is the sole and best repository of knowledge of how to organize a society that can successfully make its way through the world.  But lately I've come to deeply question such an assertion. (Especially now that I've had to live in a country ruled by a chump like Trump and a political party like the Rethuglicans!)  It seems to me that we in the West are receiving a distorted view of the world, and especially of China.  For a long time therefore I have wanted to get out of the country for a bit in order to see the world with my own eyes from a different perspective.  And for a long time China has appealed to me as an especially interesting place to check out - first, because over the last century or so it has successfully freed itself from Western colonialism, and secondly, because it seems to me to be among the wisest nations in its adaptations and preparations for passing through the challenges of the 21st century.  

A perfect opportunity came up last month, when the International Conference on Power and Renewable Energy (ICPRE), a subsidiary of the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), held their 11th International Conference in Shanghai.  I first heard about the conference back in July and immediately decided to sign up.  Then I was slightly misled by some American acquaintances of mine who told me that I would not need a visa as long as I stayed for ten days or less.  It turns out that that was only partially true.  When I asked more knowledgeable people about the travel process, I was informed that yes, I actually did need both a passport and a visa.  Fortunately I already had the passport, so I worked on obtaining a 10 year tourist visa which I received before the end of August.  After that came the frenzied process of catching up on work, arranging a pet sitting service, making sure I had a room in the hotel where the conference was held, and buying plane tickets.  Then came the night on which I boarded a China Air Lines wide-body jet for a 13 hour flight from the U.S. West Coast to Taipei, then from Taipei to Shanghai.  (Note to anyone who reads this: if you're older than 40, and if you don't want to torture yourself, don't try flying all the way in economy class!)

My first hours in Shanghai contained some funny moments, and some not-so-funny moments.  One of the funny moments came when I went through the security check procedure for new arrivals at the Shanghai Pudong Airport.  I was wearing a T-shirt which I had had printed in the U.S. with the following quote:

将欲歙之，必固张之；

将欲弱之，必固强之；

将欲废之，必固兴之；

将欲夺之，必固与之。

When one of the security personnel saw my shirt, he laughed and nudged his female co-worker, pointing at my shirt.  He asked in English, "Sir, do you know what that means?"  I said, "I do indeed!  If you want to shrink something, you must first expand it..."  Another funny time came when I was riding in a taxi from the airport to the hotel.  The taxi driver (a truly colorful character) offered me a cigarette during the ride, forcing me to find a way to say 对不起，我不抽烟。When he asked “为什么？” I pieced together a reply that ran something like “因为我想生活很多年。。。”  He pulled out his phone (which contained a voice translation app) and engaged me in a wide-ranging philosophical discussion until we got to the hotel.  However, I never took the taxi again while I was there, as the ride from the airport had cost me 400元.  The part that wasn't so funny was my own fault.  While I was at the airport I went to an ATM to withdraw some ready cash and forgot to take my bank card with me once I had received the cash.  That led to several panicked hours on my part until my Chinese friends in Shanghai taught me to use a couple of phone apps for payment.  Thus I found that in Shanghai, people very rarely use cash.  Instead, WeChat and Alipay are used for the majority of transactions.  (By the way, I got my card back.  The ATM operators found it and held it for me until I could retrieve it.  Imagine what would have happened if I had lost it while traveling in the USA!)

Now to the conference.  This conference provided me with an overview of what I would call China's "operational philosophy" concerning microgrids, modernization of grid transmission, and integration of renewables into the power grid.  I won't get into fine details here and now, but suffice it to say that a lot of the research presented provided me with ideas for my own engineering practice here in the U.S.  Of course, the presenters occupied a position close to the cutting edge of theory, whereas I am several steps removed from that cutting edge.  However, what often happens is that theoretical insights are turned into building codes and manufactured hardware, and it's good for day-to-day practitioners to understand the sorts of changes that may be coming to their particular fields of practice due to advances in theory.

As for the subject of academic and professional conferences in general, the United States under Trump has been playing a rather stupid, racist, white supremacist game in its attempt to restrict access to academic knowledge.  I have heard credible reports over the last eighteen months of academics from a number of nations who have been denied permission to enter the U.S. to attend conferences in which the exchange of valuable scientific and technical knowledge might benefit those nations.  China, on the other hand, has a robust schedule of academic conferences in 2026 and is planning similarly rich offerings in 2027.  And the process of obtaining a visa from China is far, far simpler and easier than the process in the U.S. has become.  China therefore, in concert with other nations of the Global South, is building a robust set of parallel institutions in the international sphere for the sharing of cutting-edge knowledge.  At the ICPRE conference I attended I saw people, both listeners (like myself) and presenters, from a wide range of nations.  The building of parallel institutions among historically marginalized nations has the power to turn the Unites States itself into an irrelevant bouncing ball.  This can begin in the academic arena.  If the U.S. wants to be like a six or seven year old brat shouting at the neighborhood kids, "I have a brand new toy!  And you can't play with it!", this nation may be surprised to find that the other kids have found other ways to be happy besides playing with that particular toy.

