Rui Chenggang

Rui Chenggang (; born September 24, 1977) is a Chinese media personality. He rose to prominence in the late 2000s as a news anchor and journalist for China Central Television, where he became the state broadcaster's go-to interviewer for business and political leaders, noted for his fluent English and sometimes controversial, nationalistic style.

Rui was detained in July 2014 on suspicion of bribery, with a sentence from 2015 to 2020. After his release, he has worked as an investor. In October 2024 he launched his YouTube channel.

Career

Rui was born in Hefei, Anhui in 1977. He went to No. 8 Middle School in Hefei, and was the president of the student council. In 1995 during gaokao exams, Rui ranked first among social science and humanities students in his city, and ranked fourth in his province. He was admitted to the International Economics program in the English Department at China Foreign Affairs University in 1995. He represented China at the 1998 International Public Speaking Competition.

In 2000, Rui joined China Central Television and became one of the first reporters and news anchors at the state broadcaster's newly launched English language channel CCTV-9, the first and only 24hr, news-oriented international TV channel of China. Rui's prime-time daily business newscast BizChina quickly grew into the flagship program that delivers Chinese business and markets news, data and analysis to the English speaking audience worldwide. His nightly financial news program attracted 13 million viewers. By 2014, Rui had gathered millions of followers on various social media sites and was considered a 'star anchor' for CCTV. His fluent English speaking abilities made him a symbol of the "globalization of the economics channel of CCTV". The following day, media reports revealed that Rui had been taken into custody. Apart from sporadic media reports speculating on his whereabouts, it is not clear what happened to Rui after 2014, until he was sentenced to six years in prison in 2016 by the court of Jilin Province for alleged bribery. Rui's sentence ran from May 18, 2015, to December 11, 2020.

Comeback On October 21, 2024, after disappearing from the public eye for ten years, Rui reemerged on YouTube, which is banned in China, with a video titled "Rui Chenggang is back." In the video, he acknowledged being confined for six and a half years, but refuted rumors about his involvement in an espionage case or sex scandals. Rui also revealed that he now works as an investor. Starbucks removed the store from the Forbidden City half a year later.

At the 2010 G20 Seoul summit, Rui attracted controversy when U.S. President Barack Obama said he would give the final question at a press conference to South Korean media. When no one in the South Korea media crew responded, Rui raised his hand and was called on by President Obama. Rui then opened his question with "I'm actually Chinese, but I think I get to represent the entire Asia".

On September 14, 2011, during the Summer Davos Forum in Dalian, Rui questioned Gary Locke, the U.S. Ambassador to China at the time, about his decision to fly economy class to China, asking whether it was intended to remind the world that the U.S. owed money to China. Locke responded that as a U.S. government official, it was standard practice for him—along with consular officials, embassy staff, and even members of the President's Cabinet—to travel in economy class for official trips. Following the exchange, Rui commented on Weibo, stating: "He seizes every opportunity to relentlessly promote American values, highlighting the good while rarely mentioning the bad. That is his job. Among all U.S. ambassadors to China, he is perhaps the most eager and skilled at self-promotion. Whether it's carrying a backpack, drinking coffee, taking a shuttle bus, or flying economy class, he ensures that these moments are precisely captured, shared, and discussed. As a former governor, he certainly understands how the media works."