In 2007, Al Jazeera English hired Chan to work as a China correspondent at the network's Beijing bureau. During her five years with Al Jazeera English, she filed some 400 reports, including stories on land confiscation and so-called "black jails." Chan also reported stories from North Korea. In 2010, Chan wrote about the use of the money allocated to help survivors and for reconstruction following the 2010 Yushu earthquake. The Government of China passed a regulation requiring major NGOs to transfer all donations for the reconstruction to the local administrators. Officials say it's to better track - and make better use of - the US $1.57 billion in donations to help victims. But such a move has never happened before, and it sets a precedent which some say is a step backwards for civil society in China, putting all NGOs firmly under government control.