Here's a question. Who is the most powerful influential person on earth today. Are they an artist, a business person, a politician, a thinker?

Well, one candidate in answer to that question is Jejin Ping.

He's the leader of China, he's been the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party for more than

a decade.

He's been hugely disruptive. And a real break with how Chinese politics has worked in recent decades.

Some say he's the most influential leader in China since Mao himself.

But despite his influence, profile, and power,

very little is known about Xi, his politics,

and his ideology in the West, which is why I've got today's guest on.

Olivia Chung has co-written this book, The Political Thought of Jijim Ping, with Steve Sang Sang and it's a brilliant primer into one of the world's most important

but under-discussed figures. Olivia, welcome to Downstream.

Thank you for having me, very glad to be here.

I'm very happy to have you.

We don't have enough people on talking about China, which is this obviously important place.

We are talking today about the top dog of both the People's Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party,

Jijinping. This is your book with Steve Singh. He's also at Soas for now. Yes. And this is your third book?

This is my second book and we are writing a third you're writing a third my apologies

what's the third book on the third book would be on China's global strategy

so it's very much a book building on this book the insights that we have gathered here and

focusing really on China's approach to the rest of the world. There's a lot in there

we're going to talk about foreign policy, she's in ping thoughts, so much to discuss. I want to start, however, with

something which isn't actually in the book, which is the personal story of she. You're a social scientist,

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