The history of foreign journalists in China starts with the newspapers printed in the European Factories of Canton in the 1820s and ends with the Communist revolution in 1949. It also starts with a duel between two editors over China's future and ends with a fistfight in Shanghai over the revolution. The men and women of the foreign press experienced China's history and development; its convulsions and upheavals; its revolutions and wars. They had front row seats at every major twist and turn in China's fortunes. The old China press corps were the witnesses and the primary interpreters to mill ... More

The history of foreign journalists in China starts with the newspapers printed in the European Factories of Canton in the 1820s and ends with the Communist revolution in 1949. It also starts with a duel between two editors over China's future and ends with a fistfight in Shanghai over the revolution. The men and women of the foreign press experienced China's history and development; its convulsions and upheavals; its revolutions and wars. They had front row seats at every major twist and turn in China's fortunes. The old China press corps were the witnesses and the primary interpreters to millions globally of the history of modern China and they were themselves a cast of fascinating characters. Like journalists everywhere they took sides, they brought their own assumptions and prejudices to China along with their hopes, dreams and fears. They weren't infallible; they got the story completely wrong as often as they got it partially right. They were a mixed bunch — from long timers such as George “Morrison of Peking”; glamorous journalist-sojourners such as Peter Fleming and Emily Hahn; and reporter-tourists such as Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn, along with numerous less celebrated, but no less interesting, members of the old China press corps. A fair few were drunks, philanderers, and frauds; more than one was a spy — they changed sides, they lost their impartiality, they displayed bias and a few were downright scoundrels and liars. But most did their job ably and professionally, some passionately and a select few with rare flair and touches of genius.