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Speaker 1: You can listen to the Front on your smart speaker

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Speaker 1: every morning to hear the latest episode.

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Speaker 2: Just say play the news from the Australian.

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Speaker 1: From the Australian, here's what's on the Front. I'm Kristinamot.

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Speaker 1: It's Monday, August twenty six. Blackouts and big power bills

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Speaker 1: could be our new reality as gas supplies dropped to

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Speaker 1: critically low levels and coal fired power plants limp into retirement,

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Speaker 1: But neither the government nor the Energy market regulator have

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Speaker 1: provided the industry with updates for how they're planning to

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Speaker 1: fix the problem. That stories live right now at the

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Speaker 1: Australian dot com dot au. The Israeli Defense Force launched

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Speaker 1: a preemptive strike on Hesbola targets in Lebanon on Sunday.

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Speaker 1: It says the onehundred rockets were designed to deter a

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Speaker 1: large scale attack.

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Speaker 3: But members of the Lebanese group.

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Speaker 1: Said they carried out a raid of their own in

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Speaker 1: retaliation for the death of a top commander. Australia's ambassador

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Speaker 1: to China will join four hundred other guests, including diplomats

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Speaker 1: from our Five Eyes partners, at a black tie ball

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Speaker 1: on the Great Wall of China in a fortnight. That's

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Speaker 1: the latest from Will Glasgow, the Australian's North Asia correspondent

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Speaker 1: and the first Australian journalist invited back to Beijing. In

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Speaker 1: today's episode A Correspondent's Long and Winding Road back to China.

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Speaker 4: My way overordered was delicious, but I did not need

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Speaker 4: that well beef noodle suit, not with the cucumber garlic

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Speaker 4: dish and the spinach peanut dish and the beef coomin skewer.

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Speaker 1: That's The Australian's North Asia correspondent Will Glasgow. He's back

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Speaker 1: in his old stomping ground, Beijing's Donjamen district for the

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Speaker 1: first time in four years.

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Speaker 4: I got to work on my portion sizes.

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Speaker 5: I got to adjust.

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Speaker 1: Donjamen is one of Beijing's more expat friendly neighborhoods, with

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Speaker 1: journalists like Will as well as diplomats and business people

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Speaker 1: historically calling it home. These days, it's buzzing with locals

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Speaker 1: and domestic travelers out to see the sites. It's summer

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Speaker 1: in Beijing and the sky is a clear, glittering blue.

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Speaker 1: Will was invited to return to Beijing by the Chinese government,

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Speaker 1: and so with Camber's blessing, he set off.

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Speaker 2: So my passport's over with the Exit and Entry Immigration

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Speaker 2: Office of the Public Security Bureau, and as long as

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Speaker 2: I get the green light from then I've got a

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Speaker 2: residency permit to allow me to be a foreign journalist

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Speaker 2: in China for the next year.

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Speaker 1: Last week, Will became the first Australian journalists to be

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Speaker 1: granted media credentials since twenty twenty. Will had been living

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Speaker 1: and working in China for six months when in twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty he returned to Australia to get his wife. The

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Speaker 1: COVID nineteen pandemic, which originated in China, was gathering steam

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Speaker 1: and things were getting tense. They had an exemption to

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Speaker 1: return to China after a stint in hotel quarantine, but

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Speaker 1: Will was advised against boarding his return flight by Australian

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Speaker 1: officials shortly before they were due to depart. Will's been

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Speaker 1: living in Taipei since twenty twenty one. Will was one

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Speaker 1: of dozens of foreign journalists who left China in twenty twenty.

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Speaker 1: Some departures were voluntary, but most were ordered out.

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Speaker 6: China has defended its decision to expel more than a

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Speaker 6: dozen American journalists and also bar them from working in

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Speaker 6: Hong Kong. Beijing says that it is within its rights

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Speaker 6: and has threatened further action. This latest diplomatic row was

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Speaker 6: triggered last month when Washington forced Chinese state media outlets

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Speaker 6: to register as foreign embassies.

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Speaker 1: Australia's relationship with the People's Republic was on the rocks too.

