Book Circle Discussion Preview: May 16, 2026

On May 16, the US-China Catholic Association Book Circle will finish Dan Wang's book, Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future.

Participants will consider the following discussion prompts from Book Circle facilitator Dr. Kathy Stout:

For our final session of the Book Circle before a summer break, we will read chapters 6 and 7 in Dan Wang's Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future. Wang recapitulates his thesis that China and the US have much to learn from each other, being in many ways inverse images of one another. China can benefit from more pluralism, greater freedom for its people, and more genuine protection for individual rights of its citizens, while the US can transform itself through a renewed sense of physical dynamism if it learns to build again. The engineering state and the lawyerly society, fraught with their own ambiguities and challenges, can learn from each other. As we conclude this book, it is important to recognize that the author writes almost entirely from a politico-economical point of view. If we wish to ask deeper questions from a moral and spiritual perspective, we will have to marshal our own resources. With that in mind, I offer the following questions for your consideration as you read these two final chapters:

1) To rùn or not to rùn? -- This is the question facing many Chinese people today, who are feeling suffocated, alienated, or at a dead end. The phenomenon of rùn ? (p. 171) refers to the fact that many choose to run away from China to other countries in order to feel nourished. How does the book help you make sense of this phenomenon? 

2)  President Xi Jingping remarks during the Covid pandemic that China needs to become more "lovable" (p. 188). Dan Wang recognizes China's lack of cultural contribution and influence on the global stage compared to other East Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea, attributing it at least partially to the restriction of intellectual and artistic freedom imposed by the state. Do you have any additional observations or insights into China's cultural clout or lack thereof? 

3) Wang identifies an interesting difference between China and the US on page 231: "The United States has a distinctly ideological character as a nation, founded on values and principles rather than heritage; modern China is intent on proving that its historical heritage is glorious." What do you think of this assessment?

4) Wang suggests that America's greatest strength is its pluralism that inspires innovation, whereas China's advantage is its preservation of process knowledge that will ensure its continual development as a leader in manufacturing. This may or may not be your own evaluation of where China and the US find their greatest strengths. As a religious person, how would you comment on this? 

We are glad to share that Book Circle participants will now be able to use AI-generated captions for easier communication across language barriers. If you know of anyone who might be interested in the Book Circle, please invite them to sign up today via the Book Circle Interest Form! In the Fall semester, the Book Circle will resume with a new book: Yanfei Sun's Religious Change in Post-Mao China: Toward a New Sociology of Religion.

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