Welcome to the inquiry with me, Tanya Beckett, one question for 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

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 social market economy. We must uphold and improve

China's basic socialist economic system. We must unswervely consolidate and develop the public sector

and unswervingly encourage support and fight development of the downpump 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.

2022 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.

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, innovation and ideas were systematically

quashed and with them any hope for the future. But all this changed in 1976 when Mao Zedong

died. It was a turning point. As the 1980s approached, China found itself on the brink of a new era.

...