Global Conference on New Sinology (GCNS)

DATE: 23 - 24 SEPTEMBER 2025

VENUE: INDIA INTERNATIONAL CENTRE (IIC), NEW DELHI

Concept Note

Theme: China’s ‘Dream’ for a New Mandate of Power

The 21st century is witnessing a historic reconfiguration  of global power, marked by the rise of China and challenges to the post-Cold War liberal order. China’s strategic trajectory and global posture today reflects more than  material advancement –it embodies a strategic ambition to project an alternative vision of order, governance and global engagement. 

The theme of this year’s conference, China’s ‘Dream’ for a New Mandate of Power, invites critical scrutiny of the evolving ideological, institutional and geopolitical foundations of China’s contemporary statecraft under President Xi Jinping. The phrase “Mandate of Power” intentionally echoes the ancient Confucian principle of the Mandate of Heaven or tianming (天命), which conferred legitimacy upon rulers contingent on their ability to sustain order and deliver prosperity. In the modern context, this moral-political logic is being reimagined as a legitimating framework through which the Communist Party of China (CPC) seeks both domestic authority and international influence. 

This year’s conference interrogates how China is exporting a new model of global order –through state led capitalism, infrastructure diplomacy, digital authority, controlled multilateralism –all framed under the ideological narrative of  the “China Dream” (中国梦). This dream is  not merely a nationalist project or a narrative of ‘rejuvenation’, but also a conceptual umbrella that asserts China’s right to reshape the norms, hierarchies, and rules of the international system. China’s assertive quest for a new mandate of power is reshaping that threshold—from territorial sovereignty conflicts in Asia to embedding its leadership in UN agencies and forging cross-continental influence through infrastructure-led statecraft. The conference will also critically examine how China’s military modernization—anchored in strategic innovation, civil-military fusion, and expanding expeditionary capabilities—constitutes a central pillar of its broader mandate of power.  

China’s pursuit, however, is neither linear nor unchallenged. Its projection faces growing pushback across multiple frontiers: strategic contestation in the Indo-Pacific, ideological resistance from liberal democracies, structural vulnerabilities within its own economy, and increasing scrutiny from Global South actors wary of dependency and political leverage. These frictions invite a fundamental question: Is China’s search for a “new mandate of power” sustainable—and if so, at what cost to the existing world order?

As the only China-focused annual conference in India rooted in both strategic studies and political sociology, GCNS embodies ORCA’s intellectual mission: to craft a new vocabulary of China analysis that is theoretically rigorous, policy-relevant, and globally engaged. In 2025, GCNS aims to move beyond the binaries of cooperation versus containment and instead frame China as a complex, evolving node in a system of competing mandates. It is not merely about what China is, but what China wants to become—and what that ambition demands of the rest of the world.

This year’s GCNS 2025 will follow ORCA’s distinctive structure, combining Thematic Panels, Roundtables, Keynote Addresses, Expert Speaks and Closed door Roundtables. This amalgamated format is ideated with the vision of promoting cross-disciplinary dialogue and enabling policy-academic synergy—hallmarks of the GCNS tradition.

23rd - 24th September 2025

THEME

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ABout GCNS

The GCNS assembles the finest global minds in Sinology from diverse academic backgrounds to analyze and understand China's path to global superpower status. ORCA has consistently resolved to make this annual conference the largest gathering of Indian and foreign new sinologists and practitioners in India specifically dealing with China in various capacities. The GCNS audience seats leading China-focused scholars from various Indian institutes and government bodies as well as international institutions. The format of dialogue is divided across Panels, Roundtables, Keynote Addresses, Experts' Dialogues and Special Events. The inaugural edition of the GCNS, saw ORCA host 55+ national/international experts and 400+ delegates in attendance across 5 sessions spanning two days with over 22 panels. The full report of GCNS 2023 which amassed over 11000+ views. The second edition of the GCNS hosted 60 national and international experts and retained a 400+ delegate attendance count across five sessions. The unique topics ideated by ORCA at each GCNS go on to become grander avenues of discussion and scholarship by our speakers/attendees, and reports continue to inform debates for students and professionals alike. GCNS remains India’s foremost and only dialogue-driven conference dedicated to Chinese domestic politics, integrating emerging themes in New Sinology, and convening the largest gathering of Indian and international China scholars in the country.

OTHER EDITIONS

ORCA has successfully held two editions of GCNS, featuring 110+ speakers and 500+ attendees over two days of dynamic discussion.

GCNS 2024

GCNS 2024

The Global Conference on New Sinology (GCNS) was held on 26th-27th September 2024 on the theme 'The Art of Power in Zhongnanhai' at The Grand, New Delhi.

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GCNS 2023

GCNS 2023

The Global Conference on New Sinology (GCNS) was held on 25th-26th September 2023 on the theme 'China's Superpower Ambitions in the New Era' at The Grand, New Delhi.

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Venue Partner

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India International Centre is one of India's premier cultural institutions where statesmen, diplomats, policymakers, intellectuals, scientists, jurists, writers, artists and members of civil society meet to initiate the exchange of new ideas and knowledge in the spirit of international cooperation.

