Rob Gifford is a British radio correspondent and journalist. He has degrees in Chinese Studies from

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

and in Regional Studies (East Asia) from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. He began to learn

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 ...

Chinese in 1987 whilst in China. Gifford was on staff at the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

for three years. In the United States, he worked for two years at WGBH in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. From 1999 to 2005, Gifford was the China correspondent for

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

(NPR). He took leave of absence from NPR to write his first book, '' China Road'', (2007; ), which was based on his six-week trip on National Highway 312, China's "mother road" stretching from Shanghai to the

Gobi Desert The Gobi Desert (, , ; ) is a large, cold desert and grassland region in North China and southern Mongolia. It is the sixth-largest desert in the world. The name of the desert comes from the Mongolian word ''gobi'', used to refer to all of th ...

. Gifford initially covered this journey in a seven-part radio series for NPR's program ''

Morning Edition ''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 a ...

'', as one of his last journalistic projects in China. Gifford is currently the China editor of ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'' (beginning August 2011), and was previously the London bureau chief for NPR.The Economist (2012)
Rob Gifford
Retrieved 5 February 2012.

References

External links

*
Podcast of Rob Gifford discussing “China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power” at the Shanghai International Literary Festival
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American male journalists American travel writers Alumni of Durham University Harvard University alumni NPR personalities The Economist people {{US-journalist-20thC-stub