From stunning Olympic architecture to the life of the middle class to environmental concerns in a village in Guizhou, May's issue of National Geographic Magazine features 10 stories on China and beautiful photography showing us a side of the country that's been overshadowed in current events headlines recently.

Chris Johns, Editor-in-Chief of National Geographic talks to Christine about May's special feature on China.

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The China Business Network would like to thank Marilyn Terrell of National Geographic and Alltop.com for giving us the opportunity to interview Chris Johns. Editing and voiceover by giannii.

About Chris Johns

Chris Johns was named editor in chief of National Geographic in January 2005. He is the ninth editor of the magazine since its founding in 1888. Among his recent initiatives are an extensive redesign of the magazine to attract a new generation of readers and, in fall 2005, two special single-topic issues — Africa and a newsstand special on Hurricane Katrina. In 2007 National Geographic won two National Magazine Awards from the American Society of Magazine Editors: the top award for general excellence for a magazine with a circulation exceeding 2 million and the award for reporting and the award for photojournalism. In 2006 National Geographic won the National Magazine Award for online excellence.

Born in Medford, Ore., Johns began his career in photojournalism after graduating from Oregon State University with a degree in technical journalism and a minor in agriculture. He worked as a teaching assistant while studying for a master’s in photography at the University of Minnesota. He joined the Topeka Capital-Journal as a staff photographer in 1975 and in 1979 he was named National Newspaper Photographer of the Year. In 1983, after three years on the Seattle Times as picture editor and special projects photographer, he embarked on a freelance career and worked for Life, Time and National Geographic magazines.

Johns became a National Geographic contract photographer in 1985 and joined the magazine staff in 1995. Before taking over as editor in chief, Johns served as senior editor for illustrations and associate editor. As a photographer, he produced more than 20 articles for National Geographic, eight of which were cover stories. His defining images are of Africa and its wildlife. He has taken readers down the Zambezi River, examined the Bushmen's ongoing struggle for cultural survival and provided important documentation of Africa's endangered wildlife. He was named one of the world’s 25 most important photographers by American Photo magazine in 2003.

Johns’ books include “Valley of Life: Africa’s Great Rift” (1991), “Hawaii’s Hidden Treasures” (1993) and “Wild at Heart: Man and Beast in Southern Africa” (2002). He wrote the foreword for “In Focus: National Geographic Greatest Portraits” (2004) and the introduction to the upcoming National Geographic book “100 Days in Photographs: Pivotal Events that Changed the World” (October 2007). Johns lives on a farm in Virginia’s Blue Ridge mountains with his wife, Elizabeth, and their three children.

The following is a transcript of the interview.

Welcome to the China Business Network, “Who’s Who in China Business,” with your host, Christine Lu

CHRISTINE LU: From outstanding architecture to the lives of the middle class environmental May’s issue of National Geographic Magazine features 10 stories on China and beautiful photography showing us a side of the country that has been overshadowed in current event headlines recently. Joining me today is Chris Johns, Editor in Chief of National Geographic to tell us more about their special feature on China this month. Chris thanks for joining me today.

CHRIS JOHNS: My pleasure.

CHRISTINE LU: Give us a brief introduction to National Geographic.

CHRIS JOHNS: Well National Geographic Magazine is read by approximately 40 – 45 million people every month and we are a magazine that helps people understand and appreciate the world we live in.

CHRISTINE LU: And your friends have some very important awards I hear for your publications that you won recently, one of them being an award for reporting on China. Can you tell us more about that?

CHRIS JOHNS: Yes, Pete Hessler, who is one of the major contributing writers to our May China issue, wrote a piece for us last year on an instant city and he won the prestigious award for reporting the national magazine awards. The beauty of it is that Pete has this strong commitment to China, had worked on the story for years and really been a witness to the creation of a city from the ground up. It’s a fascinating piece.

CHRISTINE LU: Can you personally also tell us more about yourself and what your specific interest in China has been on a personal level?

CHRIS JOHNS: Well, I was a staff photographer at National Geographic Magazine and one of my earliest assignments in the early 80’s was to go to China and photograph a story on soy beans. So I went to China for about four months on this fascinating story on protein, and the soy bean and Chinese culture, and went over there and could not get enough of China. That trip really changed the way I look at culture, and look at the world, so I was very keen to get back to China after the great progress and the great moves forward they’ve made and let our readers know how important China is to their lives.

CHRISTINE LU: And it must be amazing because you are saying your first trip there was in the ‘80’s. I’ve talked to people and the 90’s seems like a long time ago, in regards to how fast China has changed. So you must be a witness to when you go back these days to some really big contrasts from when you first got there.

CHRIS JOHNS: Oh absolutely Christine. When I was there in the early 80’s you had to use a separate currency, you could only stay at a small selection of hotels. There were only selective places that you could shop; and it was really interesting was there was still the shadow of the Cultural Revolution then. There were many people who were very resistant to speak with a journalist or speak to a Westerner at all and of course now there is this great thirst to reach out and move forward. I have to say that makes for an exciting time for China and an exciting time for all of us.

CHRISTINE LU: The May issue of National Geographic has a focus specifically on China. Can you some of the interesting and stories readers will come across for this issue and why were they featured.

