ZGBriefs | September 5, 2024

Featured Article

Academic/Science Bars are Trending in China’s First-Tier Cities (September 3, 2024, ChinaSkinny)
Imagine attending an architecture talk at a live house in Guangzhou, diving into a sociology discussion at a bar in Shanghai, or chatting about philosophy in an outdoor courtyard at a Beijing bar…

Academic bars or science bars (学术酒吧) are becoming the latest trend in cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. A typical scene sees consumers at the venues, drink in hand, listening to a lecture on a topic they’re passionate about…

Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs

China Is Pushing Divisive Political Messages Online Using Fake U.S. Voters (September 3, 2024, NPR News)
A long-running Chinese influence operation is posing as American voters on social media in an attempt to exacerbate social divisions ahead of the 2024 presidential election, according to a new report from the research company Graphika. The push by the campaign known as “Spamouflage” includes accounts claiming to be American voters and U.S. soldiers.

China’s Mission to Win African Hearts with Satellite TV (September 3, 2024, BBC News)
As African leaders gather in Beijing this week for the triennial China-Africa summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping may have one thing under his belt to boast about—satellite TV. Almost nine years ago, President Xi promised the heads of state attending the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Johannesburg that China would provide over 10,000 remote villages in 23 African countries with digital TV access. With over 9,600 villages having received satellite infrastructure, the project is now nearing completion.

Frustration Deepens Two Years After UN Report on China Abuses (August 31, 2024, Reuters)
Human-rights groups and the United Nations are using Saturday’s two-year anniversary of a landmark U.N. report to call for action on the document which said that China may have committed crimes against humanity in the Xinjiang region. China has vigorously denied any abuses in Xinjiang and issued a 131-page response to the report defending its record. Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian said this week that China fully protects the rights of all ethnic groups.

Religion

Building Shalom Even in Adversity (September 3, 2024, ChinaSource)
It is our responsibility to actively seek the opportunities for building shalom and to pray earnestly for the authorities until we see the alternative doors opened for holistically blessing the people in China.

A Christian Approach to Education in China (September 2, 2024, ChinaSource)
Finding the best education for their children is one of the main duties of parents. While it’s no easy task for families anywhere in the world, parents in China face special challenges. Public education, though free, has a heavy emphasis on ideological alignment with the Chinese Communist Party. Private education, home education, and education abroad are all options, but not every family can participate.

Introduction and the Early Life of a Conqueror of Demons (August 30, 2024, ChinaSource)
Over the years, we have forgotten that many Chinese Christians suffered to love others and endured hardship in their native land because they loved the Lord. Pastor Hsi was one of them. Ordained by Hudson Taylor in 1887, he was the first pastor ordained by the China Inland Mission in mainland China.

The Life of Wang Xianheng: Part 1 (August 29, 2024, China Partnership)
This is a moving account of a life lived to follow and serve the Lord, despite the steep cost it incurred. As this generation of Chinese believers finishes their earthly races, it is important to remember their sacrifices and triumphs. They laid the foundation for the modern Chinese house church, and left behind a rich legacy of faith.

The Life of Wang Xianheng: Part 2 (September 2, 2024, China Partnership)
If our reflection on my father’s life were to stop at merely counting and admiring his outstanding character, gifts, talents, accomplishments, and influence, there is one person who would be most dissatisfied—my father himself. In his view, rightly so, all these good things were merely manifestations of his rich inner world.

Society / Life

Anger After Strangers Lock Toddler in Plane Toilet (August 29, 2024, BBC News)
An incident which saw two women lock a crying toddler in an aeroplane toilet has sparked an online debate in China on how to manage children in public spaces. The incident went viral on the Chinese internet after one of the two women, Gou Tingting, posted a video of herself carrying the girl inside the cubicle.

China Seeks to Allay Public Concerns Over ‘Housing Pension’ Plans (August 29, 2024, Sixth Tone)
Since 1998, homeowners in China have been required to pay into a housing maintenance fund, which is used to pay for inspections, repairs, and renovations to residential buildings. But the government believes that the housing maintenance fund will be insufficient in the long term, as the massive glut of housing built during the height of China’s economic boom ages and requires additional inspections and repairs.

China’s “Whataboutism” After Summer Scandals Parodied (August 29, 2024, China Digital Times)
In its foreign propaganda, China often combats bad press with examples of similar incidents abroad. Examples include denying the mistreatment of Uyghurs while decrying the genocide of Native Americans in the United States. The State Council Information Office releases a report highlighting American human rights abuses each year in response to the U.S. State Department’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.

How China’s Internet Police Went from Targeting Bloggers to Their Followers (September 1, 2024, The Guardian)
Late last year, Duan*, a university student in China, used a virtual private network to jump over China’s great firewall of internet censorship and download social media platform Discord. Overnight he entered a community in which thousands of members with diverse views debated political ideas and staged mock elections. People could join the chat to discuss ideas such as democracy, anarchism and communism.

New Unproductive Forces: the Chinese Youth Owning Their Unemployment (September 1, 2024, Reuters)
After quitting the education industry last August due to China’s crackdown on private tutoring, He Ajun has found an unlikely second life as an unemployment influencer. The Guangzhou-based vlogger, 32, offers career advice to her 8,400 followers, charting her journey through long-term joblessness. “Unemployed at 31, not a single thing accomplished,” she posted last December.