One other case in point regarding the sharing of knowledge: during September, Shanghai hosted the 48th annual WorldSkills Competition.  The WorldSkills organization has existed since the early 1950's and was formed initially in order to promote economic growth in the nations of Western Europe whose economies had been damaged or wrecked by World War 2.  The WorldSkills organizers saw that one of the keys to recovery was the development of a highly skilled workforce in the nations which had been so damaged, and this development of skills has become the mission of the WorldSkills organization. As the name of the organization indicates, the organizers have expanded this mission to the entire world. Unfortunately, I had to leave for the U.S. the day before the competition began, so I didn't get to see any of it directly.  But one of my Shanghai friends sent me a couple of video clips via WeChat.  WorldSkills is one of those examples of soft power which arises from genuine hospitality and decency toward all of the world's peoples.

Lastly, I want to note my observations of a couple of publicly-funded fixtures of Shanghai.  First, there's the library system.  Shanghai has two world-class libraries of the sort one would find at an R1 research university.  However, these libraries are entirely public, and hence open to the public.  I spent several hours wandering the stacks and aisles of both of them.  (Also I got my own Shanghai Public Library card...) A heavenly experience it was - even though my Chinese is so weak that I couldn't read most of the books!  What a contrast to many cities in the U.S., in which Rethuglican/conservative governments have slashed funding for public libraries.  Then there was the Shanghai subway system.  It did not take long for me to figure out how to use it, due in part to the fact that all of the subway signs are bilingual.  The Shanghai subway removes a great deal of stress from commuting, and is a vital part of getting around, due to the congestion which clogs Shanghai's streets and high-speed highways on a regular basis.  I am reminded of an American policy paper I recently saw titled, "Public transit delivers large gains for the local economy."  Shanghai has taken this lesson on board, as it is preparing to expand its commuter rail network even more.  Too bad that when I returned to the U.S., I found out that local governments where I live are cutting funding and service for TriMet, which for a long time was a shining light and example of public transit in the United States.

Anyway, now that I'm back in the USA, I can hardly wait until next year, when I hope to return to China, God willing, for another academic conference.  再见！

我爱上海！我想回来！

So Then, What Is Soft Power?

In a previous post I mentioned the concept of "hard power" as applied to nations.  A simple definition of hard power is the ability of a particular nation to use economic and/or military means to force other nations to submit to its will.  A question naturally arises: what is the definition of "soft power"?  And what contrasts exist between the definitions of hard power versus soft power, as well as the difference in their mechanisms of action and their effects?

To answer that question, we can look to the sorts of formal, scholarly definitions crafted by well-credentialed academics.  One such academic was the late Joseph S. Nye, who originally developed soft power as a formal concept.  (See Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics, Chapter 4, 04/05/2004.)  Another academic, Rebecca Kivak, summarized Nye's conclusions as follows: "Soft power refers to a nation's ability to attract and persuade others through culture, political values, and foreign policies, fostering a sense of admiration and shared objectives...Soft power is the capacity of a country to get what it wants by endearing itself to others through attraction...Countries who use soft power rely on earning admiration." ("Soft and Hard Power," Kivak, EBSCO, 2025.)  Kivak also stated that "Soft power operates through the resources of culture, political ideals, and foreign policies...Culture consists of a country's values, ideals, and social practices, including its popular culture."

These formal definitions of soft power may be a mouthful to digest, but I'd like to focus on a few key words: namely, admiration, attraction, and persuasion.  It seems reasonable that admiration would lead to attraction, and attraction would lead to persuasion.  Admiration is the first step, the prerequisite to every other step in the process.  How then does a person or a collective of people (up to and including a nation) go about earning admiration?

It is interesting (and bitingly funny in a dark sort of way) that the nations of the Global North sought to use propaganda as a tool to foster admiration in the people at whom the propaganda was aimed.  Nye's book talks about how in the 20th century, the U.S., Britain, and Germany tried to use propaganda to earn points with audiences in Latin America and other nations of the Global South, and how even when Britain, the U.S., and Germany were at war, each tried to use its organs of propaganda to influence the citizens of the nation which it was fighting.  Thus did propaganda and national mass media (including visual art, movies, novels, music, and TV shows) come to be counted as tools of soft power.  This assessment of soft power was only partially accurate.  To quote one former CCM musician who was "defrocked" after cheating on his wife in the first decade of the 21st century, "the lie is always cheaper than the truth."  Or, as Wallace Stevens once wrote, "Let be be finale of seem."  Propagandists who sell things that don't live up to their hype eventually get found out.

