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China is a complex place, particularly for those of us who don’t live there (i.e. me). There’s a lot that doesn’t make sense as an outside observer, even on topics like urbanism and technology, where I have more than a little expertise. So, in an effort to understand an important part of the world in a much deeper way (and have all of y’all benefit in the process), I sat down with the writer behind Concurrent (my new favorite publication on China and Silicon Valley) — Afra Wang. Afra walked me through the story of Datong, a city to the West of Beijing in Northern China. On one level, it’s one city’s tale of ancient history, industrialization, and urban redevelopment. On another, it’s a larger commentary about what pride of place means in modern China and how progress as an ideal is all about going back to former glory. From Afra: Before Jeff (the writer behind Urban Proxima) proposed our conversation about Chinese urbanism, I had never considered Datong through an urbanist lens. But as

China is a complex place, particularly for those of us who don’t live there (i.e. me). There’s a lot that doesn’t make sense as an outside observer, even on topics like urbanism and technology, where I have more than a little expertise. So, in an effort to understand an important part of the world in a much deeper way (and have all of y’all benefit in the process), I sat down with the writer behind Concurrent (my new favorite publication on China and Silicon Valley) — Afra Wang. Afra walked me through the story of Datong, a city to the West of Beijing in Northern China. On one level, it’s one