The Chinese political system is in for a big year. Xi is likely going to break the mold of the last 50 years of Chinese politics and take on a third term. What does this mean? Where are things headed? It’s time to find out.

In this episode we’re going to look into what is really going on. What does real Chinese politics look like? What does it take to gain power in China and to keep it? Is modern Chinese politics closer to Western politics or to ancient Chinese politics? And, most important of all, how is power transferred between Chinese leaders?  

The truth is much darker than we've been led to believe.

What exactly is the Chinese Communist Party? Where did this crazy organization come from and how did it gain power? What does it believe and how does it operate?

Let's pull back the curtain and learn what makes the Chinese Communist Party tick - and also what keeps it up at night.

What exactly is the Chinese Communist Party? Where did this crazy organization come from and how did it gain power? What does it believe and how does it operate?

Let's pull back the curtain and learn what makes the Chinese Communist Party tick - and also what keeps it up at night.

What exactly is the Chinese Communist Party? Where did this crazy organization come from and how did it gain power? What does it believe and how does it operate?

Let's pull back the curtain and learn what makes the Chinese Communist Party tick - and also what keeps it up at night.

What exactly is the Chinese Communist Party? Where did this crazy organization come from and how did it gain power? What does it believe and how does it operate?

Let's pull back the curtain and learn what makes the Chinese Communist Party tick - and also what keeps it up at night.

What exactly is the Chinese Communist Party? Where did this crazy organization come from and how did it gain power? What does it believe and how does it operate?

Let's pull back the curtain and learn what makes the Chinese Communist Party tick - and also what keeps it up at night.

Trump is gone but tensions between the United States and China remain. In fact they are getting worse. Much worse.

Every day both countries fire new sanctions and recriminations at each other. Biden appointed a Taiwanese-American trade lawyer as his Trade Representative. China is flexing its military muscles around Taiwan, Japan, and the South China Sea. A contentious first meeting in Alaska was deadlocked from the outset. 

Pundits are loudly talking about a new Cold War and an extended conflict between the two countries. 

So what is in store for the US-China relationship? Does new American leadership change things? Can China exploit Biden for its benefit? Did China successfully exploit Trump?

And when all is said and done - once we peel off the varnish - will a President Biden really be all that different from a President Trump?

On China the answer is already pretty clear.

Tune in to hear how a bad relationship between the United States and China is about to get a whole lot worse. 

China has been gaining ground. After decades of expansion its economy, technology, and military are formidable. Everyone wonders if and when it will grow more powerful than the United States. Many think a global power transition is inevitable, one where America exits stage left and China enters stage right. But will China actually run the world?

Can China run the world? The US certainly seems to. Maybe all China has to do is take its place? Maybe it is as easy as sitting on an empty throne

Maybe not.

Tune in to hear what it takes to run the world and where China’s global ambitions will take it.

What is China's true potential? 

Evaluating a country's prospects can be hard because globalization briefly altered the basic mechanics of economic development. For decades capital, resources, and technologies flowed to every corner of the world. Anything seemed possible. Regions that had never developed came online for the first time. In this context how much of China's success was a result of the unique circumstances of the last few decades? And was China's ancient wealth and power really what we imagine it to be? Tune in to hear what China looks like when fact is separated from fiction.

By the turn of the millennium Hong Kong was one of the world’s rare financial capitals and wealthier than all but a handful of places on earth.

Why?

After all many people predicated Hong Kong would collapse after it was handed over to China back in 1997.

What did they get wrong and what did Hong Kong get right?

The final episode in a three-part series on Hong Kong covers Hong Kong’s story since its return to mainland China. We dive into Hong Kong's role in the world economy, its failed push towards democracy, and the roots of its increasingly hostile relationship with mainland China. 

Trouble has been brewing under the surface for a long time.

Tune in to learn what Hong Kong’s protests are about, why China responds the way it does, and what both mean for Hong Kong’s future.