Self Temple

What Will Self-Reliance Mean For China?

Andrew Batson | 9th September 2022

Xi Jinping is talking up a new economic model of "self-reliance" for China, using slogans from the Maoist era. What sense do such signals make, when China has been one of the principal engines and principal beneficiaries of globalisation? What Xi probably has in mind is not to choke off China's foreign trade, but to direct trade more forcefully in the service of China's foreign policy (998 words)

What You Need To Build A Greek Temple

Edmund Stewart | Antigone | 9th September 2022

In brief: Quite a lot. An architect, obviously, though architects were relatively cheap in ancient Greece; ships to bring in the marble; a hundred slaves for heavy lifting; a dozen carpenters; six craftsmen per column to dress the facade; sculptors and painters for the ornamentation; a door-maker; and do be sure to order your floor-tiles well ahead of time, they may take two years to arrive (1,800 words)