ZGBriefs is a condensation of news items gathered from published sources. ZGBriefs is not responsible for the content of these items nor does it necessarily endorse the perspectives presented. Get daily updates from ZGBriefs on Twitter @ZG_Briefs. To make a contribution to ZGBriefs, please click here and then select Donate Through Paypal. FEATURED ARTICLE The Achilles Heel of Chinas Rise: Faith (July 5, 2012, Chinese Church Voices)In addition to Christian websites and periodicals in China, there are also academic sites which are writing on issues related to religion, law, and society. One such site is Pacific Institute of Social Science, which aggregates scholarly articles published throughout China. GOVERNMENT / POLITICS / FOREIGN AFFAIRS CPC membership exceeds 82.6 million (June 30, 2012, Shanghai Daily)The number of Communist Party of China (CPC) members surpassed 82.6 million in 2011, up 2.9 percent year on year, official figures show. Last year, some 3.16 million out of 21.6 million applicants were accepted to join the CPC, according to a statement released yesterday by the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee – one day ahead of the Party’s 91st founding anniversary. Hong Kong Holds Big Protest as New Leader Sworn in (July 1, 2012, AP)A pro-democracy heckler interrupted a speech by Chinese President Hu Jintao at the swearing-in of Hong Kongs new leader Sunday and tens of thousands of residents marched to protest Chinese rule on the 15th anniversary of the Asian financial hubs return to Beijings control. The outpouring of discontent underscored rising tensions between the Communist mainland and the vibrant city of 7 million that was returned to China in 1997 after more than a century of British colonial rule. While much of the discontent revolves around growing economic inequality and stunted democratic development, Hong Kongers are also upset over what they see as arrogant Chinese behavior wealthy mainlanders taking over retail outlets during flashy Hong Kong shopping trips, for example, or even the choice of language during Sundays swearing-in ceremony, Beijing-accented Mandarin instead of the Cantonese dialect spoken locally.Chinese City Suspends Factory Construction After Protests (July 3, 2012, The New York Times)A municipal government in southwestern China has suspended at least temporarily the construction of a metals factory after bloody street protests on Monday, in the latest sign of the growing strength of the countrys environmental movement. The police in Shifang, an ancient city in Sichuan Province that suffered heavy damage during a 2008 earthquake, issued a warning on Tuesday that they would severely punish anyone involved in further protests. Yet postings on Chinese social media said that thousands gathered outside local government offices again on Tuesday night to demand the release of students detained in the previous days protests; it was not immediately clear how the police would respond. China kicks off reshuffle ahead of leadership handover (July 3, 2012, Reuters)China kicked off the first major step in a political reshuffle ahead of a generational leadership change with the appointment on Tuesday of a new Communist Party boss for Beijing, the Chinese capital’s top official. Guo Jinlong, 64, the city’s mayor since 2008 and an ally of President Hu Jintao, replaces Liu Qi, 69, as Beijing party boss, in a decision announced at the end of the municipal party congress. “We are keenly aware of our difficult task and grave responsibility,” Guo told reporters. “We must strive to deliver satisfactory results for all the people of Beijing.” The appointment will allow Hu to retain some political influence after he leaves office. He must retire from running the party later this year and from the presidency in early 2013. China leader urges resistance against Western forces (July 4, 2012, AFP)China’s top security official has urged the ruling Communist Party to resist Western “attacks” on the country’s political and legal systems, in comments timed ahead of a 10-yearly leadership change.Zhou Yongkang, one of China’s top nine rulers and reputedly one of the most hardline, said the Communist Party must repel the “mistaken views” of Western political theorists. “We will never change in our endeavour to defend the party’s leading role and socialism with Chinese characteristics,” he wrote in the latest edition of a Communist Party publication, “Qiushi”. “We will resolutely resist the attacks of hostile forces on our nation’s political and judicial systems, and we will resolutely resist the influence of mistaken Western political and legal views.” Zhou was writing in his position as head of the party’s Politics and Law Commission, which oversees China’s courts, prosecution and police. Bloomberg sites blocked in China days after Xi family wealth story (July 4, 2012, Reuters)Bloomberg’s news websites remained blocked in China five days after it issued a story about the finances of the extended family of the country’s vice president, highlighting how Beijing