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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
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Marketplace Tech

Why there's no TikTok in China

Apr 3, 2024
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Make Me Smart | Episode 239

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

Jul 21, 2020
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Latest Stories (228)

COVID-19

Shanghai is under COVID-19 restrictions after omicron surge

by Jennifer Pak
Mar 14, 2022
China's financial capital is not under a full lockdown, but strict anti-COVID measures still weigh on residents.
Some large foreign businesses, seeing COVID restrictions and slowing growth in China, are considering other countries like India for their future manufacturing plans.
Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images
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Could China scoop up Russian goods at bargain-basement prices because of sanctions?

by Jennifer Pak
Mar 8, 2022
If fewer countries want Russian goods, supply goes up and China could, in theory, get cheaper prices. It is a whole other thing in practice.
Workers sort packages at a JD.com warehouse in Beijing in November. Items have been flying off the virtual shelves of a Russian store on the Chinese e-commerce site.
Jade Gao/AFP via Getty Images
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What has the U.S.-China trade war achieved?

by Jennifer Pak
Feb 25, 2022
The U.S. and China have been engaged in a trade war for nearly four years. What's the scorecard?
Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images
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COVID-19

Living in a bubble: China’s zero-COVID policy

by Jennifer Pak
Feb 7, 2022
The Beijing Olympics are said to be the biggest closed-loop bubble experiment ever. China has had practice with its zero-COVID policy.
Health workers wear protective suits at a Beijing coronavirus testing center on Jan. 25. China has had a strict no-COVID policy throughout the pandemic.
Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
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China releases GDP, retail sales figures for 2021

by Jennifer Pak
Jan 17, 2022
The economy expanded a healthy 8.1% and retail sales 12.5%. Indications for 2022, tempered by COVID lockdowns, are lackluster.
People eat at a restaurant in Hong Kong. While travel in China has dipped, restaurant and catering sales climbed 18.6%.
Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images
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China lacks psychologists, so businesses fill the mental health care gap

by Jennifer Pak
Nov 22, 2021
One entrepreneur is placing her bets on a paid online listening service for women.
In China, online and app-based companionship services have cropped up to address isolation. Above, a man sits alone on his cellphone in Beijing.
Courtesy Shanghai 808 Studio
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Cutting emissions means costs and opportunities for China's businesses

by Jennifer Pak
Nov 3, 2021
The country is criticized for doing too little, too slowly, but efforts are already having an impact.
The rapid construction in Luoyang city and other urban centers across China is partly the reason the country is the world's biggest carbon emitter.
Jennifer Pak/Marketplace
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Evergrande investors in China are worried but holding on

by Jennifer Pak
Oct 26, 2021
Evergrande is among the three biggest property developers in China and it seems to have the backing of the Chinese communist party.
Evergrande founder Xu Jiayin overlooking China's communist party 100th birthday celebrations on Beijing's Tiananmen square. This photo was widely circulated in China's business press and boosted the perception that Evergrande is too big to fail.
Screenshot of Sina
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American ESL teachers are in limbo after shift in China's tutoring policy

by Jennifer Pak
Oct 12, 2021
Teachers at one company that's still in business are dealing with financial uncertainty and the thought of lost connections with children.
ESL teacher Kristen Peele during a VIPKid lesson with a student in China. She depends on the income to support her three children.
Courtesy Kristen Peele
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What's behind China's power cuts?

by Jennifer Pak
Oct 5, 2021
China has more than enough coal underground to service the country's needs.
There are more than 50 cap and trade programs across the world to address carbon emissions.
Kevin Frayer via Getty Images
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