Rob Schmitz
Rob Schmitz is NPR's international correspondent based in Shanghai, covering the human stories of China's economic rise and increasing global influence. His reporting on China's impact beyond its borders has taken him to countries such as Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand. Inside China, he's interviewed elderly revolutionaries, young rappers, and live-streaming celebrity farmers who make up the diverse tapestry of one of the most fascinating countries on the planet.
Schmitz has won several awards for his reporting on China, including two national Edward R. Murrow Awards and an Education Writers Association Award. His work was also a finalist for the 2012 Investigative Reporters and Editors Award. His reporting in Japan — from the hardest-hit areas near the failing Fukushima nuclear power plant following the earthquake and tsunami — was included in the publication 100 Great Stories, celebrating the centennial of Columbia University's Journalism School. In 2012, Schmitz exposed the fabrications in Mike Daisey's account of Apple's supply chain on This American Life. His report was featured in the show's "Retraction" episode.
From 2010 to 2016, Schmitz was the China correspondent for Marketplace. He's also worked as a reporter for NPR Member stations KQED, KPCC, and MPR. Prior to his radio career, Schmitz lived and worked in China — first as a teacher for the Peace Corps in the 1990s, and later as a freelance print and video journalist. He speaks Mandarin and Spanish. He has a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.
Schmitz is the author of Street of Eternal Happiness: Big City Dreams Along a Shanghai Road(2016), a profile of individuals who live, work, and dream along a single street that runs through the heart of China's largest city.
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Thirty years after the Berlin Wall fell, Hoyerswerda is struggling to thrive, a far-right party has gained popularity and many residents worry about the future when Germany phases out coal.
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Enterprising young farmers in remote, rural areas have become Internet celebrities by livestreaming mundane details of their lives to urban Chinese audiences. They're part of a $3 billion industry.
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Beijing recently canceled a sister-city agreement with Prague, whose mayor opposed inclusion of a "One China" provision that Taiwan is part of China. Beijing also canceled a Prague Philharmonic tour.
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Poland's ruling Law and Justice Party leads its opposition in opinion polls ahead of Sunday's election. "Christianity is part of our national identity," party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said recently.
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It's election season in Poland, and the clear favorite is the right-wing Law and Justice party. It has overseen one of the fastest growing economies in the EU.
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The German government has described Wednesday's shooting outside a synagogue in the town of Halle as an anti-Semitic attack. Two people were killed. Police have arrested a suspect.
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"I've learned what I should and what I shouldn't do," a detainee tells NPR during a Chinese government-led media tour in Xinjiang. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims are held in internment camps.
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The controversial bill would let suspects be sent to places where Hong Kong has no extradition deal, such as mainland China. Authorities threatened to use force on demonstrators.
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Car production is shrinking in China's Chongqing, and auto workers struggle to transition.
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It wasn't long ago that China's central city of Chongqing was regarded as emblematic of the country's rising economic fortunes. But more recently, it's fallen on hard times.