Jennifer Pak

Sluggish demand prompts China to set lowest growth target in decades China has set a more modest growth target for its economy. That reflects the drag from sluggish domestic demand.

Sluggish demand is part of the reason China set its lowest growth target in decades. We spoke to some consumers in Shanghai on what they will and won’t spend on. www.npr.org/2026/03/06/n... With thanks to the team: @nivincent.bsky.social Jasmine, and all the other producers and editors who helped

The anxiety rattling China’s youth : The Indicator from Planet Money China will soon unveil its economic blueprint for the next five years, including a target for economic growth. This comes as consumption is down, wages aren’t rising, and property prices continue to d...

China set its lowest growth target in decades at 4.5%-5%. Ahead of the big political meetings to announce this I joined The Indicator from Planet Money to talk about the anxiety that’s rattling young people. 🎧 👉

www.npr.org/2026/03/04/n...

China offers to mediate in US-Israel-Iran war China says it will send a special envoy to the Middle East to help mediate the US-Israel-Iran war, as Chinese political elites gather in Beijing for the annual "Two Sessions."

China offers to mediate in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. Zhai Jun has been named as the envoy for the task. What’s behind this and how is China making sense of this? 🎧 👉 www.npr.org/2026/03/05/n...

Thanks for your support!!

Visiting the mothership

Thank you!

Strangely since Trump 2.0 many more exporters and manufacturers are willing to speak. Probably because they’ve all been affected as opposed to only certain sectors like the first time around.

Jennifer Pak joins NPR as China Correspondent In a note to newsroom staff, Chief International Editor, Didi Schanche, announced Jennifer Park as NPR's new China Correspondent

***MORE NEWS*** Here's what I'm up to next ... heading to Beijing (visa pending). Excited to join the talented NPR lot! I'll still continue to post my tasty finds on IG at jpakradio. And thanks to @memostothefuture.bsky.social I finally got the Shanghai skyline in the backdrop of my profile pic.

Gansu, Jilin, Liaoning, Qinghai, Shanxi, Ningxia, Xinjiang

*SOME NEWS 4/4* For now, I want to say thank you to the Marketplace listeners who have left comments, messaged me for advice when you come to China, and told me your connection to China. You guys are the most dedicated audience I’ve ever served, it’s been a great privilege.

*SOME NEWS 3/4* Public media is going through a difficult time. I still very much believe in the mission to keep citizens connected and informed, even if the topics are not always entertaining. I’m not straying far as I’ve got more pins to put on the map (more on that later).

*SOME NEWS 2/4* I am very thankful to Marketplace for giving me the leeway and opportunities to explore the country as their China correspondent these past eight years, but it’s time to move on. It’s been a great ride with a top notch team. Thank you everyone for coming on the journey.

*SOME NEWS 1/4* I’ve been covering China on-and-off since 2006. A foreign correspondent/mentor once told me that every country he’s been posted in, he would try to go to every province/state at least once. I’ve hit only 3/4 of China’s provinces/autonomous regions/megacities for travel and work.

Inside a training center that's trying to bridge China's robotic skills gap The school trains automation engineers for automated factories. China’s manufacturing sector is desperate for skilled workers.

China has high youth unemployment. Same time, there are tens of millions of skilled jobs going unfilled. We visited one robotics training center trying to bridge that gap. 🎧👉 www.marketplace.org/story/2025/1... With thanks to Charles, Stephanie, Gary, voiceover artists and the digital team

“China’s H-1B” talent visa gets praise abroad and backlash at home China’s new K visa for foreign talent largely went unnoticed by the Chinese public back in August, until Indian media compared it to the U.S.’ H-1B visa. Then, people in China became furious.

Chinese government media have tried to push back on the backlash, explaining why China needs global talent. That generated more public fury. Read our web story 👉 www.marketplace.org/episode/2025...

With thanks to Charles, Amanda, Gary, voiceover artists and the digital team.

“China’s H-1B” talent visa gets praise abroad and backlash at home China’s new K visa for foreign talent largely went unnoticed by the Chinese public back in August, until Indian media compared it to the U.S.’ H-1B visa. Then, people in China became furious.

It's been almost a month since China launched its K visa for science and tech talent, but no detailed requirements have been forthcoming. The announcement was made back in August to little public reaction. So, why the backlash now? Listen to the audio story👇

www.marketplace.org/episode/2025...

A plea to podcast makers: monitor your audio levels. It’s jarring to pump the episode volume to max, then blow my eardrums over a notification ping. Typically I keep background noise peaking -18db to -12db and voice -9db to -6db, but get decent headsets to ensure everything is balanced. DM for help

Fewer Chinese students are going to the U.S. There are almost 250,000 Chinese students in the U.S. this fall — a 36% drop from the 2017 peak.

