Sam Crane @UselessTree

I teach Chinese politics and ancient philosophy at Williams College. Currently overseeing Williams-Exeter Programme at Oxford University. amazon.com/Blogging-China… Oxford, England, UK Joined June 2011

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Sam Crane @UselessTree

2 weeks ago

Agree

David Porter @huwaliyasuntob

2 weeks ago

I want to take up this challenge and offer a defense of scholar-activism that I hope, by stepping outside the confines of US domestic politics, will help opponents of scholar-activism recognize its value

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Sam Crane @UselessTree

2 weeks ago

Sure. And Christian missionaries foresaw a grand Confucian-Christian synthesis. How’d that work out?

Branko Milanovic @BrankoMilan

2 weeks ago

I spoke of it very briefly at my book promotion yesterday in Paris--I think it is an important if somewhat speculative point. The Sinification of Marxism may, for the first time in history, create a unified Euro-Asian ideology that would bring together ancient Greek and ancient

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Sam Crane @UselessTree

3 weeks ago

Yes

Yuan Yi Zhu @yuanyi_z

3 weeks ago

I know Oxford is a silly place, but convocation killing Mandelson at the voting booth really makes the case for bringing back its seats in the House of Commons.

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Sam Crane @UselessTree

3 months ago

They’re going to smuggle him in the back door of the Great Hall and then rush him back to the airport 😆

Ryan Hass @ryanl_hass

3 months ago

1/ Not long ago, there was discussion about a monumental Trump state visit to China, including a potential military parade, large business delegation, and multi-city stops. Now, three weeks out, the scale of the visit appears to be shrinking (🧵) nytimes.com/2026/03/11/wor…

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Sam Crane @UselessTree

7 months ago

uselesstree.blog/2025/11/22/rec…

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Sam Crane @UselessTree

7 months ago

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Sam Crane @UselessTree

10 months ago

I'm exporting the content and might park it somewhere, but that's likely futile Ah well, Dao is vast and flows where it will regardless of our expectations. The Useless Tree is gone from its old place but its formless integrity continues. /fin

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Sam Crane @UselessTree

10 months ago

It was a fun time, the old time of blogs but that's all gone now. I did make a book of some parts of it, so that remains. 4/ amazon.com/Blogging-Chi....

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Sam Crane @UselessTree

10 months ago

Coming back here to mark an ending, since Twitter had been an important channel for my old blog. Typepad, the old blogging platform, just announced that they are closing down. That means the real end of the Useless Tree. 1/ uselesstree.typepad.com/useless_tree/

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Sam Crane @UselessTree

11 months ago

Not on here much, but if you're in London on October 27, stop by. soas.ac.uk/about/event/po…

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Sam Crane @UselessTree

a year ago

Haven’t been here in a while but if you’re in Dublin on May 19th, come by Trinity College for my talk.

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Sam Crane @UselessTree

a year ago

bsky.app/profile/useles…

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Sam Crane @UselessTree

2 years ago

Thread on Jimmy Lai testimony

Xinqi Su 蘇昕琪 @XinqiSu

2 years ago

The “never-s” #JimmyLai told the court this morning: 1. Apple Daily never gave orientation or training on editorial policy to its hires 2. He never discussed anything with @lukedepulford , “his only purpose to contact me was for me to publish his articles”

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William Yang @WilliamYang120

2 years ago

My latest: Hong Kong’s High Court on Tuesday sentenced 45 pro-democracy activists to up to 10 years in jail under subversion charges, marking an end to the largest national security case in Hong Kong under a sweeping law imposed by Beijing. voanews.com/a/hong-kong-im…

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Sam Crane @UselessTree

2 years ago

Please consult the Zunghar Khanate…. Oh, right…

Erik Solheim @ErikSolheim

2 years ago

This is simply brilliant! George Yeo, former foreign minister of Singapore explains why China 🇨🇳 is different from the West and doesn’t have it in its DNA to become an imperial power like the colonial powers or the US.