Kynge, James

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Kynge, James

PERSONAL:

Married.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Beijing, China. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Financial Times, Beijing, China, bureau chief, 1998-2005; Pearson, Beijing, China, 2005—. Previously worked for Reuters in China for nearly a decade. Contributor to news and talk shows, including CNN, BBC, and National Public Radio.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Business Book of the Year Award, Financial Times and Goldman Sachs, 2006, for China Shakes the World: A Titan's Breakneck Rise and Troubled Future and the Challenge for America.

WRITINGS:

China Shakes the World: A Titan's Breakneck Rise and Troubled Future and the Challenge for America, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

James Kynge has worked for over two decades in Asia and spent the majority of that time in China. Fluent in Mandarin, Kynge worked as a journalist with Reuters for nearly a decade before switching to the Financial Times and heading their bureau in Beijing. Kynge's firsthand experience in China led him to write his first book, China Shakes the World: A Titan's Breakneck Rise and Troubled Future and the Challenge for America, published in 2006. With many around the world hesitant about China's expected rise to superpower status and dominant role in world affairs, Kynge wrote this book to clarify some myths and outline both positive and negative aspects of China's rise.

In Foreign Affairs, Lucian W. Pye noted that Kynge "has the eyes and ears of a skilled journalist, as well as an insatiable curiosity about what is going on around him." A reviewer in the Economist commented that China Shakes the World is "a particularly well-written book" combining "a fresh perspective with an eye for arresting detail." A Publishers Weekly reviewer stated: "Kynge's crisp assessment of the dynamics involved is both authoritative and eye-opening." Michael Sheridan remarked in a London Sunday Times review that "it is the conclusions of this book that make it worth the reading time. They ought to shock young westerners… out of their complacency."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Asian Review of Books, May 7, 2006, Paul French, review of China Shakes the World: A Titan's Breakneck Rise and Troubled Future and the Challenge for America.

Booklist, August 1, 2006, Gail Whitcomb, review of China Shakes the World, p. 20.

Commentary, September, 2006, Gordon G. Chang, review of China Shakes the World, p. 75.

Economist, April 22, 2006, review of China Shakes the World, p. 81.

Financial Times, November 1, 2006, Andrew Hill, "Tempered View of China's Might," p. 10.

Foreign Affairs, January-February, 2007, Lucian W. Pye, review of China Shakes the World.

Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2006, review of China Shakes the World, p. 665.

Library Journal, August 1, 2006, Charles Hayford, review of China Shakes the World, p. 104.

Publishers Weekly, July 24, 2006, review of China Shakes the World, p. 53.

Sunday Times (London, England), April 9, 2006, Michael Sheridan, review of China Shakes the World.