Emily Feng
Emily Feng is NPR's Beijing correspondent.
Feng joined NPR in 2019. She roves around China, through its big cities and small villages, reporting on social trends as well as economic and political news coming out of Beijing. Feng contributes to NPR's newsmagazines, newscasts, podcasts, and digital platforms.
Previously, Feng served as a foreign correspondent for the Financial Times. Based in Beijing, she covered a broad range of topics, including human rights and technology. She also began extensively reporting on the region of Xinjiang during this period, becoming the first foreign reporter to uncover that China was separating Uyghur children from their parents and sending them to state-run orphanages, and discovering that China was introducing forced labor in Xinjiang's detention camps.
Feng's reporting has also let her nerd out over semiconductors and drones, travel to environmental wastelands, and write about girl bands and art. She's filed stories from the bottom of a coal mine; the top of a mosque in Qinghai; and from inside a cave Chairman Mao once lived in.
Her human rights coverage has been shortlisted by the British Journalism Awards in 2018, recognized by the Amnesty Media Awards in February 2019 and won a Human Rights Press merit that May. Her radio coverage of the coronavirus epidemic in China earned her another Human Rights Press Award, was recognized by the National Headliners Award, and won a Gracie Award. She was also named a Livingston Award finalist in 2021.
Feng graduated cum laude from Duke University with a dual B.A. degree from Duke's Sanford School in Asian and Middle Eastern studies and in public policy.
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China has put new focus on airships hovering in a part of the sky just before outer space. Although Beijing says they're scientific, analysts say the data helps the country develop advanced weapons. -
The city's chief executive said the mask requirement will end outdoors and indoors, but some high-risk premises including hospitals and elderly homes can still require people to wear masks. -
As Russia's war in Ukraine enters its second year, Beijing has repeatedly said it would broker any cease-fire talks, a proposal Ukrainians are wary of because of China's close ties with Moscow. -
Trade between China and Russia has increased over the past year, especially with Chinese purchases of Russian oil and gas. -
Retirees have protested in two Chinese cities over fears that the authorities will dip into their personal health savings accounts to cover public budget shortfalls. -
The U.S. and China have traded fiery allegations of extensive aerial surveillance programs since the U.S. shot down a Chinese balloon on Feb. 4. Here's a look at what's happened so far. -
The accusations made by China on Monday have further ratcheted up tensions between the two countries amid mutual allegations of surveillance. -
China has been trying to woo back foreign investors and businesses after nearly three years of self-imposed isolation, but a quick economic recovery will also hinge on domestic consumption. -
Residents held vigils to commemorate people who have died in lockdown. Several have been arrested. -
Abao sings in the Paiwan language — not Chinese, which dominates Taiwan's pop music industry. Her popularity reflects the island's overdue recognition and awareness of Indigenous culture.