CHRIS JOHNS: Well we open with a wonderful in depth essay from Peter Hessler, again the National Magazine award winner and he uses this wonderful rapport he’s had for years with students that he was teaching English to when he came to China as a Peace Corp volunteer. These were students who were born about the time Mao died. They really are the moving generation in China now, and that’s a delightful piece, and of course we’ve got fabulous photography that really gets to the breath and diversity of China that go along with Pete’s piece. We’ve got a very good story by Leslie Chang, and again – Leslie has used years of reporting in China to talk about a young girl named Bella and the movement of the middle class and how that’s reflected in Bella’s life and Bella’s aspiration. Then we go back to a delightful piece by Amy Tang, photographed by Lynn Johnson of a village that is pretty much on the edge of time and,Dimen, that’s a classic case of this lovely Chinese culture and the emergence of tradition and today, and the struggles with that and how a community reconciles this change of breakneck speed. We also felt it was important to talk about architecture in China. This new emerging architecture because architecture can tell you so much – it has for generations, told you so much about China, where China is and where China is headed. You cannot really cover China without talking about the challenges for example, with pollution and with water issues. The Yellow River, the mother river is the river to do just that. Then we close with a bookend essay by Pete Hessler that again is typically Pete Hessler strong and then portraits of the Chinese people to show the diversity in their faces, from generation to generation is we feel a delightful way to close.

CHRISTINE LU: I was on the site actually, and I had a chance to look at exactly what you are talking about and read through the articles. The images and the pictures and the stories you covered really struck me. You can’t get that kind of insight these days from mainstream media, because you know, as we know the headlines are dominated by maybe one particular angle or story. So what kind of insights are you hoping that this May issue offers to readers about China in general?

CHRIS JOHNS: Well it’s interesting putting this together Christine, because we worked more then two years on it and of course, had our very most talented people writing and photographing it and stories that we started with that we thought were fresh and new, other media started to cover and we found maybe weren’t as fresh and new, so we had to develop a very flexible approach to covering China. But if I was to say there is an overwhelming thing to the issue – it would be a celebration of China’s diversity and a bringing forth of China’s many, many voices. And I think that’s a surprise to people to some degree. I mean they tend to think of it as this one big monolithic nation, and especially as it undergoes this change at such a rapid pace you’ll find in this issue all kinds of peoples voices, and all kinds of landscapes and I think readers will find it surprising and they’ll find it enlightening. If I was to say that there is any one thing out of the issue,that may be one of the strongest. I think another underlying thing to the issue – and this really is a direct reflection of many of our experiences who have been back and forth in China for 20 or 30 years. Those of us who have covered this fascinating culture and landscape for decades – is that you have to start wondering when you go to Beijing for example, I was there in December. Here is this growth, here is this energy that is so captivating, yet what are the limiting factors? Is this growth sustainable and if it’s not, why won’t it be sustainable, what does this mean for the rest of the world?

CHRISTINE LU: As someone who has traveled then to China as you have for the last three decades, what are some misconceptions you feel that the Western world, who the opportunity of seeing the side of China that you have seen/ What are the misconceptions you think the West has about the Country?

CHRIS JOHNS: I don’t know that most of the World understands the breadth of China. I don’t know that they understand the way that the Chinese for generations have taken the long view. A thing I used to hear in China all the time in the early 80’s was the only thing you know for sure in China is that it will change. And now I think back, isn’t that true? You can go back through the Han dynasties the great dynasties’ of China and what you will see is maybe a period of calm for a while, and then you will see change and often pretty dramatic change relatively quickly and of course, what we want to do in this issue is help give that historical perspective but also what it means for China now and again I would go back to the diversity to the many different voices that we bring forth in the issue. There is not complete agreement at all in these voices, even though it is a communist nation. One thing that I’ve been very fascinated with – especially with my last two visits to China in 2007 where a green revolution in China. And that is happening in all kinds of ways and in all kinds of places from building projects in Beijing out to grass roots projects in the country side – to tree planting projects. Never underestimate the

CHRISTINE LU: You touch upon a great point. I guess the only way you can convince people of what you say, is to hop on a plane and see for themselves/


CHRIS JOHNS: Well I would encourage people to go to China. Again, it has shaped certainly the way I look at the world. Just simply the two things I would highly recommend is stand on the Great Wall. That is an experience that I’ll never forget and every time I’m in China I go to the Great Wall along a different location and just take it in, but also while it’s fascinating to celebrate the past the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, this great rich history of China, it’s also really rewarding to look at the future and what China is now and how it’s evolving I think is equally fascinating.

CHRISTINE LU: Having said that for the person then listening who picks up this month’s issue of National Geographic and may not have gone there yet, and so feels compelled to visit China for the first time, what kind of advice would you offer them as to what to expect and how to make the most of their first experience in China?


CHRIS JOHNS: Well, there are places; I believe that especially on a first trip you should try to visit. Beijing is obviously one because of Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, of course you are very close to the Great Wall. There are many good and various locations of the Great Wall within a few hours of Beijing. I would contrast Beijing with Shanghai. Shanghai is one of the most energetic, fascinating cities today. So I would definitely recommend those two urban experiences. A place I haven’t been very much, but would really like to spend more time in is in Western China. Again, that would point to the diversity of culture to much different lifestyles; a different sense of space and place. That would be very rich as well. I’m a big believer that when you go to a country, if you try to see too much too fast you don’t see enough of anything. And to that, I mean most people really can’t expect to spend more than ten days to two weeks and in that case, I would limit it to the three areas I just mentioned. You certainly couldn’t go wrong with that. But again, it’s a rich place. I would also say that you have friends over there, take advantage of that because they can add an insight to the culture and as well.

CHRISTINE LU: Thank you so much

CHRIS JOHNS: My pleasure.

We’ve been talking to Chris Johns, Editor-in-Chief. For more information on National Geographic drop by National Geographic.Com. Thanks for listening I’m Christine Lu.

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