Covering China: The Challenges of Reporting on the Rise of a Superpower

Mr. Wong will talk about topics he has covered since 2008, including Chinese politics, foreign policy, propaganda, the environment, human rights, ethnic conflict, and the art of reporting in the age of Xi Jinping.

In discussion with:
Prof. Jeffrey Wasserstrom
Chancellor’s Professor of History, UC Irvine and author of China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know

Prof. Ching Kwan Lee
Professor of Sociology, UCLA

Moderated by:
Prof. Alex L. Wang
UCLA School of Law

 In more than 17 years at the Times, Edward has reported across the Middle East and Asia, including in Afghanistan, North Korea and Myanmar. Before his China assignment, he worked as a correspondent in the Baghdad bureau, where he covered the Iraq War from 2003 to 2007. He reported for four years in New York, on the business, metro and sports desks. Edward has spoken on the Charlie Rose Show, PBS NewsHour, NPR, BBC and CBC. 

Edward received the Livingston Award for his coverage of Iraq and was part of a team from the Baghdad bureau that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in international reporting. He received a prize for environmental reporting from The Society of Publishers in Asia for stories in 2013 on China’s pollution crisis and shared an earlier prize in feature writing for the series on China’s global influence.

Edward first went to China in 1996, when he studied at the Beijing Language and Culture University. He has also studied Mandarin at Middlebury College and Taiwan University. Edward graduated with honors from the University of Virginia with a Bachelor’s degree in English literature. He has dual Master’s degrees in international studies and journalism from the University of California at Berkeley.

Sponsor(s): Burkle Center for International Relations, Center for Chinese Studies, UCLA Law