The Prince

Our China correspondent Sue-Lin Wong hunts for the real story of China’s leader, Xi Jinping, in a new eight-part podcast series

In episode two of our series, Xi Jinping begins life as a provincial official outshone by his superstar wife, until a lurid scandal thrusts him into prominence

In episode three, Xi Jinping begins to grasp real power just as the Communist Party faces a crisis of legitimacy

In episode four, Xi Jinping uses lessons from the Soviet Union’s collapse to take control of China’s Communist Party

In episode five, a censor turns whistleblower as Xi Jinping tightens the screws on China’s internet

In episode six, Xi Jinping puts the rights of the many over the few

In episode seven, Xi Jinping applies his political methods and ideology to his dealings with America and the world

In the final episode, China becomes the epicentre of a pandemic and Xi Jinping faces a crisis of his own making

In this bonus episode of our eight-part series, host Sue-Lin Wong talks to The Economist’s China correspondent Alice Su about making the podcast