Hu Shuli

Hu Shuli (born 1953, Beijing, China) is a Chinese journalist and editor who cofounded Caijing (1998), the preeminent business magazine in China.

Hu was born into a family of prominent journalists and publishers. During the Cultural Revolution, however, her family fell out of political favour, and while in her mid-teens Hu, along with her parents, was sent to work in the countryside. She joined the army in 1970, and after the Cultural Revolution ended, she gained entrance to Renmin University of China (also known by its previous name, the People’s University of China) in Beijing. After graduating (1982) with a degree in journalism, Hu went to work as a reporter for the Worker’s Daily. She was awarded a World Press Institute fellowship in 1987 that allowed her to study at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn. Returning to China, she participated in the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy demonstrations of 1989. She later joined the staff of the China Business Times, becoming chief of the newspaper’s international desk by 1995.

With the financial backing of a group of U.S.-educated Chinese businessmen, Hu launched Caijing in 1998. Under her editorial guidance, Caijing quickly became known for its hard-hitting journalism. Frequently referred to as “the most dangerous woman in China” because of her emphasis on aggressive investigative reporting, she consistently pushed the limits of press freedom in her country, publishing articles that ranged from exposés of bribery and deceitful business practices to well-researched critiques of government policy. In 2000 the magazine rocked the Chinese securities industry when it reported on stock-market manipulation by some of the country’s leading investment firms. Another of the magazine’s most notable exposés detailed government efforts to cover up the outbreak of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) after the illness first appeared in Guangdong province in late 2002. In 2007 she attracted attention with a series of editorials calling on the government to “accelerate democratic change” in China and to “end monopolies and introduce more competition” into the Chinese market. As much as she sought to test the boundaries of press freedom in China, Hu admitted that certain topics had been deemed “off limits” for her publication. Among these were the controversial Falun Gong spiritual movement and the Tiananmen Square protests. Nevertheless, Hu maintained that there were “tremendous opportunities for the finance-business press to play the role of watchdog” in China.

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Hu’s insistence on independent reporting in a media market dominated by state-owned newspapers quickly brought her accolades from around the globe. BusinessWeek included her in its 2001 “Stars of Asia” feature recognizing 50 leaders “at the forefront of change” in the region. In 2003 the World Press Review named her the International Editor of the Year. In 2009, however, Hu resigned as editor of Caijing amid reports that the magazine owners, facing pressure from the government, were attempting to censor content.