Alumni Talk: Crashing the Party: An American Reporter in China

Duke alum, New York Times translator, and Los Angeles Times correspondent Scott Savitt returns to talk about his extraordinary two decades in the People’s Republic of China as a foreign reporter through the formative 80’s and 90’s. As a journalist, Scott Savitt was witness to historic unfoldings firsthand, including the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989. In the 1990’s, he began his own prohibited, underground publication that lead to his imprisonment by the Communist Party in 2000. Now, Savitt returns to Durham to discuss his newest publication and to share his insights into China’s recent, tumultuous past. Lauded by Publishers Weekly and National Geographic, Savitt will bring an unique and rare perspective to Duke’s campus and give undergraduates an opportunity to pick at the brain of someone as experienced and well-traveled as Scott Savitt.

Scott Savitt is the in-house Chinese-English translator for numerous human rights organizations and the New York Times. His articles have been published in the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and many other newspapers and magazines. He is a former visiting scholar at Duke University.

Refreshments will be provided!