David Fishman ✓

@pretentiouswhat · Shanghai · joined 15 Jan 2012

China energy analysis & advisory: solar, wind, coal, nuclear, markets. 14yr migrant, currently SH. Rural development enthusiast. @HopkinsNanjing @LantauGroup

49 254Followers

595Following

23 864Posts total

79.4KViews on collected posts

Latest posts

David Fishman ✓@pretentiouswhat3 Sep

@pretentiouswhat While the modern Salt Industry Company was only founded after 1949, a series of state-owned Chinese salt monopolies could be dated mostly-continuously back to ancient times 1.5K views · 18 likes · 0 reposts · 1 replies Open on X →

David Fishman ✓@pretentiouswhat3 Sep

@pretentiouswhat Oldest is China Merchants Group - evolution of Sheng Xuanhuai's shipping lines 906 views · 10 likes · 0 reposts · 0 replies Open on X →

David Fishman ✓@pretentiouswhat3 Sep

Substack Exclusive: an OSINT deep dive on China's largest and most secretive power project: the Medog Hydropower Plant on Tibet's Yarlung River. The project will boast 60GW of capacity when completed next decade. That's larger than the power sectors of Argentina or Sweden.🧵 http 16.7K views · 160 likes · 18 reposts · 9 replies Open on X →

David Fishman ✓@pretentiouswhat3 Sep

@pretentiouswhat China Merchants Group started China Merchants Steam Navigation Company in 1872 China Yajiang Group created in 2025 to build the Yarlung Tsangpo hydropower project The first is any state-owned enterprise provincial, municipal, county The second are owned by the 3.2K views · 85 likes · 1 reposts · 1 replies Open on X →

David Fishman ✓@pretentiouswhat3 Sep

China has tens of thousands of SOEs (国企) but just 99 central SOEs (央企). Most of them were formed in the reform area, e.g.,: Sinopec: 1983 CNPC: 1988 State Grid: 2002 The oldest was formed in 1872. What is it? The youngest formed just last year (2025). What is it? 24.2K views · 236 likes · 12 reposts · 13 replies Open on X →

David Fishman ✓@pretentiouswhat2 Sep

I remember being faintly annoyed when I learned 管中窥豹，可见一斑 has two potential context-dependent meanings that are also exact opposites, one pejorative, and one neutral/praising. It literally translates to “looking at a leopard through a tube, all you can see is one spot”. 11.4K views · 120 likes · 9 reposts · 6 replies Open on X →

David Fishman ✓@pretentiouswhat2 Sep

Yep, those in the U.S. who "lead the charge" against China should also be as unqualified as possible, natch. The weaker your credentials, the harder you can charge, I guess. What you lack in competence, you can always make up in vigor. 7.4K views · 144 likes · 8 reposts · 3 replies Open on X →

David Fishman ✓@pretentiouswhat1 Sep

@teortaxesTex In Chinese, there is a similar case, such as "空穴来风". Originally, it meant that when a rumor spreads, it cannot be without reason—there must be some basis for it. Later, however, it came to mean the opposite: that a rumor has spread without any good reason or basis. 14.2K views · 14 likes · 0 reposts · 1 replies Open on X →

David Fishman ✓@pretentiouswhat20 Jun 2021

Hi! I often tweet long threads about China's energy sector, mostly grid, renewables, and nuclear. This is a master collection of my favorites, from oldest to newest. I will add more as they are created and remove oudated ones. 0 views · 764 likes · 118 reposts · 31 replies Open on X →

Against accounts of the same size

8 posts from the last 90 days, next to the 10K–100K follower range. shown to more people than peers of the same size.

Median views9 388this account924median for 10K–100K

Reach, %19.06%this account3.62%median for 10K–100K

Engagement, %1.16%this account1.52%median for 10K–100K

Metric	This account	Median for 10K–100K	Ratio
Median views per post	9 388	924	10.2×
Reach (views ÷ followers)	19.06%	3.62%	5.27×
Engagement rate	1.16%	1.52%	0.76×

Others in this range → Compare with another account → How these benchmarks are built →

Growth & engagement

How the posts we collected actually performed: views and reaction rate post by post, what the audience did with them, and where the follower count goes.

Views per post

14.2K1 Sep

7.4K2 Sep

11.4K

24.2K3 Sep

3.2K

16.7K

906

1.5K

Last 8 collected posts, oldest on the left. The scale is logarithmic: one post can outrun the rest a hundred times over.

Engagement rate per post

0.11%1 Sep

2.11%2 Sep

1.18%

1.09%3 Sep

2.75%

1.13%

1.10%

1.30%

Reactions — likes, reposts, replies and quotes — divided by views. Median for 10K–100K accounts is 1.52%.

What the audience does

Likes74.4%787 in total

Reposts4.5%48 in total

Replies3.2%34 in total

Quotes0.4%4 in total

Bookmarks17.5%185 in total

Share of every reaction we collected for this account. Replies mean argument, reposts mean endorsement, bookmarks mean the post was worth keeping.

The follower curve appears once this account has two daily snapshots — we take one a day, and this one is on its first.

Latest posts

Against accounts of the same size

Growth & engagement

Views per post

Engagement rate per post

What the audience does

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