Insight - Reflecting on ancient Chinese exceptionalism

In the Year of the Metallic Ox, optimists pray for the next Kuaishou winner, which appreciated 161% on its IPO this month. Pessimists worry whether the US-China relations will turn for the worst. Was 2020 the end of American exceptionalism and the rise of Chinese exceptionalism? What is so exceptional about the Chinese worldview?

THE Lunar New Year is time for family and reflection, when Chinese families ponder on the year before and speculate on the next cycle.

The Genzi Year of the Rat, historically associated with disaster – the Opium War (1840), Boxer Rebellion (1900), and famine (1960) – turned up with a calamitous pandemic and global recession. Ironically, the disaster co-existed with outperforming stock returns, thanks to excess liquidity from the new Gods of Wealth, aka central banks.

In the Year of the Metallic Ox, optimists pray for the next Kuaishou winner, which appreciated 161% on its IPO this month. Pessimists worry whether the US-China relations will turn for the worst.