How did Xi Jinping’s formative years influence how he views the world today? Veteran China scholar Orville Schell, the Arthur Ross Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations, looks back at decades of writing and working on China, weathering the cycles of the country opening up and shutting down and gives his two cents on what’s going on in Xi’s head.

We also discuss

—  Why Mao Zedong is a better read than Xi

— China’s reciprocity problem on the international stage

— How US officials reacted to Tiananmen in a secret meeting with Deng Xiaoping

— A history of accessing China for academics, businesspeople and journalists

— Xi and victim culture

Outro Music: Glenn Gould performing Contrapunctus, I, IV from Bach’s amazing Art of the Fugue https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqDCieiDWAE

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