James Kynge

James Kynge is an author and journalist specialising in China - its politics, economics, society and culture. He served as the Financial Times' Europe-China Correspondent, and its Global China Editor. The winner of the prestigious Harold Wincott award for journalism for his coverage of China and its complex relationship with rest of the world, he has spent over two decades as a journalist in Asia.

After nine years at Reuters becoming Taiwan and Central Asia Bureau Chief, James spent over a decade covering China and the region for the Financial Times. As well as leading their emerging markets coverage, he is also the principal of the FT's China Confidential and Renminbi Compass, the research services providing data on China, from asset markets to consumer behaviour, industry performance to underground banks.

James has spent almost half of the last thirty years working in China, including seven as the FT’s bureau chief in Beijing. His award-winning investigative articles have focused on China’s overseas investment push, its grand design to create a ‘New Silk Road’ between Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, and the slow but steady integration between Chinese and global financial markets. As well as journalism he also headed up the business operations of the Pearson Group of companies in China.

During his time as a journalist, James covered many of the significant events that shaped the region - including the Japanese economic bubble and its deflation, the Tiananmen Square massacre, the independence of Mongolia, the rise to nationhood of the five former Soviet central Asian republics in the early nineties, the China-Taiwan missile crisis followed by Taiwan's first presidential election, the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and China's emergence as a great economic power.

In his editorial and research roles, James looks at the forecasts for the Chinese economy and markets as well as the country’s role on the global stage and the often unreported detail of what’s happening on the ground. He’s also studied the Chinese consumer economy, the growth of the middle class, and the potential effect of demographic changes. With tech being a new frontline in Chinese hard and soft power, James is the author of the FT audiobook Global Tech Wars: China's Race to Dominate, which became an award-winning podcast.

James is also the author of the bestselling, award-winning book, China Shakes The World which describes the development of China as a superpower and has been translated into nineteen languages. A fluent Mandarin speaker, he is a regular commentator on Chinese and Asian issues for media outlets including NPR, CNN and the BBC.