Thanks are in order

So many people played a role in the making of China Unbound! I’m extremely grateful for the community and friendships I’ve enjoyed since starting out as a journalist working in China. Below is an updated version of the books’s Acknowledgements, to include names I was remiss in leaving out of the first edition of the book, and to add thanks to those who helped me with book promotion. Thank you!

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I would like to first thank Janie Yoon for approaching me with an idea for a more ambitious book than I imagined I could tackle. You believed in me from the start and your faith in this project and masterly initial edits carried it through to the end.

I adored working with brilliant editors Alex Schultz, Michelle MacAleese, Maria Golikova, Peter Norman, and Sue Sumeraj as well as with the rest of Team Anansi including Bruce Walsh, Alysia Shewchuk, Karen Brochu, Laura Chapnick, Zoe Kelsey, Siusan Moffat, and Peter Jacobsen. You became my trusted colleagues — providing support, keen insights and moments of fun while we were all working from home.

I’m very fortunate to have an incredible literary agent, Carly Watters, and publicist, Debby de Groot, who must be the two best in their fields in Canada. I learned so much from the both of you.

Thank you to my interview sources who generously shared their expertise or courageously shared their personal stories with me.

My friend Kevin Hamilton was my “secret weapon” during the writing process. Thank you for reviewing the rough drafts that I was too embarrassed to show other editors. You seemed to understand the main points I wanted to make before I did, and you helped bring the book to life.

I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the journalists and researchers I worked with on the road: in the United States, Colleen O’Connor; in Australia, Alex Joske; in Italy, Catarina Martins; in Greece, Alexandros Kottis; in Turkey, Memeteli Turkiye. Your invaluable contributions helped me avoid some pitfalls of “parachute” journalism, and any mistakes that remain are solely my own.

I couldn’t report in Russia as planned because of COVID-19 and was anxious about what to do, until I had the good fortune of finding journalist Natalia Afanasyeva, who traveled across the country during the frigid winter on my behalf. Another immensely talented journalist, who prefers to not be named in the book, provided coordination and translation. Thanks to Bernhard Mohr for the introductions.

I am immensely grateful to those who generously provided detailed and constructive feedback on one or more chapters. A huge thank you to Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Terry Glavin, Didem Tali, Megha Rajagopalan, Giulia Pompili, Raquel Baldwinson, Alvin Cheung, Kevin Carrico and Steve Dunthorne.

Additionally, I would like to thank my current and former colleagues in Hong Kong, Beijing and at the Toronto Star. The book is partly a summation of what I witnessed in the last decade, and those years of reporting wouldn’t have been possible without the work of fellow reporters, including Chinese journalists (the unsung heroes of foreign correspondence), and guidance from my editors.

Support from a wider network of friends and media industry colleagues was critical while reporting in a difficult environment like China. My thanks also go to the teachers and professors who prepared me to meet the challenges. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank the wonderful teams at Hurst Publishers and Lemniscaat, who prepared the UK and Dutch editions of China Unbound, respectively.

I’m glad to be part of the wonderful NüVoices community of China specialists. Anne Henochowicz helped identify an epigraph for this book, and Ming Di and Neil Aitken kindly granted permission to reproduce part of their translation of the poem by Zang Di.

Because this is a newer edition of the book, I would also like to take the opportunity to thank the wonderful team at Hurst Publishers including Lara Weisweiller-Wu, Raminta Uselytė and Emily Cary-Elwes, who prepared the international launch of China Unbound.
Many friends and colleagues also went above-and-beyond to assist with book promotion, with special thanks to: Jo Ramsay, Sandy Garossino, Madeleine O’Dea, Lindsay Wong, Farzana Mayer, Mike Mayer, Yuki Ihara, Emi Ihara, Amanda Wiersma, Cindy Gao, Jessie Lau, Lijia Zhang, Jesse Ferreras, Fergus Ryan and Svea Vikander.

To my family around the world, thank you for all your support, taking my calls to answer questions about Chinese vocabulary, and for all the advice and nourishing home-cooked meals.

To my parents, who shaped their lives around giving me opportunities to pursue my dreams, and my brother, who is always there for me with his special brand of wisdom: I love you and words can’t express how much I appreciate you.

Lastly, to Joel, my best friend and favourite adventure partner, thank you for being my most astute reader, my travel coordinator, my live-in historian, and my debate opponent, and for generally keeping me healthy and happy. You make every day brighter. I’m so excited to continue living this life with you.