Megan Shank is an editor, writer and translator living in New York City.
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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.


January 27th, 2011

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For Bloomberg.com

Liren Ji was a 22-year-old college graduate with a degree in mechanical engineering when he moved to the U.S. for advanced study in 1984, shortly after China reopened to the world. He credits his parents for his intellectual curiosity. During the Cultural Revolution, his mother and father, both engineers, were sent from Beijing to the countryside for reeducation through labor. They refused to let tough times extinguish their passion for discovery.


November 5th, 2010

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For Bloomberg.com

The Chinese will buy 16.7 million passenger cars and light commercial vehicles this year, about five million more than consumers in the U.S., according to the most recent research by J.D. Power and Associates. Driven by China’s rising middle class, breakneck development of suburbs and roads, and drastically reduced tariffs on automobile imports since 2001, a torrent of cars is choking Chinese cities in traffic and pollution. Convinced that a market existed for car rentals, Shanghai-born Ray Zhang, the founder and former chief executive officer of logistics software maker Aleph in Emeryville, Calif., returned to China in 2005 and launched eHi Car Rental a year later with $5 million in venture capital, promoting renting as a greener alternative to owning.


June 17th, 2010

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For The Daily Beast

In many rural Chinese homes, a jar of pesticide—often a variety banned in Western countries—sits in the family outhouse. Even after harvest, farmers are loathe to throw out the remainder. Despite Chinese President Hu Jintao’s promise to create a “harmonious society” by improving people’s livelihood and reducing the gap between wealthy cities and the impoverished countryside, surviving in China’s rural areas still requires thrift.