In his new book, author Dan Wang compares China’s “engineering” state that is enabling its rapid rise on the tech ladder, with U.S. policy and immigration rules that threaten to dent its edge.

While Americans lament their crumbling infrastructure, China is rapidly expanding high-speed rail, subway systems, and airports across the country. Chinese tech products, from autonomous vehicles to drones to addiction-inducing algorithms, have won over global consumers and put companies such as BYD, DJI, and TikTok in pole position.

China’s prowess in engineering and manufacturing is now at the center of the U.S.–China rivalry in artificial intelligence. Despite Washington’s efforts to block China from advancing in AI, the country has continued to make progress in developing chips and training state-of-the-art large language models.

Dan Wang moved to Canada at age seven from Yunnan in southwestern China. A former tech analyst at Gavekal Dragonomics, his stints in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai allowed him to closely observe China’s trajectory. In his new book, Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future, Wang compares the country’s “engineering” state, which favors large-scale manufacturing, with America’s “lawyerly” society, which he believes hinders new construction and development.