Xi Jinping

Privileged, yet shaped by oppression during Mao’s Cultural Revolution – this is how China’s President Xi Jinping grew up. A childhood and youth that would leave lasting marks on the world. Xi was molded early on for the role of leading a global superpower. But just how deeply he internalized Mao’s ideas only became clear over time, as authoritarian traits emerged that no one had quite anticipated – especially considering that Xi’s own father was a victim of the Cultural Revolution.

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TikTok’s overwhelming success also carries political weight: As the world’s most downloaded app, it challenges American tech giants and intensifies the rivalry between the two global leaders in digital development—the U.S. and China. How is Washington responding? Can it protect its dominance in the media landscape?

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TikTok’s explosive success isn’t just the triumph of a single company. The video platform also holds major political significance for its country of origin—China—challenging the United States’ long-standing dominance in the digital sphere. In this new power struggle between the two global giants, the battle centers around the collection and use of personal data...

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FRONTLINE examines the rise of Xi Jinping, his vision for China and the global implications. Correspondent Martin Smith traces the defining moments for President Xi, how he’s exercising power and his impact on China, and relations with the U.S. and the world.

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Right in the heart of the South China Sea, the Philippines find themselves on the front line of the conflict between Beijing and Washington. As tension mounts between the two countries, we take an in-depth look at the situation in the archipelago.

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An investigative journalist uncovers the money, influence, and alarming rationale behind covert land grabs by some of the world’s most powerful countries.

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Russia, China and Iran: three former empires are determined to take their revenge and reassert their power after centuries of humiliation. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, they have never been so aligned on the international stage. Their common goal: to put an end to Western hegemony, restore their zone of influence and propose a new model of society. To achieve this, they are waging a hybrid war against the democracies: military, technological, economic, informational and ideological. Are they on the verge of joining forces to create a new world order?

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For a long time, strong ties with China guaranteed German businesses cheap goods and solid profits. But China has not only caught up in many areas—it has overtaken. What was once a partnership has become a dependency. And that dependency is becoming harder to ignore. China is no longer just an economic powerhouse—it’s asserting itself politically, too. Whether in the Ukraine war, its ties to Russia, or ongoing threats toward Taiwan, China has shifted from a quiet partner in globalization to a self-confident global power. In Berlin, politicians are waking up to a new reality: what used to be a relationship has turned into reliance—and cutting ties isn’t that simple.

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Explore how one man's relentless drive and invention of the atomic bomb changed the nature of war forever, led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and unleashed mass hysteria.

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The rise of China’s billionaires tells the story of a nation that has transformed from a place of poverty in the 1980s into the world’s second-largest economy. Once known as the world’s cheap labor factory, China has now become a factory for billionaires—producing almost one a day. No other country without a democracy creates wealth at such speed. But that rise may soon come to a halt: China’s top entrepreneurs find themselves caught in a cold war with a suspicious United States—and President Xi is cracking down hard. Tycoons are being silenced and re-educated to align with the superpower’s new strategic goals.

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After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Mao Tsetung established a system of labor camps for systematic repression, known as Laogai, an abbreviation for "Reform Through Labor". In such camps, forced labor and physical and mental torture were used to bring about a so-called mental reform, re-education in the spirit of the Chinese Communist Party. Millions of Chinese were affected. Many were executed. In hundreds of camps, the Party took advantage of the prisoners' free labor to build the economy. Self-criticism and denunciation were often the only way to escape martyrdom. Successive waves of purges culminated in the Cultural Revolution, which saw massive human rights abuses, political assassinations, massacres, and exiles in remote parts of the country. Using unreleased archive footage, the documentary tells the story of the invention, development and improvement of China's totalitarian system of surveillance and repression up to the present day, never told before.

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Since Xi Jinping’s 2014 visit, Duisburg became a key hub in China’s New Silk Road—symbol of growing ties between China and Europe. Massive investments promised economic growth, but COVID lockdowns and the Ukraine war disrupted the plan. This documentary explores how cities like Duisburg, Liège, and Genoa are caught between opportunity and dependency. Is China’s promise turning into a geopolitical trap?

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Acclaimed journalist, expert in national threats, and writer of "The Plot Against The President," Lee Smith uncovers a political coup orchestrated by America's political, corporate, and media elites to generate wealth, power, and prestige at the expense of the safety and freedoms of the American people.

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“What kind of person do you think former President Park Geunhye is?” Sohn Seokhee, a journalist, gives a clear and sharp answer that he “shares the common ideas that people in our country have.” That common idea has led millions to bring candles to the streets, correcting a thread of history that has gone awry, and gather a sense of hope among people. Candlelight Revolution portrays the voices of citizens from various generations, political figures of different parties, and the witnesses of an administration under improper influence. It is a documentary that identifies the genuine structure of politics and society by following how Park entered politics along with government records up until March 10.

