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. FEATURED ARTICLETiananmen Square, A Watershed For Chinese Conversions To Christianity (June 4, 2012, WBUR, byMonday marks the 23rd anniversary of Chinas 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijings Tiananmen Square. And Professor Fenggang Yang of Purdue University has an observation about that day. He says many dissidents who led that movement have become Christians. In fact, he says 1989 was a watershed year for conversions, which led to a quiet spiritual revolution, among many Chinese, who equated Christianity with modernity. Here & Nows Robin Young spoke with Yang, and the interview is excerpted below.GOVERNMENT / POLITICS / FOREIGN AFFAIRSLeon Panetta: US to deploy 60% of navy fleet to Pacific (June 1, 2012, BBC News)The US is planning to move the majority of its warships to the Asia-Pacific region by 2020, Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has revealed. He said that by 2020 about 60% of the US fleet would be deployed there, in the clearest indication yet of the new US strategy in Asia. Mr Panetta told a regional security meeting in Singapore that the shift was not aiming to contain Chinese power. Beijing has indicated it is unhappy with the US boosting its presence.China ‘arrests high-level US spy’ in Hong Kong reports (June 1, 2012, BBC News)A Chinese security ministry official has been arrested on suspicion of spying for the US and passing on state secrets, Hong Kong media reports say. The man, who was private secretary to a vice-minister in the security ministry, was arrested earlier this year, various press reports say. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declined to comment on the reports. If confirmed, it would be the third major incident to hit China-US relations in the past few months. It would also be the highest-level spy case involving China and the US to become public since 1985, when intelligence official Yu Qiangsheng defected to the US.The official had been recruited by the CIA, local press and Reuters report.US urges China to free Tiananmen Square activists (June 3, 2012, BBC News)The US government has urged China to free all those still in prison 23 years after Beijing’s 1989 crackdown against protesters in Tiananmen Square. The US state department message also called on China to “provide a full public accounting of those killed, detained or missing”. “We renew our call for China to protect the universal human rights of all its citizens; release those who have been wrongfully detained, prosecuted, incarcerated, forcibly disappeared, or placed under house arrest; and end the ongoing harassment of human rights activists and their families,” US state department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said.He called China’s “violent suppression” of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations a “tragic loss of innocent lives”.China slams U.S. over Tiananmen statement (June 4, 2012, CNN)China has expressed “strong dissatisfaction” with a U.S. statement urging the government to free protesters imprisoned after the 1989 crackdown near Tiananmen Square. At a daily Ministry of Foreign Affairs briefing, spokesman Liu Weimin accused the U.S. government of making baseless allegations and interfering with China’s internal affairs.Hong Kong vigil as China rounds up Tiananmen activists (June 4, 2012, AFP)Hong Kong held a candlelight vigil Monday to mark the 23rd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, in stark contrast to mainland China where activists said hundreds of people were detained.Hong Kong’s Victoria Park glowed with candlelight in what has become an annual act of remembrance for the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people killed in the June 3-4, 1989 onslaught against pro-democracy activists in Beijing. The former British colony is the only place in China where the Tiananmen Square crackdown is openly remembered, and the number of people attending the annual vigil has swelled in recent years.Russia-China unity on Syria as Putin arrives in Beijing (June 5, 2012, BBC News)China and Russia have reinforced their opposition to foreign intervention in Syria, as Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said both countries remain opposed to forced regime change and urged support for UN envoy Kofi Annan’s peace plan. Mr Putin is at the beginning of a three-day visit to China to bolster relations and attend a security summit.Both countries have twice blocked UN resolutions critical of Damascus.China closes Tibet to tourists: travel agents (June 6, 2012, AFP)Chinese authorities have closed Tibet to foreign visitors, travel agents said Wednesday, just 10 days after two Tibetans set themselves on fire in the troubled region. The move comes at the start of a festival that traditionally sees tourists flock to the Himalayan region, which has been under tight security since riots against Chinese rule erupted in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa in March 2008. Major travel agencies said they were told by Tibetan tourism authorities in late May that travellers from overseas would not be allowed into the vast, remote region and said they were clueless about how long the ban would last.China dissident Li Wangyang found dead in Shaoyang (June 6, 2012, BBC News)A leading Chinese dissident imprisoned after