China Unraveled

In the second episode of a three-part series we dive into Hong Kong’s history from WWII to the 1997 handover to mainland China. How did Hong Kong gain the economy and reputation it has today? People take Hong Kong’s success for granted but its transformation into a wealthy, cosmopolitan city was never guaranteed. The forgotten economy that turned Hong Kong into what it is today has been off-shored and paved over. Tune in to hear about Hong Kong's remarkable evolution, a piece of its past now lost forever, and the city's darkening financial future.

Hong Kong has been wracked by continuous protests since 2019. Even a pandemic could not stop a new round of protests over a controversial new national security law. Where are things headed? What is Hong Kong’s future? In the first of a three-part series, we trace Hong Kong’s history back to the earliest days of Chinese civilization. While China seems to be moving the relationship between the former city-state and the mainland in a new direction it is actually taking the relationship in a very old direction. Tune in to learn about how the the conflict between Hong Kong and China is part of a much older and more ancient struggle.

For decades our world has been defined by global supply chains. No country has benefited more from this situation than China. China’s share of global manufacturing is the largest in the world. Multinational companies centered their production in China and turned it into the world’s factory. How and why did this happen? Will it last? What is the global pandemic doing to this global system? Tune in to hear where global supply chains came from and where they are going. 

This episode moves beyond partisan bickering to look at the roots of modern global trade. The last 75 years were a singular moment in world history. No other era had a non-imperial global trading system and for good reason. How and why did our current system come about? And how did China secure itself such a prominent role? Can China’s role last? What about the system as a whole? Tune in to learn how and why this system was built and whether it can withstand the challenges of the 2020’s. 

China is the undisputed source of a catastrophic global pandemic. Its leadership now faces the worst public relations disaster in the history of the People’s Republic. Fixing the pandemic may be beyond China’s capacity but its leaders can try to change the narrative. They tried to morph from the source of the problem into part of the solution. In this episode we talk about China’s mask diplomacy. What are its goals and motivations? What does it look like on the ground and is it working? Tune in to find out.

As the world’s most populous country was put in lockdown the world’s greatest propaganda machine went into overdrive. What really happened behind China’s quarantine? What were the real motivations for putting it in place? Did it work? China’s government is not telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Listen in to hear what the Chinese government does not want you to know.

A new and uncompromising look at China.

in 2019 a novel coronavirus emerged in China and spread around the world. In months our world has changed more than it has in years. Before we find out what comes next let's learn how this new world got started. How much of what we have been told is the truth? What really happened in China during the early days of the pandemic? What could have been done? What wasn't done? What are wet markets and what is the story with the Wuhan lab? History is being rewritten in real time. Tune into the first episode of the China Unraveled podcast to hear what really happened.