logo
episode-header-image
Dec 2022
25m 37s

Square dealing: Jiang Zemin dies

The Economist
About this episode

The Chinese leader who took over a squabbling party following the Tiananmen Square massacre surprised the world by stifling dissent, overseeing a staggering economic awakening—and occasionally breaking into song. We examine the lessons to be drawn from his legacy. After scores of failures, a new Alzheimer’s treatment shows real promise. And our annual ranking of the world’s most expensive cities.

Help us make the show better: take our listener survey at http://economist.com/intelligencesurvey. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Today
Wage against the machine: the distortions of minimum pay
<p>For decades governments have found minimum-wage rises a politically expedient means of redistribution. But the onward <a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2025/11/20/why-governments-should-stop-raising-the-minimum-wage?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_so ... Show More
22m 16s
Yesterday
Emission creep: a contentious COP closes
<p>It is telling and troubling that the annual climate talking-shop’s <a href="https://www.economist.com/international/2025/11/22/cop30-ends-with-a-whimper?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownote ... Show More
25m 51s
Nov 21
Flee country: Britain seeks to slash migration
<p>Britain’s home secretary Shabana Mahmood proposed a big shift in <a href="https://www.economist.com/britain/2025/11/20/will-britain-copy-asylum-policy-from-a-place-with-poor-integration?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discov ... Show More
23m 22s
Recommended Episodes
Dec 2022
More generals, less pacific: Japan’s new defence policy
<p>A strategy approved today peels back some of the country’s constitutional pacifism; in large part that is because of its <a href="https://www.economist.com/asia/2022/12/12/east-asias-big-beasts-are-getting-on-badly" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">tense relationship< ... Show More
26m 25s
Dec 2022
In sofa as I can recall: troubles for Cyril Ramaphosa
<p>South Africa’s leader says a pile of cash stashed in a sofa represents no wrongdoing. The outcome of an investigation <a href="https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2022/12/01/a-sofa-stuffed-with-cash-imperils-south-africas-president?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=aud ... Show More
27m 23s
May 2023
Shining armour: China’s new fleet
<p>Over the last couple of decades, the state has been making significant investments into its <a href="https://www.economist.com/china/2023/05/08/china-v-america-how-xi-jinping-plans-to-narrow-the-military-gap?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintellige ... Show More
26m 37s
Mar 2024
The Intelligence: Russia’s sham election
<p>Voting begins today in an <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/03/12/russians-go-to-the-polls-in-a-sham-election-for-their-president?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_ar ... Show More
23m 20s
Jan 2024
The Intelligence: The city that never slipped
<p>From Brexit to covid-19, nothing has yet stymied London’s successes. The city has its problems, but it remains a <a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2023/12/14/londons-resilience-is-a-lesson-to-policymakers-everywhere?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_so ... Show More
24m 49s
Jan 2024
The Intelligence: Volodymyr Zelensky on Ukraine’s year ahead
<p>As Vladimir Putin promises to intensify Russia’s attacks, Mr Zelensky is frustrated at the wavering support from the West. <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/01/01/a-new-years-interview-with-volodymr-zelensky?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source ... Show More
26m 25s
Jan 2024
The Intelligence: Milei’s laborious reforms
<p>For decades, Argentina’s labour unions have seemed like they can’t be touched. But the country’s new radical, libertarian president is <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2024/01/14/the-fightback-against-javier-mileis-radical-reforms-has-begun?utm_campaign=a.io&utm ... Show More
24m 20s
Mar 2024
The Weekend Intelligence: Life and fate
<p>A year on from our series <em>Next Year in Moscow</em>, <a href="https://www.economist.com/obituary/2024/02/22/alexei-navalny-didnt-just-defy-putin-he-showed-up-his-depravity" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Alexei Navalny</a>, Russia’s most prominent opposition lead ... Show More
53m 5s
Feb 2024
Drum Tower: The sounds of old Beijing
<p>In some ways, Beijing now sounds like a lot of other mega cities. Yet, back in imperial times, sound was used in creative ways to display wealth, to conduct everyday business and, most importantly, to keep order. David Rennie, our Beijing bureau chief, takes us on a sonic jour ... Show More
26m 44s
Feb 2024
The Intelligence: No water, no lights, no beds
<p>Hardened war-zone doctors say the situation in Gaza is the worst they have witnessed—and that will cost lives long after the current conflict is resolved. Numbers from America’s tight labour market suggest that long-standing gaps between black and white workers <a href="https: ... Show More
23m 52s