Ruins Report

The Ruins Report is a dedicated platform documenting the most significant paradigm shift of our lifetime: the decline of the Western order and the emergence of a multipolar world.

This site serves as the convergence point for two distinct projects: Conversations Among the Ruins and The Expat Edit. While one analyzes the macro-collapse of empire from the West, the other provides an unfiltered window into the rising power of the East.

Our Mission

We are living through the wreckage of the old world. From the slow disintegration of the American economy to the flashpoints of global conflict, the "Ruins" are not just a metaphor—they are the reality we navigate daily.

Our goal is to cut through the noise of mainstream narratives. Whether it is a deep-dive analysis on the failures of US foreign policy or a direct translation of what Chinese citizens are actually saying on their own internet, The Ruins Report is about finding the signal in the static.

The Two Pillars

1. Conversations Among the Ruins (The Podcast) Co-hosted by Charles Erickson and his father, Peter Erickson, this project launched in March 2024 as a way to make sense of a world on fire.

• The Focus: War, economic collapse in the West, and the geopolitical chess game of the 21st century.
• The Content: You will find articles focused on the expanded research and analysis on the specific topics discussed in the show.

2. The Expat Edit (The China Perspective) Born from a gap in quality English-language content on WeChat, this project curates and translates the top trending stories from the Chinese internet.

• The Methodology: We source primarily from Zhihu (China’s high-level version of Quora/Reddit), where detailed, intellectual, and often heated debates take place.
• The Philosophy: Zero bias. Zero spin. We do not insert our own opinions into these translations. The goal is to show you exactly what is captivating the Chinese mind—from geopolitical takes to daily life struggles—without the filter of Western media.

The Founder

Charles "Charlie" Erickson Founder & Editor-in-Chief

Charlie’s perspective is shaped by a decade spent on the ground in China. From 2012 to 2022, he lived in Shanghai, where he founded Baopals, a pioneering e-commerce platform that connected expats to China’s massive shopping networks (Taobao, Tmall, JD). That experience gave him a unique understanding of the Chinese consumer, the digital landscape, and the nuances of cross-cultural communication.

In 2022, Charlie returned to the United States with his wife, Ginger, to set down roots. Now a father to three lovely boys, Charlie realized that the "American Dream" he returned to was vastly different from the one he left.

Faced with the economic realities of raising a family in the modern US, Charlie combined his recently acquired content creation abilities with his knowledge of China. He launched The Expat Edit on WeChat in the summer of 2025 after coming to the conclusion there were no good English WeChat accounts out there. He saw an opportunity to provide the same utility he brought to Baopals: making China accessible to the West.

The Ruins Report is the culmination of that journey—a place where a father and son discuss the end of an era, and where the West can finally understand the East.