Frank Langfitt is NPR's London correspondent, covering
Brexit, terrorism and other stories in Western Europe. Before
coming to the United Kingdom, he spent a decade as a reporter in
China, most recently as NPR's correspondent in Shanghai, where he
drove a free taxi around the city for a series on a changing China
as seen through the eyes of ordinary people. Langfitt got the idea
for the series from his experience decades earlier driving taxis in
Philadelphia during summers home from college. The NPR radio series
inspired his first book, "The Shanghai Free Taxi: Journeys with the
Hustlers and Rebels of the New China."
In 2008, Langfitt covered the Beijing Olympics as a member of NPR's
team, which won an Edward R. Murrow Award for sports reporting.
From 1997 to 2002, he was the Baltimore Sun's Beijing
correspondent, covering a swath of Asia from the Khyber Pass to
East Timor. Langfitt is a graduate of Princeton and was a Nieman
Fellow at Harvard. He lives outside London with his wife, Julie,
and their two children. Follow him on Twitter @franklangfitt
"A fascinating travelogue slash meditation on modern China . . . it
is Langfitt's skill with the written word and his ability to
establish ideas through vivid examples that sets his work
apart."---That's Shanhai
"An engaging and dynamic narrative that offers readers an unusual
perspective on modern China."---The Washington Post
"As Washington risks a new cold war with Beijing, Langfitt excels
at humanising a country increasingly presented in purely
oppositional terms . . . achieves a breadth rarely found in
journalistic accounts of the country."---Financial Times
"The book is a master class on how to chronicle a changing country
through the personal narratives of its citizens."---NPR
"does a great job of not romanticising the West . . . His
comparisons of old and new China are informative and accurate . . .
a comprehensive narrative of (the) New China."--Cha
"Drawing on years of reporting, he provides context and a broader
picture to anchor the narrative's kaleidoscope of characters,
experiences, and opinions, making for a heartfelt, engaging, and
informative read."--Booklist
"Langfitt is an amiable, informed correspondent, and there is much
to enjoy here for those looking to learn about modern China: for
anyone in a Beijing-bound cab from the airport, forget about
probing your cabbie for some home-spun authentic wisdom, and enjoy
a few chapters of The Shanghai Free Taxi instead."--Jonathan
Chatwin, Asian Review of Books
"Lively, humorous, and touching, the book exposes the struggles of
regular people in conflict with an authoritarian state. Without
judgment, the author/driver allows his subjects to narrate their
own adventures, leading to honest, raw, human stories."--Kirkus
Reviews
"By creating a free taxi and offering free rides, veteran NPR
reporter Frank Langfitt takes us on a journey across China and into
the soul of today's Chinese civilization. We learn how a wide cross
section of Chinese people live and think as the author provides an
up-close view of their fears and aspirations and the forces that
shape their lives in ways good and bad. I have lived in China for
thirty years, and this book gave me new insights and brought me to
places I have never been. Truly unique and compelling."--James L.
McGregor, chairman of APCO Worldwide's greater China region and
author of No Ancient Wisdom, No Followers and One Billion
Customers
"The Shanghai Free Taxi presents a unique, kaleidoscopic view
of Chinese society. Characters in this book open up, talking freely
and truthfully in a way unimaginable elsewhere under the oppressive
regime. It is a must read for anyone trying to gain rare and
insightful glimpses into that complicated country."--Qiu Xiaolong,
author of Shanghai Redemption and nine other Inspector
Chen novels
"A cleverly conceived, well executed book by an engaging and
empathetic storyteller. Langfitt offers up an appealing mix of
humorous and poignant tales featuring individuals from different
backgrounds who share just one common trait: all are struggling to
find their places in and make sense of an era when their city,
their country and the world at large have been undergoing complex
and often confounding transformations."--Jeffrey Wasserstrom,
coauthor of China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to
Know
"A delightful, poignant, and revealing book. Langfitt got to see
inside the lives of Chinese families of all backgrounds and social
classes, and from many parts of the country. The result is a vivid
look at the contradictory dreams, achievements, heartbreaks, and
possibilities of modern China."--James Fallows, author of Our Towns
and China Airborne
"An energetic and sympathetic reporter, Frank Langfitt follows
individuals not only to the far ends of China, but also to the
United States and Europe. Challenging to report but easy to read,
this book reveals China's true transition: a profound search for
identity in the world at large."--Peter Hessler, New York
Times-bestselling author of Country Driving, Oracle Bones, and
River Town
"Frank Langfitt devised an ingenious way to burrow into everyday
Chinese life, and he came back with stories that are humane,
candid, fast-paced, and compulsively readable. The Shanghai Free
Taxi gives you the marrow of today's China in all its kindnesses
and cruelties and wonders and absurdities."--Evan Osnos, author of
Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New
China, National Book Award winner
"Frank Langfitt writes with the streetwise eye of a cabbie and the
analytical mind of a foreign correspondent. This is today's China
as it gossips; gripes and moans; strives; struggles; and
overcomes."--Paul French, author of City of Devils and Midnight in
Peking
"Frank Langfitt's stint as a taxi driver collecting tales of modern
China has created a rollicking, delightful read. Enchanting."--Mei
Fong, author of One Child, and Pulitzer Prize winner
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