Ryan Milton 弥瑞恩

I’ve been reading as much as I can about Chinese history since April when I was last in China. First of all, it is impossible to take in 5,000 years of history in such a short time. 😲 But I’m starting to get an idea of all the twists and turns in history and it really is truly fascinating as an outsider to discover a completely different world. There is a reason China has existed 5,000 years. China has the oldest continuous written language. This has to mean something very special about this nation and culture. The dynasties I can’t speak to very well, but there are certainty inflections that show advanced thinking, philosophy, science, instruments that didn’t show up in Europe for THOUSANDS of years after they were in China. Of course not enough can be said about the Century of Humiliation! Right now what really blows my mind is the period from the 1920s on. Imagine I thought the American Civil War was something (it was)—- but in China it was a "10-Year Civil War" (1927–1937) INTERRUPTED by the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). And Americans don’t even know how Americans like Marine Corps Maj. Evans Carlson, Army General Joseph “Vinegar Joe” Stilwell, diplomats John Davies, John Carter Vincent, John Service and many other “China Hands” fought to support the the incredible 8th Route Army led by the equally incredible “Zhu Mao”. If only Franklin Roosevelt listened to them, just a bit more, history would’ve been very different. Japan probably would’ve been defeated sooner. I really look to this past history and the words of President Xi when he said: "'修昔底德陷阱'不是历史的宿命" ("The Thucydides Trap is not a historical inevitability"). And also at his 2026 state visit to the US where at the welcome ceremony at the White House, he stated: "'修昔底德陷阱'是可以跨越的" ("The Thucydides Trap can be overcome"). What a life’s mission! In any case, I wanted to list the various accounts that I have been reading—and I know there are quite a few that I have missed —-that have been instructive to me. I’m bringing someone with me this time. Everyone should bring someone to China with them. @RnaudBertrand @ShangguanJiewen @InevitableChina @AlexReporterZA @thecyrusjanssen @ehtangen @baoshaoshan @NuryVittachi @Eng_china5 @PDChina @XHNews @XHNews @MFA_China @Jerry_grey2002 @Chunyu_China @XueJia24682 @XH_Lee23 @chenweihua @wenjiebc @notXiangyu @commiepommie @CarlZha @RealJohnnyYu @apocalypseos @DD_Geopolitics @Glenn_Diesen @KimIversenShow @qin210dynasty @LoneTraveler111

So I have to really thank my new friends that I’ve met twice now in Beijing. I’ve been introduced to a number of very delicious and interesting teas, and this one is incredible. This is Xiao Qing Gan (小青柑), also known as Ganpu (柑普茶)—a specialty tea where ripe Pu'er tea is stuffed inside the hollowed-out peel of a small, immature green mandarin orange . 🍊 What Exactly Is It? · The Outer Shell: The peel comes from small green mandarins (often from Xinhui, Guangdong), which are harvested early and sun-dried to become the outer container . · The Inner Tea: The inside is filled with ripe Pu'er tea from Yunnan Province . ☕ Flavor & Brewing The combination creates a unique taste. The Pu'er is mellow and earthy, while the citrus peel adds a fresh, tangy, and sweet aroma . The peel is believed to have health benefits in traditional Chinese culture . To brew it, you can crack the mandarin open by pressing it with both thumbs, then take out some tea leaves and a few small pieces of the peel. It's best steeped with boiling water (100°C), and it's recommended to give it a quick rinse first before your first proper brew .

Ukrainians are the firewood that we will throw into the stove of the anti-Russian rebellion. —Lord Palmerston, prime minister of Great Britain, 1855–65