More details on how hard it is for Chinese families intent on studying in the U.S. to suddenly pivot to another country in the web piece 👉 marketplace.org/story/2025/1...

With thanks to Charles, Caitlin, Gary, Drew, voiceover artists and the digital team.

Fewer Chinese students are going to the U.S. There are almost 250,000 Chinese students in the U.S. this fall — a 36% drop from the 2017 peak.

Nearly 250,000 Chinese students are studying in the U.S. this fall, most of them are in post-secondary institutions. That is a 36% drop from the peak in 2017. Find out why and where students are going. Hit the 'Listen Now' button for the audio story 👉 www.marketplace.org/story/2025/1...

Not sure why the video wasn’t included in the post but here’s one! Quite a lot of vendors set up booths lining the Suzhou creek but for some reason they’re not open.

Happy mid-autumn festival! 中秋节快乐. My camera won’t do justice to the beautiful full moon. So please enjoy the little light show along the Bund instead.

You may have heard of people falling in love with artificial intelligence, but this is a story about an AI heartbreak. Xiao Gao fell in love with a chatbot on China’s popular DeepSeek platform. Then t... TikTok video by Marketplace

Here's the video! With a few more insights into how "human" the AI boyfriend was. Video editing by Charles Zhang. www.tiktok.com/@marketplace...

She fell in love with an AI chatbot. Now, she’s a ‘cyberspace widow.’ A woman in China says she suffered real heartbreak when the AI boyfriend chatbot “died.”

I couldn't get that video out of my head for weeks. Was she brave? Or losing touch with reality? Luckily she agreed to do an interview with us. Read the extended web story here: www.marketplace.org/episode/2025...

With thanks to Charles, Stephanie, Gary, voiceover artists and the digital team.

She fell in love with an AI chatbot. Now, she’s a ‘cyberspace widow.’ A woman in China says she suffered real heartbreak when the AI boyfriend chatbot “died.”

You've heard of people falling in love with AI, but I'm going to tell you a story about an AI heartbreak. A few months ago, a friend forwarded me a rather haunting video about a so-called 'cyber widow.' You can listen to her story: www.marketplace.org/episode/2025... [hit the 'Listen now' button]

Evergrande to be delisted from Hong Kong Stock Exchange Evergrande spent lavishly on a soccer team, EV company, and theme parks.

ICYMI: Evergrande's shares were delisted from Hong Kong's stock exchange at the start of this week. Here's what investors need to understand on the Marketplace Morning Report: www.marketplace.org/story/2025/0...

With thanks to Charles

China's Evergrande had a spectacular rise. Its collapse is just as stunning. Evergrande was the symbol of the excess of China’s property market. On Monday, its shares were delisted from Hong Kong’s stock exchange, leaving creditors in limbo.

And you can read the extended web version where I explain in more detail what policies anchored the explosive demand for housing and why people kept investing in property here:
www.marketplace.org/story/2025/0...

With thanks to Charles, Kelly, Gary, voiceover artists and the digital team.

China's Evergrande had a spectacular rise. Its collapse is just as stunning. Evergrande was the symbol of the excess of China’s property market. On Monday, its shares were delisted from Hong Kong’s stock exchange, leaving creditors in limbo.

About 4 years ago, global investors worried about a 'Lehman moment' when China's Evergrande defaulted on its debt, with liabilities worth over $300 billion. No such collapse happened. Here's a slightly deeper dive on why. Listen to the audio story here: www.marketplace.org/story/2025/0...

YouTube video by Marketplace APM China is "vigorously" adopting AI in business

And here's our video from the Shanghai AI show
www.youtube.com/shorts/9Yh9Y...

China tells businesses to embrace AI. Where does that leave humans? Marketplace’s Jennifer Pak asks Chinese AI companies what they think about the humans who will lose jobs to their AI products.

You can read more about what the AI companies we interviewed do. Some were not included in the radio piece for timing reasons👉 www.marketplace.org/episode/2025...

With thanks to Charles, Stephanie, Drew, voiceover artists and the digital team.

China tells businesses to embrace AI. Where does that leave humans? Marketplace’s Jennifer Pak asks Chinese AI companies what they think about the humans who will lose jobs to their AI products.

Unlike in the U.S., there has not been as much public discourse in China about what happens to the humans replaced by AI. So I asked some Chinese firms about it at the recent World AI Conference in Shanghai. Listen (hit the 'listen now' button) 👉 www.marketplace.org/episode/2025...