Megan Shank is an editor, writer and translator living in New York City.
January 5th, 2012

For Dissent

On July 1, 2011, halfway through a speech commemorating the ninetieth anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, President Hu Jintao stressed the importance of a people-centered approach to governance. Going forward, he said, the Party must “follow the principle of putting people first…we must consult the people on policies, learn about their needs and seek suggestions from them. We must listen to their views, truthfully reflect their wishes, help alleviate their hardships, and protect their economic, political, cultural and social rights and interests in accordance with the law.” Hu called on officials to develop closer bonds with the communities they serve. Alienation from the people, he warned, “poses the greatest risk to the Party.”

That is true—but it also smacked of irony. For during the preceding four months, the Party had received many clear signals that multiple segments of the country’s population felt that it was ignoring their needs…


July 29th, 2011

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For Miller-McCune

As their peers elsewhere, young Chinese readers have devoured the Harry Potter series. They would doubtless flock to see the final film that debuted in dozens of other foreign markets July 13. But in China, the film’s release has been delayed — and not for the usual political reasons. Harry Potter, after all, features a story Chinese leaders should enjoy: a small band of committed followers triumphs over great odds (shades of the Long March and the road to the 1949 founding of the People’s Republic of China) and a time of chaos gives way to peace and prosperity (reminiscent of China’s Reform era rise to greatness after 100 years of foreign bullying and the ensuing traumas of the Cultural Revolution).


July 25th, 2011

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For Bloomberg.com

When serial entrepreneur George Ji Wenhong and private equity investor Huang Jin launched luxury goods and fashion clothing online retailer Xiu.com during the global recession in 2008, they relied on word-of-mouth to generate interest. “Huang was data-driven and convinced that advertising couldn’t positively impact sales, particularly in the short-run. He thought our competitors were stupid for spending so much on ads,” recalls Ji, who first met Huang when the two were roommates in college in Beijing in 1988


July 6th, 2011

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For the Washington Independent Review of Books

In one of many unnerving dystopian scenes in her debut book, Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls and the Consequences of a World Full of Men, Beijing-based Science magazine correspondent Mara Hvistendahl encourages the reader to imagine America without women.


June 7th, 2011

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For Bloomberg.com

In December 2006, brothers John and Jim Fiocchi received an unexpected phone call from Golden Bright, their most important supplier in China. The Shenzhen plastic injection molder and assembler, which manufactured the plastic enclosures the Fiocchis’ two companies near Chicago designed and sold, had just been acquired by Highway Holdings (HIHO), a manufacturer the Chicago natives had never heard of.


April 20th, 2011

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For Ms.com

One year ago today, 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana, two explosions rocked the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which burst into flames and sent its terrified workers scattering for safety in the smoky, roaring darkness. Survivors threw themselves into burning lifeboats or jumped into the water 100 feet below. Eleven people died on April 20, 2010. Two days later, the rig sank and the well gushed. It would become the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history and the world’s largest accidental spill. While mourning their dead, Gulf Coast residents braced themselves for other losses—their land, their economic livelihood and their way of life.

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March 11th, 2011

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For Bloomberg.com

Entrepreneur Earl Kluft spends a lot of time lying down on the job. As founder and chief executive officer of luxury mattress manufacturer E.S. Kluft & Company, he tests many of the $2,000 to $50,000 beds — each of which are made by hand in his Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., factory.


February 26th, 2011

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The Washington Post
Saturday, February 26, 2011; 5:06 PM

On a late-night work binge with snow blowing outside their downtown Chicago office, software engineers Matt Maloney and Mike Evans wanted nosh delivered. A stack of grease-stained to-go menus left them uninspired.


February 25th, 2011

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For Bloomberg.com

Cavorting on the beaches of Bali, touring Venetian glass factories, and wandering through New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art might seem the stuff of dream vacations. For serial entrepreneur Mike Bisceglia, it’s all in a day’s work.


February 15th, 2011

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For Bloomberg.com

About seven years ago, on a late-night work binge with snow blowing outside their downtown Chicago office, software engineers Matt Maloney and Mike Evans wanted nosh delivered, stat. Rifling through grease-stained to-go menus left them uninspired. As the two toiled at coding searches for the rental real estate site Apartments.com, for which they worked, inspiration struck. Why not apply geographic radius searches — the secret sauce that powered the rental site — to food delivery?


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