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Ben Chu

Journalist

Ben Chu is Policy and Analysis correspondent at BBC Verify. Previously he was Economics Editor of Newsnight, the BBC's flagship news and current affairs programme. He is also the author of Chinese Whispers: Why Everything You’ve Heard About China is Wrong

Writing.

Posts & Articles

Television.

Selected films and reports for BBC Newsnight - RTS Daily News Programme Of The Year 2019

Inside Sri Lanka's economic crisis - BBC Newsnight
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Is Sri Lanka a victim of Chinese 'debt traps'? - BBC Newsnight
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Ben Chu Newsnight report: The end of globalisation? 18/03/2022
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40 years after Thatcher: Inequality in the UK - BBC Newsnight
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Coronavirus: How could it be stopped? – BBC Newsnight
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40 years after Thatcher: The future of work - BBC Newsnight
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Broadcast

Radio.

Chinese on CampusBBC Radio 4
00:00 / 27:30

Listen to Ben's BBC Radio 4 documentary on Chinese students in the UK from February 2022

More or LessBBC Radio 4
00:00 / 08:05

Listen to Ben's contribution to More or Less on BBC Radio 4 in February 2022

Funny MoneyBBC Radio 4 Analysis
00:00 / 28:18
Listen to Ben's programme on where money gets its value from for BBC Radio 4
The Future Of WelfareBBC Radio 4 Analysis
00:00 / 28:00

Listen to Ben's Radio 4 documentary on the welfare state 

Publications

Books.

'Chu's smart, iconoclastic portrait dismantles seven misconceptions about modern China and offers a corrective to Western assumptions.' New Statesman

THE CHINESE ARE THE MOST HARDWORKING PEOPLE ON EARTH...
So why are the younger generation derided as spoiled and lazy?

CHINESE PEOPLE DON'T CARE ABOUT POLITICAL FREEDOM...
So why is the country's internet exploding with anti-regime dissent?

CHINA WILL ONE DAY RULE THE WORLD...
So why do the country's political leaders feel so insecure?

Perhaps it is time to stop engaging in a centuries-old game of Chinese whispers in which the facts have become more and more distorted in the telling.

Ben Chu examines the myths that have come to dominate our view of the world's most populous nation, forcing us to question everything we thought we knew about it. The result is a penetrating, surprising and provocative insight into China today.

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Contact
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