CNN Beijing bureau chief signs off

MANILA, Philippines - He describes himself as an “accidental tourist” who originally planned to stay for only three weeks in China.

Now, after spending more than four decades in China – the longest period of service in the country so far for a foreign correspondent – Philippine journalist Jaime FlorCruz has decided it is time to go.

FlorCruz had seen it all – from the rule of Mao Zedong to the trial of the Gang of Four, from the first Western pop concert in China to the drafting of Yao Ming at the National Basketball Association (NBA), and from the Tiananmen massacre to the recent pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong – but for him, scoops like these were rare opportunities and, as a journalist, nothing is as important as “providing accurate and fair reports and analysis day after day, week after week.”

At age 63, FlorCruz said he feels “bittersweet” to be leaving the job.

“China has changed dramatically. I feel fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time to have witnessed these changes up close,” he said in a CNN report. 

However, he said, “I’ll still be involved in China watching, in China, or wherever my next projects and adventures take me.”

Then a student activist from the Philippines, FlorCruz arrived in China on Aug. 21, 1971 for a three-week study tour until he found himself stuck in the foreign land as he was blacklisted by former President Ferdinand Marcos.

Marcos suspended the writ of habeas corpus and rounded up his opponents and detractors. A year after the declaration of martial law, FlorCruz found himself “temporarily stateless” as his Philippine passport expired.

“The idea was to come for three weeks and see what was going on,” he said.

While in China, he worked in a state farm in Hunan province and a fishing corporation in Shandong province. He studied the Mandarin language and obtained a bachelor’s degree in Chinese History from Peking University. 

He belonged to the first class of college students in China who were enrolled through nationwide entrance examinations.

“A lot of that batch of fellow students are now in important roles in the government bureaucracy. Some are top professors, scientists and entrepreneurs. I’ve kept friends with many of them. They’ve been good sounding boards,” he said.

Among his cohorts at university were Li Keqiang, current premier of the People’s Republic of China; and Bo Xilai, who once was among the most powerful politicians in China but is now sentenced to life imprisonment for corruption and abuse of power.