For the first time in five decades there are now no Australian news outlets with a correspondent in the People’s Republic of China.

Mike Smith, from The Australian Financial Review, fled his Shanghai home late last year after he and ABC reporter Bill Birtles came under an unacceptable level of pressure from Chinese authorities.

His new book, The Last Correspondent, describes his dramatic exit from the country as well as what life is like for people in a country that's seen huge political and social upheaval in the last two decades.

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