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Drum Tower

Drum Tower

The Economist

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Two of The Economist's China correspondents, Alice Su and David Rennie, analyse the stories at the heart of this vast country and examine its influence beyond its borders. They’ll be joined by our global network of correspondents and expert guests to examine how everything from party politics to business, technology and culture are reshaping China and the world. Published every Tuesday.


If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription.


For more information about Economist Podcasts+, including how to get access, please visit our FAQs page here https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Economist-Podcasts.

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11 Listeners

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Top 10 Drum Tower Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Drum Tower episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Drum Tower for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Drum Tower episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Drum Tower - Drum Tower: Back to the future
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11/14/22 • 32 min

As China re-shapes the existing world order, its officials argue that the values behind it are Western and not universal. Western leaders worry that China is merely trying to make the world safe for dictatorships. Do universal values exist?


The Economist’s Beijing bureau chief, David Rennie, and senior China correspondent, Alice Su, talk to Zhou Bo, a former senior Chinese army colonel, and to Zha Jianying, a Chinese writer in New York.


Sign up to our weekly newsletter here and for full access to print, digital and audio editions, as well as exclusive live events, subscribe to The Economist at economist.com/drumoffer.



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4 Listeners

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Drum Tower - Drum Tower: Belt tightening
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09/26/23 • 31 min

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China is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The global infrastructure project is a keystone of Xi Jinping’s foreign policy and he has lauded the huge economic benefits the scheme has brought to the world. But enthusiasm for the BRI is fading at home.

David Rennie, The Economist’s Beijing bureau chief, and Alice Su, our senior China correspondent, host the second episode of a two-part look at China’s BRI and how it’s changing. They speak to Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University.

*If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about Economist Podcasts+, including how to get access, please visit our FAQs page.



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3 Listeners

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Drum Tower - Drum Tower: Control pique
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11/28/22 • 37 min

Protests in cities across China show there is real anger over the zero-covid policy and the party's intrusion into every corner of people's lives. A neighbourhood surveillance system is mobilising people to police one another. Could public unrest threaten Xi Jinping’s plans for total control?


The Economist’s Beijing bureau chief, David Rennie, and senior China correspondent, Alice Su, hear from somebody who has lived through street-level surveillance in China's most tightly policed region of Xinjiang.


Sign up to our weekly newsletter here.


For full access to print, digital and audio editions, as well as exclusive live events, subscribe to The Economist at economist.com/drumoffer.



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Drum Tower - Drum Tower: Taiwan goes to the polls
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01/09/24 • 43 min

China is watching Taiwan’s next presidential race closely. The results will influence Xi Jinping’s next steps when it comes to resolving the “Taiwan question”.


Ahead of the vote on January 13th, Alice Su, our senior China correspondent, goes to campaign rallies of the 3 parties in the race. We meet voters, young and old, who each have a different idea of who should win and why. Together with David Rennie, our Beijing bureau chief, they ask: is the election of Taiwan’s next President really a choice between war or peace, as some candidates are saying?


If you’re interested in Taiwan, listen to our four-part series on the future of the island.


1. What does Taiwan want?

2. How strong is Taiwan’s silicon shield?

3. Is Taiwan ready for war?

4. Could China take over Taiwan without force?


Sign up for a free trial of Economist Podcasts+. If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you’ll have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

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Drum Tower - Introducing Drum Tower
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11/07/22 • 2 min

Two of The Economist's China correspondents, Alice Su and David Rennie, analyse the stories at the heart of this vast country and examine its influence beyond its borders.


They’ll be joined by our global network of correspondents and expert guests to examine how everything from party politics to business, technology and culture is reshaping China and the world.


For almost seven centuries the beats of China’s most famous drum tower, or gulou, kept people in Beijing to time. The Economist’s latest podcast keeps you up to date every Monday.


Sign up to our weekly newsletter here and for full access to print, digital and audio editions, as well as exclusive live events, subscribe to The Economist at economist.com/drumoffer.

