Welcome to the inquiry with me, Tanya Beckett. One question, four expert witnesses and an answer.

As President Xi walked on stage at the Communist Party Congress, the audience erupted in thunderous applause.

The Chinese leader thanked the over 2,000 people before him for their loyalty and trust,

then gave an opening address that lasted over an hour and a half,

in which he praised his own policies,

claiming that his top priority was the financial health of the country.

We will build a high standard socialist market economy.

We must uphold and improve China's basic socialist economic system.

We must unswervingly consolidate and develop the public sector

and unswervingly encourage support and guide development of the non-public sector.

China's economy has fallen into dire shape.

Youth unemployment is skyrocketing.

Repeated COVID lockdowns are dragging on virtually every aspect of business in the country's economy, and vast swathes of the population are struggling to make ends meet.

2020 is the first year since the early 1990s that China's economic output will fall behind the rest of Asia.

But President Xi made no mention of how he intended to solve these problems.

He did, however, anoint himself as leader for an unprecedented third term.

This week on the inquiry, we're asking, is China's economy in trouble?

Part 1. How China's economy boomed.

Half a century ago, China was reeling from 10 years of destructive chaos.

The so-called cultural revolution was leader Mao Zedong's attempt to wipe the country clean of any remaining vestiges of capitalism,

even though it had already been under communist rule for more than a quarter of a century.

During this so-called revolution,

...