Foreign media on China

The New Yorker's Evan Osnos on writing from China

Posted by Alice Xin Liu, March 5, 2009 5:00 PM

Evan Osnos: Image courtesy of the journalist

For The New Yorker magazine Evan Osnos recently wrote about Chinese nationalistic youth and Africans in the south.

Formerly the China bureau chief of The Chicago Tribune, he became a staff writer for The New Yorker in September 2008. Osnos won the Osborn Elliot prize from the Asia Society in 2007.

A foreign correspondent who was in the Middle East prior to China, he answers Danwei's questions about writing, writing from China and his feelings concerning this year's anniversaries.

Evan's The New Yorker blog on China is called Letter From China.

Your recent pieces for The New Yorker are in-depth, and thoughtful. Is this because it's an in-depth sort of magazine, or does it boil down to your methods of reporting?

I was about three days into my job as a cub reporter ten years ago when I realized I was not good at breaking news. Whenever I was cultivating some obscure detail of a story, the paper across town was teasing out the next day's story from City Hall. I was more suited to slowing down than to speeding up, and I was fortunate to find editors who wanted that. They let me roam around the U.S. and, later, overseas, meeting people with stories to tell. I'm immensely lucky for that.

What are your personal methods of reporting?

I tend to write profiles of specific people, and I need to spend time with them again and again. Some writers are good interrogators with a sense of when to turn on a dime or to press a sensitive point; I am not. I am more like an obsessive tourist who returns repeatedly to the same spot to take more snapshots. Things happen while you're gone, stories twist, and in the meantime, I try to teach myself more about that person's world, so that I have better questions each time I go back. Sometimes I ask no questions and just watch. I digitally record as much as people will allow, because they often say the most meaningful things in two-or-three word asides. If you don't record, you'll miss them. And I often carry a point-and-shoot camera － not for publishable photos, but to capture tiny details that I miss in the moment. I usually end up with a mountain of terrible but indispensable snapshots of street numbers, necktie patterns, paint colors, wall posters, graffiti, and so on.

Are there any particularly striking differences or continuities between reporting from China compared to the other countries you've been to as foreign correspondent?

I was a student in China a couple of times in the 1990s, and when I came back in 2005, I was overwhelmed by the sense of momentum. I don't mean that a lot of new buildings were going up; I mean China was boiling with ambition and destruction and reconstruction. One of the curious things about living in China at this moment in its history is that we take it for granted that change is the mode of existence. In so much of the world, status quo prevails despite enormous effort to change it. I remember a veteran reporter in Egypt telling me that the same men were in charge of the Arab world, or their sons, as had been in place when he started work in 1970. You couldn't say that about China － exceptions aside － and that makes it an irresistible target for journalism.

What interests you most about the way that globalization is shaping the world, and what really motivates you to travel around to see this change?

In the last century, understanding China meant understanding what it was doing to itself: the fall of an empire, the rise of a republic, the search for an ideology, and, ultimately, the rise out of poverty. For the rest of the world, China was a brooding, self-contained entity. Writing about China meant writing about little beyond its borders, and many did it brilliantly. Today, so much of China's energy runs along an international circuit. The farmer who leaves a village in Henan to work in a timber mill in Zhejiang is likely handling wood that originated in Congo and eating rice that grew in Vietnam. I feel as urgent a need to understand that process － the incentives, the hidden costs － as a writer a generation ago might have felt to understand that farmer's village in Henan.

How do you perceive the government will handle the anniversaries this year?

If I correctly predicted any of it, that would be luck. But the Olympics taught us a few things about how this generation of top Chinese leaders handle moments of visibility and vulnerability. They treat them as strategic pivot points — unlike, say, a political anniversary in the U.S. or Europe － so they will aim to limit embarrassment and maximize the reflected political glory. They care about their reputation abroad and will try to avoid negative imagery, but not at the expense of the overall objective: regime stability. When the goal of improving foreign perceptions clashes with the goal of domestic tranquility, the latter routinely prevails.

What are your favorite blogs on China (you don't need to mention Danwei here)?

In the English-language world of China blogs, there is a feast of great stuff, including: EastSouthWestNorth, Paper Republic, The China Beat, China Digital Times, and Michael Pettis' blog. There are many other equally good ones.

What happens in the transition from being a national correspondent to a foreign correspondent, and have you adjusted to not being near home?

