Featured Article

Young, Tired, and Still Trying: China’s Next Generation Rethinks Success (March 31, 2025, Sixth Tone)
Writer Peter Hessler and anthropologist Xiang Biao on the changing lives of young Chinese, the meaning of hard work, and why parents should cut their kids some slack.

Sponsored Link

ChinaSource Connect in Boston
We’re thrilled to announce a special ChinaSource Connect gathering in Boston! Whether you’re already familiar with ChinaSource or just curious about Chinese Christianity, we’d love to see you there. Join us for an evening of connecting, sharing stories, catching up on the latest from China, and learning from each other.
Saturday, April 5, 2025 at 6:30pm – 8:30pm EDT
St. Clement Eucharist Shrine
1105 Boylston Street 
Boston, MA 03325
Details and RSVP HERE! 
Andrea Lee and Joann Pittman will be hosting this event. We’d love to see you

Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs

Albanese ‘would prefer’ Chinese research vessel was not off the coast of Australia (March 31, 2025, The Guardian)
Anthony Albanese says he “would prefer” a Chinese research vessel was not sitting off the coast of Victoria and stressed it will be closely monitored by the Australian defence force. The research vessel Tan Suo Yi Hao was directly south of the Victorian town of Portland on Monday afternoon and travelling west after a port call in Wellington.

China launches surprise military drills around Taiwan (April 1, 2025, The Guardian)
Taiwan says it has detected nearly 20 vessels off its coast as Beijing orders large scale sea and air exercises and calls leaders in Taipei ‘parasite.’

China’s Monologue Machine (April 2, 2025, China Media Project)
The newest “international communication center” in Hunan recruits college volunteers to promote state-approved narratives about local development to foreign audiences. Is this strategic thinking, or a fatal failure to grasp how communication works?

Deadly Blunders in Bangkok – China Media Project (April 2, 2025, China Media Project)
When a skyscraper built by a Chinese state company was the only to collapse in during the recent earthquake, China’s first response was not rescue — it was information lockdown.

Religion

Stories You May Have Missed (March 25, 2025, ChinaSource Blog)
Many of these stories concerned the various ways in which China’s church is going global, whether by joining the Chinese diaspora or by sending its own missionaries. Others revisited perennial questions about Christians’ relationship to traditional Chinese culture. The underlying narrative of several of the most-read posts was how Chinese believers are responding to increased political pressure.

Lenten Meditation: Sacrifice, Chinese Relationships, and Healing of International Grief (March 30, US China Catholic Association)
How might all of us open our hearts and minds through prayer, conversation, listening, friendship and dialogue to bring reconciliation in the face of international grief?

Guilin: Sharing with Ethnic Minorities (March 31, 2025, China Partnership Blog)
China Partnership: Pastor Tan, could you share about your experience as a member of a minority group? We are also curious if, when you served Guilin ethnic minorities, you had any special ministries? Were there differences in ministering to the Yao people as compared to other groups?

Unbelievable but True (April 1, 2025, ChinaSource Blog)
From remote mountain paths dusted with fog to bustling university lecture halls, from the ashes of addiction to the quiet strength of everyday believers, these testimonies shimmer with grace. They remind us that God often writes his most beautiful stories in the margins—on tear-streaked pages, in whispered prayers, through long seasons of waiting… God is working—in quiet places, in unexpected hearts, and in stories that are still unfolding. Even on April Fool’s Day, there’s nothing foolish about grace.

Society / Life

Survival Comes First (March 18, 2025, China Media Project)
A Gen Z content moderator working for a major Chinese internet platform reveals the moral contradictions of deleting sensitive political content while struggling to make ends meet. “We’re just tools,” he says in this candid interview from independent media outlet Mang Mang.

Bow Down: Times Change for China’s Kowtow Ritual (March 27, 2025, Sixth Tone)
Kowtowing to elderly relatives at Chinese New Year has long been a rite in the countryside, but can the custom endure in the modern era?

Could China become an attractive retirement home for foreigners? (March 31, 2025, South China Morning Post)
China has been urged to introduce a retiree visa for foreign nationals to boost its elderly care industry and improve the country’s international image. Jia Qingguo, a delegate to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the country’s top political advisory body, submitted a proposal along these lines during its annual session earlier this month.

New Magazine Issue Out: Youthful Nostalgia (March 31, 2025, The World of Chinese)
As Gen Z comes of age, a wave of nostalgia is sweeping through social media, giving rise to a new “Chinese nostalgia-core (中式梦核)” aesthetic.

