Contemporary Society
Random Observations Following a Two-Week Visit to Beijing
Earlier this month I got to spend two weeks back in Beijing, my former “home town.”
A Ten-Year Visa
This afternoon the good folks at FEDEX delivered a small package to my house, and it wasn’t even a Christmas present. In fact, it was something better — my passport, with a brand-spanking-new Ten-year, multiple entry tourist visa to China.
Don’t Ignore Marxism
Much is written these days about what makes China tick. It's the pragmatism. It's nationalism, and the desire to be a player on the world stage. It's "socialism with Chinese characteristics," which to some is just another way of saying capitalism.
ZGBriefs – The Week’s Top Picks, November 6 Issue
All our favorite stories this week are about people or communities that are on the margins of Chinese society, either culturally or geographically: Orthodox Christians, Uighur factory workers, Hong Kong taxi drivers, and Miao villagers in Guizhou.
Do Chinese Men and Women Deserve Each Other?
Chinese young people are no different from their counterparts anywhere in the world in that a main question they face is the one of whom to marry. China’s rise and modernization has, in some ways, made this a more complicated question as ideas about marriage and qualifications for a spouse have evolved.
Insiders and Outsiders are Different
In the mid-1990s, while studying Chinese, I stumbled across a Chinese expression that was a "key" to helping me understand what was going on. I was working through a textbook called Speaking of Chinese Culture that taught about key Chinese cultural rules and values. One chapter was on this Chinese concept called nei wai you bie (内外有别), which means "insiders and outsiders are different."
ZGBriefs – The Week’s Top Picks, October 9 Issue
What does it mean to be Chinese? Three articles this week highlight the complexity of being Chinese.
A Look at Religious Freedom in China
On October 1, the Cornerstone Blog of The Religious Freedom Project at The Berkeley Center published two helpful posts on religious liberty in China.
ZGBriefs – The Week’s Top Picks, October 2 Issue
For this week's Top Picks, we are re-publishing a post by Joann Pittman originally posted to her blog, Outside-In, on September 30, 2014.
Brent Fulton Talks about Hong Kong
On September 30, Austin Hill, host of the Austin Hill in the Morning program on Faith Radio, interviewed Brent Fulton about the situation in Hong Kong.