ZGBriefs | June 4, 2015

ZGBriefs is a compilation of news items gathered from published online sources. ChinaSource is not responsible for the content, and inclusion in ZGBriefs does not equal endorsement.

Featured Article

Scenes From China's Yangtze River Disaster (June 2, 2015, The Atlantic)
A passenger ship named Dongfangzhixing (Eastern Star) carrying 458 people, including 406 Chinese passengers, 5 travel agency workers and 47 crew members, sank on Monday night in the Jianli section of the Yangtze River in China. According to officials 15 people have been rescued with hundreds still missing. The captain and the chief engineer both survived and claimed that the ship sank quickly after being caught in a cyclone. Rescuers fought bad weather on Tuesday as they searched for the missing, many of them elderly Chinese tourists, in one of China's worst shipping disasters in decades.

Special Section: Yangtze Ship Sinking

Oriental Star Accident Highlights Increase in Safety Problems on Yangtze Cruises (June 2, 2015, The New York Times)
For much of recorded history, traveling up the Yangtze meant braving turbulent currents and shoals. In recent years, a more prosaic risk has been growing: poorly maintained ships and inexperienced crews.

Yangtze Ship Sinking: Recent Shipwrecks in China’s Longest River (June 2, 2015, China Real Time)
Below is a list of other recent shipwreck accidents in China’s longest river, compiled from Chinese state-run media and other reports:

5 Things to Know About China’s Yangtze River (June 2, 2015, China Real Time)
Historically, the river has been a vital artery for trade and industry and nourished great centers of culture. Here are five things to know about the Yangtze.

Anger and resignation at scene of Chinese cruise ship sinking (June 2, 2015, The Guardian)
The call that transformed Deng Liping from minivan driver to corpse collector came out of the blue at dawn on Tuesday. “The government told me to come to the river and pick up the bodies,” the 52-year-old said. “They said a ship had sunk, get ready to leave.”

Translation: Public Opinion and the Sunken Ship (June 2, 2015, China Digital Times)
On WeChat, journalist Song Zhibiao published his reflections on the power of public opinion, and the reasons it is more difficult for authorities to control discussion of the accident now than it would have been ten years ago.

As Hopes Dim for Yangtze Survivors, China Keeps Information Under Wraps (June 3, 2015, The New York Times)
China sought to maintain a tight grip on information about the disaster on Wednesday, even as hopes dimmed for the hundreds of people aboard who remained missing, and as new questions emerged about the ship and the captain’s decision to sail into a storm.

Hopes fade of finding Yangtze survivors (June 3, 2015, BBC)
Officials say they will keep looking for survivors, but it could be China's worst boat disaster in decades. "As long as there's even a little hope, we will give it 100% and will absolutely not give up," Transport Minister Yang Chuantang said, before adding that rescuers were in "a race against time".

Hundreds of coffins prepared as China realises scale of cruise ship tragedy (June 3, 2015, The Guardian)
As the country clings to hope of finding further survivors after China’s biggest shipping disaster in recent memory, undertakers are braced for the worst.

Yangtze Capsize: How the Three Gorges Dam Is Helping Rescuers (June 3, 2015, China Real Time)
More than 100 miles upriver from where the Eastern Star passenger cruise ship sank late Monday near the city of Yueyang in central Hubei province, workers at the massive Three Gorges Dam hydropower project cut water-flow rates through the dam by more than half. That, in turn, lowered overall water depths in the portion of the river where the Eastern Star sank.

Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs

For American pundits, China isn’t a country. It’s a fantasyland. (May 29, 2015, The Washington Post)
Over the past decade, American audiences have become accustomed to lectures about China, like a schoolboy whose mother compares him with an overachieving classmate.

Chinese Security Laws Elevate the Party and Stifle Dissent. Mao Would Approve. (May 29, 2015, The New York Times)
Analysts say the laws are aimed at giving the security forces and courts greater leeway in muzzling Chinese civil society and corralling the influence of Western institutions and ideas, which Mr. Xi views as a threat.

Draft NGO Law: A Roundup of Reactions (May 29, 2015, ChinaSource Blog)
In the weeks since the draft was published, there’s been much discussion and analysis of the implications of this proposed law. Below is a roundup of some of the best pieces I’ve seen on the subject (so far).

