Assignment China: an oral history of American journalists in the People's Republic

Abstract

"In Assignment China, former CNN correspondent Mike Chinoy draws together a remarkable collection of personal accounts from some of America's most eminent journalists to describe the evolution of reporting on China. Seymour Topping, Stanley Karnow, Barbara Walters, Dan Rather, Nicholas Kristof, Evan Osnos and David Barboza, among dozens of others, describe what it was like to report on some of the most important events of the last 75 years. At turns amusing, revealing and shocking, we discover the extraordinary challenges faced by correspondents as they covered such historic moments as the Chinese civil war' Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution; Richard Nixon's groundbreaking visit in 1972; China's opening up to the outside world; the crackdown in Tiananmen Square; corruption at the highest levels of government; and the Covid pandemic - all set against the background of the country's extraordinary economic boom and steady march towards superpower status. Assignment China is an enthralling read for China-watchers and anyone else interested in how people around the world get their news about this major global power"--