Francis Markus, the former BBC Shanghai correspondent who later dedicated his career to humanitarian work across Asia, has died aged 65 of cancer. He was known for his deep compassion and tireless reporting on human stories, from suicide-watchers on a Yangtze River bridge to the lives of people affected by HIV.
Early life and education
Born in Southgate, north London, Markus was the son of Peter Markus, an electrical engineer, and Anna (née Somogyi), an artist and puppeteer. He attended Highgate School before studying at New College, Oxford, where he initially pursued French and German but soon switched to Chinese and Japanese. After graduating in 1983, he spent a year in Shanghai on a British Council scholarship, mastering the notoriously difficult Shanghainese dialect.
Career at the BBC
Markus began his journalism career as a subeditor for Agence France Presse in Paris. He then joined the BBC World Service, where he spent about 15 years as a producer and presenter covering east and south-east Asia. He spoke some 10 languages fluently, including his parents' native Hungarian. His reporting trips included an epic journey through the Russian far east into northern China before he moved to Shanghai as a correspondent in 2002.
While at the BBC, Markus demonstrated an unerring news sense, covering protests in Hong Kong and social change in China. He was always prepared to go the extra mile for a story, whether dodging government minders to interview North Korean refugees or venturing out in his pyjamas to report on why Shanghai residents often went shopping in their sleepwear.
Humanitarian work
After leaving the BBC in 2005, Markus joined the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Beijing as a communications delegate. He raised awareness of the federation's work in some of China's poorest regions and of famine in North Korea. He also returned to Oxford to study forced migration, a key concern of his.
From 2014 to 2016, he worked for the UNHCR and the ICRC in Geneva before relocating to Nepal and then Thailand. There, he promoted coverage of the Rohingya refugee crisis on the Myanmar-Bangladesh border. From 2021 onward, he worked for the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Personal life and legacy
Markus's commitment to humanitarian issues never diminished his irreverent sense of fun. A fantastic mimic, he could compose impromptu limericks in almost any circumstances. His kindness and generosity of spirit made him much loved by colleagues and friends worldwide. Meeting Wang Yuehua, a university teacher, made him very happy, and in 2006 they entered a civil partnership, eventually settling in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. Yuehua survives him.