So then, what steps are required to build a durable foundation for admiration?  Let's look at how a single individual might truthfully craft a persona worthy of admiration.  It seems that the first thing such a person needs to do is to manage his own affairs well.  In other words, what's needed is a person who provides for himself by means of honest work, a person who takes care of himself, a person who is not enslaved to addictions, a person who lives within his means, a person who to the utmost of his own personal ability tries to live an orderly, wise, and self-controlled life.  The challenges to such a life are increasing in these days of rampant inequality, yet this ideal is what we should all be aiming for, as encapsulated in the quote: "...make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you; so that you may walk properly toward outsiders and have need of nothing." - 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12.

The second thing our admirable person needs is to cultivate and possess a useful skill, a skill or craft or competency that meets needs in the world at large, even as it says  "And let our people also learn to engage in beautifully good work to meet necessary needs, that they may not be unfruitful." - Titus 3:14.  The kinds of skills that meet the emerging needs of the 21st century will require setting aside regular daily and weekly time for self-cultivation and self-education.  Acquiring these skills may also require enrolling as a working adult in continuing education classes and seminars taught by reputable teachers.  I would also like to suggest that for many people, the ultimate goal of this self-cultivation should be to achieve full self-employment.  But self-employment is just my own personal bias.  YMMV.

The third thing our admirable person needs is to actively practice hospitality.  This hospitality should consist of deeds of active charity toward others, and especially toward those who can't repay the favors shown to them by the person practicing hospitality.  In the New Testament, this is seen in the hospitality shown by the Good Samaritan toward the man who was almost killed by robbers (Luke 10:25-37.  Note that this hospitality was cross-cultural, inter-ethnic, and inter-religion!), and in passages like Luke 14:12-14 and James 1:27 and 2:15-16, and 1 John 3:17.

To sum up, a person who manages himself well, possesses and continues to cultivate an occupational skill useful in the larger world, and shows practical, material kindness and charity to those around him (especially those who are poor or marginalized or who can't pay him back) will be regarded by many as an admirable person.  Such a person will then be an attractive person as well.  That admirable character and attractiveness will make him a persuasive person.  And his persuasiveness will not depend on expensive PR/marketing campaigns, propagandists or spin doctors, but on the genuine evidence of the person's genuine beneficial character.  Now when we have not just one such person but entire collectives of such people, they can wield a tremendous amount of soft power.  And the reputation, benevolence, and values of such collectives can serve as a powerful contrast to the societies in which these collectives are embedded when those larger societies have been taken over by autocrats, tyrants, dictators, fascists and others who want to create a world in which a select few get to Make Themselves Great by trashing everyone else.

Thus a key goal of the people who build parallel institutions in order to resist the society of the tyrant should be to cultivate this kind of genuine soft power.  Those who are part of such parallel institutions should aim to earn the reputation of providing needed works or services which the society of the oppressor is unwilling to provide.  To quote from "How to Undermine Authoritarian Control: On Empowering Parallel Institutions" (Goldman and Levin, Z Magazine, 2 April 2026), 

As authoritarianism attempts to take root in America, there are several time-tested strategies from other countries and contexts on how to fight back most effectively when the ruling regime controls most branches of government. One strategy that has been especially effective across diverse geographic, cultural, and political contexts is building parallel institutions: filling the voids of government functions, services, and resources created by authoritarian regimes and their abandonment of obligations to the people. By showing government shortcomings instead of just talking about them, then organizing regular people to help fill those gaps, parallel institutions build alternative power and influence.

 From Brazil to Ukraine and India to Sudan, parallel institutions have been effective at safely and peacefully undermining authoritarian control by taking care of people where the government won’t.   [Emphasis added.]

When such parallel institutions cultivate themselves to such an extent that their soft power exceeds the cultural power of the autocratic society in which they are embedded, the collapse of the autocratic regime is only a short step away.  This power reversal should be simple to achieve in autocratic or dictatorial societies, since the whole goal of the dictator or fascist is to create a society in which one small privileged group of people gets all the goodies of the society while everyone else is starved to death.  I am thinking particularly of Russia just now as a nation that has been so thoroughly cannibalized by rich parasites that it may be on the verge of economic collapse.  As Russia's collapse is being aided and abetted by rampant elite corruption, the United States under Trump and the Rethuglicans has begun to head down the same path.  In these days, let us who count ourselves among the resistance cultivate our individual and collective soft power!