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Thursday, October 21, 2021

About Us

Meet the space enthusiasts behind the Dongfang Hour

Blaine Curcio

Blaine Curcio, Co-Founder, Resident Economist & Strategist

Based in Hong Kong, Blaine is a consultant specializing in the space and satcom industry, with a focus on China. His background is primarily international business, finance, and economics. He is a fan of hot pot, and can proudly name all Chinese provinces and provincial capitals (having traveled to a large number of them).

Jean Deville

Co-Founder, Resident Rocket Scientist & Sinophile

Jean has been covering the Chinese space industry for the past 5 years. Based in Paris, Jean has spent over 12 years in Mainland China and Taiwan, and speaks fluent mandarin. With a background in aerospace engineering, Jean brings a technical note to Dongfang Hour content. He is also an astrophotography nut.

Increasing Awareness of Chinese Space

The Chinese space sector is frequently misunderstood, misinterpreted, or underestimated. Taking note of relative the lack of discussion on the topic in English-language circles on the Internet, Blaine and Jean created in March 2020 the Dongfang Hour, a platform combining podcasts, articles and other content with the objective of increasing awareness without any spin, agenda, or bias.

What's in the Name?

Dongfang Hour literally means "Eastern Hour". The Chinese name 東方鴻 (pronounced Dōng Fāng Hóng) is a play of words. 東方 means Eastern, while 鴻 can either refer to a swan goose (鴻雁), or more specifically to a mythical messenger bird. Not coincidentally, Hongyan 鴻雁 is the name of a Chinese LEO broadband constellation project led by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). Finally, the pronunciation of the Chinese name-- Dōng Fāng Hóng --is also a play on the name of China’s first satellite, pronounced the same way with the same tones, but with a different final character (紅, or red, rather than 鴻).

Dongfang Hour is your go-to information website on the Chinese space industry. Fully independent, we provide you with the latest updates in a sector that is often difficult to follow due to the language barrier and the relatively decoupled state of the Chinese space sector. China's space industry is often overlooked or misunderstood, and this web portal, our videos, podcasts, newsletter and other deep dive reports aim at helping non-Chinese viewers fill in that gap.

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