By DCB Editorial, March 28, 2025
Salubrious greetings to you, my dear friends. Allow me to introduce myself—I am Jinin Clarkson, the long-lost half-brother of Jeremy Clarkson, with the DNA evidence to prove it. HA!
You see, I am the byproduct of a bygone empire. My family originated from Shanghai in the early 18th century—wealthy traders, exporters of cotton and silk to Persia and as far away as Polynesia. Then the British walked in and turned Shanghai into an opium den.
The British colonialists, disgusted at the thought of assimilation, did leave behind a legacy of a culturally enriched population. Thankfully, the newly mixed lineage of British and Chinese did assimilate and reject British food, which is as disgusting today as it was back then. OK, I’ll give British fish and chips a thumbs-up but stop short of ever accepting mushy peas. HA!
I am the result of the culturally mixed population left behind by the British invaders. My surname survived, but my family was ostracized for over half a century before a Chinese truth and reconciliation commission finally recognized our plight. Accepted into society and retaining my surname, I decided to go into motor journalism after a time spent working as a nuclear physicist for the Chinese state.
HA!
Yes, as a nuclear physicist, part of my job was to plan strategic airburst bombing campaigns on our enemies. But now I am a man of peace. My principal modus operandi in life is to review cars. Over the last five years, China’s car industry has been the clean nuclear bomb that has detonated with immense power, and the fallout is more potent than radioactive decay.
The European car industry is in jeopardy as China’s car industry ascends to new levels of competitiveness. We here in China cannot understand why Europe is marching backward and why it always marches forward to war when economically challenged. Europe’s civilized cultural and economic rise over the last 500 years has been built on the back of economic theft from poorer, mineral-rich countries.
That theft is still ongoing to this day, but it isn’t referred to as theft; it is diplomatically called “partnerships.” My friends, I digress. However, I very much look forward to offering a Chinese perspective on the international car industry and poking it with a big stick as we in China watch the calamity show known as the European Union car industry.
Good day to you, HA!