China tells workplaces they must have Communist Party units (May 30, 2015, Reuters)
China has passed a regulation ensuring government organizations and private companies have Communist Party units so that party policy can be implemented across society, the People's Daily, the official party mouthpiece, said on Saturday.

China Says It Could Set Up Air Defense Zone in South China Sea (May 31, 2015, The New York Times)
A Chinese admiral said Sunday that Beijing could set up an air defense zone above disputed areas of the South China Sea if it thought it was facing a large enough threat, according to Chinese news media.

Q. and A.: Willy Wo-Lap Lam on ‘Chinese Politics in the Era of Xi Jinping’ (June 1, 2015, Sinosphere)
In an interview, Mr. Lam discussed what’s behind Mr. Xi’s reversal of many of the principles that have guided Chinese politics in the post-Mao era and what Mr. Lam sees as “the closing of the Chinese mind.”

Will China Close Its Doors? (June 1, 2015, The New York Times)
The slogan for the 2008 Beijing Olympics was “Beijing Welcomes You.” Now, seven years later, a draft law targeting foreign institutions — including universities, museums, athletic and cultural groups, professional associations and all nonprofit social organizations established outside of mainland China — makes clear that Beijing has become much less welcoming.

As Hong Kong Vote Looms, Beijing Rules Out Reform Concessions (June 1, 2015, China Real Time)
Beijing officials ruled out concessions on proposed changes to the electoral system here after a rare meeting with pro-democracy lawmakers, quashing chances for a compromise just weeks before the crucial vote.

China's activity in South China Sea 'beyond anything previously seen' (June 1, 2015, The Guardian)
Australia’s defence chief Dennis Richardson warns that China’s military buildup and reclamation program ‘dwarfs’ what other nations in the region have done

Xi Jinping’s China is the greatest political experiment on Earth (June 1, 2015, The Guardian)
By now it is relatively clear what Xi is aiming to do. He is trying to steer a complex economy and society through difficult times by top-down changes, led and controlled by a purged, disciplined and reinvigorated Leninist party.

How Deng Xiaoping Helped Create a Corrupt China (June 3, 2015, The New York Times)
In fact, during the two decades after Deng Xiaoping’s famous Southern Tour of China in 1992 — when, in semi-retirement, he traveled to Guangdong Province to forcefully promote economic liberalization — officials at all levels of the Communist Party quietly got rich. Tolerating corruption was, in fact, part of what Deng unleashed.

Religion

Welby urges Chinese Christians to share their faith … but be ‘respectful’ (June 1, 2015, The Telegraph)
Archbishop of Canterbury advises worshippers in China to practise their answers in effort to spread Christianity under Communism

In rural China, the Gospel is available though not accessible (June 1, 2015, Mission News Network)
For years, China has been viewed as a country that lacks Bibles and has few Christians. But that view is a few decades out of date and couldn’t be more wrong.

China admits some Communist party members have become believers (June 2, 2015, Christian Today)
Chinese authorities have issued a fresh warning that religious activities are posing a threat to the communist ideology, saying such activities will lead to "disastrous consequences."

Society / Life

Lights Out! Radio Exercise! (May 24, 2015, The World of Chinese)
Whether you find them amusing, annoying or confusing, “broadcast exercises” (广播体操), or radio exercises, are ubiquitous throughout China, and, surprisingly, they are now more prevalent than ever.

China’s Weibo: No More Smut (June 1, 2015, China Real Time)
China’s biggest microblogging platform is cleaning up the smut. The chief executive of Sina’s Weibo service said on Sunday it would be asking “modeling agencies” – a loose term for the array of services posting images of scantily clad women online – to yank those pictures from the service.

Goodbye to smog, cold noodles and breakneck change: my seven years covering China (June 1, 2015, The Guardian)
I won’t miss the pollution and the many injustices. But I will remember the achievements, the beauty, the exuberant energy and the friends I made.

