Wade Shepard

Wade Shepard is an itinerant writer and documentary filmmaker who has been traveling the world since 1999, visiting more than 90 countries and documenting the transformation of cities and societies along the way. He is the author of Ghost Cities of China, which chronicles two years spent in China’s rapidly developing new urban areas, and is currently preparing a new book on the New Silk Road.

Since 2016, he has been a regular contributor to Forbes, while also writing for The Guardian, the South China Morning Post, and Bloomberg. His work has been featured on BBC World, VICE, NPR Morning Edition, CNBC Squawk Box, and CBC The Current, bringing his insights on global development to wide international audiences.

In addition to his writing, Shepard has worked as a documentary filmmaker since 2019, expanding his storytelling into film to capture the cultural, economic, and social changes he has observed first-hand. His career blends travel, journalism, and filmmaking into a body of work that reflects the shifting dynamics of the modern world.