John Pomfret
John Pomfret
John Pomfretwas an English poet and clergyman...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJournalist
CountryUnited States of America
opportunity quite
And then I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to go to China in 1980, which was quite early.
life numerous
I had my life threatened by Bosnian Serbs on numerous occasions.
china front grew page regular relations time york
I grew up in New York City in the late '70s, at a time when U.S. - China relations were something that was on the front page of The New York Times on a regular basis.
affect beacon broader direct interest interests itself national spin
And when they do spin out of control there are important ramifications that affect America, not just its direct national interest but its broader interests as a nation which has thought of itself as a beacon to other nations, of freedom, liberty, democracy, whatever.
demands type work
The work is a calling. It demands that type of obsession.
factions hard indication job periods time
The one indication that I got that I was doing the right job in Bosnia was that at different periods of time all the factions came down very hard on me.
china sent
And the AP sent me to China very quickly.
american-scientist china greatest posted summer time
I was posted to China in the summer of 1988, which was the greatest time ever, I think, to have been in China.
bicycles form main move though time
My main form of transportation at that time was a bicycle, because bicycles could move though the crowd.
assignment difference emphasis facts greater overseas
But the difference is that in an overseas assignment there is an emphasis on the facts but there's also a much greater emphasis on interpretation.
american-scientist baggage cultural fact follows
One of the problems that we have as American journalists is that we bring the American cultural baggage with us and we plop it down and it follows us around and that's just a fact of life.
fourteen seized trip
I was fourteen when Kissinger made his secret trip to China, and then there was subsequently Nixon's trip to China, and I was very much seized with an interest in China.
bosnian chinese experience korean lives overseas prism tend within work
A lot of times when we work overseas we tend to put the experience of someone who lives overseas, a Chinese person or a Korean person or a Bosnian person, within the prism of an American life.
overseas people
Working overseas is more difficult in that it's much more complicated to get people to open their hearts to you and to tell you information.