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News and Politics
The Prince, an eight-part series tracing the rise of Chinese President Xi Jinping, is named after Machiavelli’s famed manual for leadership in which the political philosopher declared it was better to be feared than loved. In the podcast, released around the beginning of Xi’s third term as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, host Sue-Lin Wong, then The Economist’s China correspondent, outlines the rise to power of the notoriously secretive politician through archival audio and innovative interview subjects—given that people close to the politician will never go on the record. She tracks down Xi’s American hosts from a 1985 visit to Iowa and a persecuted Uyghur language teacher now living in Norway, among others. Many of the interviewees remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from the government. The in-depth profile of an autocrat earned praise from those with the most knowledge of the man—apparently former CIA chief David Petraeus was a fan. It serves at once as a portrait of an elusive man and a cultural-political history of the country.
Write to Eliana Dockterman at eliana.dockterman@time.com.
