How Modern China Works
Look past the surface headlines to grasp the real mechanics driving contemporary China. Explore how internal migration, the party-state bureaucracy, state capitalism, and demographic shifts shape the world's second-largest power.
Like Duolingo, but for How Modern China Works. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
A short one: 12 levels across 2 sections, about 24 minutes end to end, roughly 5 days at five minutes a day. It moves through The Everyday Engine: Mobility and Markets and Power and the Social Contract. It assumes you already know the basics.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in How Modern China Works
- Civic benefits remain tied to native administrative registry rather than workplace location
- Public health insurance pays higher reimbursement rates in one's home county
- Out-of-province medical claims in megacities face steep co-pays without local transfer approvals
- Megacities like Beijing cap headcount using competitive point systems
- Mid-tier interior hubs drop barriers to prevent brain drain to the coast
- Smaller county-level cities have effectively abolished local residency thresholds
- Urban public schools prioritize students holding local residential hukou
- Migrant-run private schools face frequent closures and lack official accreditation
- High destination living costs force families to split childcare across provinces
- Indigenous villagers build dense rental towers on untaxed collective rural land
- Affordable sub-rentals keep delivery and sanitation worker wages viable for businesses
- Dense interior markets supply low-cost communal food, repair, and child supervision
- Mao-era hukou strictly followed the mother's rural or urban status by birth
- Early reform eras rationed residency via state-owned factory employment quotas
- Modern reforms award residency to buyers of commercial property and formal taxpayers
- The conceptual progression of China's residency allocation from lineage to capital contribution
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives How Modern China Works the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
If you hold a rural hukou and need hospital care, where will your public health insurance reimburse the largest chunk of your bill?
Get it right to open this lesson and 11 more in the app.
How to learn How Modern China Works, step by step
Go in order. 12 short levels across 2 sections, about 24 minutes in all, five minutes a day.
- 1
The Everyday Engine: Mobility and Markets
- Decoding the Hukou and Internal Migration
- Navigating the Dual-Track Economy
- 2
Power and the Social Contract
- The Mechanics of the Party-State
- The Shifting Compact: Demographics and 'Involution'
2 sections · 4 units · 12 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
Questions about How Modern China Works
How do I learn How Modern China Works?
Go in order: start with The Everyday Engine: Mobility and Markets, then Power and the Social Contract. On Tomo that's 12 short levels, about 24 minutes in all, played five minutes a day. Start free and play the first level in under a minute.
Is there a Duolingo-style app for How Modern China Works?
Yes. Tomo works like Duolingo: short daily lessons, streaks and quick quizzes. How Modern China Works is one of its free courses, and you can type any other topic to get a course of your own.
Is the How Modern China Works course free?
Yes. How Modern China Works is playable on Tomo's free plan, which doesn't expire. No credit card, no waitlist. Download the app and start your first lesson.
How long does it take to learn How Modern China Works?
12 levels across 2 sections, about 24 minutes of play in total. It's built for five minutes a day, so you finish it a little at a time instead of all at once.
Do I need any background to start How Modern China Works?
No. It's pitched at an intermediate level, so it starts where you are and builds up. If you can tap a phone, you can start.
Tomo is in ChatGPT
Tomo is also a ChatGPT plugin: the same playable courses, built and played inside your chat.
Add Tomo to ChatGPT- What to ask
- “Make me a Tomo course on black holes.” “Turn this chat into a Tomo course.”
- What you get
- Quick questions with instant feedback, hearts and stars, ready to play in about a minute.
- Where it goes
- No sign-up to start. Connect your Tomo account and your streak carries on in the app.
You pick the voice
How Modern China Works is taught in the Bestie style: your friend who just gets it. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start How Modern China Works today.
Download Tomo, search How Modern China Works, and play your first lesson in under a minute.