What a shame. The China Project is shutting down. For over seven years, it has offered broad and in-depth news on China that complemented mainstream media reporting. It will be sorrily missed. — Kirk
Source: The China Project (11/7/23)
We have to shut down, and this is why
The China Project (formerly SupChina) launched in 2016 with the aim of informing the world about China with a breadth and depth that general interest news organizations cannot devote to one country.
As the U.S.-China relationship deteriorated, and China’s relations with other countries have become more complicated in the years since then, our work has only become more important.
But sadly, that same work has put several targets on our backs. We have been accused many times in both countries of working for nefarious purposes for the government of the other. Defending ourselves has incurred enormous legal costs, and, far worse, made it increasingly difficult for us to attract investors, advertisers, and sponsors. While our subscription offerings have been growing strongly and steadily, we are not yet in a position to rely on these revenues to sustain our operations. The media business is precarious, and the politically motivated attacks on us from various interested parties put us in an even worse situation.
We are not prepared to compromise our values for funding. And this week, we learned that a source of funding that we had been counting on was no longer going to come through, and we have had to make the difficult decision to close down. Continue reading