Alice Han

So

Again, I think the story is so fascinating because it shows both the government having a hand and plucking out these highly talented individuals, but also then these individuals going out from the bottom up and making their own companies, which are really driving China's innovation.

I would even hazard a statement, which is that I believe China may be more meritocratic today than America is, given this system, given the way in which education and scholastic intelligence are lionized.

I would say that China today is probably more meritocratic than the U.S.

And one last point about the gold call, which you rightly mentioned, James, is that it's a system that's predicated on your score during the exam.

It's unlike any other, I think, exam in the world.

Certainly unlike the Australian exam system I went through or even the American system I went through as well.

where in those models, you have a hybridized scoring of your exam scores, your essays, your extracurricular activities.

In the Chinese scenario, it really comes down to what score you get on the day of the exams.

Yeah, it's emblazoned on their memory, either as a badge or as a scar.

Yeah.

All right.

We'll be back with more after a quick break.

Stay with us.

Welcome back.

Big news on the nuclear front.

The U.S.

is accusing China of secretly testing a nuclear weapon back in 2020.

The accusation comes just as the last remaining U.S.-Russia arms control treaty is expiring.

With Trump pushing for a broader deal that would include both China and Russia, the global nuclear landscape is suddenly shifting very, very quickly.