ZGBriefs by Joann Pittman
Joann Pittman is Vice President of Partnership and China Engagement and editor of ZGBriefs.
Prior to joining ChinaSource, Joann spent 28 years working in China, as an English teacher, language student, program director, and cross-cultural trainer for organizations and businesses engaged in China. She has also taught Chinese at the University of Northwestern-St. Paul (MN), and Chinese Culture and Communication at Wheaton College (IL) and Taylor University (IN).
Joann has a BA in Social Sciences from the University of Northwestern-St. Paul (MN), and an MA in teaching from the University of St. Thomas (MN).
She is the author of Survival Chinese Lessons and The Bells Are Not Silent: Stories of Church Bells in China.
Her personal blog, Outside-In can be found at joannpittman.com, where she writes on China, Minnesota, traveling, and issues related to "living well where you don't belong."
You can find her on Twitter @jkpittman.com and on Facebook at @authorjoannpittman.
She makes her home in New Brighton, Minnesota.
ZGBriefs | February 24, 2022
3 Lessons for Chinese Churches from Herman Bavinck (February 18, 2022, Christianity Today) The Dutch theologian’s concern for the catholic, contextual, and public nature of the Christian faith can help congregations overcome sectarianism and stereotypes.
ZGBriefs | February 17, 2022
Keeping the Flies Out (February 3, 202, China File) And so China has come full circle, from the bewildered sleeper that emerged from the Cultural Revolution rubbing its collective eyes to the isolated Middle Kingdom it has historically preferred to be, from the Open Door to the nearly closed.
ZGBriefs | February 10, 2022
Life inside the Olympics bubble: Limbo between China and the world (February 8, 2022, The Los Angeles Times) It feels like a parallel universe of ID-assigned bar codes, throat swabs and room service delivered by swift staff wearing goggles and full protective gear.
ZGBriefs | February 3, 2022
Give Me Anything But Dumplings this Lunar New Year (January 31, 2022, The World of Chinese)
Yes, dumplings are well-loved by some, but for a large part of the population outside of northern China, eating dumplings for the Lunar New Year is far from a given. In some regions of the country, they are absent, or only play a minor role on the dinner table.
ZGBriefs | January 27, 2022
Migrant Worker’s Contact Tracing Story Touches Chinese Netizens (January 24, 2022, Radii China) The work history of a migrant worker searching for his missing son in Beijing has gone viral on Chinese social media.
ZGBriefs | January 20, 2022
China’s Foreign Firms Are Running Out of a Key Resource: Foreigners (January 19, 2022, Sixth Tone) The strict policies have left large numbers of expats effectively stranded outside China. As many as 100,000 foreigners may be waiting for permission to return to Shanghai alone, local media outlet SmartShanghai estimates. It’s unclear exactly how many foreigners remain in China.
ZGBriefs | January 13, 2022
Video: Traditional Chinese Medicine and the Christian Faith (January 6, 2022, CantoSense)
As Christians, should we be wary of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)? This episode, we are joined by Dr. Lai Pak Wah to discuss TCM and whether the principles and religious elements should be cause for concern.
ZGBriefs | January 6, 2022
China’s Reform Generation Adapts to Life in the Middle Class (January 3, 2022, The New Yorker) My students from the nineteen-nineties grew up in rural poverty. Now they’re in their forties, and their country is unrecognizable.
ZGBriefs | December 30, 2021
Overseas organizations, individuals not allowed to operate online religious info services within the Chinese territory: regulations (December 21, 2021, The Global Times) The measures stipulated that online preaching should be organized and carried out by religious groups, temples and churches and religious colleges that have obtained the Internet Religious Information Service Permit.
ZGBriefs | December 16, 2021
The building blocks of Chinese, part 5: Making sense of Chinese words (December 15, 2021, Hacking Chinese) You do need to know characters, but you also need to know how they fit together into words.