Reporting from China's newest Covid-19 outbreak in Guangzhou, where lockdowns, mass testing, and mass quarantine are being deployed for China's busiest export and trade hub; analysing how politics, conspiracy and science collide in the mainstream resurgence of the Wuhan lab leak theory, amid new revelations of the extent of wildlife trading at Wuhan's wet markets and calls for the WHO investigation team to return to China.

Mainland China's once-per-decade census has been released, showing overall population growth despite demographers stating China’s population is likely to start shrinking in the next few years. The SCMP’s Mimi Lau examines the sensitivities behind the numbers that will shape China’s future policies. Sidney Leng speaks about census methodology, Zhou Xin weighs in on what the census numbers tell us about changes in various segments of China’s population and Qin Chen talks about how the daughters…

After years of turbocharged growth, China’s leading tech firms have come under intense scrutiny from Beijing. The record fines slapped on Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post, sent alarm bells among China’s Big Tech. But the move may not be just a bid to rein in the firms, but Beijing’s attempt to reshape the future direction and focus of its home-grown tech companies. SCMP’s Xinmei Shen and Jane Zhang discuss the changes under way with guest HKU China law professor Angela Zhang

Dr Ben Cowling from the HKU School of Public Health discusses what herd immunity looks like for Hong Kong and how new Covid-19 variants will affect vaccinations; SCMP reporter Simone McCarthy discusses the latest vaccine manufactured in China, how Beijing's vaccine diplomacy is being countered by the West and how the global COVAX agreement and debate over IP are affecting vaccines for developing nations.

Mimi Lau presents an International Women's Day special: Phoebe Zhang reports on the backlash against feminists and women's rights activists, as well the ongoing fight for single women to be allowed to freeze their eggs; Qin Chen reports on how China's plunging birth rate is being driven by the daughters born and raised during the years of the One Child policy.

Mimi Lau explains the workings of China's two annual political meetings that include the world's largest parliamentary gathering, the National People's Congress. Beijing-based reporter Mai Jun looks at the combined forces of history and future plans influencing this year's event, from the announcement of the five year plan and 2035 vision as well as the centenary of China's Communist Party and the role of China's President Xi Jinping.

If China's tech giant ByteDance lists on the US stock exchange it will be the first Chinese social media company to launch an IPO in American stock history.  Zhou Xin discusses the background to this move, starting with Donald Trump's threat to ban TikTok in Agust of 2020, and the red lines Beijing will have for any access to the powerful algorithms that power Bytedance technology. China tech specialist reporter Masha Borak explains the big differences between TikTok and its Chinese equivalent…

Beijing-based reporter Qin Chen presents a Lunar New Year special on the forecasts for the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac. SCMP China society editor Luisa Tam has consulted with top feng shui masters and sources to find what theYear of the Ox portends for health, wealth and relationships as well as what colours, numbers and dates may be lucky.

China is trying to contain outbreaks of Covid-19 during the Lunar New Year by asking its citizens to stay where they are instead of travelling home for the annual re-union dinner. Kinling Lo speaks with reporters Phoebe Zhang in Shenzhen and Qin Chen Beijing about how these controls are affecting New Year plans and the mood of locals and migrant workers, while tech reporter Masha Borak details how China's big tech companies are expanding their services and reach in an effort to help people…

SCMP journalist Nadeem Shad speaks with freelance space journalist and China space industry expert Andrew Jones about the Tianwen-1 mission to Mars, and the audacious plan to deliver a vehicle to the Martian surface. Hear how the other missions being sent by NASA and the United Arab Emirates are not a new 'space race', and how it might just take FBI permission to allow an American spacecraft to communicate with a Chinese one. Andrew Jones also unpacks why 2020 was one of the busiest years in…