Submitting to The China Project
Thank you for your interest in The China Project, an independent media platform based in New York that offers daily news and analysis, original content from and about China, a podcast network, events, and much more. Click here to learn more about us.
We boast an extensive network of contributors who have lent us their reportage and expertise, including the likes of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ian Johnson, renowned Sinologist Geremie R. Barmé, scholar Ryan Hass (who was Director for China on the National Security Council during President Barack Obama’s second term), and Xinjiang academic Darren Byler, just to name a few, while our flagship podcast, The Sinica Podcast, has featured luminaries ranging from bestselling author Peter Hessler to former Australia Prime Minster Kevin Rudd to Chinese celebrity Mark Rowswell (better known as Dashan) to the legendary Sidney Rittenberg.
How does one get published on The China Project?
The easiest way is through pitching.
We welcome pitches of all kinds, from reportage to reviews to opinion pieces. Please let the following guide be your way of maximizing your chances of acceptance.
Pitches should be sent to our editorial staff at editors@thechinaproject.com.
There’s no formula for the perfect pitch, but for those contacting us for the first time, it would help greatly if you structured your email this way:
- A brief paragraph about who you are, what you do, and links to your published work (if applicable).
- A paragraph that summarizes the story you’d like to tell, or what you’d like to find out. We often receive pitches from non-journalists, which is fine, but please familiarize yourself with the concept of the nut graf.How will you tell the story? As a news feature? Profile? Q-and-A? Review? Op-ed?
How many words do you need? - Importantly, we need to know the news hook. Why is your story idea relevant for this current time and place? In the best pitches we’ve received, the writer is clear about what they want to discover, prove, or argue.
- Finally, if applicable, tell us your key sources of information, whether interview or secondary sources, and demonstrate an awareness of what other people have written related to your subject.
In general, we don’t run articles that merely ask questions; we’d prefer them answered.
Please keep in mind that though we are a China-watching media organization, most of our audience is based in the U.S.
What sort of stories do you accept?
A very wide variety, from society and culture to business and technology to politics and current affairs…basically, take a look at our front page to get a sense of our diversity of content.
Above all, we value reportage. Please see:
- ‘Online wailing wall’: How Chinese netizens continue to honor Li Wenliang, COVID-19 whistleblower
- Chinese moms in America’s illicit massage parlors
- Caught in a crossfire: Chinese students abroad and the battle for their hearts
Feature articles and profiles of interesting personalities are great:
- China looks to the Western classics
- The yin and yang worlds of a Chinese literary outlier
- The world according to Lu Xinghua, China’s renegade philosopher
Personal essays that are heartfelt and thought-out will always find a receptive audience.
Many of our pieces are characterized by curiosity, and the ones that do the best play off items currently in the public consciousness:
- The not-so-scary truth behind horror sensation ‘Incantation’
- Why are so many first-generation Chinese immigrants supporting Donald Trump?
Trend pieces — what’s popular in China? what are the Chinese thinking about and engaging in? — are very good.
- Posing like American farmers is the latest trend among Chinese influencers
- Ultimate Frisbee soars in China — as a fashion sport
Correctives to mainstream misconceptions also tend to do well. Where are the gaps of understanding, and how do we fill them?
- No, China will not invade Taiwan
- No, 10,000 were not killed in China’s 1989 Tiananmen crackdown
- No ‘Beijing Consensus’: Why the U.S. risks a Pyrrhic victory in confronting China
We run multiple columns, from This Week in China’s History to Queer China, and have been known to publish series:
…and much more.
Is that it?
Not at all! Travel stories, listicles, Q-and-A’s, this piece about Beijing museums, reflections on poetry and protest, exhibition reviews, essays about language, etc., etc., have all found a home on The China Project. Surprise us.
Do you pay?
Absolutely. Generally, first-time contributors are paid $100 for reviews, $200 for news blogs, and $300 for profiles and features, but our payment goes significantly higher for investigative pieces. Ultimately, it depends on a variety of factors, including the strength of the pitch and word count, but we can guarantee a competitive rate if you have a compelling story.
What about multimedia?
We work with multiple illustrators for much of our original content. We are less likely to pay for photography.
What if I’m looking for a job?
We have been known to offer internships in our editorial, business, and marketing departments. Please refer to this page.
Anything else?
Let us know if you have other questions. We look forward to hearing from you!