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 | June 25, 2020
There is no “post-COVID-19” era in China. There is only the COVID-19 era to adapt to (June 23, 2020, China Briefing) Foreign investors in China and Asia need to prepare for a three-year period before COVID-19 is done.
ZGBriefs | June 18, 2020
Dear China: A note from a thankful expat (June 16, 2020, The Culture Blend) You have put things in me that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. You have challenged me in ways that have made me stronger.
ZGBriefs | June 11, 2020
This US church with expansion in its DNA wants to open a temple in China (June 6, 2020, CNN) The Church claims it won't change anything, but the idea that a US church with expansion in its DNA could open an official temple in China is likely to be controversial…
ZGBriefs | June 4, 2020
Are Kids in China Better-Off Today Than a Decade Ago? (June 2, 2020, Sixth Tone) This Children’s Day, Sixth Tone takes a look back at 10 years’ worth of policies aimed at better protecting children, as well as their still-evident shortcomings.
ZGBriefs | May 28, 2020
“The end of Hong Kong” (May 22, 2020, World Magazine) The national security law would ban “treason, secession, sedition, and subversion,” and criminalize foreign influence.
ZGBriefs | May 21, 2020
China Wants Workers to Stay in the Countryside (May 16, 2020, Foreign Policy) There are reports that as many as hundreds of thousands of enterprises have already gone bankrupt.
ZGBriefs | May 14, 2020
How China's Provinces Came to Have Their Single Word Abbreviations (May 11, 2020, The Beijinger) Though cars are most likely the easiest place to see these letters on a daily basis, they were not in fact invented for vehicle registration purposes…
ZGBriefs | May 7, 2020
How Tea Transformed China’s Countryside (May 1, 2020, China Channel) In Bangdong, money does grow on trees – about 80 percent of residents’ income is from tea…
ZGBriefs | April 30, 2020
US education faces US$15 billion hit as Chinese students stay away (April 23, 2020, South China Morning Post) The Covid-19 pandemic has upended the appetite for prestigious US degrees among Chinese students, jeopardising US$15 billion in revenue for American colleges.
ZGBriefs | April 23, 2020
In 1911, another epidemic swept through China. That time, the world came together (April 19, 2020, CNN) The Great Manchurian Plague that broke out across northeastern China in 1910 was devastating. From the autumn of 1910, until the outbreak was finally suppressed the following year, an estimated 63,000 people died.