Pamela Lim

“Excuse Me… You Love Trump?”
=====================

I spent last month in China. In conversations with entrepreneurs, educators and investors, a friend surfaced an interesting fact: that the Chinese people now have a kind of “love” for Donald Trump. But it's not admiration. It's strategic. On Chinese social media, they call him 川建国 (Chuān Jiànguó) “Trump the Nation Builder.”

He's seen as an 加速师 (jiāsù shī) (an accelerator). China already had a long-term vision. None of this began with Trump. But many believe he sped things up. His disruption of alliances, his inward focus on America First, his unpredictability, all of it reduced resistance. Every time he berated an ally, netizens saluted him as 好同志 (hǎo tóngzhì) “Good Comrade.” It is either a coincidence or a strategy that China made a new friend.

I assumed the mid-2025 tariffs would breed resentment. Instead, people don't talk about it anymore... instead, they talk about capacity building. External pressure was a forcing function, not a setback.

In Shenzhen, they boast about hardware dominance. In Hangzhou, the conversation is about scale, absorbing surrounding cities into a larger digital ecosystem. Suzhou, built on patient Singaporean capital, is quietly becoming a third force.

And then there's Hainan, which is a different beast entirely. On that island, 26 Chinese and foreign universities now sit side by side, from Beijing's top schools to Britain's University of Glasgow. It's a bet on something slower and harder to measure: cross-border talent. While the West argues about walls, Hainan is building a gateway.

Let me be clear: I am not saying China is out of the tariff war. The slowdown is real and can easily be felt. People talk about it, and the malls are emptier than before. I could feel the pressure, the hesitation, and the visible tightening just by talking to real parents of students, who own these small businesses.

But my assumption that Chinese people are focused on this: that tariffs dominate their thinking, was wrong. The mindset wasn't to blame. It was an adjustment.

Trump is watched like 川剧 (Chuān Jù) {Sichuan opera). The masks change in an instant. The audience laughs, then gasps.

Many decades ago, I remember our tiny island with no natural resources invested in China, and now, Singapore is the largest foreign investor in all of China. Since 2022, Singapore has held that position, with cumulative actual investment reaching US$141 billion by the end of 2023. That same patience of planting seeds, waiting through doubt, shapes how many here view Trump: not a threat, but a variable.

One tennis player and entrepreneur put it simply: “This is like tennis. You don't always need to hit the winning shot. Sometimes, you just wait for your opponent to make mistakes.” Unforced errors matter.

Chinese netizens who watch this spectacle call themselves 吃瓜群众 (chī guā qúnzhòng) (melon‑eating spectators). Not fans. Not enemies. Just watching.

Trump is not admired as a champion. He's appreciated as an accelerator.

Next time you hear someone ask why Chinese people love Trump, you'll know the question is wrong. They don't love him. They're just celebrating as they watch him fault.

One more thought, though.

I don't think Singapore's founding fathers saw Trump coming. No one did. But they saw something steady beneath the chaos. They saw a giant waking up. And they bet on it when the rest of the world was still looking away.

That same quiet conviction with patience, not prediction, is what this trip left me wondering about. What are we failing to see today? And are we still capable of that kind of lonely, long bet?

That's Singapore's powerful bygones in China. Therefore, we know that letting bygones be bygones is itself a fault, because while some choose to forget, others are still building on what they remember.

*To date, All Gifted graduates have successfully secured admission to leading universities in China (besides the US, Australia, Singapore and other countries). We offer a structured, direct pathway. If you or your child is interested in studying at top 985/211 institutions or Ivy Leagues, whether through paid enrollment or scholarship, please contact us for further details. We will get your Chinese (or English) up to speed for that most fascinating university/college journey of a lifetime.

Is AI Emptying You or Your Child's Soul?
==========================

I picked up his GP essay this week, hoping to see a shift.

Last week, he had promised me he would try. No more outsourcing everything to AI. Try to think it through first. Try to struggle a little.

But as I read the first paragraph, I already knew.

The structure was too neat. The phrasing too familiar. The arguments perfectly balanced, but somehow going nowhere. When I asked him about it, he said he wrote it himself. Then hesitated. Then admitted he had “just used a bit of help”.

I did not need the admission. The essay had already told me.

I understand why.

It is tempting. It is easy. Today, there are countless tools offering to do the thinking for us. Tools like ChatGPT, Grammarly, Notion AI, Jasper AI — better writing, faster output, cleaner ideas.

And they deliver.

So this is not about the student.

It is about a system that overloads. Too much content. Too many expectations. Too little time to think.

We told them to produce. We never taught them to think.

And AI became the easiest way out.

We are starting to see the same pattern everywhere. LinkedIn. Company websites. Emails from people I used to recognise. Polished, structured, grammatically perfect, and strangely empty. You can tell when no real thinking has taken place.

Even adults are doing this now. Producing more than ever before, but saying less. And the world is already correcting for that. Even Google’s recent updates are quietly prioritising content with real thought behind it over mass-produced output.

AI is powerful. It should be used. It sharpens language, fixes structure, and can even push thinking further.

And we must not take it away from our students.

This is their future.

But we are now walking a very fine line.

If they start outsourcing their thinking before they have built it, we are not accelerating them, we are emptying them.

12 years ago, I started All Gifted on a simple belief, that all kids are gifted. Over the years, we saw children who did not fit into elite systems thrive when given the right environment. We saw students once destined for vocational routes pursue their dream of becoming doctors. We saw school refusal cases return, and eventually step into universities, joining choirs and bands, finding their place again.

We built around the child.

Now, we must do the same with AI.

We must integrate it deeply into how they learn. Teach them to use it, question it, direct it.

But never let it replace them.

Because AI is not the differentiator.

The human behind it is.

If we cannot help our students find their voice, their thinking, their way of seeing the world, then there is nothing for AI to extend.

They will not lose to AI.

They will lose to the quiet kid in the back who used AI to check his logic, but kept his soul.