Protests and Xi Jinpings zero-COVID dilemma
This fall, chaos broke out at the world\u2019s biggest iPhone factory. \n\nThe Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou employs hundreds of thousands of workers. Nicknamed \u201ciPhone City,\u201d the factory is operating on a closed-loop system under China\u2019s zero-COVID policy. That means its workers eat, sleep and live at the plant in what authorities say is an effort to prevent expensive lockdowns and avoid outbreaks.\n\nBut in October, the virus got in. As the company clamped down to control the spread, videos surfaced online of workers scaling fences, streaming towards the exits and hitching rides to escape the factory. \n\nThe chaos at iPhone City is just one example of the growing discontent over life in zero-COVID China, which has sparked widespread protests across the country. \n\nToday, Lily Kuo, the China bureau chief with the Washington Post, shares how the demonstrations are challenging China\u2019s leadership in a way not seen since the Tiananmen protests in 1989. \n\nThen, Sue-Lin Wong takes us through what the protests say about President Xi Jinping\u2019s grip on the country. She\u2019s the host of the podcast, The Prince: Searching for Xi Jinping and The Economist\u2019s China correspondent.