In addition to articles about a range of subjects, he has specialised in books about China, including the murder mystery Midnight in Peking and the biography Her Lotus Year about Wallis Simpson in China.
After university, French worked briefly for Time Out magazine and Euromonitor in London before relocating to Shanghai.
In September 2011 Access Asia was acquired by the London-based market research company Mintel.
He is the author of the fortnightly "Crime and the City" column for Literary Hub.
French was also a member of the editorial advisory board for Anthem Press's ‘China in the Twenty First Century’ series and the Honorary Research and Publications Director for the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland – China Branch.