Dan Wang’s New York Times best seller, BREAKNECK: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future, offers a fresh framework for understanding China, the United States, and their intensifying rivalry. Drawing on his experiences living in China from 2017 to 2023, Wang contrasts China as an “engineering state” with America as a “lawyerly society,” and examines how these two systems shape each country’s ambitions and vulnerabilities.
China approaches challenges through large-scale construction, technological development, and state-led intervention, while the United States relies more heavily on laws, regulations, and legal processes. Wang explores both the strengths and shortcomings of these contrasting systems—from China’s remarkable infrastructure and industrial development to the risks of applying an engineering mindset to society, and from America’s institutional safeguards to the gridlock that can hinder its ability to build and innovate. The book and talk offer a thought-provoking lens for understanding U.S.–China competition and how the choices of both powers may shape their future and the world.