‘We are the Heirs of Communism,’ Now With Drones, Boy Bands (June 2, 2015, China Real Time)
To commemorate the holiday, which is celebrated every year on June 1, the Communist Youth League of China unveiled an online video delivering a new take on “We are the Heirs of Communism,” the decades-old anthem of the mass children’s organization Young Pioneers of China. Posted online by the youth league on Monday, this video has everything: drones, gymnasts, red scarves, and Yao Ming playing basketball with schoolboys.

Education

Chinese nationals accused of taking SATs for others (May 28, 2015, BBC)
The US Department of Justice has charged 15 Chinese nationals with developing a scheme to have imposters take university entrance exams. Prosecutors said suspects used fake passports to trick administrators into allowing people other than legitimate test takers to sit the exams. The scheme took place between 2011 and 2015 mostly in western Pennsylvania, authorities said.

U.S. Schools Expelled 8,000 Chinese Students (May 29, 2015, China Real Time)
As tens of thousands of Chinese students prepare to study in the U.S., they might reflect on the experience of some of those who went before them. According to an estimate by a U.S. education company, some 8,000 Chinese students were expelled from American universities last year alone – and the main reasons were poor grades and cheating.

'American Universities Are Addicted to Chinese Students' (May 30, 2015, The Atlantic)
Chinese students have become a big market in the United States—and nobody understands this better than the universities themselves. Over 60 percent of Chinese students cover the full cost of an American university education themselves, effectively subsidizing the education of their lower-income American peers.

Why do so many Chinese students choose US universities? (June 2, 2015, BBC)
There are more than a quarter of a million students from China in colleges in the United States – a third of all international students in the country – and almost a fivefold increase since 2000. Why do so many now come to study in the US?

Surveillance drones now used to combat gaokao cheaters (June 3, 2015, Shanghaiist)
This year as students in Luoyang city are furiously scribbling away to complete their gaokao, China's painfully competitive college entrance exam, drones will be flying over their heads to prevent them from cheating.

Health / Environment

Mers virus: China tracking nearly 200 for possible infections (May 29, 2015, BBC)
China is trying to track down at least 193 people who may have come in contact with a man with Mers, the country's first confirmed case of the virus.

Beijing bans smoking in public places (June 1, 2015, The Guardian)
More than 1,000 inspectors, hefty fines and a widespread media campaign support crackdown in city with 4.2m smokers.

The No Smoking Dance (June 1, 2015, Outside-In)
Today (June 1), a smoking ban goes into effect in Beijing that will outlaw smoking in all indoor public places and most outdoor settings as well. And what better way to promote it and get people behind it than the No Smoking Dance, one of a number of events held at the Bird’s Nest in Beijing.

Economics / Trade / Business

11 Key Issues When Starting A China Business (May 31, 2015, China Law Blog)
Starting a business in China usually involves forming a Wholly Foreign Owned Entity or WFOE. Forming and getting a China WFOE up and running involves more than simply securing Chinese government approval for the new entity. It also usually implicates the following eleven issues as well.

Puffing dragon: China's new smoking ban faces economic blowback (+video) (June 1, 2015, Christian Science Monitor)
Beijing now forbids smoking indoors. But the government agency charged with carrying out the ban also owns the company that makes and sells cigarettes. 

Glut of Chinese Goods Pinches Global Economy (June 2, 2015, China Real Time)
A dozen years ago, low-cost workers from the countryside poured in to China’s factories, helping bring down the cost of everything from T-shirts to tricycles. Then the country’s booming demand for commodities such as oil and cotton helped to reverse that downward inflation trend, as natural-resource prices surged. Now, China’s excess manufacturing capacity and slowing growth rate are changing the equation again, putting renewed downward pressure on prices.

History / Culture

Ted Levine's Old Beijing in Photos (May 29, 2015, The Beijinger)
Ted Levine was a student at Beijing Language Institute (now Beijing Language and Culture University) in 1982. His daughter has recently embarked on a mission to restore his photographs from that time.

Nicholas Kitto’s Photographic Record of China’s Treaty Ports (June 1, 2015, China Rhyming)
Photographer Nicholas Kitto has spent the last seven years visiting all the larger former Treaty Ports to photograph the remaining buildings from that era. At the same time he’s been seeking to track down the homes and offices of various members of his family who were in China from the 1860’s until 1945.

