Jonathan Cheng

Jonathan Cheng is the China bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, overseeing the Journal's coverage of the world's second-largest economy across a range of areas, including politics, economics, business, technology, and society. Mr. Cheng oversees a team of more than two dozen correspondents and researchers in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore, and New York with responsibility for the Chinese mainland and Taiwan.

 

Previously, Mr. Cheng was the Seoul bureau chief for the Journal, running coverage of the Korean Peninsula, including North Korea and South Korean politics and business. He began his career as an intern in the Journal's Hong Kong bureau, and has also worked as a markets reporter in the Journal's New York office.

 

Mr. Cheng speaks English, Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese, French, and Korean. A native of Toronto, Canada, Mr. Cheng graduated from Princeton University with a degree in history.

 

His first book, Korean Messiah: Kim Il Sung and the Christian Roots of North Korea's Personality Cult, will be published by Alfred A. Knopf in April 2026.