About
Who We Are
ChinaFile is a new not-for-profit, English-language, online magazine published by the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society.
Why We’re Here
We hope to help facilitate a broad, well-informed, nuanced, and vibrant public conversation about China in the U.S. and elsewhere in the English-speaking world.
What We Do
We Curate
Coverage of China has proliferated and become more diffuse. Some coverage deserves more attention than it gets. Some gets more attention than it deserves. ChinaFile’s editors bring order, clarity, and a discerning if affectionate eye to the flood of commentary and reporting on China.
Every day, we sift through coverage of China to highlight and translate pieces that are particularly insightful, well-reported, informative, or otherwise worth reading.
We Syndicate, We Archive
Some China coverage is built to last. We find it, we archive it, and we make it easy for you to use and enjoy. Our current partners include: The New York Review of Books, The Atlantic, Caixin, The Hong Kong Economic Journal, the websites chinadialogue, Tea Leaf Nation, and CNPolitics, and the bilingual arts and literature magazines LEAP and Chutzpah.
We Commission, We Produce
When we come across underreported subjects, innovative, elegant storytelling, sharp analysis, experts interested in engaging newcomers, Chinese analysts who want to write for international audiences, or questions we feel haven’t been adequately explained by other publications, we commission and produce our own content. Our contributors are freelancers and regular columnists working both inside and outside of China.
Twice weekly, The ChinaFile Conversation brings together a group of experts to discuss and debate the news of the day in real time.
Our Chinese Name (中参馆)
Like the country we cover, our name contains multitudes and can be interpreted in many ways.
Our Chinese name was conceived and rendered graphically by Sun Yunfan. It contains the following Chinese characters:
中 (zhong), which means “central,” is the first character of the word for China. It can also mean neutral.
参 (can) means to join or to participate in, to refer, to consult, to reference, or to archive.
馆 (guan), is a word for a physical structure that appears in words for guest accommodations, libraries, museums, archives, and restaurants.
Put these characters together and, in addition to the many meanings suggested by their combination, they are a homophone for Chinese restaurant (中餐馆).
So, whether you see ChinaFile as a place for organizing and finding information; a tool for shaping and smoothing your views; or an establishment with a large menu and fare to suit a variety of tastes, we invite you to visit us often.
We Welcome Your Feedback
Please email us your thoughts, comments, and reactions.
Find a bug? You can report it by sending us the URL of the page on which it appears, a screen shot of that page, and a brief description of its salient features. Thank you!
ChinaFile Fellows
Our People
Publisher &
Editorial Director:
Orville Schell
Editor:
Susan Jakes
Managing Editor:
Jonathan Landreth
Director of Visuals:
David M. Barreda
Associate Editors:
Maura Cunningham
Ouyang Bin (Books)
Assistant Editors:
Laura Chang (Books)
Sun Yunfan (Culture)
Michael Zhao (Environment)
Editor at Large:
Dorinda Elliott
Business Manager & Copy Editor:
Sara Segal-Williams
ChinaFile Fellows:
Kin-ming Liu
Ou Ning
Sim Chi Yin
Philip Tinari
David Wertime
Hu Yong
Orville Schell
Arthur Ross Director, Asia Society Center on U.S.-China Relations
Leah Thompson
Assistant Director, Asia Society Center on U.S-China Relations
Proposals and Submissions
Have an idea for a story, a project, a column, a new section?
Write us a proposal of 600 words or fewer and send it to editors@chinafile.com