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Hello and welcome to Chinese Whispers with me, Cindy Yu. Every episode, I'll be talking to

journalists, experts and long-time China watchers about the latest in Chinese politics, society, and more.

There'll be a smattering of history to catch you up on the background knowledge and some context as well. How did the Chinese see these issues?

178 miles to the east of Beijing. There's a beach resort called Beidaihe. The water is shallow and the sand is yellow and fine.

Luxurious holiday villas dot the coastline. Starting from the 1950s, leaders of the Chinese Communist Party have moved their families and work to Beidai He in the summer, making the beach resort something of a summer

capital. But secrecy clouds the gatherings, and though this tradition continues, today the resort

seems to serve a much more leisurely purpose when the CCP visits. On this episode, I'm

joined by the historian James Carter and Bill Bishop, editor of the very popular cynicism newsletter

to discuss where

communist leaders go when they go on summer holiday. What is the changing role of Beidai He

and what does that say about the changing nature of leadership at the top of the Chinese Communist Party?

Jay and Bill, welcome back to Chinese Whispers. My pleasure. My pleasure too. Thanks for having us.

Now, should we start with the origins of Beidaihe?

Jay, because communist leaders weren't the first to take advantage of its beach and the lovely weather, were they?

No, it started, like many of these beach resorts, it was a product sort of of imperialism, I suppose.

It was Brits looking for a place to go to the ocean.

So really started in the

1890s was the first formal institutions were put up there. So people started vacationing

there kind of as arrival to Qingdao and other seaside resorts, but really started in the 1890s.

And then by the 1920s, really, you started to have more Chinese coming in to the city, to the

resort.

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