My name is Zichen Wang. I’m the Founder and Editor of the Pekingnology newsletter. After growing up in China and earning a bachelor’s degree from Shandong Economic University (now Shandong University of Finance and Economics) in July 2011, I worked for Xinhua News Agency for over 11 years, including 29 months in Brussels, covering the European Union. In October 2022, I left Xinhua and joined the Center for China and Globalization (CCG), a leading non-government think tank in Beijing, where I’m Research Fellow and Director for International Communications.
Starting July 2024, I’m a student in the mid-career Master in Public Policy (MPP) at the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University, fully funded by an SPIA fellowship.
Pekingnology is a unique China newsletter in that it was started from scratch within China's state apparatus without official approval, attracted a significant number of high-impact international subscribers, and developed credibility and respect in the China-watching community in the West, at a time when China-U.S. relations dived to a historic low, China stepped up its criticism of the West, and the West approached Chinese actors - especially those with a background in the state apparatus - with increasing suspicion.
Pekingnology has been quoted as a source in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Times of London, Bloomberg, The Guardian, The Times of India, etc. Referred to as a “China expert” by Foreign Policy, I have been briefly profiled in The Guardian and quoted in the Wall Street Journal, China.Table, etc.
The China Britain Business Council, a trade body representing British companies in China, recommended Pekingnology as No.2 among "10 Essential China Newsletters."
My Select Media Appearances
Richard Koo and Zichen Wang on What Just Happened in China, October 2024, Odd Lots, Bloomberg.
Sinica Unscripted: A Conversation with Wang Zichen, July 2024, Sinica/Kaiser Kuo
Wang Zichen on Bridging the Understanding Gap between the U.S. and China, May 2024, The Wire China
China’s Communication Strategies for International Engagement, April 2024, Salzburg Global Seminar
A New Generation of Chinese Intellectuals: Wang Zichen of the Center for China and Globalization, October 2023, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
I founded Pekingnology as a personal project in May 2020 while I was the EU correspondent in Brussels for Xinhua. Per my agreement with CCG, I brought Pekingnology to CCG and I’ll remain its Editor. CCG takes no position on issues raised here.
Founded and led by Henry Huiyao Wang and Mable Lu Miao, CCG has been granted the official special consultative status by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC) as a “non-governmental organization.” In the 2020 Global Go To Think Tank Index by the University of Pennsylvania Think Tank and Civil Society Program (TTCSP), CCG ranked 64th of the top think tanks worldwide and among the top 50 “best independent think tanks.” CCG has also been recognized as a “4A non-governmental organization” by the Beijing Municipal Government civil affairs department.
The Chinese government does NOT have a budget for CCG, so the think tank relies on donations and grants from corporations and individuals, as well as income from services to public and private sectors, such as researching, convening, training, and publishing. Feel free to reply to this email to engage with me and CCG.
I’m also the Editor of The East is Read and CCG Update, CCG’s two other newsletters, where Ms. Yuxuan Jia plays an instrumental role. Yuxuan joined CCG right after graduating from Beijing Foreign Studies University.
