Drum Tower The Economist

At the height of China’s zero-covid restrictions, a Chinese character that sounds like the English word “run” became a coded way of talking about emigration. Since then many Chinese people have left their country for better opportunities abroad.
In the first episode of a three-part series on the “run” phenomenon, we travel to Japan and meet educated, urban Chinese who have made the decision to move. Alice Su, The Economist’s senior China correspondent and David Rennie, our Beijing bureau chief, ask: what does their choice say about the country they’ve left behind?
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China is about to be hit by a wave of Alzheimer’s, as its population ages and shrinks. The disease will place great strains on Chinese society and test the country’s health-care system to its limits. David Rennie, The Economist’s Beijing bureau chief, and Alice Su, our senior China correspondent, ask: how will dementia expose China’s weak points?

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China faces a demographic crisis. Its birth rate has halved over the last ten years. When asked about their ideal family size, many young women say they want one child or no children at all.

David Rennie, The Economist’s Beijing bureau chief, and Alice Su, our senior China correspondent, consider the lingering effects of the one-child policy. Eight years after it ended, how does the policy affect how Chinese people imagine the ideal family size?

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New religious regulations in Xinjiang stipulate that mosques should look Chinese and religious figures should behave patriotically. What do those rules look like on the ground, and did they affect Ramadan celebrations for Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities this year?

David Rennie, The Economist’s Beijing bureau chief visited the far-western region to find out if people are still allowed to fast, and whether—contrary to what officials say—mosques really are being destroyed.

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For centuries, most Chinese turned their back on the sea. But a boom in domestic tourism and the pandemic changed that. Now, whether they want the perfect seaside-selfie or to commune with nature, millions are heading to the beach for the very first time.

Rosie Blau, The Economist’s international China correspondent, spends a day at Dameisha beach, on China’s southern tip, where she explores what China’s new beach culture reveals about the country today.

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The Economist’s editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes was recently in Beijing for the China Development Forum, an annual gathering where senior Chinese officials meet foreign business bosses.
She joins our Beijing bureau chief David Rennie to assess Xi Jinping’s new plan to escape economic stagnation. Plus, what is the outlook for China’s relationship with America?
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