Drum Tower

China’s Communist Party declared a “decisive victory” against the pandemic last week, arguing that the country’s response to the virus has been a “miracle in human history.” We travel to four cities that have all played important roles in China’s covid policies and examine the effects of the lockdowns that took place in each of them...

It is impossible to imagine Beijing without its hutongs. The ancient alleyways harbour the city’s character, culture and history inside their low, grey walls. But for decades the hutongs have been in peril. 

The Economist’s Beijing bureau chief, David Rennie goes in search of the last of the hutongs and meets Hu Xinyu, a historian who’s trying to preserve them and their way of life...

Sino-American relations have been blown off course after the downing of a Chinese balloon. 

The Economist’s Beijing bureau chief, David Rennie, and our senior China correspondent, Alice Su, explore whether China and America are heading towards a stand-off and what needs to be done to avoid any escalation.

The historian John Delury unearths the roots of distrust between the two superpowers...

It’s been a year since Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin announced the “no-limits” friendship between China and Russia, but is it one between equals? In the second episode of a two-part series, The Economist’s Beijing bureau chief, David Rennie, and our senior China correspondent, Alice Su, explore the rocky past of Sino-Soviet relations with historian Joseph Torigian, and hear from locals in Heilongjiang, a border province, about whether the war in Ukraine has changed their view of Russia...

It’s been a year since Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin announced the “no-limits” friendship between China and Russia. What drives the relationship and which side benefits from it more?

In the first episode of a two-part series, The Economist’s Beijing bureau chief, David Rennie, and senior China correspondent, Alice Su, assess how the relationship between Mr Xi and Mr Putin has evolved over the past year and ask whether the friendship has any boundaries...

China is celebrating the lunar new year. The Ministry of Transport predicts that by February 15th over 2bn journeys will be made by Chinese heading to their home towns–and for some migrant workers, it'll be the first time they've returned since the start of the covid-19 pandemic three years ago. The Economist's Beijing bureau chief, David Rennie, has a standing ticket for a train ride that’s part of the biggest annual human migration on the planet...

The recent surge in covid-19 cases has exposed the gulf between China's urban and rural healthcare system. How vast is the gap and what is being done to bridge it? 

The Economist’s Beijing bureau chief, David Rennie, and senior China correspondent, Alice Su, hear how doctors in cities and villages are coping with the rise in covid infections...

Since the zero-covid policy was scrapped, the virus has spread across China at a blistering pace. The medical system and crematoria are overwhelmed, but official data on infections and deaths is hazy...

“Spring Landscape”, a poem written over 1,000 years ago, remains one of China’s most celebrated literary works. Composed by the 8th Century Tang dynasty poet Du Fu, it is still memorised by every schoolchild in the country. Why is the poem still so resonant today? 

The Economist’s Beijing bureau chief, David Rennie, and senior China correspondent, Alice Su, consider whether the ambiguity of classical Chinese makes it ideal for poetry...

China inside out