Long-time China journalist, Ted Plafker, recently passed away after a short illness. Ted was elected President of the FCCC three times – a testament to his standing amongst his fellow correspondents.
Reporting on and from China since the late 1980s, Ted was a pillar of our community of foreign journalists here in Beijing. He joined The Economist in 1994 and was a founding member of its Beijing bureau in 1997, making him their longest-serving China correspondent.
As well as serving on the Club’s board for many years, Ted also helped coordinate and supervise our elections in recent years. More importantly, he was also our songwriter in chief. Many a Club meeting and event was leavened by him leading our members in song: reworkings of Beatles classics to extol the virtues of the Fifth Plenum and odes to government censorship sung to the tune of “Let it Be”.
He was generous to a fault with his time and the wisdom he had accumulated over his nearly four decades in China, and regularly made time for younger members finding their feet in the country.
In recent years, he also provided invaluable institutional memory – helping the Club interpret and navigate shifts in China’s posture on foreign reporting on China.
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club extends its deepest sympathies to Ted’s loved ones. We honour a major contributor to the foreign correspondent community and a beloved friend to so many.
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Simon Rabinovitch, Beijing Bureau Chief, The Economist:
“Ted was not just a deeply respected member of our bureau but a much loved one. He brought warmth, good humour and lively conversation every day, and was a fount of anecdotes about reporting in China. He was unfailingly generous in showing younger journalists the ropes and in sharing his knowledge with all.
Ted could have chosen to take it easy as the years went by, but right up until his final months he was hopping in his car and driving around the country, including up to the border with North Korea, in search of stories.
We miss Ted dearly. But his memory will remain an example to us–and, we hope, to the community of foreign correspondents in China–of how to live up to our ideals as reporters and cherish the opportunities we have. ”
Stephen McDonnell, China Correspondent, BBC:
“Ted was like Buddha for foreign correspondents in China.
He was the wise one people went to for advice. He was calm, knowledgeable, warm, funny, and extremely generous when it came to helping others.
Many a reporter, from all manner of media outlets, had Ted take them under his wing upon arrival in the Middle Kingdom, passing on advice regarding how to newsgather in China, how to remain sane while doing so and where the best restaurants and music might be found.
He was a leading figure in the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, serving on the board and later turning up to run the elections year after year at the AGM.
With his brilliant sense of humour and musical appreciation, he also penned poems and satirical songs for FCCC events, warming the hearts of his comrades who would clink his glass with a “Great work as always Ted!”.
His decades of knowledge about how China works were not locked inside him but rather a gift to all from a public intellectual who approached the country he loved without fear or favour but also with genuine warmth for the Chinese people who surrounded him for the best part of his life.
To say that he is a loss to the foreign correspondent community in China is an understatement of monumental proportions.
We loved him. And bloody hell we will miss him.”
David Rennie, Geopolitics Editor, The Economist
“Ted was the best sort of foreign correspondent. He was endlessly curious, fascinated by the world, loved people, had an amazing gift for languages, lived for a good joke and a yarn and never lost the sense of adventure and fun that first led him to China as a young traveller nearly 40 years ago. He had better Chinese, longer experience and more impressive contacts than almost anyone else on the Beijing beat, but – unlike some China hands – he wore his knowledge lightly. If you needed someone to drive to the Gobi desert and interview herders in a sandstorm, Ted was your man. If the FCCC wanted someone to write a song about the next Five Year Plan set to a Beach Boys tune, and perform it at a party, Ted was your guy.
He was brave, in part because he was optimistic about human nature. In 1999, when anti-American and anti-NATO protests gripped the Beijing embassy district, many Western correspondents quietly changed their nationalities when questioned by demonstrators (claiming to be Swedish or Swiss was a popular option). Not Ted. I remember bumping into him on Guanghua Lu, surrounded by angry students, doggedly debating with them and assuring them that as an American journalist, he was sure that the United States had no reason to bomb the Chinese embassy in Belgrade on purpose.
Ted was a friend and colleague to so many, but we will miss him with a particular ache of sadness at The Economist. No matter how stressful a day might be, it was instantly brightened by Ted striding into the bureau saying “hello, hello” in that way of his, perhaps with a tennis racket in hand, or the programme from a film festival that he had attended with a Chinese film-director friend. He knew everyone and had been everywhere, and was incredibly generous with his introductions. He was one of the kindest men you could meet. Making him laugh was the best possible reward for sharing a good joke or story. He had such relish for the funny and the witty or the plain goofy. If he shared something funny with Roberta and his children, that was the highest achievement, for nothing mattered to Ted more than his family. The FCCC will miss him too, I have a membership card from 1999 signed with his name as president, and he was a pillar of the club for over a quarter-century. It was an honour to work with him, and to call him a friend.”
Lucy Hornby, former Beijing Correspondent, Reuters and the Financial Times
“Both wise and kind, Ted always had a funny anecdote, a little bit of gentle advice, or some deep knowledge to offer. Reporting on China sometimes felt overwhelmingly busy, but he always had time and a smile. He recounted his experiences with generosity and humor, and always with respect toward the country he called home. His best story was his own — how he came to China for a bike tour in the late ‘80s, fell in love with Roberta, and stayed forever.
Ted helped recruit the journalists’ softball team known as the Sweet Jizhes because his team, the Pinyin Minyan, needed enough teams to play against. When he celebrated his bar mitzvah as an adult, he invited friends young and old from around the world. People came and went from Beijing, but Ted was always there. May his memory be a blessing.”
Marcelo Ninio, Correspondent, O Globo
“Ted filled rooms with heart, never ego. Always ready to share his knowledge, music and sense of humor, without making a fuss. He will be dearly missed and always remembered.”
Jonathan Cheng, China Bureau Chief, Wall Street Journal
“Ted, together with Roberta, was a pillar of Beijing’s expat-journo community, but that kind of description belies how easy and how fun he was to be around. It’s natural with the passage of time to grow more cynical in China, what with all the headaches and pitfalls of life as a foreign correspondent here. But Ted’s many years here, rather than produce cynicism, seemed to do the opposite — Ted was ever-joyful, ever-sarcastic, and ever-generous, bringing the very best of Jersey to Beijing.”