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Face-Off · Nov 18, 2025 · 59 min

Generation Burnout

China's youth were supposed to lead the nation to glory. Instead, they're lying flat, embracing "garbage time," and quietly rebelling against a system that promised everything and delivered economic stagnation. In this episode of Face-Off - our first of Season 3 (!) - we get inside the psychology of China's disillusioned generation. Guest: Chang Che, Chinese-American Writer (https://changnche.com/) Book Recommendations: Sparks: China’s Underground Historians and their Battle for the Future by Ian Johnson Other Rivers: A Chinese Education by Peter Hessler Face-Off: The U.S. vs. China is produced in partnership with Rowhome Productions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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show notes

China's youth were supposed to lead the nation to glory. Instead, they're lying flat, embracing "garbage time," and quietly rebelling against a system that promised everything and delivered economic stagnation. In this episode of Face-Off - our first of Season 3 (!) - we get inside the psychology of China's disillusioned generation.


Guest: Chang Che, Chinese-American Writer (https://changnche.com/) 

Book Recommendations: 

Sparks: China’s Underground Historians and their Battle for the Future by Ian Johnson

Other Rivers: A Chinese Education by Peter Hessler


Face-Off: The U.S. vs. China is produced in partnership with Rowhome Productions.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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