Global Business Journalism Program
at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China
The future of international business journalism starts with us. Are you ready?
Covering the world:
Journalism projects by GBJ students
Created by Global Business Journalism students in 2017, the nu-women.com website tells the stories of young women entrepreneurs in China. Some of the businesswomen are Chinese, some are foreign. They all explain one of the most rapidly growing sectors of the Chinese economy: women who launch their own businesses.
Nu-women.com content was created and edited by GBJ students. The site is supervised by Professors Rick Dunham and Min Hang. Its original managing editors were Alexis See Tho, a 2018 graduate from Malaysia, and Sarah Talaat, a 2018 graduate from the United States.
Multimedia journalism by Betsy Joles
Betsy Joles, a leading global freelance journalist today, studied in the Global Business Journalism program from 2018 to 2020. Here is some of the professional work she completed during her master's studies.
Internships
Every Global Business Journalism participant is required to complete a professional internship. Students have worked for leading global news outlets, multinational companies, international organizations such as the United Nations, and New Media companies. The GBJ office will help you with advice and networking.
Covering events on the Tsinghua campus
Global Business Journalism reporters cover newsmakers at Tsinghua University for courses and this website.
Nico Gous
By NICO GOUS
When you are a journalist at a wire service, you are always on deadline.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to a news conference and the local reporter says, ‘Ah, busy day for me. I’ve got two stories to do.’ OK, dude. At the AP [Associated Press], in one day, you could do 50 [to] 75 stories … You’ll do so many stories, when you go home, you won’t remember [them],” veteran US journalist Patrick Casey told journalism students at Tsinghua University’s School of Journalism and Communication on Oct. 29.
“You’re always on deadline. Always. As soon as you get a story, start working on it. If I give you a story and I see you get up, go get some coffee, maybe get on WeChat, aargh, don’t. Don’t do that.”
As a reporter for the largest U.S. wire service, Casey covered the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, in which Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people by exploding a truck bomb in front of the federal courthouse. While a young reporter in Arkansas, he covered the rise to power of future president Bill Clinton. He has lived in Beijing for the past 11 years, where he now works as a business news editor at CGTN.
How do you cover big or traumatic stories? Take a deep breath, don’t think about what you’re seeing, do you work, and don’t cry, Casey said.
“You cannot help but be affected. You can’t. But later, not then,” he advised the students.
Covering developments in China
Global Business Journalism reporters have written about news in Beijing and around China
By NAANGA ENKHTUR
A young man in old, graying clothes sits, surrounded by the bustle of Beijing’s central business district, with its towering skyscrapers and opulent hotel lobbies. As formally dressed business people rush by, he sits quietly on a staircase, practices Chinese characters. They pay no attention to him or his dirty bare feet, the calloused soles of which mark him as homeless.
He doesn’t seek attention — no begging cup before him — instead, he collects recyclable plastic bottles to make ends meet. He lives on less than $2 per day. A canvas bag full of empty plastic bottles and winter clothes sits behind him; his worldly possessions and income can be carried over his shoulder.His life on the street begins before sunrise, in order to transcribe Buddhist sutras for the whole day. It is apparent he is unschooled when you see his handwriting.
As the sun sets and busy white-collar workers are replaced by revelers on a night out, he goes to sleep in a small garden in front of a luxurious hotel. Whether in the heat of summer or the cold of winter, he has done the same things over and over again, for the last four years — ever since he discovered Buddhism.
His name is Fang Shixiong, and his early life in Jilin province was tough. At the age of 5 he was left to fend for himself when his parents passed away. Now 23, he has been homeless for 18 years. A loyal theist, he is one of 30 million people still living under the poverty line. He nervously muttered as he told me his story, often repeating the phrase: “What is happening here?”
Informational graphics
