Featured Article

Using Apps in China Feels Like a Different World (March 19, 2025, National Committee on U.S.-China Relations)
China’s internet is largely closed to the outside world, so platforms are specifically designed for Chinese user needs. WeChat, commonly seen as a “super-app,” has every function from web search from paying your utility bills. Yaling Jiang, an expert of Chinese consumer behavior, takes us behind the scenes of China’s hottest apps. Do you use any?

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New ChinaSource Journal: Sinicization, Chinafication, or Zhongguohua
The present issue of the ChinaSource Journal explores this and related backgrounds to notions of religious Sinicization not routinely explored in English-language sources. Contributions to this issue introduce lesser-known discussions in Chinese academia, bringing clarity and substance to some of the conceptual confusion over Sinicization, which remains a notion associated with diverse movements and agendas. This particular issue focuses on state-sanctioned institutions, but it does not address the impact of Sinicization on house churches, which remains an open question for further study.

Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs

Foreign Minister ‘Strongly Condemns’ China’s Executions of Four Canadians (March 19, 2025, The Guardian)
The minister of foreign affairs, Mélanie Joly, said on Wednesday that all four were dual citizens and were executed earlier this year. She added that Ottawa would ask for leniency for other Canadians facing the same fate. “There are four Canadians that have been executed and therefore we are strongly condemning what happened,” she said.

Distinguished Chinese Americans Condemn Visa Veto Aimed at Students from China (March 19, 2025, South China Morning Post)
The non-profit, non-partisan organisation’s chairman Gary Locke, who was Washington’s ambassador to China from 2011 to 2014, said in a statement on Tuesday that the US “has always thrived by welcoming the brightest minds from around the world”. “Shutting the door on Chinese students doesn’t just betray our values, it weakens our leadership in science, technology, and innovation,” Locke said in response to the legislation introduced last week by US House Republican Riley Moore of West Virginia.

China’s Special Envoys Are Redefining Global Diplomacy (March 24, 2025, East Asia Forum)
China’s special envoy system is distinct from Western diplomacy, focusing on government-to-government relations, avoiding sensitive political issues and instead emphasising economic cooperation and pragmatic conflict mediation. But as the system expands it faces challenges such as inconsistent messaging and scepticism from countries reliant on Chinese loans, who question the sustainability of these agreements.

Chinese Company’s Acid Spill Pollutes Zambian River, Threatening Millions of Local Residents (March 24, 2025, China Digital Times)
An acidic waste spill by a Chinese company in Zambia has created a massive environmental crisis that threatens a river on which millions of Zambians rely. The incident occurred last month at a facility owned by Sino-Metals Leach Zambia, a firm majority-owned by the Chinese state-run China Nonferrous Metals Industry Group. In addition to straining Zambia-China relations, the incident underscores Zambia’s economic vulnerability, since its copper extraction industry is dependent on Chinese and Western corporations with poor environmental track records.

Religion

Issues Today’s Chinese Women Face (March 20, 2025, China Partnership)
March is Women’s Month, a holiday which is widely celebrated in China. In honor, we are re-posting a previous article written by a North American-Chinese missionary who served for nearly two decades with her family in China. She shares about some of the major challenges and realities her Chinese friends face as they seek to follow Christ. It is our hope that, as we understand the realities of the situation in which Chinese women live, we can better pray for and support the Chinese church.

Webinar – Translingual Catholics: Chinese Catholics Before Vatican II (March 21, 2025, Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics)
Weaving together archival resources in Chinese, French, and English, Translingual Catholics examines the preconciliar theological contribution of Republican-Era Chinese Catholics to global Catholicism and to the dialogue between Christianity and Chinese spiritual traditions. It sheds light on generations of multilingual Chinese Catholic intellectuals who participated in the elaboration of Catholic theology leading up to the Second Vatican Council.

Faith Under Party Rule (March 24, 2025, ChinaSource)
A key requirement is that religions must be properly patriotic. Translations of basic religious texts, like the Bible, are to be revised “to bring them into line with the official Marxist ideology of the CPC and the ‘new era.’”⁵ Patriotic education programs are to be held with special emphasis on the study of Party history and the writings of Xi Jinping. Courses on these subjects are mandatory in institutes for training of religious professionals. Religious art and architecture must conform to Chinese traditional styles.

The Indigenization and Zhongguohua of Christianity (March 24, 2025, ChinaSource)
In recent years, discussions on the “Zhongguohua (Chinafication) of Christianity” have garnered widespread attention, sparking debates over whether “Zhongguohua” is synonymous with “indigenization.” This article aims to delve into an exploration and comparative analysis of the official discourse concerning the Zhongguohua of religions and the historical backdrop of indigenization within the context of Chinese Christianity.

