In memoriam: our colleague, Li Xing

Our colleague Li Xing died unexpectedly in Washington DC on Aug 7. We, her longtime editors and colleagues, wish to pay tribute to our dear friend.

We first met Li Xing in 1981 when we came from the Boston Globe to help found China Daily. Li Xing had just graduated from Beijing Foreign Languages Institute and, along with a half a dozen other young recruits, was sent to the University of Hawaii to study for a year.

In those days, college graduates were assigned to China Daily; for many of them, it was simply a job. For Li Xing it was, as she often said, a passion. She had an instinct for a good story, and a determination to get to the bottom of it, that is recognizable in any language.