Dan Wang

on June 12, 2025

Dan Wang is a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover History Lab. He was previously a fellow at the Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center, and from 2017 to 2023 he worked in China as the Technology Analyst at Gavekal Dragonomics. Wang is one of the most-cited experts on China’s technology capabilities. In addition to a widely circulated annual letter from China, his essays have appeared in The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, The Financial Times, New York Magazine, Bloomberg Opinion, and The Atlantic. He is the author of Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future, forthcoming in Fall 2025 from W. W. Norton (U.S.) and Penguin (U.K.).

Li Qiang’s Quiet Rise

Why China’s Premier Matters Again

By Neil Thomas on June 4, 2025

While many people assume Chinese politics has been a one-man show since Xi Jinping became General Secretary of the Communist Party in November 2012, the truth is more complicated. Recent signals suggest a subtle shift in power dynamics. Although Xi has clearly consolidated his authority as China’s paramount leader, he now appears to be delegating key aspects of governance—particularly in economic policymaking—to his deputy, Premier Li Qiang.