A villager’s campaign against corruption highlights the Chinese Communist Party’s weakening grip. As Xi Jinping stands on the brink of power, the emergence of a flamboyant rival deepens the crisis.
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Patriot number one

Xi Jinping is the most powerful person in the world. But the real story of China's leader remains a mystery. In this eight-part series Sue-Lin Wong finds out how he rose to the top, and what it means for China—and the rest of the world—now that he has ripped up the rule book to stay in power, perhaps for the rest of his life.
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Host Sue-Lin Wong dissects the unexpected and the foreseen from the Chinese Communist Party’s five-yearly meeting, with The Economist’s Beijing bureau chief David Rennie, who was there. How did Xi Jinping use the event to tighten his grip on power? 
Listen to The Economist’s new weekly China podcast Drum Tower here
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Bonus: The 20th party congress

Host Sue-Lin Wong talks to The Economist’s China correspondent Alice Su about the challenges of making The Prince and answers listeners’ questions.
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Bonus: Behind the propaganda

Ten years on, Xi’s tight grip on power risks another crisis—this one of his own making.
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The great helmsman

A young Xi Jinping visits Iowa and tries popcorn for the first time. But reconnecting with "old friends" in the Midwest years later fails to prevent relations with America from souring.
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Wolf warriors

A Uyghur language teacher is accused of spying for the CIA. An NBA player discovers the cost of criticising China. And Xi Jinping’s obsession with control reaches new and brutal extremes.
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Patriot number one

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