For the last 4 years, Howard W. French has served as the journalistic bridge between Shanghai and the rest of the world. Following posts in Africa, the Caribbean, Central America and Tokyo, French became the Shanghai Bureau Chief of The New York Times in 2003 and has covered China's drastic economic, political and social changes of the 21st century, what many have called "The Chinese Century." As well as regular reporting for the Times and International Herald Tribune, French wrote the acclaimed non-fiction work, A Continent for the Taking, in 2004 and is an accomplished photographer. His recent New York Times photo essay, "An Outsider's Camera Provides a Ticket Into a Secret World," examines the hidden pockets of old Shanghai tucked between "flashy new neighborhoods composed of jostling skyscrapers or roped off by looping expressways." Howard W. French talked to Small Swords about photographing Shanghai, the future of English-language journalism in China and sharing a middle initial with America's president.

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