“This is China’s Sputnik Moment”: The Politics and Poetics of Artificial Intelligence

Item Type Journal Article Author Bingchun Meng URL https://doi.org/10.1080/1369801X.2021.2003227 Volume 25 Issue 3 Publisher Routledge Pages 351-369 Publication Interventions ISSN 1369-801X Date 2023-04-03 Extra _eprint: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369801X.2021.2003227 DOI 10.1080/1369801X.2021.2003227 Accessed 2026-08-02 04:08:07 Library Catalog Taylor and Francis+NEJM Abstract This essay unpacks the politics and poetics of artificial intelligence in contemporary China by drawing on textual data from policy documents and news reports, as well as from ethnographic data collected through fieldwork in Shenzhen and Guiyang. Drawing on this empirical study, I argue that on the one hand, there is convergence between the logic of transnational capital and that of the developmentalist state at the discursive level, while on the other hand, the politics of AI unfolds unevenly at the conjuncture of state policy, political economy of digital technologies, and the actions of key stakeholders. Short Title “This is China’s Sputnik Moment”