Guilin: There Must Be a Creator (March 24, 2025, China Partnership)
Through the end of March, we’ll continue praying for Guilin. A beautiful Southern China city of mountains and waters, several Guilin pastors told us how to pray for them, their churches and their families. They also shared that they often use Guilin’s beauty to point to the Creator, and to show people that this breathtaking place was designed by God, the ultimate master artist.

Society / Life

China’s Youth Must Be Taught Bad Behaviour Will Not Be Tolerated (March 19, 2025, South China Morning Post)
The popular hotpot chain Haidilao is in the midst of a public relations crisis, and internet users are describing the matter as “pee-gate”. Last month, two 17-year-olds were dining at a Haidilao restaurant in Shanghai and, while drunk, got up on the table and urinated directly into the pot. A video of the incident went viral earlier this month and someone reported it to police.

Young Women in China Find Virtual Romance in Hit Game ‘Love and Deepspace’ (March 21, 2025, South China Morning Post)
Love and Deepspace, a popular mobile game, has captured the hearts of many young women in China and beyond, with its lifelike 3D characters, engaging storylines and futuristic romance scenarios. In one example of such devotion, players gathered at a Beijing shopping center on March 1 to celebrate the birthday of their virtual “boyfriend” – the game character Rafayel.

Squat or Sit? China’s Great Toilet Debate and the Problem of Footprints On the Seat (March 25, 2025, What’s On Weibo)
For years, this problem has sparked debate. Initially, these discussions would mostly take place outside of China, in places with a large number of Chinese tourists. In Switzerland, for example, the famous Rigi Railways caused controversy for introducing separate trains with special signs explaining to tourists, especially from China, how (not) to use the toilet.

Economics / Trade / Business

What Is EV Maker BYD and Can Its Batteries Really Charge in Five Minutes? (March 18, 2025, The Guardian)
BYD’s Hong Kong-listed shares gained 4.1% on Tuesday to hit a record high of 408.80 Hong Kong dollars ($40.58), as investors bet that the company could strengthen its already commanding market position. The Chinese company is already the world’s biggest manufacturer of battery electric and plug-in hybrid electric cars that combine a battery and a polluting petrol engine. Investors including Warren Buffett have bet that the company can extend its lead in electric car production – and the sale of batteries to rival carmakers.

China Is Turning Up Pressure on Walmart. That Could Mean Higher Prices for US Customers (March 24, 2025, CNN)
Trump has slapped 20% tariffs — or taxes on imported goods — on all products coming from China. That’s put the squeeze on retailers like Walmart, which imports a lot of merchandise from China and sells those goods at the lowest price possible to American consumers. Walmart, in turn, has tried to pressure its Chinese suppliers to lower prices. But the Chinese government is having none of it.

Consumption Coupons Fuel a Rise in Consumer Spending (March 24, 2025, Sixth Tone)
China’s retail market showed renewed signs of life in the first two months of 2025, as consumption coupons and other stimulus measures led buyers to trade in old appliances and dated furniture for newer items.

Science / Technology

The Race for Smart Cars: U.S.-China Competition in Autonomous Vehicles (March 24, 2025, National Committee on U.S.-China Relations)
The development of Intelligent Connected Vehicles (ICVs) and Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) is a key technological and economic frontier. The United States and China are both investing heavily in this sector, which has the potential to shape global leadership in the coming decades.

History / Culture

Navigating the Market for Love: The Chinese Party-State as Matchmaker in the Early Reform Era (March 24, 2025, Made In China Journal)
The People’s Daily (人民日报) publishes important announcements on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It covers high-level politics, economic achievements, diplomatic breakthroughs, and other serious topics. So, on 14 December 1984, a reader might have been surprised to see the paper run the playful headline ‘Interprovincial Dating Project’ (跨省市恋爱协作) (People’s Daily 1984).

From Lane to Block: The Evolution of Shanghai’s Modern Apartments (March 24, 2025, Sixth Tone)
The 1920s and ’30s apartment buildings in Hengfu have stood for nearly a century and encompass a wide variety of architectural styles, from low-rise lane homes to modernist masterpieces that pioneered the city’s trend towards high-rise, collective living spaces. Together, they offer a rare glimpse of China’s early foray into modernity.

