Jessie Yeung
Asia Pacific Writer, CNN Digital Worldwide
Jessie Yeung is the Asia Pacific Writer for CNN Digital Worldwide, based in Hong Kong.
Features
Why Chinese students are taking graduation photos looking 'more dead than alive'
By Jessie Yeung and CNN's Beijing bureau
China's youth are anxious and disenchanted after graduating into a dire job market. Their graduation photos reflect this exhaustion.
The fight to free Asia's farmed bears
By Jessie Yeung, CNN
In several Asian countries, bears are kept in captivity so their bile can be extracted and used in traditional medicines. Activists are trying to end what they say is a cruel and unsustainable practice.
They left South Korea for the American Dream. Now their children are moving back
By Jessie Yeung and Jake Kwon, CNN
Many Korean-Americans had parents who immigrated to the US decades ago, leaving behind a poor postwar South Korea in pursuit of the American Dream -- only to see the next generation make the reverse journey back. But going home isn't so easy.
How a deadly fire ignited dissent over China's zero-Covid policy
By Jessie Yeung, Carlotta Dotto and Henrik Pettersson, CNN
Stunning scenes of dissent and defiance across China in 2022 marked the country's largest protests in decades -- and an unprecedented challenge to leader Xi Jinping.
A world looks away from Myanmar's descent into horror
By Sandi Sidhu, Jessie Yeung, Salai TZ and Ivan Watson, CNN
Two years after the military seized power in a bloody coup, Myanmar is being rocked by violence and instability, as rebel groups fight back deep in the jungle.
The rise of South Korea's virtual influencers
Jessie Yeung and Gawon Bae, CNN
The "virtual human" industry is booming, along with a whole new economy in which the influencers of the future are forever young, beautiful and scandal-free.
She was attacked in the street for being Asian. Her community still lives in fear
Story by Jessie Yeung, CNN
Photos by Rico Cruz, CNN
One spring morning last year, Vilma Kari was strolling through midtown Manhattan on her way to church when she was suddenly attacked by a stranger.
She was sold to a stranger so her family could eat as Afghanistan crumbles
By Anna Coren, Jessie Yeung and Abdul Basir Bina, CNN
Desperate Afghan families are selling their daughters to strangers as child brides as the country's humanitarian crisis deepens.
Under Philippine law, 12-year-olds can consent to sex. Activists are trying to change that
By Jessie Yeung, CNN
The country has the lowest age of sexual consent in Asia, and one of the lowest in the world.
Interactive
When love is not enough
Millions of Filipinos work abroad to support their families back home. Eight mothers and children share their stories of separation.
In China, 80,000 children are 'snatched' each year by parents fighting for custody
By Jessie Yeung, CNN
Tens of thousands of children are abducted and hidden in divorce cases each year, mostly involving sons under six years old.
Why 1.2 billion people share the same 100 surnames in China
By Jessie Yeung, CNN
If you stop a random person on the street in China, there's a pretty good chance their surname would be either Wang, Li, Zhang, Liu or Chen.
Interactive
How six months of unrest criminalized a generation
Hong Kong's young protesters have led the movement, but could be the ones paying the price -- an entire generation criminalized, in a fight for their future which could end up costing them just that.
Spat at, segregated, policed: Hong Kong has a racism problem
By Jessie Yeung, CNN
Zaran Vachha was born and raised in Hong Kong. Yet the 34-year-old, of Indian, Iranian, Malay and Sri Lankan descent, says the Chinese city has never treated him like one of its own.
MSG in Chinese food isn't unhealthy -- you're just racist, activists say
Analysis by Jessie Yeung, CNN
If you've heard of the term "MSG," you might have also heard of its common -- but inaccurate -- connotations.
Latest stories
About
Jessie Yeung is the Asia Pacific Writer for CNN Digital Worldwide, based in Hong Kong. She writes breaking news, analysis, and features on social issues in the Asia Pacific region, as well as contributing to CNN's three-times-per-week Meanwhile in China newsletter.
At CNN, she has covered the Covid-19 pandemic in Asia, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan and ensuing humanitarian crisis, the 2021 Myanmar coup, and the 2019 Hong Kong pro-democracy protests.
Her reporting has also explored regional and international social issues including Asian American identity, poor conditions for migrant workers in Hong Kong and the difficulties of Filipina mothers working overseas.
Before joining CNN's Hong Kong bureau in 2019, Yeung wrote for CNN in New York. As a member of CNN's Now Team bringing live coverage to CNN's digital and social platforms, she covered major breaking news including the Notre Dame fire, the 2018 U.S. midterm elections, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
Prior to CNN, Yeung wrote for publications including Time Out, Passport Magazine, and Hong Kong Living.
Yeung holds a bachelor's degree in English and American Literature from New York University. She is originally from Hong Kong, and speaks Mandarin and Cantonese.