Thank Fathom it’s Friday

A letter from Zhongguo

Elisabeth Werenskiold28 November 2025|

It’s always exciting to go somewhere new. China is so different from anywhere I’ve ever been before, as well as being the focus of so much of my work at Fathom, that my recent ten-day trip was more highly anticipated than the average holiday. I am not exactly sure what I expected in advance, aside from good food, of which there was fortunately plenty. I suppose I was hoping to increase my understanding of China, flesh out some of the numbers I look at daily, although ten days is barely time to scratch the surface of somewhere as vast and multi-faceted as the Middle Kingdom. Now I’m back I feel as though I know even less than when I left, but such is the path of knowledge, it constantly turns back on itself. Or as the Chinese would say: ‘xué rán hòu zhī bù zú’ ‒ to learn is to encounter one’s own ignorance. Below are my Fathom Thoughts, from Abroad.