Information that comes out of China is extremely difficult to collect and sift through. While many think tanks across the world have set up dedicated China centers, there is still a gap present in looking at the grassroot level chatter in China and making sense of it. The CiCMs are divided into three sections —covering viral or trending topics on Chinese social media platforms such as Weibo; tracking local, regional, domestic and foreign Chinese news outlets and; an analysis section with a focus on how these developments affect Indian domestic and foreign policy. The CiCM newsletters are curated by our interns in totality, who are specifically trained to research and analyse accessible Chinese news. The CiCMs are a great tool for connecting seemingly unrelated news with that of broader Chinese policy developments, and a one of a kind output in India.
Opinion pieces by scholars on China and its workings in Asia and beyond. These well-analysed, substantive pieces on China, Asia and the wider Indo-Pacific landscape with focused assessments on topics ranging from geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific to domestic Chinese politics allow a publication base largely catering to the younger scholars across the world. ORCA’s audience is now global, with the site being routinely accessed across over a hundred countries. Hence, publishing op-eds with us allows scholars –ranging from college students to young professionals –to present their views in front of a niche global audience focusing on all things China.
This section publishes columns by senior scholars in the field of China and Asia studies on issues of vital importance. Expertise-driven estimations on the present and future of China in particular and Asia at large is covered by leading voices in the field. Uniquely, our Expert Columns allow writers to delve into intelligence based critique; this allows senior scholars the flexibility to write in a manner that conventional media houses and think-tanks would ideally not publish, especially as the pieces are largely encouraged to be predictive in nature, drawing more from the scholars own research experiences and expertise rather than coverage found online/in print.
These are longer research pieces detailing the relevance, scope and impact of specific pertinent issues with implications for Asia and beyond. Our Issue Briefs are informative assessments of issues accompanied with policy implications. These are mostly written by young professionals with work experience or mid-career scholars and provide a cohesive and thorough understanding of the topic as well as deductions on how its progression can be expected in the near future.
This section explains China in the form of data visualisations. In this section through Maps and Graphs we present quantitative data to track the rise of China and make assessments according to our findings. The maps are prepared using QGIS and geo-tagging of points is accurately maintained. The goal of this section is to bridge the gap between quantitative and qualitative research in the field of China studies. This section also allows for external submission, guidelines for which can be found on the website.
ORCA also produces detailed background information about Chinese domestic and foreign policy. A valuable resource for understanding the context behind how China got to where it currently is, in terms of its policies and more. This vertical is meant as a resource tool for scholars across career levels and sectors, allowing them a one-stop destination for finding references to China’s domestic and international history.
The ORCA Files is ORCA’s very own podcast series, hosted by the team at ORCA. The ORCA Files holds conversations with our Community of Scholars for a greater understanding of all things China. Scholars deep dive into the nitty-gritties of their publications with us and provide additional context for their pieces. Beyond these conversations we also host spaces for delving into explainer series, interactions amongst team members as well as interviews with experts. Our podcast series is available on Spotify as well.
Through these publications, ORCA will study Chinese leaders & policymaking by connecting it to China’s culture and cultural outputs ranging across documentaries, books, songs & more.
This output is based on our daily newsletter, Conversations in Chinese Media (CiCM). Fact-based short reports that take a deep dive into certain aspects covered in the CiCMs, these Insights allow interns working with us to delve more acutely into certain facets from their newsletter coverage and connect dots across multiple sources reporting on the same event to deduce its impact. Insights are not exactly analytical in nature; they are critical assessments of particular events that allow readers to at a glance understand the how, what, when, where and why of topics. These publications are limited to submissions by in-house interns only.
Get a daily dose of local and national news from China, top trends in Chinese social media and what it means for India and the region at large.
