Hello, I'm David Rennie.

I'm the Economist's Bureau Chief in Beijing.

I've been living here for four and a half years.

My first posting was in the late 1990s.

I'm Alice Su.

I spent nearly a third of my life in China.

I went to high school and grad school there.

I went back later as a reporter,

and I'm still covering China

now from across the street in Taiwan.

In The Economist's new podcast, Drum Tower, we'll ask the tough questions about how China is

changing, why it matters, and what it all means as the country reaches a pivotal moment.

We're now arriving at Gululau Dane. Kuloh means drum tower. The red walled tower in central Beijing that used to keep time for the whole city. On our podcast, we're going to be listening to the rhythm of China today. We'll take you deep inside the country to look at politics, society, business, tech,

culture, food and music.

I was in Beijing's Great Hall of the People for the Party Congress that handed Xi Jinping a third term. He's China's most powerful leader in generations, and a confident China is now challenging

and reshaping the world order.

But China is also facing serious problems.

The strict COVID strategy is hurting the economy.

The wealth of the new middle class is threatened by a property crash. And as Xi consolidates power, the world is wising up to the economy. The wealth of the new middle class is threatened by a property crash. And as

sea consolidates power, the world is wising up to the challenge he poses. The economist's

correspondence on every continent will help us see how this story plays out, in foreign capitals,

campuses, and boardrooms. People everywhere are going to have to make some hard choices.

...