is trying to shape public opinion ahead of a leadership transition.Bloomberg said it believes its English-language website and its Business Week site were blocked on Friday by Chinese authorities after it published details about the multi-million dollar fortunes of Vice President Xi Jinping’s extended family. China vows ‘iron fist’ in restive Xinjiang (July 5, 2012, AFP)China vowed to strike with an “iron fist” at separatist forces in its restive Xinjiang region, as it rolled out a heavy security presence for the third anniversary on Thursday of deadly ethnic riots. The pledge to crack down on “separatism, religious extremism and terrorism” came as Amnesty International condemned China for what it said was repression against ethnic Uighurs in Xinjiang who had spoken out against rights abuses. Regional Communist Party chief Zhang Chunxian visited riot police in the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi on Wednesday ahead of the sensitive anniversary date and told them they must crush government opponents. RELIGION China, Vatican spar over ordination of bishop (July 4, 2012, AP)China and the Vatican are again sparring over the ordination of a new bishop, underscoring the glaring lack of progress toward resolving the most contentious issue dividing the sides. A statement issued Wednesday by China’s State Bureau of Religious Affairs accused the Holy See of obstructing the development of Catholicism in China by wielding the threat of excommunication over the ordination of a new bishop of the northern city of Harbin. “We urge the Vatican to rescind the so-called ‘excommunication’ threat and return to the correct position of dialogue,” the statement said. That followed a note from the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in Rome that China’s candidate, the Rev. Yue Fusheng, did not have papal approval and risks excommunication if he agrees to be ordained, along with any bishops participating in the ceremony.HEALTH Hand, foot, mouth disease kills 240 (July 5, 2012, China Daily)At least 240 people, mainly children younger than 5 years old, have died from hand, foot and mouth disease from January to May as China enters a peak season of the epidemic, the Ministry of Health has said. The peak will last until October but the infection commonly seen among toddlers can be easily prevented and treated with early detection and intervention, said Xiao Donglou, a division director of the ministry’s disease prevention and control bureau. According to official statistics the infection claimed more than 240 lives on the mainland in the first five months of the year. The epidemic appeared to hit harder this year in terms of scale and severity, Xiao said. SOCIETY / LIFE China foils plane hijacking, 10 injured (June 29, 2012, Xinhua)Air crew and passengers on Friday foiled the attempted hijacking of an aircraft with 100 people on board in China’s far west Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, local police said. At least ten people were injured.Six people allegedly tried to hijack Tianjin Airlines’ Flight GS 7554 just 10 minutes after it took off from the Hotan Airport at 12:25 p.m. and en route to the regional capital Urumqiabout 1,400 km away, officials with regional public security bureau said. Two flight policemen were seriously injured, head attendant and seven passengers were slightly injured in the fight with hijackers, police said. The plane then flew back and safely landed on the Hotan Airport. The six suspects are now in police custody, it said. 52.6 million ride Beijing-Shanghai high speed trains (June 30, 2012, Shanghai Daily)Some 52.6 million passengers have travelled on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway since it opened to the public a year ago, latest data showed today. More than 56,000 trains traversed the railway in the first year of its operation, Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway Company said. After three years of construction, the 1,318-km railway linking Beijing and Shanghai went into operation in June last year. Trains were initially allowed to travel at a maximum speed of 350 km per hour, which was later adjusted to 300 km per hour to allegedly reduce operation costs. Built with an investment of 217.6 billion yuan (US$34.5 billion), the railway has shortened travel time between the two cities to about five hours. China widens pension coverage as population ages (July 1, 2012, China Daily)China on Sunday launched a campaign aiming to provide pension insurance to all rural residents and unemployed citizens in order to help the country cope with its aging population. “We must ensure that the new pension insurance system covers all rural residents and unemployed urbanites by the end of this year,” said Yin Weimin, minister of human resources and social security, at a launching ceremony for the campaign held in Xibaipo, a village in north China’s Hebei province. More than 380 million Chinese have been insured by the urban-rural residents social pension insurance system over the past three