Economics / Trade / Business

Mintz Group: China frees staff of US due diligence firm after two years (March 25, 2025, BBC)
China has released five staff members of US due diligence firm Mintz Group, two years after they were detained as part of a crackdown on consulting firms working with foreign businesses. Their detention in March 2023 came at a time of heightened suspicion of foreign espionage in China and kicked off a wave of raids on consultancy firms such as Bain & Company and Capvision Partners.

Science/ Technology

PRC Deploys DeepSeek Across Local Governments (March 28, 2025, Jamestown China Brief)
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) frames people-to-people exchange programs as benign cultural and educational efforts, but in reality, they serve to advance the Chinese Communist Party’s agendas…

How China’s Gen Z is Embracing AI (April 2, 2025, Sixth Tone)
A new survey found that 95% of Gen Z respondents used AI for work or study — and almost half used it to meet their emotional needs.

Education

Confucius Institutes: Six Australian universities close China centres (March 31, 2025, BBC)
Six Australian universities have quietly closed Chinese government-linked Confucius Institutes (CI) on their campuses. The Australian government has ramped up scrutiny on the education centres in recent years over concerns that Beijing is using them to spread propaganda and spy on Chinese international students.

Health

Rethinking ADHD: Young Chinese Find Support and Strength in Safe Online Spaces (April 2, 2025, The World of Chinese)
With growing awareness, many in China are finding support online and viewing ADHD as a source of strength, but experts caution against the romanticization of the condition and over-reliance on internet diagnoses.

Travel

Visting Shanghai Now: It’s a Blue-Sky, App-Based Life (April 2, 2025, The New York Times)
A longtime visitor returns to the post-pandemic city, finding it as varied and sophisticated as ever, and newly powered by digital commerce, with challenges for travelers. (subscription required)

Language / Language Learning

Asia travel: Latest News and Updates | South China Morning Post (March 30, 2025, South China Morning Post)
In academic research, identifying authorship is a unique challenge for Chinese researchers when their names are presented solely in pinyin and might be shared by other researchers whose names are spelled differently in Chinese characters.

Cantonese is both very cool and very old (April 1, 2025, Language Log)
Cantonese is undeniably older than Mandarin, but we should not close our eyes to the longevity of other Sinitic languages…

Books

New Book Traces Wenzhou’s Christian Journey from ‘No Religion Zone’ to ‘Jerusalem in China’ (March 26, 2025, China Christian Daily)
A new book, From the “Extermination” Movement to the Birth of “Jerusalem in China,”set for publication next month, examines the historical development of Christianity in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, from 1957 to 1979…According to Chinese Christian Studies, the book examines the transformation and development of Christianity in Wenzhou during the “three no’s” era (no churches, pastors, and Bibles) against the backdrop of Wenzhou being designated a “no religion zone.” 

US–China Relations Over 20 Years (March 28, 2025, ChinaSource Blog)
For those seeking to serve, partner with, or simply understand the church in China, grasping the global forces at play is essential. This book review offers a window into how US foreign policy toward Asia has evolved, how China has responded, and why these developments matter—not only in Washington and Beijing, but for Christians navigating ministry, prayer, and partnership across borders.

Event

UPCOMING: Chinese Worldviews Seminar (ERRChina)
OVER 3 WEEKENDS in May and June, 2025
(FRIDAY- SATURDAY)
MAY 30-31,  JUNE 13-14, JUNE 27-28
Educational Resources & Referrals – China invites you to attend our next intensive seminar sponsored by our China Academic Consortium. Join us as we explore the background and development of contemporary Chinese worldviews. Course credit available through GTU at University of California, Berkeley and Denver Seminary. 

Pray for China

April 3 (Pray for China: A Walk Through History)
On Apr. 3, 1861, Herbert Hudson Taylor (戴存仁) was born in England. The eldest son of China Inland Mission founders Hudson and Maria Taylor, he came to China with them at age 5. After schooling in England, Herbert came back to China to serve with the CIM in 1880 and helped with the opening of the CIM school in Chefoo (now Yantai). He was 80 when he was imprisoned by the Japanese during World War II in nearby Weifang along with the Chefoo School faculty and students. All told he was in China for over 50 years. Pray that the Father, who forgives our trespasses, will be glorified by Christian teachers and students at the Yantai Huasheng International School and other schools in the International Schools Consortium. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. Matthew 6:12

Prayer Resources—China Partnership (March 31, 2025, ChinaSource Blog)
For those looking for specific ways to pray for our friends in China, China Partnership (CP) has put together some excellent resources. […] These resources grew out of conversations with pastors in China who want to help global Christians pray for Christians in China.

Praying for China | Prayercast (January, 2025, ChinaSource)

Pray for China (prayforchina.us)
Our goal is to promote prayer from every US state for every Chinese province (and county). Click on your state below to see which Chinese province to adopt in prayer, and for more info on how to begin praying!