Three-Inch Golden Lotus: The Practice Of Foot Binding (June 2, 2015, The World of Chinese)
Though the old aesthetic views regarded bound feet as a mask of beauty, it led to lifelong disability and extreme pain for most of its subjects. Behind the tiny feet wrapped in exquisitely embroidered shoes was a bloody cruel practice, imposed on millions of innocent young girls.

How the Tiananmen Massacre Changed China, and the World (June 2, 2015, China Change)
It stunted China’s political reforms, and it put the country’s economic development on a deviant path. Public sentiment was so badly crushed during June 4 that the privatization agenda which soon came to China lacked even the most basic public participation or supervision, and devolved into a naked wealth grab by those with power.

Arts / Entertainment / Media

China Begins Tightening Regulations on Reality Shows (June 2, 2015, TIME)
China’s state media watchdog is planning a raft of new rules for reality TV shows, which will restrict satellite broadcasters to one reality series, most likely per year, and state that programs must be “close to the masses.”

Travel / Food

Must Have Travel Apps for China (May 27, 2015, Peanuts or Pretzels)

Taste Beijing's vibrant food scene (May 27, 2015, USA Today)
Beijing's culinary profile has changed significantly over the past decade, focusing more on genuine culinary experiences and less on formal fine dining.

The Great Wall’s most spectacular wild hikes (May 28, 2015, Lonely Planet)
China’s most famous landmark, and one of the world's most astonishing manmade sights, the Great Wall snakes its way across northern China for over 20,000 kilometres. Its most popular sections, though easily accessible and perfectly restored, are often crowded to the point of madness. But numerous sections of the wall have been left untouched and crumbling, making for incredible, people-free hiking for the adventurous traveller.

China: Musical glass skywalk opens to public (May 29, 2015, BBC)
A new cliff-side glass walkway has opened to the public in eastern China with an added novelty factor – it plays musical notes as visitors walk.

Forbidden City to cap visitors at 80,000 daily (June 1, 2015, Xinhua)
The Palace Museum in Beijing, also known as the Forbidden City and one of the country's most prominent landmarks, will limit visitors to 80,000 a day from June 13.

Language / Language Learning

“Gross Emergency” – Chinese Language Speaking Ambiguities (May 29, 2015, China Simplified)
In “Gross Emergency” the China Simplified team plays around with possible misunderstandings of the common Chinese term 应该没问题 yīnggāi méiwèntí meaning “should be no problem.” This ambiguous term can be interpreted in a variety of ways depending on how its pronounced.

The Chairman’s Bao (June 2, 2015, Sinosplice)
Since my job at AllSet Learning is to create personalized Chinese courses for clients, I’m always on the lookout for good new sources of study material. The most interesting and promising one I’ve found lately is called The Chairman’s Bao (主席日报). More than simply a collection of interesting articles in Chinese, the site describes itself as “the 1st ever online Chinese simplified newspaper dedicated to those learning Mandarin.”

Books

Mark Twain in China (May 31, 2015, China Rhyming)
Selina Lai-Henderson’s Mark Twain in China sheds light on Twain’s interest in China and that country’s interest in him.

Just One Book (June 1, 2015, ChinaSource Blog)
A few weeks back, I did something rather mean—I wrote to a dozen or so friends serving in China and asked them what one book they would recommend to someone wanting to serve in China. The people I asked work in various ministry sectors, and live in different parts of China.

China Under Mao: A Revolution Derailed (June 2, 2015, China File)
China’s Communist Party seized power in 1949 after a long period of guerrilla insurgency followed by full-scale war, but the Chinese revolution was just beginning. China Under Mao narrates the rise and fall of the Maoist revolutionary state from 1949 to 1976—an epoch of startling accomplishments and disastrous failures, steered by many forces but dominated above all by Mao Zedong.

Articles for Researchers

The 2015 Chinese Defense White Paper on Strategy in Perspective: Maritime Missions Require a Change in the PLA Mindset (May 29, 2015, China Brief)

Events

Mapping Chinese Christianity in Global China: Professor Yang Feng-gang
19 Jun 2015 (Fri) | 6pm 
Cpd 3.01, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus, Hku 
Admission Free. Registration Required.

Image credit: by Joann Pittman, via Flickr