CNN’s Beijing bureau chief Jaime FlorCruz arrived in China from the Phillipines in 1971. He was supposed to stay for three weeks, but while he was away from home, President Marcos declared martial law in the Phillippines and jailed his critics.
FlorCruz was a leftist activist in the 1970s, and he was blacklisted and consequently exiled in China. He studied Chinese and worked on farms and fishing boats in rural China before starting work as a journalist for Newsweek in the early ’80s. He went on to write for Time and then joined CNN. He is now the channel’s top journalist in China, and also blogs for CNN here.
He recently published an article on CNN’s website about the changes in China since he arrived: Looking back over China’s last 30 years.
Danwei asked him some further questions about his experiences and how China and journalism have changed since 1971.
What were you doing before coming to China? Had you expected that your life would be so closely connected with this country?
I was a senior undergrad majoring in advertising at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Manila. At that point, I knew very little about China, although I’d read a few books about it, seen the documentary “East Is Red” and heard a Filipino reporter and an entrepreneur talk publicly about their visit to China months earlier. I never expected my life and career would be so closely connected with China, much less that I would be living and working here for over 30 years.
Did you feel you had come from the frying pan of Marcos era Phillippines into the fire of Maoist China, or were you happy to be in the workers’ paradise?
There were a few days when I did, when I was terribly homesick or frustrated that I was not doing anything productive and challenging when I was in limbo, just vegetating in a life confined to the hotel room, the cafeteria and back to the hotel room.
Months later, working on the farm, work was back-breaking and life was monotonous — not quite the worker’s paradise — but I was keen to overcome the physical and psychological challenges of adapting to a very unique, albeit hard, life. Initially, it was a romantic notion that got me going. Later, it was a matter of survival, of outlasting the Marcos regime. In the end, I outlasted Marcos.
What did you do between 1971 and 1982 when you started working at Time?
From December 1971 to 1972 I worked on a state farm in Hengyang, Hunan Province.
Then from 1972 to 1974 I worked in a fishing corporation in Yantai, Shandong province. I worked as an apprentice on trawler boats which sailed in the Bohai Sea and beyond to catch fish, prawns and so on, using huge fishing nets. We typically sailed for five to seven days each trip.
In the fall of 1974 until 1976 I attended the Peking Languages Institute (now BLCU) and earned an associate degree in Chinese language and translation. From 1977 to the spring of 1982 I attended Peking University as a full-term student, earning a bachelor’s degree in Chinese history. During this period, I taught English part-time to a group of Peking University maths professors who were set to do post-grad overseas, taught English, part-time, to English majors at the Beijing Teachers’ College, and taught English songs on television as part of the weekly CCTV program “English on Sunday.” I also was a member of PKU’s varsity basketball team.
Did it or does it ever feel strange working for a Western media organization when once you were a leftist firebrand?
Initially, yes, but I soon found terrific mentors and friends in the Beijing-based press corps, who accepted me as a professional peer and appreciated what I could uniquely contribute to China-watching.
I had to work doubly hard to prove my mettle and show that I am as professional as I should be. Likewise, my Chinese friends learned to accept me as a friend who just happens to work for a Western media, someone who can be critical about China without being simply cynical.
What were the biggest problems of China in the 1970s?
China had many problems in the 1970s － the economy was moribund, China was isolated, people were demoralized. By 1976, after Mao died and the Gang of Four were arrested, just about everyone knew China needed to change and catch up with the rest of the world. The biggest problems then was, how to change? Which way to go? That was the biggest problem then: vision. Deng Xiaoping came back from political limbo and gave China the vision it needed.
What are the biggest problems of China in the 21st century?
Just as many and overwhelming: unemployment, regionalism, corruption, environmental degradation, a growing gap between the rich and poor, social unrest, lack of transparency and accountability in the political system.
Worse, many Chinese are spiritually adrift (people’s lives seem to center on making money). Some of these problems were left behind by Deng’s reforms. Many are unintended consequences of the 30 years of reform and opening up. Some of these problems － unemployment and social unrest － are now more acute because of the ripple effects of the global financial and economic meltdown.
How has TV journalism changed since you started working at CNN?
There seems to be more room now for reporters to put ourselves in the story, to use the “I” word and talk in first person, even inject one’s viewpoint, while reporting a story. That used to be taboo.