It's hard to truly and fully understand a country without first appreciating the nature of its own political system and unique path towards development. On this topic, People's Daily Online has got you covered with our series of multi-faceted and in-depth conversations with foreign and domestic thought leaders on the subject of domestic and international politics, discussions that can hopefully help to clear some of the air between China and those who may still have a false impression of the country and its people.

In this episode, we spoke to British scholar and political commentator Martin Jacques. Martin Jacques is the author of a global best-seller entitled “When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order.” His interest in East Asia began in 1993 after taking an extended holiday in China, Singapore and Malaysia. Throughout the following year he travelled extensively in Asia, including China, which provided him with a chance to develop a better understanding of China than most ordinary Western citizens.

We then sat down with Zhang Weiwei, who served as a senior English interpreter for former Chinese leader and architect of China's reform and opening-up, Deng Xiaoping. Mr. Zhang is now the director of the China Institute of Fudan University. In a conversation in his office, Zhang shared his views on the rise of China and the reasons behind some of the ideological biases towards China that have since become prevalent in many Western countries.

Check out the full episode to see what remarkable insights Zhang Weiwei and Martin Jacques exchanged with each other on the topic of better understanding China.  

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