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Speaker 1: The Government of the day, led by Scott Morrison, back

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Speaker 1: to an international inquiry into the origins of the pandemic,

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Speaker 1: a move that didn't go down well with the Chinese

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Speaker 1: Communist Party. Will A lot has happened in the last

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Speaker 1: four years. Has any of that been on your mind

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Speaker 1: as you've made this return to Beijing? Are you scared?

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Speaker 5: I'm not scared. I'm not scared, but it is on

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Speaker 5: my mind of course, right. I mean, I didn't just

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Speaker 5: get a letter from the Chinese government and then book

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Speaker 5: a ticket and fly over here. I think listeners will

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Speaker 5: be amazed at how long this process has.

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Speaker 3: Gone on for.

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Speaker 5: I mean I've literally been back and forth conversations with

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Speaker 5: the Chinese in a quite a focused way on whether

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Speaker 5: this was possible or not for more than eighteen months.

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Speaker 5: Foreign reporters, we have a lot of hurdles for how

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Speaker 5: we do things, like one getting access to the internet,

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Speaker 5: like everyone in China has that problem because of the

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Speaker 5: Great Firewall, and that's got worse.

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Speaker 3: Right, that's just.

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Speaker 5: A simple one that frustrates every day that you're trying

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Speaker 5: to do your job here. But we have the problem

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Speaker 5: of getting people to speak to us, right because of

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Speaker 5: the propaganda machine that demonizes as foreign media and has

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Speaker 5: created such suspicion and nervousness amongst Chinese people here and

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Speaker 5: amongst Chinese experts, and even amongst Chinese government officials, who

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Speaker 5: for the most part decline interview requests from foreign media

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Speaker 5: because they just see it as too risky. And one

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Speaker 5: of the big challenges for Australian media as we come

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Speaker 5: back to China is navigating that extreme distrust that our

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Speaker 5: readers have about this place because of so much of

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Speaker 5: the things that have happened over the last four years.

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Speaker 1: You know, you've been running around all over town having

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Speaker 1: meetings and chatting with Chinese officials since you got back.

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Speaker 1: How has your arrival been received this time around? Are

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Speaker 1: you finding you having to tread more carefully the.

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Speaker 3: Various meanings I've had.

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Speaker 5: There's sort of different times, some are quite kurt and

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Speaker 5: brief affairs others are much more expansive and much more

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Speaker 5: of a back and forth. And one of the real

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Speaker 5: striking takeaways is they're very aware that I am the

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Speaker 5: first Australian journalist from Australian media returning here. They're very

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Speaker 5: aware of that, right, and so there's a bit of

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Speaker 5: attempts by them to flatter me for that, you know,

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Speaker 5: and impress on me what a great opportunity is and

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Speaker 5: impress on me my role as a.

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Speaker 3: Bridge builder between Australia and China.

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Speaker 5: And look, I just repeat to them what my job is,

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Speaker 5: which is to serve my readers, and that's what I'm

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Speaker 5: here for. My job's to do my job as best

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Speaker 5: I can and as accurately tell the story about China

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Speaker 5: right now what it means for Australia. But it's clear

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Speaker 5: there's a desire to impress on me that I'd wanted here.

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Speaker 3: That I'm going to be safe.

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Speaker 5: The return is being welcomed by bits of the Chinese

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Speaker 5: system that said I wouldn't over do it, right. I mean,

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Speaker 5: you can see the very opposite, and I've experienced the

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Speaker 5: very opposite. There's definitely parts of the Chinese system that

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Speaker 5: would much rather I wasn't here right.

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Speaker 3: They think that having no.

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Speaker 5: Australian journalists in China was a pretty wonderful situation and

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Speaker 5: long may that have lasted, right, And so there's nervousness

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Speaker 5: from bits of definitely well nervousness and perhaps a bit

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Speaker 5: of grumbling about the return of on Australian journalists and

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Speaker 5: from those parts of the Chinese state there are concerns

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Speaker 5: that you know, am I the first of a number.

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Speaker 3: I mean, we'll find out.

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Speaker 1: Right coming up what's happening below the surface of Beijing's

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Speaker 1: impressive facelift. We'll be back after the break.

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Speaker 3: Out for a.

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Speaker 2: Stroll along the Liangma River, which when I live Tea

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Speaker 2: back in twenty twenty was well was it dump?

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Speaker 3: I mean quite literally it was just full of rubbish.

