As a modest provincial official in Fujian, Xi Jinping is outshone by his celebrity wife, while colleagues are caught up in a lurid corruption scandal. How does Xi survive? 
Subscribe to The Economist with the best offer at economist.com/chinapod. 
 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hide and bide

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.
Sign up for Economist Podcasts+ at www.economist.com/podcastsplus If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

News

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
Subscribe to The Economist with the best offer at economist.com/chinapod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.
Subscribe to The Economist with the best offer at economist.com/chinapod. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bonus: Behind the propaganda

Ten years on, Xi’s tight grip on power risks another crisis—this one of his own making.
Subscribe to The Economist with the best offer at economist.com/chinapod. 
 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.
Subscribe to The Economist with the best offer at economist.com/chinapod. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.
Subscribe to The Economist with the best offer at economist.com/chinapod. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hide and bide

Download our free app to listen on your phone