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A relentless chronicle of the tragedy of the Uighurs, an ethnic minority of some eleven million people who live in the Xinjiang region of northwest China, speak a Turkic language and practice the Muslim religion. The Uighurs suffer brutal cultural and political oppression by Xin Jinping's tyrannical government: torture, disappearances, forced labor, re-education of children and adults, mass sterilizations, extensive surveillance and destruction of historical heritage.

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In the run-up, everything actually spoke against the Chinese capital as the host of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games: Beijing is neither a winter sports region nor are human rights respected in China. The IOC obviously didn't care. Topics such as sustainability, freedom of expression and climate protection were also pushed aside. It's about power and profit instead of the Olympic idea and its values. But more and more athletes are speaking up and calling for a reform of the Olympic Games. A pioneer in this matter is ARD Olympic expert Felix Neureuther, a former alpine skier, who sucked up the Olympic spirit with his mother's milk, because his parents are alpine ski legend Rosi Mittermaier, double gold medalist at the 1976 Winter Games in Innsbruck, and father Christian, a ski racer, who took part three times at the Olympics. Based on interviews with athletes, experts, IOC officials and persecuted Uyghurs, Felix gets a glimpse behind the scenes of the Olympic system.

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In March 2020, the world shuts down. Billions of people were confined to their homes by a virus. As it became clear that only a vaccine could stop the pandemic, a race began between the four great powers: the USA, Europe, Russia and China. The first to develop a vaccine would gain a significant advantage in global geopolitics.

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Behind his polite exterior lies a formidable leader with a ruthless character, ready to do anything to make China the world's leading power by the People’s Republic’s centenary in 2049. This well-documented portrait of the Chinese president gives an unprecedented insight into his politics and shows how Xi Jinping's personal journey has shaped his choices as he steers China towards world domination.

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One Country, Two Systems? No Way! say the youth of Taiwan. But China under President Xi Jinping wants more than ever to bring the island of Taiwan back into the fold, just like Hong Kong. Can the burgeoning democracy on China’s doorstep, driven by digital technology, resist the Middle Kingdom’s advances? To China Taiwan is a breakaway province that must return to the fold. To its 24 million inhabitants it is a sovereign state with its own constitution and democratically elected leaders. Now that Hong Kong has been brought into line, Taiwan remains determined to stand up as a vibrant, young democracy. But it won't be easy. Since the Sunflower Movement in 2014 when the young came out to prevent an economic agreement with China, citizen groups have been fighting for the transparency of institutions.

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The untold story of the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic and how China responded. Chinese scientists and doctors, international disease experts and health officials reveal missed opportunities to suppress the outbreak and lessons for the world.

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A journey through Kim Jong Un’s past and present to understand the man and the myth who holds North Korea’s uncertain future in his hands.

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China's Rebel City: The Hong Kong Protests is a comprehensive documentary account chronicling the 2019 Hong Kong anti-government protests that pushed the city to the brink and reshaped its political landscape. This documentary is a gritty, no-holds-barred audiovisual account of the political turmoil and social chaos that unfolded during months of demonstrations. The series draws on hundreds of hours of footage and features expertise and ground-zero reporting from award-winning journalists, providing an in-depth look at one of the most significant political events in recent Hong Kong history. The documentary tells the dramatic story of a city at the crossroads, drawing from extensive video footage, exclusive interviews with key stakeholders, and unparalleled access to ground-zero reporting. It won best documentary feature at the Cannes World Film Festival and an Online Journalism Award in the "2021 Digital Video Storytelling, Series" category.

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The story of the cross destiny of George Orwell (1903-50) and Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), the genius authors of the two most groundbreaking novels of anticipation of the 20th century: 1984 and Brave New World; two lucid witnesses of the maledictions of the modern world whose novels have found a considerable echo with our time.

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Infographics and archival footage deliver bite-size history lessons on scientific breakthroughs, social movements and world-changing discoveries.

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Under the pretext of fighting terrorism or crime, the major powers have embarked on a dangerous race for surveillance technologies. Facial recognition cameras, emotion detectors, citizen rating systems, autonomous drones… A security obsession that in some countries is giving rise to a new form of political regime: numerical totalitarianism. Orwell's nightmare.

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On January 23, 2020, the Chinese authority imposed a lockdown in Wuhan, as well as other cities in the Hubei province, in an attempt to prevent the Corona-virus from spreading further across the nation.

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The true story of the seven weeks that changed China forever. On June 4, 1989, pro-democracy demonstrations were violently and bloodily repressed. Thousands of people died, but the basis for China's future was definitely planted.

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