the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests has been found dead under strange circumstances, his relatives and rights groups said. Officials said Li Wangyang, who was freed from jail a year ago, hanged himself in hospital, where he was being treated for heart disease and diabetes. But Mr Li’s brother-in-law questioned the death, saying Mr Li had showed “no signs of suicide” in a recent meeting. Mr Li spent more than 22 years in jail.RELIGIONChinese religious authority against listing temples on stock market (June 6, 2012, Xinhua)China’s State Administration for Religious Affairs is against plans to list temples on the stock markets by some local governments, a top official said Tuesday. Listing the temples on the stock exchanges harms the legal rights and damages the image of the religious community. It also harms the feelings of the believers, said Liu Wei, a deputy department director of the administration. Temples are the sites for believers to carry out religious activities and are non-profit organizations. There is no precedent in the world to list the temples on the stock market, Liu said at a meeting in Shanghai. Developing the economy should have its limits and should not cross the moral lines, he said.HEALTHBoy with bird flu still in serious condition in HK (June 6, 2012, Shanghai Daily)HONG Kong’s health authority said yesterday that the two-year-old boy confirmed with Influenza A (H5N1) infection on Saturday is receiving intensive care at Princess Margaret Hospital and his condition remained serious. According to the health department’s investigation, the H5 gene of the isolate belonged to clade 2.3.2.1, which is the same clade as the isolates from wild birds detected in 2011 and 2012 and in the imported human infection case in late 2010. So far, all the genes characterized belong to avian origin and there is no evidence of resistance to the antiviral agent oseltamivir (Tamiflu).26 students, 3 teachers diagnosed with tuberculosis in Anhui (June 6, 2012, Shanghai Daily)Twenty-six students and three teachers have been infected with pulmonary tuberculosis at a middle school in Jingxian County, Anhui Province. Four are still being treated in the hospital while the others were given medicine free of charge at either the school or at home, according to Xinhua news agency.On May 14, a grade-one student from Jingxian County No. 2 Middle School was confirmed to have contracted the bacterial disease by a local hospital.China faces ‘serious’ epidemic of drug-resistant TB (June 7, 2012, AFP)China faces a “serious epidemic” of drug-resistant tuberculosis according to the first-ever nationwide estimate of the size of the problem there, said a new US-published study. “In 2007, one third of the patients with new cases of tuberculosis and one half of the patients with previously treated tuberculosis had drug-resistant disease,” said the study in the New England Journal of Medicine. Even more, the prevalence of multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB in new cases (5.7 percent) was nearly twice the global average, said the study. Using World Health Organization figures as a basis for comparison, “China has the highest annual number of cases of MDR tuberculosis in the worlda quarter of the cases worldwide,” it added.EDUCATION / CULTUREOver 82,800 disabled Chinese kids lack schooling (May 31, 2012, Xinhua)More than 82,800 disabled school-age children in China have failed to attend school between the start of the current academic year and March 2012, and 80 percent of them are from the countryside, the China Disabled People Union said in a press release Thursday, citing results from its latest census. About 56 percent failed to go to school due to their disability, and 19 percent of them said they are too poor to afford schooling, according to a national survey launched concurrently with the census by the union and the Ministry of Education. More than 4,300, or over five percent, of those polled said they have no access to special education catering to their needs.The Great Wall of China more than twice as long as thought (June 6, 2012, The Telegraph)Contrary to popular belief, the Great Wall of China is not a single wall, but instead a series of often overlapping defensive fortifications, some brick and others of packed earth, built over the course of nearly 2,000 years, many of which run parallel to each other. Beginning in 2007, teams of Chinese surveyors fanned out across 15 Chinese provinces to measure every wall, or trace of a wall, they could find. “This figure (of 13,173 miles) takes into consideration all of the walls that were ever built, even if they are no longer still standing,” said Dong Yaohui, the deputy director of China’s Great Wall Association. Previously, the length of the Great Wall had been put at around 5,500 miles: the span of the Ming Dynasty wall whose grey brick fortifications are one of Beijing’s most popular tourist destinations.Blast at Xinjiang school injures 17, say China media (June 7, 2012, BBC News)Chinese state media says 17 people, including 12 children, have been hurt in an explosion at a religious school in the restive Xinjiang province. The blast took place during a police raid on an “illegal” school on Wednesday, the Global Times reported. An overseas rights group told BBC Chinese that paramilitary troops had used tear gas. The injured