About the Book
Reporting on China has long been one of the most challenging and crucial of journalistic assignments. Foreign correspondents have confronted war, revolution, isolation, internal upheaval, and onerous government restrictions as well as barriers of language, culture, and politics. Nonetheless, American media coverage of China has profoundly influenced U.S. government policy and shaped public opinion not only domestically but also, given the clout and reach of U.S. news organizations, around the world.
This book tells the story of how American journalists have covered China—from the civil war of the 1940s through the COVID-19 pandemic—in their own words. Mike Chinoy assembles a remarkable collection of personal accounts from eminent journalists, including Stanley Karnow, Seymour Topping, Barbara Walters, Dan Rather, Melinda Liu, Nicholas Kristof, Joseph Kahn, Evan Osnos, David Barboza, Amy Qin, and Megha Rajagopalan, among dozens of others. They share behind-the-scenes stories of reporting on historic moments such as Richard Nixon’s groundbreaking visit in 1972, China’s opening up to the outside world and its emergence as a global superpower, and the crackdowns in Tiananmen Square and Xinjiang. Journalists detail the challenges of covering a complex and secretive society and offer insight into eight decades of tumultuous political, economic, and social change.
At a time of crisis in Sino-American relations, understanding the people who have covered China for the American media and how they have done so is crucial to understanding the news. Through the personal accounts of multiple generations of China correspondents, Assignment China provides that understanding.
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments
Cast of Characters
Introduction
1. The Chinese Civil War
2. China Watching
3. “A Struggle of Sea Monsters”
4. The Week That Changed the World
5. End of an Era
6. Opening Up
7. “You Were Writing What We Were Thinking”
8. Testing the Limits
9. Beijing Spring
10. The Crackdown in Tiananmen Square
11. Aftermath
12. A Tale of Two Chinas
13. The New Millennium
14. Tremors
15. Contradictions
16. The Turning Point
17. Poison
18. Follow the Money
19. The Surveillance State
20. Emperor for Life
21. “Reeducation” in Xinjiang
22. “I Started to Cry”
23. Epidemic
24. Expulsion
25. The Door Closes
Notes
Suggested Reading
Index
About the Author :
Mike Chinoy is a nonresident senior fellow at the U.S.-China Institute at the University of Southern California. He spent twenty-four years as a foreign correspondent for CNN, serving as the network’s first Beijing bureau chief and senior Asia correspondent. Before joining CNN, Chinoy worked for CBS News and NBC News. He won Emmy, Dupont, and Peabody awards for his coverage of China.
Review :
The China beat is one of the toughest in journalism—and one of the most important. In Assignment China, Mike Chinoy, CNN's longtime Beijing bureau chief, has created a remarkable oral history of multiple generations of China correspondents, providing insight beyond the headlines and introducing readers to some of the committed, compassionate and colorful people who covered China for the American media from 1945 to the present day. Essential reading for understanding modern China and the history of journalism.
By collecting the thoughts and observations of dozens of prominent journalists who have covered China for more than half a century, we get a broader and richer view of modern China and even some of the difficulties they faced in getting their stories out to the world, rather than through the eyes of just one reporter. And by arranging the insights of the journalists around specific events—whether the Cultural Revolution, ping pong diplomacy, Nixon’s trip to China, Tiananmen Square, China’s economic and social transformation—Chinoy made me feel privileged, as if I was listening in on a gathering of esteemed journalists providing their different and unique perspectives and interpretations.
China may be one of the most fascinating countries in the world, with 1.4 billion people, and a long, rich and consequential history. But the fact it’s also one of the most closed societies on earth, makes it almost impossible to know the truth of what’s happening there. Mike Chinoy brings us closer to penetrating that wall of secrecy with his brilliant idea of interviewing almost all (?) of the U.S. journalists who’ve covered China over the past 75 years, publishing their observations and their tales of struggle with China’s leaders to win access. This is riveting reading for anyone who wants to understand China, or cares about how great reporters do their work.
A rare and fascinating assemblage of first-hand accounts from decades of American journalists in China. Assignment China fills a gap in the literature on Sino-American relations and it opens a window into how Americans have formed their perceptions of China.
Mike Chinoy weaves together fascinating vignettes of the drama of changing China from the journalists experiencing them first hand. I started reading and couldn’t put it down.
A terrific document and a fun read.
Assignment China is an engaging way to view the changing and evolving relationship between the United States and China...a real treat to read.
Mike Chinoy is a pioneering broadcaster who opened CNN's first Beijing bureau in 1987. This book is based on his documentary of the same name. In each, correspondents talk about the challenges of covering China as outsiders. For those not old enough to remember, Chinoy comes from a time when journalism was considered a craft, guided by ethics—when journalists didn't have agendas. A must read for serious journalists and would-be international reporters—plus anyone who wants to understand China's contemporary history.
Assignment China gives readers unforgettable behind-the-scenes insights on the challenges and choices faced by journalists covering the biggest story of the past 45 years—the rise of China to the world's center stage. Organized chronologically, author Mike Chinoy is the guide who provides the context for the recollections of the reporters who faced threats, intimidation, and the risk of expulsion to cover Tian'anmen, SARS, COVID-19, and the dramatic changes in the lives of the Chinese people. I couldn't put it down.
Chinoy looks at China since the 1949 revolution and how its journey has been covered by the U.S. media correspondents who had been assigned there. Moments of insight and courage are discussed, along with the painstaking everyday challenge of trying to report the news from this massive, complicated, and secretive country. A fascinating read for China hands and those who want to understand the profession of journalism.
Offers fascinating accounts of U.S. reporters covering one of journalism's key international beats over the course of close to a century.
Assignment China is packed full of such wonderful anecdotes, all delivered in conversational speech of reporters on the scene, state department officials and Chinese government personnel. I found myself tearing through the pages. For the modern China bookshelf, this is absolutely required reading. But even for casual news watchers, it’s a highly accessible and utterly engrossing history.
A rich story of how correspondents collected and transmitted news and their dealings with the PRC authorities at both national and local levels.
