|
Foreign media on China
37 years in China: CNN Beijing bureau chief Jaime FlorCruzPosted by Alice Xin Liu, December 24, 2008 4:05 PM
CNN's Beijing bureau chief Jaime FlorCruz arrived in China from the Phillipines in 1971. He was supposed to stay for three weeks, but while he was away from home, President Marcos declared martial law in the Phillippines and jailed his critics. FlorCruz was a leftist activist in the 1970s, and he was blacklisted and consequently exiled in China. He studied Chinese and worked on farms and fishing boats in rural China before starting work as a journalist for Newsweek in the early '80s. He went on to write for Time and then joined CNN. He is now the channel's top journalist in China, and also blogs for CNN here. He recently published an article on CNN's website about the changes in China since he arrived: Looking back over China's last 30 years. Danwei asked him some further questions about his experiences and how China and journalism have changed since 1971. What were you doing before coming to China? Had you expected that your life would be so closely connected with this country? I was a senior undergrad majoring in advertising at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Manila. At that point, I knew very little about China, although I'd read a few books about it, seen the documentary "East Is Red" and heard a Filipino reporter and an entrepreneur talk publicly about their visit to China months earlier. I never expected my life and career would be so closely connected with China, much less that I would be living and working here for over 30 years. Did you feel you had come from the frying pan of Marcos era Phillippines into the fire of Maoist China, or were you happy to be in the workers' paradise? There were a few days when I did, when I was terribly homesick or frustrated that I was not doing anything productive and challenging when I was in limbo, just vegetating in a life confined to the hotel room, the cafeteria and back to the hotel room. Months later, working on the farm, work was back-breaking and life was monotonous — not quite the worker's paradise — but I was keen to overcome the physical and psychological challenges of adapting to a very unique, albeit hard, life. Initially, it was a romantic notion that got me going. Later, it was a matter of survival, of outlasting the Marcos regime. In the end, I outlasted Marcos. What did you do between 1971 and 1982 when you started working at Time? From December 1971 to 1972 I worked on a state farm in Hengyang, Hunan Province. In the fall of 1974 until 1976 I attended the Peking Languages Institute (now BLCU) and earned an associate degree in Chinese language and translation. From 1977 to the spring of 1982 I attended Peking University as a full-term student, earning a bachelor's degree in Chinese history. During this period, I taught English part-time to a group of Peking University maths professors who were set to do post-grad overseas, taught English, part-time, to English majors at the Beijing Teachers' College, and taught English songs on television as part of the weekly CCTV program "English on Sunday." I also was a member of PKU's varsity basketball team. Did it or does it ever feel strange working for a Western media organization when once you were a leftist firebrand? Initially, yes, but I soon found terrific mentors and friends in the Beijing-based press corps, who accepted me as a professional peer and appreciated what I could uniquely contribute to China-watching. I had to work doubly hard to prove my mettle and show that I am as professional as I should be. Likewise, my Chinese friends learned to accept me as a friend who just happens to work for a Western media, someone who can be critical about China without being simply cynical. What were the biggest problems of China in the 1970s? China had many problems in the 1970s - the economy was moribund, China was isolated, people were demoralized. By 1976, after Mao died and the Gang of Four were arrested, just about everyone knew China needed to change and catch up with the rest of the world. The biggest problems then was, how to change? Which way to go? That was the biggest problem then: vision. Deng Xiaoping came back from political limbo and gave China the vision it needed. What are the biggest problems of China in the 21st century? Just as many and overwhelming: unemployment, regionalism, corruption, environmental degradation, a growing gap between the rich and poor, social unrest, lack of transparency and accountability in the political system. Worse, many Chinese are spiritually adrift (people's lives seem to center on making money). Some of these problems were left behind by Deng's reforms. Many are unintended consequences of the 30 years of reform and opening up. Some of these problems - unemployment and social unrest - are now more acute because of the ripple effects of the global financial and economic meltdown. There seems to be more room now for reporters to put ourselves in the story, to use the "I" word and talk in first person, even inject one's viewpoint, while reporting a story. That used to be taboo. |
Partner Links
Jobs in China
Recent Comments
lyl on
The cult of a Super Girl
Jeremy Gol on
Danwei Canteen: Chestnut Chicken Stew
Gareth on
Gamble your life away in ZT Online
Inst on
The Mouse looms over Shanghai
Anonymous on
Giant Mao Zedong stands alone in the autumn cold
Joel Marti on
A centenarian monk reads the newspaper
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Danwei Model Workers
![]() Recommended blogs and new media
Books on China
Xujun Eberlein's Apologies Forthcoming: Hong Kong's Blacksmith Books has published a short story collection by Xujun Eberlein.
Princess Der Ling: Two Years in the Forbidden City: Two years in the Forbidden City is largely a reminiscence of the minutiae of life for one of history's most powerful women, by one of her court attendants, a Manchu noble's daughter by the name of Der Ling.
Carl Crow's The Long Road Back to China: In 1939 Carl Crow - an American journalist, advertising executive and author who had lived in Shanghai for 25 years until forced out by the Japanese - travelled up the Burma Road from Rangoon to Chongqing on assignment for Liberty magazine - 'the most interesting assignment I have ever been given'.
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ New Years Past: Other Spring Festivals by Geremie R. Barmé (2007.02): Sang Ye interviews two people about their experiences during Great Leap Forward-era Spring Festivals. Translated and annotated by Geremie R. Barmé. + Trend-spotting in online fiction (2007.06): An interview with Daniel Dan Fei (丹飞), publisher of Notes on Graverobbing (盗墓笔记), Rear Palace (后宫), and Those Ming Dynasty Things (明朝那些事). + China's 50 Most Beautiful People (2005.03): The Beijing News borrows a picture of Maggie Cheung from Cosmo for the cover of today's Entertainment insert, "50 Most Beautiful People in China". Ms. Cheung takes the top spot, with Takeshi Kaneshiro, Little S, Zhang Ziyi, and Liu Ye rounding out the top five in this exercise that is a conscious imitation of People magazine's yearly rundown.
Danwei Archives
Danwei Feeds
Via Feedsky
or Feedburner |





Comments on 37 years in China: CNN Beijing bureau chief Jaime FlorCruz
the man is looking quite dapper, i must say.
but why so little about journalism?
he seems like a good journalist, much better than that hack melinda liu, who's a waste of the printed word every week.
I liked this post and I like Melinda Liu's reporting. What's wrong with you idiots?
I first met Jaime twenty-eight years ago at Beida.
I can think of no other journalist who knows more about China than Jaime FlorCruz.
His 37 years of experience, analysis and contacts are the most respected throughout the Chinese government and people.
Among those of us laowai who have been in China for decades, Jaime or "JiMi" is the best.
Brian Fogarty
Jimmy!! The man is hell-on-heels on the basketball court, too.
*generic mindless anti-CNN comment*
Jaime is surprisingly humble and personable despite his much media exposure.
Indeed a rare gift for “star” journalists these days.
Just goes to show, you never know where you will be or what you will be doing in 6 months time in the future.
Some very few people are books, Jimi is a library! :)
姜还是老的辣!
Hope you had a great Christmas!
Thanks for sharing this, though I´ve been told some of your stories before, this time I feel especially moved and inspired, maybe it´s because I just turned 30, and start thinking about what happened in the past 30 years on me and other people. I really like your analysis!
Thank you for everything in 2007 and 2008, wish you a happy and fruitful new year!