children “suffered mild burns”. Police “rescued” another 54 of them, Chinese state media said. The authorities said they had received a tip-off from a parent whose child was being held at the Koran teaching centre in Hotan city, located on the fifth floor of a residential building, according to the Global Times report. When police arrived at the scene, the suspects lit home-made explosives that sparked a fire, said the report, citing Hou Hanmin, chief of the regional information office.Beijing deploys 7,000 police to ensure smooth traffic for college entrance exams (June 7, 2012, Xinhua)All 7,000 of Beijing’s traffic police officers were deployed around the city Thursday to keep the roads quiet during the annual national college entrance exam, the largest of their kind in the world. The officers are ready to offer immediate assistance to students and their parents, said a spokesman from the command center of the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau under the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau.SOCIETY / LIFEGoogle helps China search users avoid censored keywords (June 1, 2012, BBC News)Google has began to offer search users in China suggestions about which words run foul of the country’s strict censors. Until now, users who searched for banned or sensitive words received a “webpage not available” message and their connection was temporarily cut. Google will now advise users if they are entering a sensitive word, and let them try and find an alternative. Google’s business in China has been held back by censorship issues.China censorship: Shares fall 64.89 points on June 4, 1989 protest anniversary (June 4, 2012, NBC News)Government controls many aspects of life in China, but for today at least the invisible hand of market forces proved too strong even for the countrys ruling Communist Party. In an apparent coincidence, Shanghais local stock market, the Shanghai Composite Index, opened trading this morning at 2346.98 points. Read backwards, it looks like the date, June 4, 1989 this day 23 years ago when the Communists brutally cracked down on pro-democracy activists in Tiananmen Square and elsewhere in the capital. Even more bizarre? By the end of trading in the afternoon, the market had lost 64.89 points.Quake-hit Yushu to get new power grid (June 6, 2012, Xinhua)Construction started Wednesday on a power grid needed to ease an electricity shortage in a far western Chinese town laid to waste by an earthquake two years ago. The State Grid Corporation of China will invest 2.5 billion yuan (393 million U.S. dollars) in the project in Qinghai province that includes 800-km-long wires and substations, said Wang Hongzhi, president of the SGCC’s Qinghai subsidiary. The 330-kv project, which is expected to start operation in June next year, will connect the isolated grid in the Yushu Tibetan autonomous prefecture with the main grid in Qinghai, Wang said.SCIENCE / TECHNOLOGY / ENVIRONMENTUS won’t stop tweeting China air quality readings (June 7, 2012, AFP)The United States said that its embassy and consulates in China would not stop tweeting reports on air quality readings in Beijing and Shanghai, which have annoyed the Chinese authorities.”This is an initiative by the embassy in Beijing, by the mission in China, to convey what we believe is useful information to our citizens abroad,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner told journalists. “It’s primarily directed to American citizens, but in terms of Chinese accessing this information, we don’t have a problem with it.BUSINESS / ECONOMICS / FOREIGN TRADEChina’s manufacturing weakens in May (June 1, 2012, AFP)China’s manufacturing sector weakened in May, two closely watched indices showed Friday, providing further confirmation that the world’s second largest economy is slowing more than previously thought.The official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for manufacturing indicated a sharper than expected slowdown in April, while separate data released by British banking giant HSBC showed a contraction for the same month.China and Japan begin direct currency trading (June 1, 2012, AFP)China and Japan started direct currency trading on Friday as Beijing marked another stage on its journey to foster the yuan’s use internationally in line with its growing economic clout. Market participants can now swap Japanese yen for Chinese yuan without having to use the US dollar as an intermediary currency, making foreign trade settlement more convenient and cutting transaction costs. The move comes as China, the world’s second-largest economy just ahead of Japan, gradually moves to make the yuan freely convertible with an eye towards rivalling the mighty dollar, analysts said. Why Did My Ex Get Back With Her Ex China’s non-manufacturing sector growth slows in May (June 4, 2012, BBC News)China’s services sector, which includes construction, saw its pace of growth slow in May adding to fears about a slowdown in China’s economy. The non-manufacturing purchasing manager’s index (PMI) dropped to 55.2 in May from 56.1 in April. The news comes just days after Beijing reported a sharp drop in activity in its manufacturing sector during the month. The services sector accounts for almost 43% of China’s overall economy.China delays new tougher bank rules amid slowdown fears (June 6, 2012, BBC News)China has