Watch part two

On Thursday, the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China will be marked with huge celebrations in Beijing.

When Mao Zedong, the leader of China's People's Republic, took power in October 1949, his country was emerging from the ravages of a civil war.

Its 500 million people were largely poor, illiterate and working as farmers to survive.

Six decades later, a more assertive China is the world's third-largest economy and the vast majority of its 1.3 billion people enjoy access to basic healthcare and education.

But China remains a paradox: Is it a developing country, hobbled by poverty? Is it a threat merely because it is huge? How does the central government treat its minorities and dissidents?

On Thursday, Riz speaks with Harry Wu, who was imprisoned in China in 1960 at the age of 23 for criticising the Communist party. After spending 19 years in jail, he moved to the US, where he calls for human rights in his homeland.

Also joining the show is Mike Chinoy, an American journalist who spent years covering China and Asia as a whole. Currently he is a senior fellow at the University of Southern California's US-China Institute.

This episode of the Riz Khan show aired from Thursday, October 01.