Kinmen’s Shores

on July 12, 2016

Ask Kinmen residents what they feel about Xiamen and mainland Chinese and they might first point out that rubbish is floating over from them to Kinmen’s shores—complete with their simplified Chinese labels (in contrast to Taiwan’s traditional Chinese).

China Was Once a Hot Destination for African Migrants, Not Any More

A China in Africa Podcast

By Eric Olander, Cobus van Staden & more on July 12, 2016

It was not that long ago that entire neighborhoods in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou were overflowing with African migrants. Although there are no precise figures, scholars estimated that between 20,000-100,000 African immigrants used to live in Guangzhou, or as it is glibly known, “chocolate city.”

Rob Schmitz

on July 11, 2016

Rob Schmitz is a China correspondent, based in Shanghai, for Marketplace. His reporting in Japan—from the hardest-hit areas near the failing Fukushima nuclear power plant following the earthquake and tsunami—was included in the publication “100 Great Stories,” celebrating the centennial of Columbia University’s Journalism School. In 2012, Schmitz exposed the fabrications in Mike Daisey’s account of Apple’s supply chain on This American Life. His report was featured in the show’s “Retraction” episode, the most downloaded episode in the program’s 16-year history.

Prior to joining Marketplace, Schmitz was the Los Angeles bureau chief for KQED’s The California Report. He also worked as the Orange County reporter for KPCC, and as a reporter for MPR, covering rural Minnesota. Prior to his radio career, Schmitz lived and worked in China; first as a teacher in the Peace Corps, then as a freelance print and video journalist. His television documentaries about China have appeared on The Learning Channel and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.In 2011, the Rubin Museum of Art screened a short documentary Schmitz shot in Tibet.

Among the honors Schmitz has received for his work are the Overseas Press Club Scholarship (2001); The Minnesota Society of Professional Journalist award (2001); the Scripps Howard Religion Writing Fellowship (2001); the International Reporting Project Fellowship (2002); the National Federation of Community Broadcasters award (2002); Golden Mic awards from the Radio and TV News Association of Southern California (2005 and 2006); the Peninsula Press Club award (2006); the ASU Media Fellowship (2007); the Abe Fellowship for Journalists (2009); the Education Writers Association (2011); finalist, Investigative Reporters and Editors award (2013); and two national Edward R. Murrow awards (2012 and 2014).

Schmitz has a Master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish from the University of Minnesota-Duluth. He speaks Spanish and Mandarin Chinese and has lived in Spain, Australia, and China.

The Street of Eternal Happiness

A Sinica Podcast

By Kaiser Kuo, Jeremy Goldkorn & more on July 11, 2016

Rob Schmitz, China correspondent for Marketplace, has been living in China on and off since 1995. He is the author of Street of Eternal Happiness: Big City Dreams Along a Shanghai Road, a book about the people living and working on Changle Lu in Shanghai. Many of the characters who Rob writes about are waidiren—people who moved to Shanghai from elsewhere and have tried to make a living by catering to the tastes of well-off residents of the city. One of them, CK, is an accordion salesman turned sandwich restaurant proprietor.