My Analog LifeHow We SurviveI've Always Wondered ...A Warmer World

Loading...

0:00
0% played

Jennifer Pak

China Correspondent

SHORT BIO

Jennifer is Marketplace’s China correspondent, based in Shanghai. She tells stories about the world’s second-biggest economy and why Americans should care about it.

She arrived in Beijing in 2006 with few journalism contacts but quickly set up her own news bureau. Her work has appeared in many news outlets, including the BBC, NPR and The Financial Times. After covering the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Jennifer moved to Kuala Lumpur to be the BBC’s Malaysia correspondent. She reported on the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 and Edward Snowden’s brief escape to Hong Kong. Jennifer returned to China in 2015, based in the high-tech hub of Shenzhen, before joining Marketplace two years later.

In 2022, Jennifer, along with 25 million Shanghai residents, was locked down for over 60 days and had to scramble for food. The coverage of the pandemic she and her team produced helped earn them a Gracie and a National Headliner Award in 2023. You can see the food Jennifer was able to get during the Shanghai lockdown here and keep up with her tasty finds across China on Instagram at @jpakradio.

Episodes by Jennifer (3)

Marketplace Tech

Why deepfakes of foreigners are selling goods on Chinese social media

May 14, 2024
LISTEN
Download
Marketplace Tech

Why there's no TikTok in China

Apr 3, 2024
LISTEN
Download
Make Me Smart | Episode 239

U.S.-China relations are bad, but are they 'new Cold War' bad?

Jul 21, 2020
LISTEN
Download

Latest Stories (228)

Chinese students, parents stressed by demands of extracurricular classes

by Jennifer Pak
Jun 9, 2021
Academic competition pressures families to enroll children in tutoring courses. But some parents are resisting.
Fifth-grader Ziyou cracks under pressure in "A Love for Dilemma," a Chinese TV series about the education rat race.
"A Love for Dilemma"
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE

China's 3-child policy met with tepid public reception

by Sabri Ben-Achour , Jennifer Pak , Meredith Garretson and Erika Soderstrom
Jun 1, 2021
There's skepticism about whether the policy change will actually address China's shrinking workforce and older population.
One reason? "The work of raising a child, like in many countries, falls disproportionately on women, and women in China have complained of being penalized at workplaces for being a mother," says Marketplace China correspondent Jennifer Pak.
Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE

China's movie post-production companies feel the pinch

by Jennifer Pak
May 19, 2021
How one visual effects and animation firm that services Hollywood and China productions is weathering the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dachang Movie Town near Beijing is where reality shows and feature films are shot.
Jennifer Pak/Marketplace
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE

In China, it’s heads for a real estate win, or "rotten tails" — you lose

by Jennifer Pak
May 10, 2021
Owning property (or not) can determine your future in China. But it’s a gamble that doesn’t always pay off for those who have invested their life savings.
Last year, musician Chen Peng took Marketplace to the development in Zhengzhou where he bought a two-bedroom condo. The development remains unfinished today.
Charles Zhang/Marketplace
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE

The human labor behind artificial intelligence

by Jennifer Pak
May 4, 2021
Behind every artificial intelligence project is lot of intensive human labor. Marketplace speaks to data labelers in central China.
Data labeling firms like this one in Henan province are the new factory floor of the digital age.
Charles Zhang/Marketplace
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE

China's slow trains for the poor

by Jennifer Pak
Apr 20, 2021
There are 81 no-frills train routes left over from the Mao era to service far-flung areas. Who rides them?
A villager boards a slow train with a television strapped to his back in 2015. The train connected communities in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces that were not frequently served by China's modernized rail network.
Qian Haifeng
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE

H&M affirms commitment to China amid consumer boycott

by Sabri Ben-Achour , Jennifer Pak , Meredith Garretson and Erika Soderstrom
Mar 31, 2021
"Companies might have to choose a side," says our China correspondent Jennifer Pak, "use Xinjiang cotton or be locked out of the world’s second-largest economy."
The clothing retailer last year announced on its website that it would no longer source cotton from Xinjiang, a province where the U.S. and other governments accuse China of holding at least 1 million Uyghurs in forced labor camps, which China denies.
Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE

Pandemic pushes big-city dreamers out of Shanghai

by Jennifer Pak
Mar 30, 2021
Workers from rural China came to Shanghai in search of better lives, a challenge even in good times. Then the COVID-19 lockdown hit.
Parents boast about their unmarried children's achievements on handwritten notes taped to umbrellas at Shanghai's People's Park. The ads bring China's urban-rural divide into sharp focus.
Charles Zhang/Marketplace
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE

Higher U.S. postage rates send vendors in China scrambling

by Jennifer Pak
Mar 9, 2021
The U.S. set higher postage rates last year. E-commerce sellers in China are still scrambling to deal with the change.
A seemingly small change like the U.S. raising postage rates for mail from abroad jolted Chinese firms that sell to Americans.
Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE

As China's movie theaters return to normal, domestic releases top box office

by Jennifer Pak
Mar 1, 2021
The top four films this week are all domestic Chinese films. In the past, at least one of those would be from Hollywood.
"Hi Mom," a sentimental comedy, has rapidly become one of the most popular films of all time in China.
Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images
ListenLISTEN
HTML EMBED:
COPY
EMBED EMBED
Share Now on:
SHARE
Subscribe Using:
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE