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Featured Article
Leave China, Study in America, Find Jesus (February 11, 2016, Foreign Policy)
One day in early September, as frigid weather moved into Madison, a group of students approached Cai in her dormitory hallway to ask her opinion about God. She realized that she had never thought about it before. Out of simple curiosity, she began to attend a Bible study group. And so her spiritual journey began; four years after coming to Wisconsin, Cai was baptized and then tied the knot with an American in a Madison church
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Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs
Xi Jinping’s ambitious power play (February 11, 2016, South China Morning Post)
President’s ongoing quest to consolidate his grip may be sign of the scale of resistance he is facing, analysts say
State secrets or golf secrets? Murky case of Ling Wancheng tests China-US ties (February 11, 2016, The Guardian)
A politically connected Chinese businessman living in the US in murky circumstances has denied he gave American authorities state secrets including nuclear launch codes – insisting that he is only interested in “golf secrets”.
Chinese Envoy Hits Out at ‘Radical Separatists’ Behind Hong Kong Riots (February 15, 2016, TIME)
The Chinese government’s top official in Hong Kong has issued a strong rebuke of those responsible for demonstrations that turned violent during last week’s Lunar New Year celebrations, labeling them “radical separatists” with tendencies toward terrorism.
China Forbids Author of Book About the Great Famine From Taking Harvard Prize (February 16, 2016, TIME)
A former journalist with China’s official news agency says he has been blocked from traveling to the United States to accept a Harvard University prize for a 2008 book uncovering the devastating toll of the Great Chinese Famine of 1958-1961.
Free Speech in China Gets an Unlikely State-Media Backer (February 17, 2016, China Real Time)
China’s ruling Communist Party is cracking down on internal criticism, and the editor of one of the country’s most nationalist tabloids isn’t going to take it anymore. In a post on his Weibo microblog over the weekend, Hu Xijin, editor in chief of the Global Times, called on Chinese authorities to show greater tolerance for dissenting opinions.
China Hates That the Road By Its U.S. Embassy Could Be Named After a Top Dissident (February 17, 2016, TIME)
He is, by official Chinese accounts, a “convicted criminal.” But if the U.S. Senate has its way, the thoroughfare outside the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., will be renamed in honor of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, the only Nobel Peace Prize laureate currently in prison.
China preparing to charge Hong Kong bookseller Lee Bo with blackmail – report (February 17, 2016, The Guardian)
One of five publishers who appear to have been abducted by Chinese agents has been accused of threatening the subjects of some of his books.
China Has Deployed Missiles On Disputed Island, U.S. And Taiwan Say (February 17, 2016, NPR)
"We have seen evidence of surface-to-air missile deployments to Woody Island," a U.S. defense official says, in the first official public comments about China placing a weapons system on a disputed island in the South China Sea.
Video: South China Sea island row: Three key questions (February 17, 2016, BBC)
But why is sovereignty of the islands disputed, and how serious could the row get?
Religion
Practical or Political? — Key Challenges Facing China’s Urban Church (February 12, 2016, From the West Courtyard)
Persecution is a reality, and the government does limit what the church can do often, but yet I think when we get below that we realize that there are issues the church is facing today that, even if religious policy were changed tomorrow, some of those issues will still be there.
Campaign Against China's Christians Spreads to Guangdong Province (February 12, 2016, Radio Free Asia)
The Zhongfu Wanmin Church in Guangdong's industrial city of Dongguan has been forced to move premises after it received an official letter from the local religious affairs bureau requiring it to "cease all illegal religious activities," its pastor told RFA on Friday. "
Avoiding Extremes (February 15, 2016, From the West Courtyard)
Are we simply focusing on the extremes, or are we trying to help our readers and constituents understand the context? At ChinaSource, we strive hard for the latter. Hopefully, we are succeeding.
My Story in the Cell (February 16, 2016, Chinese Church Voices)
Brother Xu Guoyong, co-founder of Oak Tree Press in Beijing, was tragically killed in an accident while attending a conference in the United States in January. As a publisher, Brother Xu was instrumental in making a number of significant Christian classics available to readers in China.
Grace, Gift-giving, and Guanxi in Chinese Culture (February 17, 2016, Jackson Wu)
Many Christians recoil to hear explicitly that someone was nice merely out of “duty,” as if (s)he had to do it. We don’t want people to feel “burdened” to give us gifts or do kind deeds. After all, grace is supposed to be free.
Are China’s Best being Lost to the West? (February 17, 2016, From the West Courtyard)
I am concerned about a phenomenon that has been growing in the ten years since I’ve been living in China, and maybe even long before that. Many Chinese believers are moving to the U.S. and other Western countries for theological education, and many who go overseas are not returning to China.
Society / Life
Photos: Discover China’s Love for Pre-Wedding Photos (February 12, 2016, TIME)
Pre-wedding photography is a lucrative, multi-billion dollar industry in China, adding a playful, new custom to a country deeply rooted in ancient traditions.
China outlines plans to better protect 61m rural children fending for themselves (February 15, 2016, South China Morning Post)
The central government has vowed to improve the lot of the millions of children “left behind” in rural areas by their parents and put new systems in place to safeguard their rights over the next five years.
Guo Jianmei, Zhongze, and the Empowerment of Women in China (February 14, 2016, China Change)
She is a renowned public interest lawyer, a pioneer of China’s NGO movement, a defender of women’s rights, a writer, a legislative advocate, a recipient of some of the world’s top awards for women, and her work has been recognized and supported by the likes of the United Nations. What could go wrong? Everything.
The Chinese Village Modernization Left Behind (February 17, 2016, Foreign Policy)
Mud Village, ill-served by economic reforms and embittered by official corruption, would just as soon turn back the clock.
Economics / Trade / Business
Amazon expands logistics reach in China (February 10, 2016, Reuters)
Amazon.com Inc. is aggressively expanding its logistics operations in China as part of a broader effort to control the rising cost of shipping billions of packages. Its plans in China, outlined in filings there, include handling cargo and customs for goods headed to ports in Japan, Europe and the United States.
China’s coming crash could dwarf the great recession—says an investor who called 2008 (February 11, 2016, Quartz)
China is heading for further financial chaos. In the near future the yuan could lose a third of its value against the dollar, the government would need to print more than $10 trillion to keep banks liquid, and financial institutions are set lose trillions of dollars in equity value.
Having A Hong Kong Business Does NOT Make You Legal in Mainland China (February 13, 2016, China Law Blog)
If you are doing business in China without a WFOE (or a Joint Venture or a Rep Office) you are probably operating there illegally. And if you have what you think are employees or independent contractors in China and yet you do not have a business entity in China (a WFOE or a Joint Venture or a Rep Office) you are operating illegally.
China's Silk Road revival steams ahead as cargo train arrives in Iran (February 15, 2016, The Guardian)
A long-distance cargo train has travelled from China to Iran as part of an attempted revival of the ancient Silk Road, a trans-Asian trade route connecting the east to Europe and the Mediterranean Sea.
Why is China trying to revive ancient Silk Road? (February 16, 2016, Christian Science Monitor)
The Silk Road is part of China’s 'One Belt, One Road,' an economic development strategy launched by Chinese president Xi Jinping in 2013.
Working Foreigners May Now Buy Property in Beijing (February 17, 2016, The Beijinger)
Foreigners working legally in Beijing may now buy property with an immediate effect, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development announced, in a move anticipated since the summer of 2015.
Some ways in which the Chinese economy might evolve (February 17, 2016, The Economist)
There is a cottage industry of analysts out there gaming out the ways in which a crisis of some sort might unfold within China. But with debts of this magnitude accumulating, you don't need to posit a looming crisis to draw some reasonably strong, and reasonably gloomy conclusions about the near-term future of the Chinese economy—and the world as a whole.
Education
China’s best cities to teach English (February 16, 2016, New Life ESL)
So, when it comes to the word “best”, there’s no doubt that “best” is in the eye of the beholder. One thing that is easy for us to agree on, is that when we say the “best cities to teach English in China”, we actually just mean the most competitive and well-known cities for you to teach English in China.
Health / Environment
Xinjiang Region of China Bans Glacier Tourism, Citing Risk to Ecosystem (February 16, 2016, The New York Times)
The Xinjiang government announced this month that it was banning tourism on glaciers across the region, which is one-sixth of the Chinese land mass. Many glaciers are found in Xinjiang, and in the Tianshan range in particular, which runs east-west through the middle of the vast region.
Science / Technology
China builds world's largest radio telescope – video (February 16, 2016, The Guardian)
Drone footage shows the world’s largest radio telescope being built. Work on the 1.2bn yuan (£127m) Fast (Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope) project began in the south-western province of Guizhou in 2011 and is expected to be completed by September.
History / Culture
Amazing similarities between Chinese New Year and Jewish Passover (February 2, 2016, The Times of Israel)
To some extent, Passover is a spring festival, The Spring Festival is a “Passover”, and both mark the beginning of the traditional calendar year
China's curious cult of the mango (February 11, 2016, BBC)
Fifty years ago, China was plunged into the most chaotic and traumatic decade of its recent history – the Cultural Revolution. During this period, the nation was gripped by a peculiar hysteria: a mania for mangoes. Benjamin Ramm discovers how the fruit became an object of deep veneration, and a vehicle for the promotion of the cult of Chairman Mao.
Against the Wall (February 12, 2016, Outside-In)
The man sitting against the wall captures that distance, and the smallness of the commoner in relation to the emperor. And if he’s more than 80 years old, he can remember the day when an emperor (albeit a young boy) was in residence behind those big red walls.
The one and many ways of being Chinese (February 16, 2016, Sup China)
The extraordinary diversity of Chinese culture defies the government’s attempts to bind the country together through crafted commonalities – and some universal values allow people to connect just fine on their own.
Arts / Entertainment / Media
A Chinese cartoonist skewers the Communist rulers from afar (February 10, 2016, PRI)
There's a Chinese man who decided to disappear on his own. He's a cartoonist who goes by the pen name: Badiucao.
The Road (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)
In four chapters, director Zanbo Zhang documents the abuses surrounding the construction of a giant highway through Hunan province from the perspective of the local population, the construction company and the laborers.
Travel / Food
Silk Road Market Caters to Lovers of Acceleration, Handling and Plumage (February 15, 2016, The New York Times)
In many parts of the world, pigeons are an urban pest or, at best, a tasty meal. But here in this storied, ancient outpost near China’s border with Kyrgyzstan, they are much more: a hobby, an investment and, for some, an addiction.
Discovering Xi’an’s Muslim Quarter on Foot (February 16, 2016, Wild China Blog)
Xi’an’s Muslim Quarter is as old as the ancient Silk Road, the path that brought trade goods and new religions from the west into China. Today the Muslim Quarter is a bustling district of this ancient city and a must-see on even a short Xi’an trip. Here are some of the reasons not to miss this fascinating district.
Red-Letter Day: Uncovering Beijing’s Literary and Ideological Past (February 16, 2016, The Beijinger)
We’ll be exploring the city’s past, with stops at the former residence of writer Lao She, the Red Building of the old Peking University, and Zhongshan Park, where writers gathered for artistic inspiration in the 1920s.
Tianjin’s Ancient Culture Street (February 17, 2016, The World of Chinese)
As a major port city, and China’s fourth largest city by population, Tianjin boasts a variety of different attractions and hot spots for tourists. Just 30 minutes from Beijing, it is an ideal getaway from the capital. Plenty of travelers head there for one spot in particular—Guwenhua Jie (古文化街), which translates to Ancient Culture Street.
Books
Confucianism, A Habit of the Heart, Philip J. Ivanhoe, ed. (SUNY Press)
Can Confucianism be regarded as a civil religion for East Asia? This book explores this question, bringing the insights of Robert Bellah to a consideration of various expressions of the contemporary Confucian revival.
Review: The Cultural Revolution: A People's History, 1962-1976 (Kirkus)
An eminent China scholar uses increasingly available primary materials for a fine, sharp study of this tumultuous, elusive era—the third volume in a trilogy.
Events
An International Conference On Confucianism & Catholicism: Reinvigorating The Dialogue Georgetown University
Saturday, March 5 At 9:00am To 6:00pm
Mortara Center Conference Room 3600 N Street, NW, Washington, Dc
Image credit: Lucy-Lamb, via Flickr
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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 …View Full Bio