From journalist to researcher.
I was born in a lovely coastal city of Quanzhou, Fujian Province in China’s southeast (check out photos!)
As China’s reach is global, so does this site aim to be. I try to follow news, analyses, and academic literature on various regions, including but not limited to Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Here you will find my comments on current debates about China’s relationships with other countries, my collection of noteworthy data, and occasionally other fun stuffs related to China.
In my previous life I was a reporter at China’s Caijing Magazine (2007-2009) and Caixin Media (2009-2014), during which time I worked mostly as an overseas correspondent in London (2009-2013) and in Washington D.C. (2014). I wrote about international economics and politics. My experience with journalism very much shaped my current research interest. I consider myself speaking both journalistic and academic languages, and appreciate what both worlds have bestowed upon me. Trying to make sense of the world that we live in is what I consider the core mission for both journalists and academics, and I think the two communities ought to understand and communicate with each other better.
Starting off as an international reporter and an economic reporter, I was writing about the Suprime Credit Crisis in the US (which was a hard learning curve to me as I had no idea), the 4-trillion stimulus plan, the debate about China’s “saving glut”, then the Eurozone crisis (O Greece!), and the reforms the British and European policymakers were attempting at… The world unfolded in front of a 22-year old me in such an unexpected way, and all I knew was that I knew too little about the world. My first year of working as an economic reporter in Beijing gave me a lot of insight into the kind of policy debates in China, and the relevant actors.
I went to LSE to study sociology. I hoped it could open a door to the world that my undergraduate study of economics couldn’t. That was exactly what happened. I was learning everything from Polanyi to Granovetter, from … to …, and they were all telling me that you couldn’t understand how the economic world works without knowing how the social world (including the political world) works.
But what has fascinated me the most, is still to understand how the Chinese economy works. In the late 2000s/early 2010s, the main puzzle was still “how could China transitioned from the plan economy to market economy in a different way than the Shock Therapy and achieve such high grow”? I read Victor Nee, Andrew Waldner, Jean Oi, Barry Naughton, Yasheng Huang…
“Only China can save capitalism”.
What fascinated me most is still the concept of the state. In my masters dissertation, I wrote about urbanization and the expansion of state power. How, through the process of industrialization and urban construction, the state power reaches the previously illigible rural areas.
How I come to this topic?
In 2016, I was interning with AEI to work on the China Global Investment Tracker. I found myself looking at the contracts much more than the FDI deals. And it just fascinated me.
Growing up in Quanzhou, Fujian Province on the southeast coast of China, I am a proud speaker of Minnanhua.
Stella Hong Zhang 