said it will delay the implementation of tougher capital rules for banks until January next near amid concerns that they may hurt lending. The rules would increase the minimum cushion of capital a bank must keep to absorb losses on their loans. There were fears that such a move may curb lending at a time when Beijing has been trying to boost growth amid a slowdown in its economy. China had planned to introduce the rules at the start of this year.LINKS TO DETAILED ARTICLES AND ANALYSISDissident From China Expresses Optimism (May 31, 2012, The New York Times, by Rick Gladstone)Despite suffering from years of illegal detention, Chen Guangcheng, the Chinese activist whose daring escape began an odyssey that brought him to New York University on a fellowship, expressed optimism on Thursday about the future of legal rights in China.Why talking-to-text has taken off in China (May 31, 2012, BBC news, by Juliana Liu)Anyone who has ever written in Chinese on a computer, or composed a text message on their phone in that language, knows the typing process is not nearly as simple as in English.Bob Fu: The Pastor of China’s Underground Railroad (June 1, 2012, Wall Street Journal, by Mary Kissel)How the son of a beggar became a democrat, a Christian and a guide to the recently escaped dissident Chen Guangcheng.In Occupied Tibetan Monastery, a Reason for Fiery Deaths (June 2, 2012, The New York Times, by Edward Wong)One young Tibetan monk walked down a street kicking Chinese military vehicles, then left a suicide note condemning an official ban on a religious ceremony. Another smiled often, and preferred to talk about Buddhism rather than politics. A third man, a former monk, liked herding animals with nomads.Dont complain about things that you cant change (June 2, 2012 edition, The Economist)THE greatest wave of voluntary migration in human history transformed Chinas cities, and the global economy, in a single generation. It has also created a huge task for those cities, by raising the expectations of the next generation of migrants from the countryside, and of second-generation migrant children. They have grown up in cities in which neither the jobs nor the education offered them have improved much.Big powers jockey in the Pacific (June 3, 2012, BBC News, by Jonathan Marcus)The US has been, is, and will continue to be a Pacific power. That was the fundamental message the US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta brought to this year’s Asian security summit in Singapore.‘I Forgive Them’: On the 23rd Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989 (June 4, 2012, Huffington Post, by Chai Ling)Because of Jesus, I forgive them. I forgive Deng Xiaoping and Li Peng. I forgive the soldiers who stormed Tiananmen Square in 1989. I forgive the current leadership of China, who continue to suppress freedom and enforce the brutal One Child Policy. I pray that a culture of grace will arise in China, giving all people dignity and humanity.What China’s Thinkers Need Most Is Also Most Elusive (June 5, 2012, NPR, by Louisa Lim)A deceptively simple question has become an obsession for Chinese artist Yang Weidong: “What do you need?” For the past four years, Yang has posed the question to more than 300 Chinese intellectuals, and the results illustrate a startling level of discontent among China’s thinkers. As for the answer, one word pops up time and time again. “I need freedom,” says writer Chang Ping.Corruptions is still wild and divisive (June 5, 2012, Asia Times Online, by Wu Zhong)Anger at inflation and official corruption were fundamental causes of the protests in Beijing 23 years ago, leading the Communist Party to view prices – a tiger that must be caged – and graft as two of its deadliest enemies. Rising prices have been tamed but profiteering is still at large and, as uproar over a recent newspaper editorial shows, remains fertile ground for a fight.North Korea, China and the abducted Chinese fishing boats (June 6, 2012, East Asia Forum)The most likely scenario is that the abduction was carefully planned by the new leadership in Pyongyang in retaliation for Chinas continuing criticism of North Koreas April rocket launch and ongoing preparations for the nuclear test. And worse, Beijing recently permitted a number of North Korean defectors to leave China to seek asylum in South Korea. These actions must have angered North Koreas leadership, and perhaps prompted them to teach China a lesson.Why China is likely to get more involved in Afghanistan (June 6, 2012, Christian Science Monitor, by Peter Ford)For the past decade, China has not played a significant role in Afghanistan. But with NATO starting to pull out, Afghanistan’s security will affect neighboring China.Chinas Simmering Discontent: The Biggest Challenge to Social Harmony (June 7, 2012, Time, by Austin Ramzy)The widening gap between the rich and poor in China is turning ever more numbers of ordinary citizens into social activists. If the government wants to maintain stability, it must address the root causes of growing protests not just suppress themChina as a vital force for Africa (June 8, 2012, Asia Times Online, by Gavin du Venage)China could do with better PR as it weaves its way into the fabric of African economies, with its businesses struggling to shake off the label of rapacious neo-colonialists interested only in stripping out mineral