China in 2022: Looking Back and Ahead

The events of 2022 tested China’s more assertive policies at home and abroad, as the incoming slate of Chinese Communist Party leaders face major economic, political, and social headwinds. While Xi Jinping has asserted greater ideological and Party control over China’s government and people, this strategy has also coincided with major policy challenges in 2022, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, slowing global and domestic growth and protests over zero-COVID.