Making News: Mia’ story of being a journalist

Author’s words: November 8 is Journalists’ Day in China. This is an appropriate time to explore a journalist’s career. Mia is my undergraduate classmate, we spent four years together at FDU. It has been a long time since we graduated. I took the opportunity of this interview to catch up with her current situation. I gained a lot of courage from her experience and reflected on my future plans.

If you search for the name “Mia Nulimaimaiti” on the South China Morning Post（SCMP）’s official website, you will find more than 150 news articles she has contributed to, which marked her career in journalism since 2021.

Why Journalist?

Mia joined the Political Economy team of SCMP as an intern in December 2021. At that time she was a postgraduate student in journalism at Hong Kong University after she obtained a bachelor’s degree at Fudan University in June 2021. In August 2022, Mia became a regular employee of SCMP.

“I didn’t expect myself to be a journalist at the very beginning.” Recalling her studenthood, she says. “I even swore in my dorm that I would never be a journalist”. For Mia, being a journalist was about opportunity and exploration rather than a predetermined target. However, Mia’s career path has traces to follow. The education at FDU provided her with professional abilities in the media area, such as critical thinking, data analysis, and information collecting. “I found some rare data for an article about the ‘low-end population’ in China, and I am very grateful for this skill I learned in FDU.”

Meanwhile, taking advantage of employment resources at HKU, Mia shaped herself into a practical and mature reporter through three internships in NBC, Bloomberg, and SCMP respectively. There were certainly anxious moments. To balance internships and studies, Mia sometimes only ate an apple for lunch to save time. “I ended up being one of the few students in the school of journalism who is literally making news,” she says. When her original article was reprinted by other media, or receiving long feedback emails from readers, Mia felt it was the highlight of her career as a journalist.

A Uighur in Hong Kong

Mia is an ethnic minority in northwest China, a Uighur girl from Xinjiang. Her hometown is in the hinterland of the continent, with a dry climate, quite the opposite of Hong Kong. Despite the remote distance, Mia’s family is very supportive of her adventure. “My parents and my brother have always lived in a small town, and I’m the only one who’s far away”.

She once wrote an article focusing on China’s youth unemployment, especially in rural areas. “Because I’m from a small town”. She expressed deep concern about the young people’s living circumstances and interviewed six students, including one girl learning Hungarian who had to give up the chance to exchange in Hungary due to financial problems. “It’s also memorable that another student yielded up the internship at a renowned tech company because of the exorbitant rents in Shanghai”. Mia acknowledges that acquiring a decent job and receiving a superior education is not only about individual effort but also luckiness.

Mia went through a hard time in Hong Kong because of covid-19 epidemic. Nonetheless, She thinks optimistically that she experienced the purest culture of Hong Kong——“no mainland tourists, no foreign tourists, just local people”, and “I think it’s the only time in history that I can experience Hong Kong like this.” As a Chinese, a Uighur, and a Hong Kong journalis, Mia is always trying to be a reflective actor, meeting the principle of objectivity in SCMP, instead of being confused about her multicultural background.

Next Stop

From Xinjiang to Hong Kong, Mia’s next journey is to London. Part of the reason is her boyfriend, “a half French, half Spanish guy”, who is about to study at the LSE. “We exchange our views on Chinese society, and European problems as well”. Recently Mia has been traveling in Europe, meeting her boyfriend’s family. “When I was leaving, his mother kept hugging me,” says Mia. “We take each other’s future development into account, so leaving Hong Kong is not a kind of sacrifice for me. We have decided to go back to Asia after 30.”

At this very moment, Mia is encountering a point of career choice. Transferring to the London agency of SCMP or applying for a position in another media organization? “Honestly, I haven’t decided yet,” says Mia. “I am a stubborn person, never setting limits for myself”. In her opinion, unknown possibilities are the beauty of choice.