In March 2018, The Australian Financial Review’s China correspondent Michael Smith was granted a rare interview with China’s richest man, Jack Ma. The founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba was a national hero in China at the time and a poster child for the country’s economic boom. Three years later, Ma fell out of favour with Chinese President Xi Jinping after openly criticising the country’s banking system. Alibaba was fined $3.7 billion for anti-competitive behaviour and Ma is reportedly preparing to relinquish his stake in the company. However, his wealth jumped $3 billion this month after his record fine.

In this extract from Smith’s book, The Last Correspondent, he writes about the lasting effects of meeting Ma.