John Parker has been The Economist's Beijing bureau chief since 2015. He has spent about half his career in various foreign bureaux of The Economist, including New York (in the 1980s); Moscow (during the collapse of the Soviet Union); Washington (from 1999 to 2005, that is, from Monica to Katrina) and Brussels (2005 to 2007).

The other half of his time he has spent running sections of The Economist, including Books and Arts; Business; Europe and Briefings. Just before going to Beijing, he was The Economist’s environment and development editor. In the late 1990s he was the Op-Ed page editor of the Financial Times.

He is the co-author of a book on Boris Yeltsin’s early days (written with Richard Layard) and the recipient of a number of awards. They include the Wincott award for financial journalism in Britain; the Moscow Union of Journalists award for foreign correspondents in Russia; the Stendhal Prize for European coverage and the Peter Benchley award for writing about the oceans.

He speaks English, French, some rusty Russian and not nearly enough Chinese.

China, Journalism, Political Journalism, Demographics, Demography, Environment, Economy Finance,