Richard Bernstein (born May 5, 1944) is an American
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
,
columnist
A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...
, and author. He wrote the ''Letter from America'' column for the ''
International Herald Tribune
The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France for international English-speaking readers. It had the aim of becoming "the world's first global newspaper" and could fairly be said ...
''. He has been a book critic at ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' and a foreign correspondent for both ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine and ''The New York Times'' in Europe and Asia.
Early life and education
Richard Bernstein was born
[New York Times: "The Meaning of Life" By ALEXANDER FRATER]
March 25, 2001 in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
but grew up on a
poultry
Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for their eggs, their meat or their feathers. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes (which includes chickens, quails, a ...
farm in
East Haddam
East Haddam is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut. The population was 8,875 at the time of the 2020 census.
History
Until 1650, the area of East Haddam was inhabited by at least three Indigenous peoples: the Wangunk, the Mohegan and the Ni ...
,
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
. After graduating from Nathan Hale-Ray High School, he earned a
B.A.
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
in history from the
University of Connecticut
The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...
and an
M.A.
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
in History and East Asian Languages from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
.
[Richard Bernstein website: "About Me"]
retrieved February 16, 2013 In 1971, he moved to Taiwan to study
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
.
Career
In 1973, Bernstein joined the staff of ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine tasked with writing about Asia. In 1979, he opened the magazine's first bureau in the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
and served as the first
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
bureau chief. In 1982, he accepted a position with ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' where he served as the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
Bureau Chief,
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 kmĀ² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
Bureau Chief, National Cultural Correspondent, book critic, and
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
Bureau Chief.
Published works
Bernstein's first book, ''From the Center of the Earth: The Search for the Truth About China'' (1982), was named one of the "Notable Books of the Year 1982" by ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' and solidified his reputation as a China expert. ''The Coming Conflict with China'' (1997) was chosen as one of ''The New York Times'' "Notable Books of the Year 1997."
Bibliography
*''From the Center of the Earth: The Search for the Truth About China'' (1982)
*''Fragile Glory: A Portrait of France and the French'' (1990)
*''Dictatorship of Virtue: Multiculturalism and the Battle for America's Future'' (1994)
*''
The Coming Conflict with China
''The Coming Conflict With China'' is a 1997 book by Richard Bernstein and Ross H. Munro. The book argued that conflict between the United States and the People's Republic of China would dominate the early decades of the 21st century and advoca ...
'' (1997), with Ross. H. Munro
*''Ultimate Journey: Retracing the Path of an Ancient Buddhist Monk Who Crossed Asia in Search of Enlightenment'' (2001)
*''Out of the Blue: The Story of September 11, 2001, from Jihad to Ground Zero'' (2002)
*''The East, the West, and Sex: A History of Erotic Encounters'' (2009)
*''A Girl Named Faithful Plum: The Story of a Dancer from China and How She Achieved Her Dream'' (2012)
*''China 1945'' (2014)
Personal life
Bernstein lives in the
Park Slope
Park Slope is a neighborhood in northwestern Brooklyn, New York City, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park and Prospect Park West to the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Flatbush Aven ...
neighborhood of
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. His wife is
Zhongmei Li
Jiangxi Zhongmei Engineering Construction is a Chinese construction and engineering firm in the construction fields of roads, housing, public works, urban rail, mines, and hydropower as well as the installation of mechanical and electrical equi ...
, a Chinese classical dancer who worked with Jia Zhoungli and whom he met at a New York film screening.
She attended the
Beijing Dance Academy
The Beijing Dance Academy (BDA, ) is a municipal public professional dance college at Haidian, Beijing. The academy is the highest institution for dance education and assessment in the People's Republic of China, conducting the nationwide teache ...
for 7 years (1978-1984) and founded the New York-based Zhongmei Dance Company in 1992. Their son, Elias, attends
Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School (pronounced ), commonly referred to among its students as Stuy (pronounced ), is a State school, public university-preparatory school, college-preparatory, Specialized high schools in New York City, specialized high school ...
.
References
External links
Biographyat
Random House
Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
Profileat ''
New York Review of Books
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
''
Articlesat ''The New York Times''
Articlesat ''Time''
with ''Bold Type Magazine''
Interviewwith
Charlie Rose
Charles Peete Rose Jr. (born January 5, 1942) is an American former television journalist and talk show host. From 1991 to 2017, he was the host and executive producer of the talk show '' Charlie Rose'' on PBS and Bloomberg LP.
Rose also co-an ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernstein, Richard
1944 births
Living people
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
International Herald Tribune people
American newspaper reporters and correspondents
American columnists
Jewish American journalists
The New York Times writers
Journalists from New York City
People from East Haddam, Connecticut
Journalists from Connecticut
University of Connecticut alumni
20th-century American journalists
American male journalists
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American journalists
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American Jews
American expatriates in Taiwan