My name is Zichen Wang. I’m the Founder and Editor of this newsletter. After growing up and earning a bachelor’s degree in the Chinese mainland, I worked for Xinhua News Agency for 11 years, including 29 months in the European Union. In October 2022, I joined the Center for China and Globalization (CCG), a leading non-government think tank in China, where I’m currently Research Fellow and Director for International Communications.
Pekingnology has been quoted as a source of content in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Times of London, Bloomberg, 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.
I was recently interviewed on the China Field Notes podcast by Dr. Scott Kennedy, senior adviser and Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where I was generously referred to as “a rising star amongst Chinese public intellectuals.”
It is a unique China newsletter in that it was started from 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 features the recommendations from David Rennie, Beijing Bureau Chief of The Economist, and Dr. Robert Lawrence Kuhn, author of The Man Who Changed China: The Life and Legacy of Jiang Zemin. The China Britain Business Council, a trade body representing British companies in China, recommended Pekingnology as No.2 among "10 Essential China Newsletters."
I founded Pekingnology as a personal project in May 2020 while I was the Brussels correspondent 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 Editor of The East is Read and CCG Update, CCG’s two other newsletters.