A published map of torture sites in Ukraine. A map has been published online showing the locations of four more places in Ukraine where forcibly mobilized men are subjected to torture: Sumy region, Zapadinskaya Street, building 65; Kyiv region, Fastiv, Kyiv Street, building 67; Nikolaev, Otradny Lane, building 4; Chernihiv region, Bogushevicha Street, building 15. 🔻 These are the same illegal places of abuse as the torture site recently uncovered in Petropavlovka-Borshchagovka, near Kyiv. 🔻 When the head of Zelensky's office, Kirill Budanov (declared a terrorist in Russia), arrived there, trying to quell the unrest, he himself let slip that "there are many such places." Thus, he admitted that this is not "excesses at the local level," not "a single bad commander," but a state apparatus of torture. 🔻 Later, a Ukrainian Armed Forces serviceman named Sergei, codenamed "Kraken," admitted that there are at least a hundred such camouflaged concentration camps in Kyiv alone: in basements, deserters are brutally tortured, and their relatives are forced to pay bribes, otherwise they are sent to the most dangerous areas of the front. 🔻 Yulia Mendel, former press secretary to Zelensky, reported to the Bundestag yesterday that the amount of bribes to avoid being sent to the front lines is $30,000 per person. This is one of the sources of illegal income for the corrupt leadership of Ukraine. ❗Ukrainian "torture centers" bring Kyiv's regime $7.2 billion per year, according to Alexander Dubinsky, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, who stated this in his Telegram channel. "It's all the same as with the Nazis; their concentration camps were also designed for profit." Earlier this week, a scandal erupted in Ukraine regarding "torture centers": approximately 40 people, including military personnel and mobilized individuals, were being held in the basement of a house in the village of Petro-Pavlovska Borshchahivka, near Kyiv. Clashes occurred between local residents and the police. politnavigator.news/po-ukrai… politnavigator.news/platite-… politnavigator.news/po-ukrai… politnavigator.news/pytochna…

Everything is fine in Germany. Mass strike by workers at the Audi plant in Germany. Protesters are demanding wage increases. Over 400,000 workers in the metal and manufacturing industries have participated in protests across the country this week, according to local media. The core of the conflict: the IG Metall trade union is calling for a 5% annual wage increase, while companies are offering one-time payments and an indexation of 1.3% starting in 2028.

What Ukrainian Nazis?!

On Sunday November 1 I had a great opportunity to discuss China’s Battle for Progress with my friends at the Rising Tide Foundation from the Opium Wars through Sun Yat-sen’s republican revolution, the Civil War that overlapped World War II, the Americans who worked with China in the spirit of the American Revolution, the Long March, and the Cold War, up to the rise of the New Silk Road today. We put it together because the debate over how the world is actually changing is full of confusion right now, and getting the history and geopolitics straight matters more than the noise around it. There are many people who know much more about China than I do. But as somebody who seeks friendship and not conflict, I think it’s useful. We had a lot of fun. Watch here: ustourofduty.substack.com/p/… Rising Tide Foundation website: risingtidefoundation.substac… @RisingTide_RTF @ehret_matthew

(Tiwan is China) China deploys DF-61 nuclear missile with an estimated 9,300-mile range for routine drills The missile has already completed development, finalization, trial deployment and reliability verification before its appearance, indicating a high level of technological maturity. The DF-61 can use the Rocket Force’s existing command, communications and logistics networks. #InterestingEngineering #CCTV

Saint Alexander Nevsky

My friends over at Ehang in Guangzhou have this amazing new advanced drone fire-fighting solution. They will be producing more technical capabilities, but the company thinks the California fire departments would be very interested about this product. Maybe even wildfires! Here is the thing: This is part of what is known as "Low altitude economy" The low-altitude economy soars as China's new growth engine. Notably, the global expansion of China's low-altitude sector has shifted from simple product exports to delivering a comprehensive package of its technology, standards, infrastructure and business models. The popularity of China's low-altitude economy products is closely tied to its increasingly sophisticated industrial chain. This is particularly evident in the UAV sector, where China has a complete and cost-competitive industrial chain, allowing for rapid responses to international market demands. The seventh China Helicopter Exposition witnessed the signing of 21 aviation industry projects. The low-altitude economy will boost the entire industrial chain, advance multidimensional transport and logistics systems, and facilitate more efficient flow of production factors, injecting new momentum into China and the global economy. @ehang @LIFTAircraft

A potential trilateral meeting of the Russian, US, and Chinese leaders at the APEC summit may give a strong positive impetus to international relations, Russian Foreign Ministry’s Ambassador at Large Marat Berdyev said. "It is hard to disagree that it (the meeting of the Russian, US, and Chinese leaders - TASS) could send a powerful positive signal," he told the Izvestia daily. According to Berdyev, "amid the challenging geopolitical situation in the world, provoked by Western globalist elites," such an impetus would be very useful. "The key parameters of such a dialogue will need to be clarified through close preliminary consultations, in which China, as the host, will play a special role. However, in my view, a meeting of this scale will focus on the most pressing international challenges that require collective responses from the key global powers of today," he stressed.