Jeffrey Wasserstrom: The great interpreter

Wasserstrom discusses China's political evolution under Xi Jinping and tells Rahul Jacob he sees little reason to be hopeful

Ahead of China’s widely scrutinised reshuffle of its senior leadership last month, Jeffrey Wasserstrom was asked by CNN to name the five most powerful people in China. Such lists, much beloved of Time and Forbes, seem nowhere more silly than in China, akin to judging a foreign-language film blind-folded. Indeed, over the past few years, the inner workings of the Communist Party have become even more impenetrable as President Xi Jinping has pursued an often anarchic anti-corruption campaign. With his characteristic directness, Wasserstrom, a professor of history at the University of California, Irvine and the author of eminently readable books