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3 Listeners

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Drum Tower - Drum Tower: China’s cheapest city
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03/28/23 • 32 min

In 2019, a cold, sleepy mining town called Hegang went viral for having the lowest house prices of any big city in China. Blog posts boasted of sizeable apartments costing as little as 46,000 yuan ($6,700). Many thought it was a hoax, others saw an opportunity.

The Economist’s Beijing bureau chief, David Rennie, and senior China correspondent, Alice Su, meet the people making Hegang their home and hear why the pressures of life in China’s major cities are motivating them to move there.

Sign up to our weekly newsletter here and for full access to print, digital and audio editions, as well as exclusive live events, subscribe to The Economist at economist.com/drumoffer.



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Drum Tower - Drum Tower: Inside Fortress China
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09/05/23 • 42 min

Panzhihua used to be a state secret. The steel-making city, buried deep in the mountains of Sichuan, formed part of Mao Zedong’s Third Front, a covert plan to move core industries inland in case America or the Soviet Union attacked.

David Rennie, The Economist’s Beijing bureau chief, travels to Panzhihua to reflect on China’s ambitious, costly experiment in self-reliance. He and Alice Su, The Economist’s senior China correspondent, ask what lessons the city provides today and what happens when China’s leaders choose national security over economic interests.

Sign up to our weekly newsletter here and for full access to print, digital and audio editions, as well as exclusive live events, subscribe to The Economist at economist.com/drumoffer.



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Drum Tower - Drum Tower: Nuclear reaction
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09/12/23 • 36 min

Chinese social media is awash with disinformation about nuclear wastewater. Ever since August 24, when Japan began to release treated wastewater from the Fukushima plant, China’s state media has pumped out a flood of one-sided reports about the dangers. China’s nationalist netizens have spread them.


Alice Su, The Economist’s senior China correspondent, and Ted Plafker, our China correspondent, take a look inside a Chinese Communist Party disinformation campaign and ask what China’s government stands to gain from the public outrage over the Fukushima wastewater release.


Sign up to our weekly newsletter here and for full access to print, digital and audio editions, as well as exclusive live events, subscribe to The Economist at economist.com/drumoffer.



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Drum Tower - Drum Tower: Zero no more
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12/05/22 • 41 min

The zero-covid policy, a source of pride for Xi Jinping, has sparked protests across China. Public frustration is growing, covid cases are rising, and confusion reigns. How did zero-covid turn into a trap? How can China escape it?

The Economist’s Beijing bureau chief, David Rennie, and senior China correspondent, Alice Su, talk to Ben Cowling, an epidemiologist at Hong Kong University, about the lessons from the omicron wave there.


We hope you enjoy listening to this podcast as much as we enjoy making it. We're always thinking of ways to improve and to do that we would like to know more about our listeners. Please help us by filling out this short questionnaire.


Sign up to our weekly newsletter here. For full access to print, digital and audio editions, as well as exclusive live events, subscribe to The Economist at economist.com/drumoffer.



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Drum Tower - Drum Tower: For richer, for poorer
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08/22/23 • 33 min

A harsh custom courses through rural China. If a woman marries a man from outside her village, she becomes a waijianü, or “married-out daughter". Tradition deems married-out women can be stripped of their rights to land that legally belongs to them.

The Communist Party came to power promising to emancipate women from feudalism. Today, the collective financial losses suffered by married-out women are growing.

The Economist’s Beijing bureau chief, David Rennie, and senior China correspondent, Alice Su, meet the married-out women in rural Fujian fighting to get their land back.

Sign up to our weekly newsletter here and for full access to print, digital and audio editions, as well as exclusive live events, subscribe to The Economist at economist.com/drumoffer.



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FAQ

How many episodes does Drum Tower have?

Drum Tower currently has 57 episodes available.

What topics does Drum Tower cover?

The podcast is about News, Podcasts and China.

What is the most popular episode on Drum Tower?

The episode title 'Drum Tower: Back to the future' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Drum Tower?

The average episode length on Drum Tower is 34 minutes.

How often are episodes of Drum Tower released?

Episodes of Drum Tower are typically released every 7 days.

When was the first episode of Drum Tower?

The first episode of Drum Tower was released on Nov 7, 2022.

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Comments

KZ
Kaixu Zhang

@zhangkaixu

Sep 27

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