I moved overseas as a foreign correspondent a few days before Christmas 2002, and it took some getting used to. I remember the distinct feeling of that first New Year's Eve overseas － I'd never paid much attention to the holiday in the U.S, but that year I found myself, alone, on assignment in Saudi Arabia, which is a deeply unfestive place. I was walking around the silent streets of Riyadh near midnight, looking at signs that I could barely understand in my first-year Arabic, and I was wondering why the hell everyone seemed to think this would be a good job. But that sensation barely lasted a month and I was soon immersed in learning about difficult places and making mistakes and seeing the world and loving it. I was determined to get back to China, and I've savored every minute of it. Every story is an education.

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There are currently 19 Comments for The New Yorker's Evan Osnos on writing from China.

Comments on The New Yorker's Evan Osnos on writing from China

Evan's done some great work so far.

his pieces for the NYer are far more enjoyable than are Peter Hessler's, whose tenure at the mag--in my snarky estimate--has put him in waters well above his head.

Posted by: slowboat | March 5, 2009 7:48 PM

Well, I'm afraid to agree with you because Adam Minter, who we know was Peter Hessler's buddy from the book River Town, might be watching. But he's on vacation, right?

By the way, Mr. Osnos, if you're reading this, you should pick up a copy of The Star Raft, for minimal background on Sino-African relations before the modern era. They even had magical negroes back in the Song and Ming dynasties, although they didn't bother to make them their emperor... /Obamadig

Posted by: Inst | March 5, 2009 9:57 PM

following on from slowboat's comment, what ever happened to Peter Hessler? is he still in China or has he moved on? when did he leave and to where did he go? i didn't really read his stuff in the new yorker, but his two china books were excellent.

for slowboat, you didn't like hessler's stuff in the new yorker. but you don't mention his books, which are surely more important and substantial works than what was in the new yorker.

evan is doing a great job, but it must have been tough to take the job straight after hessler.

Posted by: gao zhi | March 6, 2009 12:29 AM

i really enjoy the breadth and scope of your work, evan. your dispatches are always interesting and i think, make up some of the better work done on china (besides everything on danwei, of course.)

it'll be interesting to watch china particularly this year. i'll look forward your pieces on it.

Posted by: n | March 6, 2009 5:13 AM

So what's wrong with Peter Hessler's writing? It's definitely more anecdotal than Evan Osnos', but that's because of their different backgrounds. (You should read the book that Peter's wife wrote -- quite a contrast. No surprise, since she was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal.)

Posted by: Tom | March 6, 2009 6:54 AM

Peter Hessler has a piece out in the current issue of Southern People Weekly. Hecaitou reposted it with the salient points highlighted.

Posted by: Joel Martinsen

| March 6, 2009 8:23 AM

to Gao Zhi:

To my knowledge, Hessler is currently writing his third book in Colorado, and said he won't be writing much -- if at all -- about China in the next few years.

Posted by: Lawrence | March 6, 2009 8:42 AM

Peter Hessler published a piece last year on some peasant-turned-capitalist. I recall Peter Hessler admitting he dislikes Chinese businessmen in one of his books, so I'm wondering if anything has changed in that tract.

In January he did a piece on expat life in China, although I couldn't find a copy of it at the time and was unwilling to pay money to the New Yorker webstore.

The problem with Mr. Hessler's work is that he's stale more often than he is fresh. A neophyte in China watching may think differently.

Posted by: Inst | March 6, 2009 9:45 AM

For what it's worth, I really loved Oracle Bones. In that book, I think Hessler was able to capture an some of the often under-reported aspects of modern and rapidly changing Chinese life, by following his former students/friends over time to see how they changed in a new environments, and how they had developed as people over the years. They weren't dissidents, professors, intellectuals, or oddballs (Chinese, poll dancing...you betcha! it's all the rage in Beijing!), so their stories and feelings wouldn't necessarily be covered in US newspapers, and arguably, probably shouldn't. Also, I liked Hessler's take on the bizarre spectacle of covering symbolic mysterious historical days on the calendar, and the ritual of the protest, the inevitable crackdown, and the cookie-cutter foreign press report on the incident. It's something to keep in mind for 2009.

I've also liked the work of Evan Osnos that I've read. Perhaps the pace of the New Yorker is just much better suited to teasing out a lot of the background and subtle analysis that would get cut in other publications?

From what I've read, also, Hessler didn't want to be forever identified with being a China watcher or China expert, which I think is understandable.

