The 2 Best Drum Tower Podcast Episodes
1) Drum Tower: Bricks and people
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 ...Show More
2) Drum Tower: Slow train home
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...Show More
3) Climbers (part one): A way out of China
Necoclí is a tiny town on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. Beach bars blast party music and sell brightly-coloured cocktails. But Necoclí is not just a tourist destination. It is also a stopping point for ...Show More
4) Drum Tower: Digging the past
The South China Sea is full of treasure. Last year, Chinese researchers found two ships from the Ming Dynasty some 1,500 metres down: one loaded with porcelain, the other with timber. But, their disco...Show More
5) Drum Tower: Outbreak of bossiness
Xi Jinping wants to centralise power in China. Recently he’s created new law-enforcement agencies that are answerable to central-government ministries, as well as a new brigade of rural officials nick...Show More
6) Drum Tower: Your questions on China answered
The Economist’s Beijing bureau chief, David Rennie, and senior China correspondent, Alice Su, tackle listeners’ questions–what role does philosophy play in Chinese politics, how is the Cultural Revolu...Show More
7) Drum Tower: Open for business?
For decades, China’s leaders have staked their claim to rule on economic growth. Now the focus on prosperity is shifting to self-reliance and security. The Economist’s Beijing bureau chief, David...Show More
8) Drum Tower: The prince and the prime minister
This month China’s prime minister, Li Keqiang, will retire. He was once a rising star of the Communist Party and a contender to lead it, but under Xi Jinping he had little chance to shine. The Ec...Show More
9) Drum Tower: Decisive victory?
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 cit...Show More
10) Drum Tower: Autocrats' pact
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 episo...Show More