wealth. Yet as China spreads investments into everything from construction to agriculture to heavy engineering, a once basket case of the world is beginning to emerge as an economic force in its own right.LINKS TO BLOGSThe Ancient Tea and Horse Road An interview with Jeff Fuchs (May 28, 2012, Wild China)After months of following Jeff Fuchs blog and appearances at WildChinas website, I finally met him personally during a presentation at Beijing Literary Festival in Capital M. Jeffs passion for mountains and tea are evident in his exquisite, almost poetic writing, and the photographs that illustrate his blog have a special quality which caught my attention.Chinas Netizens Ask: Why Do We Fawn on Foreigners, And Spurn Ourselves? (June 1, 2012, Tea Leaf Nation)But if netizens are right, theres a darker side to Chinese hospitality toward their foreign guests: They dont show the same affection toward one another.Foreigners in China: Weibo vs. Reality (June 3, 2012, Sinostand)I half expected to meet a lynch mob with torches and pitchforks sniffing out foreigners when I walked out my Beijing door. But then I did the best thing I could have done: I turned off my computer and actually walked outside. For the last two weeks Ive barely looked at a computer screen, and its made a big difference.With High Exam Around the Corner, Students Vent on Chinas Twitter (June 4, 2012, Tea Leaf Nation)If one were a conscientious gao kao candidate, one would probably not be browsing on the Internet at this pointat least Tiger Mom would agree. But tweets by gao kao candidates still abound on Chinas twitter, Sina Weibo.Sensitive Words: The Google Files (June 4, 2012, China Digital Times)GitHub user feng92f compiled a list of 456 of these sensitive terms. CDT has translated the terms in this list below. Although some words are obvious targets, there are surprises as well, from Teletubbies to baby soup. Check back for updates with more details on listed words.China said: Let there be a national hero, and there was a national hero (June 5, 2012, China Smack)Yesterday, we featured a story of Chinas own superhero Captain China. Today, we will present the story of a real-life Captain China who sacrificed his own life to save 24 others.In Chinese Blogosphere, Surprising Consensus on Abortion (June 6, 2012, Tea Leaf Nation)So what do people in China actually think of abortions? On the last day of May, an anti-abortion demonstration was organized by Qiu Yu Zhi Fu Church (the Chinese name of the church, , means the blessings of autumn rain), a Christian Church in Chengdu, Sichuan. On May 31, the Churchs pastor, Wang Yi (@), published an open letter on Sina Weibo, Chinas Twitter, discussing the demonstration.Tipping Point in Censorship? (June 6, 2012, China Law and Policy)But MacKinnon hypothesized that at some point it wont be economically worth it for these companies to continue to censor. MacKinnon highlighted the complete internet shutdown that occurred in Xinjiang province in 2009 for the entire year.Chinas Tough College Exam Isnt Everything (June 6, 2012, China Real Time Report)Tomorrow, over 9 million Chinese students will take the gaokao, the countrys grueling college entrance exam. On that day, construction crews across China will be silenced. Police will clear roadways for throngs of parents and students. And at 9am, millions of students will start scribbling in unison over an exam that many have dreaded for years.From the Archives: The Gaokao and Social Mobility (June 7, 2012, Jottings from the Granite Studio)Today is the gaokao( ) when parents across China send their senior high school students off to take the most important exam of their lives, offering such helpful, encouraging words as If you do badly your mother will die in a paupers grave. Clearly in todays China-A-Go-Go, competition for elite, urban jobs is intense. You dont want to be left behind in a rapidly stratifying society, and since most families have only one shot at exam success, lets just say there are a few stressed-out teenagers and parents around town this morning.James Fallows: ‘Chinese Dream’ vs. ‘American Dream’ (Asia Society, via YouTube)Journalist James Fallows compares the ‘American Dream’ with the ‘Chinese Dream.’ He also reflects on the significance of Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng’s arrival in the U.S. and the evolution of the Chinese government’s handling of dissidents.ARTICLES IN CHINESE (June 7, 2012, Gospel Times)LINKS FOR RESEARCHERSHurun Shanghai Wealth Report 2012 (Hurun Report)RESOURCESKeep Believing Ministries (Chinese version)ZGBriefs is a weekly compilation of the news in China, condensed from published sources and emailed free-of-charge to more than 6,000 readers in China and abroad. ZGBriefs brings you not only the most important stories of the week, but also links to blogs, commentaries, articles, and resources to help fill out your understanding of what is happening in China today. Coverage includes domestic and international politics, economics, culture, and social trends, among other areas. Seeking to explore all facets of life in China, ZGBriefs also includes coverage of spiritual movements and the role of religious believers and faith-based groups in China. The publication of ZGBriefs is supported by readers who find this weekly service useful. 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