Posted by: Bill | March 6, 2009 10:50 AM

Inst - I'm all but certain that Adam Minter is not the friend from Rivertown. I met him last year in Guangzhou and his story doesn't match that guy's (nice guy though, and I wish he'd start blogging again). Hessler v Osnos, apples v. oranges, why compare? I liked Hessler's more personal approach, I like Osnos's more rigorous reporting.

Posted by: LG | March 6, 2009 11:27 AM

Maybe I got the name wrong? It was quite a while since I last saw River Town...

Posted by: Inst | March 6, 2009 12:55 PM

sheesh. i toss out Hessler's name in passing and then we all lose focus on Evan Osnos. my apologies.

now back to Hessler ... ... ...

he published a piece in the NYer a few issues back (here, from Jan. 12, 2009) about an adventure her had years ago with the friend from River Town, who is now, apparently, an attorney at a mid-size law firm in NY.

nothing personal against Hessler (i've read both his books and a large part of his stuff for the NYer), but i find that his writing is lifeless, his perspective on china is shallow and dated (even for stuff written between 1997 and 2003-ish), and that his tireless attempts to portray himself as an assimilated white china-hand is a distractingly difficult conceit for me to fit inside my head in the present day.

i was about to say that my favorite author from the china-based foreign correspondents genre is Ian Johnson, the author of Wild Grass; but i see now that he's snagged a pulitzer prize for that stuff, which kinda kills my planned attempt at a semi-obscure reference cum recommendation.

Posted by: slowboat | March 6, 2009 8:01 PM

Well, you know. We're the Western media. Bashing and schadenfreude is a hell of a lot more fun than praising particular correspondents.

Posted by: Inst | March 7, 2009 12:44 AM

Evan's great---there's a coldness to his work (the careful background reading maybe) but not a lack of heart.

My favorite guy was Philip Pan for a long time, though. He would dig up angles on stories that didn't fit the cookie cutter narratives you sometimes get. For example, he would get into the dangers of unfettered corporate power in China, not just government power, and how businesspeople stir unrest.

There's always a learning curve when reporters first get to the PRC. They seem to do best when they avoid trying to sum things up from the get go ("today's China is unrecognizable from the Mao era"...duh) and instead dig out their own niche, as James Fallows has done.

Posted by: Old Tales Retold | March 7, 2009 4:44 AM

"Adam Minter, who we know was Peter Hessler's buddy from the book River Town..."

Inst, you don't know and you're speaking out of turn. I've known Adam Minter since he first came to China which was years after Hessler's events.

ScottLoar

Posted by: Anonymous | March 7, 2009 8:42 AM

It's time to shoot myself. The colleague in River Town was named Adam Meier. Insert lame excuse about two syllable last name with the sole vowels being e and i here. Didn't I make this mistake sometime before? Maybe on Adam Minter's blog? Oh god, now I'm confusing him with Paul Midler at the China Game, who has since stopped updating.

Nothing was insinuated, I just wanted to say that I didn't want to get on the bad side of someone's friend, considering that Adam Minter keeps a pretty good blog.

Posted by: Inst | March 7, 2009 12:00 PM

Dear Inst;

No need to shoot yourself. Fly to Japan, check into the best hotel in Ginza, max out every credit card on sake, good food and better hookers, then commit ritual suicide.

And thus shall you know redemption.

Most sincerely,

ScottLoar

Posted by: Scott Loar | March 7, 2009 2:02 PM

thanks, Joel Martinsen, for the tip off about hessler's thing in Southern People Weekly.

so, hessler sometimes writes in chinese, does he? has he done this a lot? are there english versions of these pieces somewhere? (my chinese is not good enough to read Hecaitou's post.)

Posted by: gao zhi | March 7, 2009 3:17 PM

Mr. Loar:

I prefer to coup the JGSDF with a private army of unarmed strapping young men, of whom the leader/majordomo is my gay lover. Then I'll exhort the gathered troops to return to a "true" spirit of Japan and go back to emperor worship, and when they mock me, I'll retreat into the JGSDF CO's office, commit seppuku, and get my entrails all over the carpet.

Although, frankly, anyone who takes Mishima as an example for political activism is an idiot. The above suicide was an act of theatre, not an act of politics. One reading of his last book can show that he views Japanese nationalism as inherently empty, so could he really be taken seriously on his group suicide?

Paul Midler (not Meier, not Minter... wait. I'm scared. Hold me) just about closed his blog officially last month, with no postings for a year. He's finished a book on what can go wrong in the Chinese supply chain and how to avoid getting screwed by it.

Posted by: Inst | March 8, 2009 12:29 AM