Education

Shrinking Humanities for AI (March 19, 2025, China Media Project)
On February 25, Jin announced that Fudan would drastically reduce its course offerings in the humanities, instead focusing on AI training. In an interview with Guangzhou’s Southern Weekly (南方周末) on March 6, Jin said the university wanted to cultivate students that “can cope with the uncertainty of the future.” For Li, cutting the liberal arts cohort by as much as 20 percent is a social necessity.

Language / Language Learning

Don’t Be a Tourist If You Want to Learn Chinese (March 24, 2025, Hacking Chinese)
As I’ve shown in two other articles, living in China does not guarantee that you learn much Chinese, and travelling is not nearly as good a method for language learning as people think. This is because it’s possible to both live and travel abroad without engaging with the local environment and people around you. Travelling with other foreigners to see the sights or working in a company where English is spoken won’t improve your Chinese much. It’s not about where you are located geographically, but how much you engage with the language.

Arts / Entertainment / Media

Brief History of Family Review – Mysterious Interloper at Centre of Exquisitely Constructed Drama (March 19, 2025, The Guardian)
This knockout debut feature from Chinese writer-director Lin Jianjie is like some kind of cinematic kinetic mobile, such as the ones artist Alexander Calder designed in the last century; it’s so exquisitely balanced that it’s able to keep reconfiguring itself with the merest breeze into a whole new arrangement of shapes that’s just as pleasing and abstract as the last. Precision and random chance, freestyle inspiration and formal craft are all in constant play here.

A Mix of Science and Tradition Helps Restore Relics in China’s Forbidden City (March 23, 2025, AP News)
About 150 workers on the team fuse scientific analysis and traditional techniques to clean, patch up and otherwise revive the more than 1.8 million relics in the museum’s collection. They include scroll paintings, calligraphy, bronzes, ceramics — and, somewhat unexpectedly, ornate antique clocks that were gifted to emperors by early European visitors.

China’s AI Content Dragnet (March 24, 2025, China Media Project)
Hundreds of gigabytes of data lurking on an unsecured server in China linked to Baidu, one of the country’s largest search engines and a major player in the fast-developing field of artificial intelligence (AI), offer a rare glimpse into how the government is likely directing tech giants to categorize data with the use of AI large language models (LLMs) — all to supercharge the monitoring and control of content in cyberspace.  

Pen Names, Stern Warnings (March 25, 2025, China Media Project)
A forceful warning against wasteful government investments intended for local authorities appeared on Sunday in a central-level newspaper dedicated to economic policy. Though the source of the message was masked in one sense by an official pen name, its import was nonetheless unmistakable — revealing a key fact about how China communicates policy priorities.

Events

From Pontius Pilate to Chairman Mao: Religion and Politics(Asia Society)
Throughout history, religious beliefs and faith-based movements have played a crucial role in resisting authoritarianism, advocating for human rights, and inspiring social change. This event will explore the intersection of faith, dissidence, and political power across history and cultures. On Wednesday, April 2 at 6:30 p.m., Harrington Spear Paine Professor at Princeton University Elaine Pagels and David C. Steinmetz Distinguished Professor of World Christianity at Duke Divinity School Lian Xi will discuss these themes and draw parallels between their recent books.
Date: April 2, 2025
Time: 6:30-8:00PM
Location: 725 Park Ave, New York, NY 10021
Cost: Non Members – $15, Members – $8

Pray for China

March 22 (Pray For China: A Walk Through History)
The Terra Cotta Warriors, created to guard the tomb of China’s first emperor Qin Shihuang (秦始皇帝), were discovered on Mar. 29, 1974 by Shaanxi peasants digging for a well. Faith of Our Fathers is an acclaimed work by Chan Kei Thong documenting Emperor Qin’s legacy of turning China away from traditions that had honored Shangdi (上帝), the God Most High revealed in the Bible. Most tourists who visit Qin’s tomb also fail to realize that his depraved reign included having all those who constructed the tomb and all his childless concubines buried alive with his corpse. Pray for God’s Word to light the paths of Christians in Shaanxi. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119:105

A Call for Global Prayer (March 18, 2025, 2025, ChinaSource)
As the situation in China continues to unfold, the need for prayer for our brothers and sisters remains as crucial as ever. This reprint from China Partnership offers an insider’s perspective on the realities Christians face in China today. In the wake of the pandemic, as societal and economic pressures intensify, many in China are searching for deeper meaning and connection. Chinese believer Pan Xihong believes that global prayers can help spark a spiritual awakening in people’s hearts—and we wholeheartedly agree. We pray that this piece inspires you to continue lifting China before the Lord.

Praying for China | Prayercast (January, 2025, ChinaSource)

Pray for China (prayforchina.us)