With regard to the question of why China embraced capitalism, it is important to note that in Mao’s time, the Soviet Union and China were allies Mao’s China was a communist country, but it was still very much in the midst of a revolution China saw the Soviet Union as a revolutionary ally, and Mao had always been an admirer of Joseph Stalin, who was the leade ... Show More
Jun 2021
Victor Gao: 100 years of the Chinese Communist Party
As the Chinese Communist Party marks its 100th anniversary, Stephen Sackur speaks to veteran party loyalist Victor Gao, vice president of the Centre for China and Globalization in Beijing. The party has engineered a remarkable transformation that’s made China a global superpower, ... Show More
22m 58s
Jan 2023
There’s Been a Revolution in How China Is Governed
There are few stories that are more crucial to the world’s future than what’s happening in China. Take any of the most important issues of our time — climate change, geopolitics, the global economy, advanced technologies — and China is at the center of them. American politics its ... Show More
1h 19m
May 2022
The Characters That Built China
Today, China is a global superpower. But less than two hundred years ago, the nation was in a state of decline. After what became known as the 'century of humiliation' at the hands of Western imperialist powers, its very survival was in question. A movement arose to fight off for ... Show More
48m 26s
Oct 2023
Exactly What is Communism?
On today’s show we are talking about what is driving the economy.
There was a time when I thought the fear over communism taking hold in the west was overblown. Yes, communism had taken hold in China, the Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe. But we saw how that turned out. Communis ... Show More
5m 20s