Ted Plafker

Since 1989, Ted Plafker has lived and worked full time in Beijing as a foreign correspondent, covering all aspects of the ever-changing China story for numerous publications, including the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, Science Magazine, The San Francisco Examiner, The Far Eastern Economic Review China Trade Report, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The International Herald Tribune, and others.

Fluent in Mandarin, Plafker has traveled to all but a few corners of China, and to all but a few of the countries on China's borders. He has covered China's business, trade and economic affairs; internal politics; security and international relations; and its shifting social and cultural landscape.

His first book, "Doing Business in China: How to Profit in the World's Fastest Growing Market," was published July 2007 by Warner Business Books of New York (since taken over by Hachette Book Group). Drawing on the author's many years of living in and writing about China, it offers concise and practical guide to China's unique business environment. It covers China's complex legal and economic landscape, business ethics, business culture, consumer culture, information environment, expatriate life in China, and more. It's simple aim is to help readers understand what is going on in China today, and how they and their firms can operate there effectively.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Plafker graduated with a degree in Russian studies from Wesleyan University, in Middletown, Connecticut (Class of 1986). He continues to live in Beijing together with his wife and three sons.