years, with about 100 million aged people claiming basic pension granted by the state every month, according to the minister. China to increase train services to Lhasa (July 1, 2012, China Daily)China will increase passenger train services from major cities to Lhasa to cope with a travel surge that has rippled across the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau since a landmark railway opened six years ago, railway officials said Sunday.Trains will travel daily between Guangzhou, capital of south China’s Guangdong province, and Lhasa starting from July 9, said Wang Tao, a spokesman for the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Company. Chengdu-Lhasa trains will soon follow the same schedule. Seven major Chinese cities currently have Lhasa-bound trains. All are expected to operate on a daily basis in the future, Wang said. Among them, Beijing, Shanghai and Xining already have daily trains to Lhasa. Relief efforts in quake-hit Xinjiang ongoing (July 3, 2012, China Daily)China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs will continue to send officials and experts to conduct relief work in Northwest China’s quake-hit Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, according to a statement made by the ministry Sunday night. According to local authorities, more than 155,000 people have been affected and 48,000 have been relocated since a 6.6-magnitude quake jolted a mountainous area along the border of Hejing and Xinyuan counties in Xinjiang early Saturday morning. The quake was followed by several 3- to 4-magnitude aftershocks. The earthquake destroyed 7,500 houses and severely damaged 21,000 others, the ministry said. Over 100,000 Chinese-born children adopted overseas in 30 years: official (July 4, 2012, Xinhua)More than 100,000 Chinese-born orphans and children with physical disabilities have been adopted by overseas parents over the last 30 years, a government official said Wednesday. Overseas adoption has become an important channel through which to find homes for orphaned and disabled children, said Minister of Civil Affairs Li Liguo at a ceremony held for 130 U.S. families and 200 adopted children who came back to China to “seek their roots.” Li said the adoption system has improved constantly in recent years, with an increasingly mature legal system and expanding social impact. China has cemented adoption agreements with 138 government bodies and children’s organizations in 17 countries. Mainland tourists to Taiwan total 4 mln (July 4, 2012, Xinhua)The number of tourists traveling from the Chinese mainland to Taiwan has reached 4.06 million since mainland tourists were given permission to travel there four years ago, generating estimated revenues of 202 billion new Taiwanese dollars (6.77 billion U.S. dollars) for the island, a Taiwanese affairs official said Wednesday. Lai Hsin-yuan, head of the island’s cross-Strait affairs office, revealed the figures while addressing a tourism promotion event targeting mainlanders. Individual tourists accounted for 90,000 of the total, Lai said. One dead as rose collapses in Changsha (July 5, 2012, Shanghai Daily)A section of a highway running near a major river in central China’s Hunan Province caved in early today, engulfing a passing vehicle and killing at least one person aboard. The cave-in, near the Poly International Plaza along the central section of Xiangjiang Road in the provincial capital Changsha, created a 30-square-meter pit on the road. The depth of the pit was not immediately known, said a rescuer with the local fire brigade. “But we cannot see the bottom of the pit with naked eye.” He said the pit engulfed a passing car and at least one person on board died at the scene. Authorities did not describe the ill-fated car or identify the victim. SCIENCE / TECHNOLOGY / ENVIRONMENT All 32 Three Gorges Dam generators operating (July 3, 2012, Xinhua)All 32 generators of China’s Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydropower project, went into production on Monday evening as flood season arrived. It is the first time all 32 generatorsincluding the last turbine , which passed a trial operation in Maystarted up at the same time, said Zhang Chengping, head of the machinery and electronic engineering bureau of the China Three Gorges Corporation. BUSINESS / ECONOMICS / FOREIGN TRADE China cuts interest rates (July 5, 2012, AFP)China on Thursday cut interest rates for the second time in a month, a surprise move that analysts said may indicate the world’s second-biggest economy was slowing more quickly than expected. The changes, which take effect from Friday, will see the benchmark one-year lending rate drop by 0.31 percentage points and the deposit rate fall by 0.25 percentage points, the central bank said in a statement on its website. The cut will effectively adjust the one-year deposit rate to 3.0 percent and the one-year loan rate to 6.0 percent, the bank said. China’s second quarter economic growth seen slipping to three-year low (July 5, 2012, Reuters)China’s economic growth