Reporting for China

"Reporting for China is a fascinating and imaginatively conceived study of Chinese correspondents who work abroad. . . . Readers beleaguered by recent US sparring over fake news and alternative facts will find in this study a refreshingly concrete exploration of the tension, unblinkingly relayed by Nyíri. . . . The book offers, in a very accessible style, a nuanced and vivid account of a domain that has long been subject to overly facile assumptions about what freedom of speech actually entails and how it comes to be curtailed."

"As the pioneering work in this field, Nyiri’s vibrant and important book opens up a lot of new questions about China’s global media expansion and soft power attempts. It spearheads an exciting new direction in the analysis of Chinese media and cultural studies."

"The first extensive, systematic study of Chinese journalists who work as foreign correspondents for Chinese audiences. . . . A must-read for those interested in the machinations of Chinese politics and the Chinese state. . . . A fine example of how anthropologists study the media . . . valuable not just for anthropologists but also for scholars and students in the fields of media, communications, and journalism."

"This is an original, nuanced, and informative study that deserves a wide audience."

"Reporting for China: How Chinese Correspondents Work with the World is a fascinating account of the expanding ways the Chinese are engaging with the world. . . . [and] is successful not only in revealing the hidden dynamics and tensions that compel Chinese foreign correspondents to report the way they do, but also in shedding light on the Chinese government’s intentions and influence as these pertain to the news media."

"A fascinating book. The extensive interviews reveal an important aspect of Chinese society. . . . There is no comparable book on the market."

"I know of no other work that so fully discusses the expansion of Chinese media into reporting on foreign affairs of the world. Nyíri is in an excellent position to take on this intricate topic, with a wide overview of the specific media field in question, as well as of relevant issues of general interest."

"China’s mammoth state propaganda machine has long been preoccupied with framing the 'worldview' of its nationals, to reinforce the legitimacy of the Communist Party’s rule. But the propaganda process has remained a mystery to most. Nyiri’s nuanced anthropological study of Chinese foreign correspondents provides a rare in-depth look into the fuzzy engineering of the Chinese mind and is therefore crucial to a true understanding of a China on the way to become a global superpower."