CCTV reporters being shoved away from the scene of a gas explosion by police officers in the outskirts of Beijing: “Us three reporters are being surrounded and pushed away by ten or more people, they’re shoving us… what is this?”

The “Fanhua phenonmenon” makes it to NPR, courtesy of John Ruwitch and Aowen Cao. Can Netflix be far behind? npr.org/2024/03/19/123…

A must listen: In China, a man has been playing the piano outdoors, often in places of great sadness—the epicenter of an earthquake, a dam that submerged villages, a street emptied during a COVID lockdown. He plays just one song, by Ryuichi Sakamoto. npr.org/2024/03/31/119…

1/A year ago, Chinese scientists published data from samples collected at a Wuhan market at the heart of the COVID outbreak - startling many, given it happened years ago. Then the data got retracted. Maria Cheng and I tried to find out why. Our findings: apnews.com/article/china-…

In Beijing, Blinken told Chinese leaders that it would be in their interest to stop helping Russia. China called the suggestion “hypocritical” and rejected it—leaving the US warning of further action. From the NPR interview: npr.org/2024/04/26/124…

I visit a huge scam/economic zone in Laos and talk to people scammed and the people who scammed them after being tricked into slavery in SE Asia...the world is crazy and big and scary sometimes. npr.org/2024/05/01/124…

My first cover story published on The Wire China . Compared with the first "going out" 20 years ago, this time, Chinese enterprises and capital have encountered skepticism and scrutiny, but they still feel that outside China is now the best place to invest.

Love this NPR story from Steve Inskeep on marriage and demography in China, in which our (already taken, sorry) producer Aowen Cao gets asked out repeatedly 😅 npr.org/2024/05/15/125…

AI is already changing the way we live - can it change how we approach death? Aowen Cao and I interviewed companies and families creating “digital clones” of their loved ones…sometimes the results are not what you’d expect. Take a listen npr.org/2024/06/17/nx-…

THREAD: Those darned Swiss banks. Anyone closely reading our story yesterday about the ties between Jack Ma and the jailed financier Xiao Jianhua would have noticed the names of 3 Swiss Banks: UBS, Credit Suisse, and one that isn't a household name: J Safra Sarasin (1/x)

Protests this week at Temu's offices illustrate just how powerful the e-commerce platform has become - and how merchants say they feel they have no choice but to sell on Temu, no matter how difficult they think Temu is to work with. W/Aowen Cao npr.org/2024/08/02/nx-…

In China, AI-generated avatars are making work easier for some online influencers - by ⁦Emily Feng 冯哲芸⁩ and ⁦Aowen Cao⁩ one.npr.org/i/nx-s1-500175…

A fun (and eery) story on NPR from me and Aowen Cao on how generative AI is creating stand-in avatars for livestreamers and news anchors in China. And yet, the tech has actually created a new category of work ... for humans. Listen to the end! npr.org/2024/08/04/nx-…

Congratulations to NPR for winning 8 Edward R. Murrow awards RTDNA including John Ruwitch Aowen Cao Vincent Ni and Didi Schanche for this moody meditation on the politics of grief in China npr.org/2023/09/05/119…

王靖渝：一位高调批评中共的异议人士会设下骗局吗？ Here is the Chinese version of NPR investigation of Chinese celebrity dissident Wang Jingyu, who is accused of being a conman, which he denies. npr.org/2024/09/07/g-s…

China raises its retirement age to dull the impact of a shrinking, aging economy - ⁦John Ruwitch⁩ reports from #Beijing. one.npr.org/i/nx-s1-511309…

The miracle of trains and how the U.S. became so car dependent. With sound from Aowen Cao in China (which has gone all in on trains) and the U.S. whyy.org/episodes/the-m…

Time flies. It's already been five years since COVID-19 emerged. Aowen Cao and I visited Wuhan. npr.org/2024/12/31/nx-…

One of the best jobs in the world is now up for grabs. NPR is hiring for a China correspondent job-boards.greenhouse.io/nationalpublic…