NPR Correspondent Rob Gifford to Speak about China’s Future at UNC

NPR correspondent Rob Gifford to speak about China’s future at UNC Sept. 20

9/8/2010

Rob Gifford, NPR's Shanghai correspondent, will speak at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Monday, Sept. 20 at 5:30 p.m.

Gifford will discuss "China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power" based on his book of the same name.

The free public talk will be held at the FedEx Global Education Center, located on the corner of Pittsboro and McCauley streets on the UNC campus. Parking is available under the building and can be accessed from McCauley Street.

Seating is limited. To attend, RSVP by e-mail to .

Gifford first went to China in 1987 as a 22-year-old language student. He returned in 1999 as NPR's Beijing correspondent and traveled across China and Asia reporting for "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered." He was NPR's London correspondent from 2005 until his recent return to China as Shanghai correspondent.

Gifford's 2007 book tells of his 3,000-mile odyssey across China. He followed Route 312, the country's equivalent of U.S. Route 66, from Shanghai to its end on the border with Kazakhstan. A fluent Mandarin speaker, he explored and spoke with people in the factory towns of the coastal areas, in the rural heart of China and in the Gobi Desert. The book describes the social and economic changes that are transforming China and, as one reviewer wrote, is "full of historical and philosophical wisdom about the future of the world's largest country."

Gifford has reported from around the world for NPR. He was born and raised in the United Kingdom, where he worked at BBC World Service. He holds a BA in Chinese Studies from Durham University in the United Kingdom and an MA in regional studies (East Asia) from Harvard University.

His talk is sponsored by UNC's Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, Kenan-Flagler Business School, Center for International Business Education and Research, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, UNC Global, Office of the Provost, Phillips Ambassadors, Center for Global Initiatives and Carolina Asia Center.

The Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, part of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School, pursues leading-edge research and programs in the areas of entrepreneurship, economic development and global competitiveness. For more information, visit www.kenaninstitute.unc.edu.