Ralph Jennings

Ralph Jennings lived for seven years in Beijing. He has worked

as a news editor with the state-owned China Daily and an advice

columnist for the 21st Century weekly in Beijing. Ralph ended

his Beijing stint with the Japanese wire service Kyodo News.

He taught writing courses at the Communication University of

China part-time for nearly five years. These jobs exposed the

author to thousands of news interviewees, media colleagues,

students and their friends. Then came the random people who

shared seats on overnight train rides, approached the author in

parks and in one case threw a glass liquor bottle at him. They

ranged from teenagers to retirees. He now lives in Hong Kong

and covers the Chinese economy for the South China Morning

Post newspaper and website.