probably slowed further in the second quarter to 7.6 percent, its worse performance since the 2008/09 financial crisis, as investment, factory output and retail sales weakened across the board. But analysts are hopeful the world’s second-largest economy would have seen the worst between April and June, and that growth would pick up in the third quarter as Beijing further loosens monetary policy and fast-forwards infrastructure spending. “With the help of sufficient bank financing and a marginally improving property market, we expect an investment-led recovery in economic growth from the third quarter onwards, with 2012 gross domestic product growth still likely reaching 8 percent,” said Wang Tao, an economist at UBS. The median forecast of 21 analysts is for China’s economy to expand 7.6 percent in the second quarter, down from 8.1 percent in the first, and the slowest since the first three months of 2009 when growth slid to 6.6 percent. LINKS TO DETAILED ARTICLES AND ANALYSIS Xi Jinping Millionaire Relations Reveal Fortunes of Elite (June 29, 2012, Bloomberg)Xi Jinping, the man in line to be Chinas next president, warned officials on a 2004 anti-graft conference call: Rein in your spouses, children, relatives, friends and staff, and vow not to use power for personal gain. As Xi climbed the Communist Party ranks, his extended family expanded their business interests to include minerals, real estate and mobile-phone equipment, according to public documents compiled by Bloomberg. Guarding the guardians (June 30, 2012, The Economist)Chinas leaders, it seems, are stepping up the policing of the police who help secure their rule. In the provinces police chiefs are being put more firmly under the Communist Partys thumb. Some liberals detect in this a sign of possible reform in the way the party polices Chinas citizens. More probable, however, is that after a season of tumult, the control of the police force itself is now under scrutiny. Chinas vast and costly domestic-security apparatus is still behaving as aggressively as ever. Test That Can Determine the Course of Life in China Gets a Closer Examination (June 30, 2012, The New York Times, by Edward Wong)In a country where education is so highly prized, the score that a student earns after the days of testing at the end of high school is believed to set the course of ones life. The score determines not just whether a young person will attend a Chinese university, but also which one a selection, many Chinese say, that has a crucial bearing on career prospects. Strongmen of China playing a risky game of thrones (July 1, 2012, The Age, by John Garnaut)The art of purging a popular and capable leader is making sure they stay purged, at least until they are no longer any threat to the person doing the purging.Anger Grows In Hong Kong Over China, New Leader (July 1, 2012, NPR, by Louisa Lim)China’s President Hu Jintao has sworn in a new leader for Hong Kong amid huge public protests.The island is marking the 15th anniversary of its return to Chinese sovereignty, but mistrust toward China is at its highest level since Hong Kong’s handover in 1997. China hires tens of thousands of North Korea guest workers (July 1, 2012, The Los Angeles Times, by Barbara Demick)Because of sanctions, North Korea is unable to export weapons. So it is using its people to raise money. Most of their earnings will go directly to the North Korean regime. China’s Second Tibet (July 2, 2012, The Wall Street Journal, by Rebiya Kadeer)For Americans, this week is occasion to celebrate their independence and freedom. But for the Uighurs who live primarily in the Xinjiang region of northwestern China, this week serves as a grim reminder of our continued oppression. Made in China: Why knockoffs disappeared from Beijing markets (July 3, 2012, Christian Science Monitor, by Peter Ford)China finally appeared to match its talk on the sanctity of intellectual property rights with some enforcement but only for two weeks. Are China And The U.S. Enemies? (July 4, 2012, Forbes, by Kenneth Rapoza)Are China and the U.S. really arch rivals? On the campaign trail it surely seems that way. But according to a recent poll conducted last month by the Committee of 100, Americans and Chinese have a favorable view of each other. How events unfolded on Flight GS7554 (July 4, 2012, China Daily, by Cui Jia)Passengers and crew describe the sequence of events in the skies above Northwest China last week. Cui Jia reports from Hotan and Shao Wei from Urumqi. Shifang fiasco is a lesson for all local governments (July 4, 2012, Global Times)The molybdenum copper plant project in Shifang, Sichuan Province has been suspended after local protests erupted and police officers arrived to disperse the crowds. The local government’s public credibility was harmed, and most importantly, this is not the first case that Chinese local authorities should take as a grave warning. Hit at home, China’s ghost fleet sails high seas (July 4, 2012, Reuters, by Jacqueline Cowhig)China’s huge fleet of coastal ships, usually