Convenors

The GCNS is ideated and organised by the Team at ORCA, led by Director, Eerishika Pankaj.

Eerishika Pankaj

Eerishika Pankaj is the Director of New Delhi based think-tank, the Organisation for Research on China and Asia (ORCA), which focuses on decoding domestic Chinese politics and its impact on Beijing’s foreign policymaking. She is also the Convenor of ORCA's Global Conference on New Sinology (GCNS), which is India's premier dialogue driven China conference. She is also an Editorial and Research Assistant to the Series Editor for Routledge Series on Think Asia; a Young Leader in the 2020 cohort of the Pacific Forum’s Young Leaders Program; a Commissioning Editor with E-International Relations for their Political Economy section; a Member of the Indo-Pacific Circle and a Council Member of the WICCI’s India-EU Business Council. Primarily a China and East Asia scholar, her research focuses on Chinese elite/party politics, the India-China border, water and power politics in the Himalayas, Tibet, the Indo-Pacific and India’s bilateral ties with Europe and Asia. In 2023, she was selected as an Emerging Quad Think Tank Leader, an initiative of the U.S. State Department’s Leaders Lead on Demand program. Eerishika is the co-editor of the book 'The Future of Indian Diplomacy: Exploring Multidisciplinary Lenses' and of the Special Issues on 'The Dalai Lama’s Succession: Strategic Realities of the Tibet Question' as well as 'Building the Future of EU-India Strategic Partnership'.

Rahul Karan Reddy

Rahul Karan Reddy is a Senior Research Associate at Organisation for Research on China and Asia (ORCA). He is an international relations analyst with a Masters degree from O.P Jindal Global University in Diplomacy, Law and Business. He is the author of ‘Islands on the Rocks’, a monograph detailing the Senkaku/Diaoyu island dispute between China and Japan. His research focus is China and East Asia. He was a research analyst at the Chennai Center for China Studies (C3S) and an intern at the Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS), writing articles and reports on China’s foreign policy and domestic politics. His blog, Asian Drama, follows the rise of India and China as they navigate the Asian Century. He is also the co-convenor of ORCA's Global Conference on New Sinology (GCNS), which is India's premier dialogue driven China conference.

Omkar Bhole

Omkar Bhole is a Senior Research Associate at Organization for Research on China and Asia (ORCA). He is also the co-convenor of ORCA's Global Conference on New Sinology (GCNS), which is India's premier dialogue driven China conference. He is a Chinese language student and completed Masters in China Studies from Somaiya University, Mumbai. His research interests are China’s domestic economy, China's trade relations with other countries, its foreign policy in South Asia and China’s domestic politics. He has previously done internships at the Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS) and What China Reads. He has also presented a paper at the 1st All India Conference of East Asian Studies and 16th All India Conference on China Studies.

Ratish Mehta

Ratish Mehta is a Senior Research Associate at Organisation for Research on China and Asia (ORCA). A postgraduate in Global Studies from Ambedkar University, Delhi, Ratish’s area of interest includes understanding the value of Narratives, Rhetoric and Ideology in State and Non-State interactions, deconstructing political narratives in Global Affairs as well as focusing on India’s Foreign Policy interests in the Global South and South Asia. He was previously associated with The Pranab Mukherjee Foundation and has worked on projects such as Indo-Sino relations, History of the Constituent Assembly of India and the Evolution of Democratic Institutions in India. His forthcoming projects at ORCA include a co-edited Special Issue on India’s Soft Power Diplomacy in South Asia, Tracing India’s Path as the Voice of the Global South and Deconstructing Beijing’s ‘Global’ Narratives. He is also the co-convenor of ORCA's Global Conference on New Sinology (GCNS), which is India's premier dialogue driven China conference.

Trishala S

Trishala S is a Research Associate at the Organisation for Research on China and Asia (ORCA). She holds a degree in Sociology with a minor in Public Policy from FLAME University. Trishala’s research interests lie at the intersection of socio-political dynamics, family and gender studies, and legal frameworks, with a particular focus on China. Her work examines the effects of aging populations, gender disparities, and rural-urban migration on social welfare, labor policies, and the integration of migrants into urban environments. She is also the coordinator of ORCA's Global Conference on New Sinology (GCNS), which is India's premier dialogue driven China conference.

Ophelia Yumlembam

Ophelia Yumlembam is a Junior Research Associate at the Organisation for Research on China and Asia (ORCA). Before joining ORCA, she worked at the Dept. Of Political Science, University of Delhi, and interned at the Council for Strategic and Defence Research in New Delhi. She graduated with an M.A. in Political Science from the DU in 2023. Ophelia focuses on security and strategic-related developments in Myanmar, India's Act East Policy, India-Myanmar relations, and drugs and arms trafficking in India’s North Eastern Region. Her writings have been featured in the Diplomat, South Asian Voices (Stimson Centre), 9dashline, Observer Research Foundation, among other platforms.