Contemporary Society
Where is China Going?
Statistics released by Beijing think tank in January reveal that emigration from China is at its highest level ever, with 9.34 million leaving the Mainland in 2013. China is the world's fourth largest country for emigration, coming behind, India, Mexico, and Russia.
ZGBriefs The Weeks Top Picks, May 8 Issue
If there were a theme to the three articles that we have chosen this week, it would be information.
ZGBriefs The Weeks Top Picks, May 1 Issue
As far as most of our readers go, probably the biggest story out of China this week was the demolition of the Sanjiang Church in Wenzhou.
China’s Next War?
In his work report at last month's annual meeting of the National People's Congress, Premier Li Keqiang, citing the growing toll which China's environmental crisis is taking on the economy, pledged to "declare war" on pollution.
Looking Ahead: Which China?
China today has been variously described as an emerging superpower, an economic miracle, a totalitarian regime, a corrupt kleptocracy, a regional hegemon, a bellwether of the future, and a victim of its past. Each of these narratives contains a kernel of truth, yet none by itself begins to do justice to the complexities of China.
ZGBriefs The Weeks Top Picks, April 17 Issue
Our favorite stories this week cover the gamut searching for Hui identity in Taiwan; the life of "Taobao Girls" in Beijing; the June 4 crack-down in Chengdu; and a trailer for an upcoming documentary about a Tibetan woman living in Beijing. China is nothing, if not complex!
ZGBriefs The Weeks Top Picks, April 10 Issue
Schools, nostalgia, and explaining the unexplainable these are the subjects of our top picks in ZGBriefs this week.
ZGBriefs The Weeks Top Picks, April 3 Issue
Tomorrow (April 5) is "Tomb-Sweeping Day," a festival to honor the ancestors by tending their graves. There were two articles about this that caught our attention this week.
Reflections on China 2014: Two Ships – Different Directions
This is my third blog reflecting back on six days I spent in China recently with Brent Fulton where we met with pastors, seminary leaders and academics in Shanghai and Beijing. I shared in the first blog about my amazement at the growth of the church and the window that seems to be opening for the gospel, and in my second I raised concerns about the environmental disaster that is overtaking China and the key role of the church in calling people to care for God's creation.
Are Most Chinese Really Atheists?
It's an interesting question, and, as the saying goes, "it depends on what the meaning of the word 'atheist' is."