Jessie is a London-based writer and award-winning journalist from Hong Kong
Hi there—I’m an independent writer, artist and multi-platform journalist. I tell global stories with an intersectional feminist approach. I’ve spent the past decade covering human rights, politics and culture from Asia, Europe and the United States. My essays and reportage have appeared in The Guardian, BBC, Los Angeles Review of Books, CNN, Times Literary Supplement, WIRED, The Economist and many more publications. I was shortlisted for the inaugural Philip Hoare Prize for international creative non-fiction, and my journalism has been recognised by the World Association of News Publishers, among others.
A persistent generalist with expertise on China and Asia, I’m most interested in transnational stories grappling with gender, race, and empire. Founder of New Tide, the UK’s first ESEA journalism network, I also serve as head of the magazine team at the global non-profit NüVoices and contributing editor at Translator, a publication of translated journalism. Read a selection of my stories below + commission/pitch me here!
‘She didn’t realise how dangerous it was’: London-bound student held in China over Tibet support
Zhang Yadi was due to begin a degree in the UK but the activist vanished on holiday amid tensions over Dalai Lama.
A dystopian film ages into realism
A decade ago, Hong Kong filmmakers asked what their city would look like under Chinese control in 2025. Now, their banned dystopian hit is being brought to Britain on its ten year anniversary, by diaspora artists fighting against censorship.
China’s cyber-abuse scandal: is the government unwilling to crack down on exploitation of women online?
Secretly filmed images of women are spreading online, yet the authorities seem more focused on censorship than punishing the perpetrators, critics say.
In Hong Kong, domestic workers must walk a precarious tightrope. One stumble can be disastrous
Precarious labor conditions and restrictive government policies set domestic workers up to fail, advocates say.
Planning my multicultural wedding was already difficult. Finding a dress was even harder
I wrote about how my wedding dress anxieties became less about the look itself, and more about what it had come to represent—my identity in a mixed-race marriage.
Can AI speak the language Japan tried to kill?
More than a century after colonisation, the Ainu language almost vanished. Now machines are listening to hours of old recordings and learning to give it a new voice.
“We’re All Chinese, Aren’t We?”
Jessie Lau ponders Emily Feng’s book “Let Only Red Flowers Bloom: Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping’s China.”
Fake steps and point farms: How 'addicted' gamers are cheating a Chinese app designed to help the climate
An acclaimed Chinese app game was designed to encourage green behaviour. But some users are gaming the system—by paying others to help them rack up points and even buying devices that rock their phones to artificially boost their step count
Hong Kong’s Democratic Diaspora Is Embracing British Elections
A recently arrived voting bloc could decide seats in London
Beijing erases memory of ‘white paper’ protests in further threat to journalism
Silencing of a film-maker documenting the widespread 2022 demonstrations against Covid controls is part of rising suppression of press freedom
Threats, fear and surveillance: how Beijing targets students in the UK who criticise regime
Chinese students tell the Guardian they are scared to return home and worry for their families after being followed and harassed
Beijing accused of using spying, threats and blackmail against Tibetan exiles
China ‘threatens relatives in Tibet’ to exert control over activists in exile, with greater transnational repression at Tibetan new year
Elderly Uyghur women imprisoned in China for decades-old religious ‘crimes’, leaked files reveal
Hundreds of women sentenced for practices such as studying the Qur’an, dating back as far back as 60s and 70s, analysis of Chinese police files shows
‘It’s difficult to survive’: China’s LGBTQ+ advocates face jail and forced confession
Trans and queer people and their supporters suffer ‘systemic persecution’ as the party pushes increasingly conservative values
‘Looty’: How a dog stolen from China sparked a British luxury craze
Meet “Looty,” a dog stolen by the British in the looting of China’s Old Summer Palace and gifted to the queen. Her journey sparked a craze–and left behind a legacy mired in British imperialism and racism
Uyghur filmmaker faces trial in Xinjiang and alleges torture
Ikram Nurmehmet, a director known for featuring Uyghur protagonists, faced trial in Xinjiang and alleges authorities tortured him in detention
Deported to a Country You Can’t Remember
Former child refugee Phoeun You was paroled from California’s San Quentin State Prison in 2021–only to be deported to Cambodia. He’s free, but can’t return to the only home he remembers
I Was a Chinese Protester. Here’s Why I Risked My Freedom
Speaking over an encrypted messaging app, “Zhao” reflected on the demonstrations and the young people powering them
Chinese Students Are At The Forefront Of Anti-Lockdown Protests
Young people in China are finding their political awakening