Jonathan Watts is a former East Asia correspondent for The Guardian, who specialized in environment and development issues in China and the wider region during his time in Beijing from 2003 to 2012. He is the author of the eco-travelogue When a Billion Chinese Jump: Voices from the Frontline of Climate Change and became closely involved in media freedom issues during a spell as President of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China. A former Tokyo correspondent (1996-2003), he has also covered events in Mongolia and on the Korean peninsula, as well as reporting on the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, and the 2011 tsunami in Japan. Watts is currently based in Rio de Janeiro and working as Latin American correspondent for The Guardian. He is a self-proclaimed amateur llamologist.
Last Updated: February 2, 2015
Sinica Podcast
04.20.12
In Dialogue with chinadialogue
from Sinica Podcast
After a few upbeat weeks on political intrigue in Chongqing, Sinica is back this week with another depressing show about the various ways China is killing us all. This week our conversation turns to cadmium-laced rice, endangered species, and the...
Sinica Podcast
03.25.11
Where Did the Internet/Salt Go?
from Sinica Podcast
In less time than it took Chinese netizens to strip their supermarkets of common table salt, China ended its live-and-let-live policy with regards to the most commonly used tools for evading the country’s Internet restrictions. Recent weeks have...
Books
10.01.10
When a Billion Chinese Jump
As a young child, Jonathan Watts believed if everyone in China jumped at the same time, the earth would be shaken off its axis, annihilating mankind. Now, more than thirty years later, as a correspondent for The Guardian in Beijing, he has discovered it is not only foolish little boys who dread a planet-shaking leap by the world's most populous nation. When a Billion Chinese Jump is a road journey into the future of our species. Traveling from the mountains of Tibet to the deserts of Inner Mongolia via the Silk Road, tiger farms, cancer villages, weather-modifying bases, and eco-cities, Watts chronicles the environmental impact of economic growth with a series of gripping stories from the country on the front line of global development. He talks to nomads and philosophers, entrepreneurs and scientists, rural farmers and urban consumers, examining how individuals are trying to adapt to one of the most spectacular bursts of change in human history, then poses a question that will affect all of our lives: Can China find a new way forward or is this giant nation doomed to magnify the mistakes that have already taken humanity to the brink of disaster? —Simon & Schuster
Sinica Podcast
07.09.10
China’s Environmental Collapse
from Sinica Podcast
After the collapse of international climate change talks in Copenhagen in 2009, Mark Lynas’ devastating article, published in the Guardian, laid the blame squarely at China’s feet, accusing the Chinese government of deliberately scuttling American-...
Sinica Podcast
06.18.10
Review of Chinese Books
from Sinica Podcast
Looking for a little summer reading? This week, Sinica sorts the wheat from the chaff with a massive review of books on China. Our discussion touches on a everything from Chinese fiction to non-fiction academic works on Chinese politics, economics,...