confined to plying the Chinese seaboard, has sailed out of the shadows to seek international business in yet another sign that China’s economy is slowing. The fleet, previously unnoticed by the global market, is suffering from a slowdown in China’s coastal trade amid weaker domestic demand from utilities and steel mills and a growing glut in Chinese coal and iron ore stockpiles. Getting Chinese to stop saving and start spending is a hard sell (July 5, 2012, The Washington Post, by Keith B. Richburg)For three decades, China has enjoyed astronomical growth through massive government investment and by becoming the worlds exporting powerhouse. But those days are coming to an end, and the government is looking to Chinese consumers to drive future expansion. LINKS TO BLOGS Why China Cant Pick Good Leaders (June 28, 2012, The Diplomat)Chinas next generation of leaders are expected to be chosen later this year. But factional strength and patronage may well trump talent. Chinas censorship battle between the cats and the mice: Michael Anti at TEDGlobal 2012 (June 29, 2012, TED)In the past 15 years, Anti says, there have been non-stop cat and mouse games between authorities and the netizens. There are 500 million internet users in China. Even if it were totally isolated from the world, the internet there is still booming. Traces on Weibo: How a NIMBY protest turned violent in a small Sichuan city? (July 2, 2012, Offbeat China)July 1, birthday of Chinese Communist Party. How did people at a small city of Shifang, Sichuan province, celebrate? They took to the streets to protest a planned molybdenum copper plant. In the place of fireworks, there were tear gasand blood. Anniversary coverage, a study in contrasts (July 3, 2012, China Media Project)Hong Kong was a city of contrasts on July 1. Just hours after the territorys new chief executive, Leung Chun-ying (), was sworn into office amidst festivities of commemoration, a massive and orderly public demonstration clamored for Leungs resignation, calling him a wolf in sheeps clothing representing the interests of the Chinese Communist Party, not those of the Hong Kong people. Watch: Bo XilaiInside the Scandal (July 3, 2012, Wall Street Journal, via Shanghaiist) Watch: Police fire tear gas into protesting crowds in Shifang (July 4, 2012, Shanghaiist) For migrant children, Beijing is a city of broken dreams (July 4, 2012, DW)Millions of people in China have been migrating from the countryside to the cities in search of work and a better life. But most children of migrant workers get the short end of the stick in education. Angolas Chinese Built Ghost Town (July 4, 2012, China Digital Times)China seems to have taken a symptom of their real-estate bubble with them in their continued investment in Africa. Pool Incident Marks Latest Blow to Foreigner Image (July 4, 2012, China Real Time Report)A foreign teacher who tossed a five-year-old girl into a hotel pool could ensure that close scrutiny of expats in China wont end anytime soon. Can Online Protests Change China? (July 5, 2012, Tea Leaf Nation)What would a world without Weibo, Chinas Twitter, look like? In Chinas papers, Sichuan unrest is just a business story (July 5, 2012, China Media Project)Yesterday we shared a number of (deleted) Chinese social media posts on recent protests in the city of Shifang, in which thousands of residents took to the streets to oppose the construction of molybdenum-copper alloy factory by Sichuan Hongda Co. Ltd. While information about the protests on platforms like Sina Weibo was actively removed by the authorities, social media were still virtually the only source on the story available to Chinese readers. iTunes Wades Into Chinese-Language Controversy (July 5, 2012, China Real Time Report)When Apple launched its iTunes online store for Hong Kong last week, making it easier for locals to buy and download music and videos, some of its efforts got lost in translation. Protests and Chinas Party Cadre Problem (July 5, 2012, China Real Time Report)Its not easy being a local government official in China. News this week of the violent suppression of protests over a planned metals plant in the Sichuan city of Shifang has once again shined a light on how challenged Chinas leaders can be when it comes to handling public discontent. Another High-Profile Call to Revisit Chinas One-Child Rule (July 5, 2012, China Real Time Report)Critics of Chinas one-child policy appear to have sensed a shift in momentum.A group of 15 prominent Chinese scholars issued a open letter on Thursday calling for a rethink of countrys family-planning laws, arguing that the law in its present form is incompatible with Chinas increasing respect for human rights and need for sustainable economic development. ARTICLES IN CHINESE (Pacific Institute for Social Science) (Pacific Institute for Social Science) (Pacific Institute for Social Science) LINKS FOR RESEARCHERS adobe acrobat download China Releases 12th Five-Year Plan for Energy Saving and Environmental Protection Industry (June 5, 2012, China Briefing)