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Speaker 3: It was disgusting. It was building works all along it.

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Speaker 1: The Beijing will Glasgow has returned to after four years

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Speaker 1: in Taipei is a different city to the one he left.

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Speaker 1: That's because it's had a pretty major facelift in places.

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Speaker 2: Well, it turns out they were building a greenway park

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Speaker 2: that runs all the way along the river to chow

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Speaker 2: Young Park links it up and it's I have to admit,

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Speaker 2: it's really beautiful.

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Speaker 3: It's really popular.

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Speaker 2: It's full of walkers and people fishing, and I can

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Speaker 2: see up ahead people kayaking and even some people swimming,

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Speaker 2: which if you tell me four years ago people would

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Speaker 2: swim in this thing, I would have just well, I

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Speaker 2: would have been horrified. Frankly, I'd be worried about their health.

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Speaker 3: But people look pretty happy doing it.

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Speaker 1: Will's a dedicated runner, and he's enjoying running along the

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Speaker 1: river in his old neighborhood without a mask designed to

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Speaker 1: protect him from Beijing's notorious air pollution. Nowadays, the city,

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Speaker 1: once dubbed Airport sometimes boast air quality almost as good

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Speaker 1: as Sydney. The sky has been clear and bright, with

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Speaker 1: heavy summer storms washing away the last remnants of pollution.

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Speaker 1: In Beijing's the glitzy Chao Young district, the once famous

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Speaker 1: Opposite House boutique hotel sits vacant. Its doors were closed

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Speaker 1: just last month, a symbol of the economic uncertainty bubbling

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Speaker 1: just under the surface of this gussied up city.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a funny thing.

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Speaker 5: In whats of ways, Beijing looks wealthier than it was

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Speaker 5: when I left, right, I mean, maybe it's just so

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Speaker 5: long out of the country, and just the jarring sight

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Speaker 5: of seeing cashed up Beijing is out in posh shopping

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Speaker 5: centers and sandy turned buying lots of stuff. It's just

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Speaker 5: a very visual reminder that there is a lot of

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Speaker 5: money still being spent in the Chinese economy. That's real, right,

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Speaker 5: But Beijing is not representative of much of China at all. Right,

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Speaker 5: it's a very wealthy, privileged part of this warness country.

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Speaker 5: And Stanleyton is a really unrepresentative part of Beijing. So

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Speaker 5: you know, you have to just remember most Chinese aren't

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Speaker 5: living lives anything like that. But you know, we're still

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Speaker 5: talking about five percent growth, so it's not nothing. And

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Speaker 5: across the Chinese economy you see this price war. It's

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Speaker 5: even in dentists in Beijing, where customers are negotiating down

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Speaker 5: what they'll pay to.

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Speaker 3: Get a tooth filling.

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Speaker 5: It's happened to me in my own experience here at

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Speaker 5: the gym, and just across the Chinese economy, people are

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Speaker 5: arguing prices down and there's actually deflation in the Chinese economy,

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Speaker 5: not inflation.

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Speaker 3: Prices are going down here.

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Speaker 5: So there's a really weird mismatch in this moment of

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Speaker 5: the Chinese economy between its headline economic numbers which have

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Speaker 5: helped Australian exporters, and we continue the Australian economy continues

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Speaker 5: to make a lot of money from There's a big

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Speaker 5: gap with how people in China are feeling, and you

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Speaker 5: just talk to people here and they're doing it tough.

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Speaker 5: A lot of people are finding things pretty grim and

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Speaker 5: they're very concerned about the outlook here. The Chinese government

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Speaker 5: knows about the problems. They're taking them very seriously and

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Speaker 5: trying to fix them. But we just don't know if

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Speaker 5: they're going to be successful or not. But we do

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Speaker 5: know that it's going to have an enormous impact on Australia.

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Speaker 5: Whether they're successful or they're not successful, or they kind

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Speaker 5: of muddle through. Either way, we're going to feel it

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Speaker 5: back in Australia.

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Speaker 1: Book Glasgow is The Australian's North Asia correspondent. You can

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Speaker 1: read all about his longer way to return to Beijing

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Speaker 1: and see pictures and videos of the city four years

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Speaker 1: on right now at the Australian dot com dot au