Jaime Adriano FlorCruz (born April 5, 1951) is a Filipino journalist and diplomat with a career spanning more than four decades, including a tenure as

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

's Beijing bureau chief. He has reported on a wide range of topics in China, including the country's political and economic developments, as well as its cultural and social issues. In 2022, he was named as the Philippines Ambassador to China.

Early life and education

FlorCruz was born in

Malolos Malolos , officially the City of Malolos (), is a component city and capital of the province of Bulacan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 261,189 people. It is the capital city of the province of Bulacan as the ...

Bulacan Bulacan, officially the Province of Bulacan (; ; ; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon Regions of the Philippines, region. Its capital is the city of Malolos. Bulacan was established on ...

, in 1951. In 1971, he finished his BA in advertising from the

Polytechnic University of the Philippines The Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP; ) is a public, coeducational, research university in Santa Mesa, Manila, Philippines. It was founded on 19 October 1904, as the Manila Business School (MBS) and as part of Manila's public sch ...

. In the same year, he became one of 14 young activists fighting against President

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...

and defied a government ban against travel to China by visiting the country for a three-week study tour. A bombing at Plaza Miranda on August 21, 1971, put the group on a list of "subverisives" causing FlorCruz to self-exile in China. Unable to be admitted to a university, Florcruz worked on farm in Hunan instead for several months, during which he learned basic Mandarin. Beginning in late 1972, he worked on a fishing boat in

Yantai Yantai, formerly known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of the People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of the Bohai Strait, Yantai borders Qingdao ...

. After leaving the boat in 1974, he studied

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

intensively for two years in Beijing and eventually enrolled in Chinese history in

Peking University Peking University (PKU) is a Public university, public Types of universities and colleges in China#By designated academic emphasis, university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the Peop ...

as part of the class of 1977. While working and studying in China, he gained attention among his peers for his ability to play the guitar. FlorCruz was able to reunited with his parents in 1978, when they visited China.

Career

In 1982, he joined

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

Magazine's Beijing bureau, and served as Beijing bureau chief from 1990 to 2000, where he covered important stories such as the

1989 Tiananmen Square protests The Tiananmen Square protests, known within China as the June Fourth Incident, were student-led Demonstration (people), demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, lasting from 15 April to 4 June 1989. After weeks of unsucces ...

and the 1991 suicide of

Jiang Qing Jiang Qing (March 191414 May 1991), also known as Madame Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary, actress, and political figure. She was the fourth wife of Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, Chairman of the Communis ...

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

's widow. During the Tiananmen Square protests, Florcruz drove activists

Liu Xiaobo Liu Xiaobo (; 28 December 1955 – 13 July 2017) was a Chinese literary criticism, literary critic, human rights activist, philosopher and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who called for political reforms and was involved in campaigns to end Ch ...

and

Hou Dejian Hou Dejian (, Cantonese: Hau Dak-gin, born October 1, 1956), is a songwriter, composer, and singer from Taiwan. Since the 1980s, his songs have been popular in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. His songs are written mostly in Chinese, wit ...

to a safe house. In 2000, he was the Edward R. Morrow Press Fellow at the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank focused on Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi ...

in New York, the first non-American journalist chosen for the fellowship. Afterwards, he joined CNN as a Beijing-based correspondent. He covered a wide range of stories, including the SARS outbreak in 2003 and the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

. In 2022, he published his memoir ''Class of ’77: How My Classmates Changed China'', documenting his career. That same year, President

Bongbong Marcos Ferdinand "Bongbong" Romualdez Marcos Jr. (, , ; born September 13, 1957), commonly referred to by the initials BBM or PBBM, is a Filipino politician who has served as the 17th president of the Philippines since 2022. He is the second child ...

named FlorCruz as the envoy from the Philippines to China and was confirmed on December 7, 2022 as Ambassador to China.

Personal life

FlorCruz and his wife Ana met in Manila and lived in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California.

References

{{Reflist 1951 births Living people 20th-century Filipino writers 20th-century Filipino journalists 21st-century Filipino writers 21st-century journalists 21st-century Filipino male writers 21st-century memoirists Ambassadors of the Philippines to China CNN people Filipino expatriates in China Filipino male writers Peking University alumni Polytechnic University of the Philippines alumni Writers from Bulacan Filipino television journalists Filipino expatriates in the United States