Economics / Trade / Business

Why It’s So Hard for China to Fix Its Ailing Economy (September 2, 2024, The New York Times)
China’s economy is confronting a crisis unlike any it has experienced since it opened its economy to the world more than four decades ago. The post-Covid rebound that was supposed to bring the economy roaring back to life was more like a whimper.

Over 1 Million Chinese Restaurants Close Amid Economic Downturn (August 29, 2024, Radio Free Asia)
Amid a flagging economy, glitzy shopping malls, noodle shops and eateries have been shutting down across the country, according to local media reports. More than a million food and beverage outlets, including 30,000 noodle shops, shut down in the first half of this year, close to the total for the whole of last year, catering industry news service Canguanju reported.

Glycine Fiends: How the Internet Made an Obscure Chinese Company into a Sensation (August 31, 2024, South China Morning Post)
Donghua Jinlong, a chemicals concern in the northern province of Hebei, had put out a one-minute video to promote glycine, its headline product. One of many Chinese firms looking to break into overseas markets, the company was taking an unusual approach to advertise the compound—an amino acid mostly used in pharmaceutical manufacturing and only occasionally as a dietary supplement.

But four months later, orders have more than tripled, causing a shortage due to the unexpected barrage of attention, administrative director Chen Liya said. “In April we had no idea,” Chen said. The results, they thought, were “strange and puzzling.”

Education

A ‘Patriotic Education’ : Hong Kong Schools Begin Rollout of Xi Jinping Thought (September 2, 2024, The Guardian)
The new school year began this week in Hong Kong with a significant new addition to the curriculum for some students: the teachings of Xi Jinping Thought. The teachings on the ideology of China’s leader are encased in a new subject now mandatory for secondary students, Citizenship, Economics and Society, first announced in 2022.

Science and Technology

China’s Internet Users Near 1.1 Billion, Driven by Short Videos and Mobile Payments (August 30, 2024, South China Morning Post)
China’s internet users approached 1.1 billion at the end of June, up 7.42 million from December, as a plethora of online entertainment options lured the young and old into joining the world’s largest online population, the latest government figures showed.

On the Go: The Humans Steering the Future of China’s Robotaxis (August 30, 2024, Sixth Tone)
Wuhan approved the rollout of Apollo Go robotaxis on its streets in 2022. Since then, the service has expanded from its initial pilot zone in the city’s southwestern Wuhan Development Zone to an area covering more than 3,000 square kilometers, with hundreds of robotaxis now serving the public at a cost of around 4 to 16 yuan ($0.50 to $2.00) for a 10-kilometer journey, considerably cheaper than standard ride-hailing services.

Health / Environment

Why South Africans Are Flocking to a Chinese Hospital Ship (August 28, 2024, BBC News)
Since China’s so-called Peace Ark arrived last week, more than 2,000 South Africans have been treated on board—ranging from maternity check-ups and cataract surgeries to cupping therapy. China enjoys a strong political partnership with South Africa, and this is Beijing’s latest show of soft power.

Language / Language Learning

Mandarin Monday: Hit the Road with These Street Terms (September 2, 2024, The Beijinger Blog)
A couple of weeks ago, when delving into the history of the word hutong, we realized that there are many words for street in Chinese—with some words a little more straightforward than others. So, in today’s Mandarin Monday, we delve into a whole lotta words for the road—from road to street to avenue to strip and more.

Travel / Food

Beijing Visitor’s Guide: The Capital’s Top Tourist Sites (August 31, 2024, The Beijinger Blog)
Beijing is one of the world’s most important and historic cities and has served as China’s capital since the 15th century. How much time does a visitor need to see everything there is to see? One day isn’t enough, and a week probably isn’t, either. There are far more sites than we could possibly list here, but below is an introduction to the most unique and interesting places to visit in Beijing.

Books

New Book Announcement: “Ginkgo Village: Trauma and Transformation in Rural China” by Tamara Jacka (June 10, 2024, Asian Review of Books)
Ginkgo Village provides an original and powerfully intimate bottom-up perspective on China’s recent tumultuous history. Drawing on ethnographic and life-history research, the book takes readers deep into a village in a mountainous region of central-eastern China known as Eyuwan.

Arts / Entertainment / Media

Giving Ancient Pottery a Modern Glow-Up (August 28, 2024, Sixth Tone)
After nearly nine years of planning and construction, the Shanghai Museum’s new expansion in the city’s Pudong New Area finally opened its doors earlier this year. Billed as a “world-class museum of ancient Chinese art,” Shanghai Museum East features 20 galleries and interactive spaces designed to highlight the best pieces from its collection.

Pray for China

September 1 (Pray for China: A Walk Through History)
On Sept. 1, 1901, Norwegian missionary Marie Monsen (孟玛丽) first arrived in China. In 1927, she was leading a Bible class for sixteen Chinese women, and the teaching led to unprecedented confessions about female infanticide. From this experience, God used Marie as a catalyst for a revival largely led by Chinese lay leaders that swept through Shandong in the early 1930s. Pray for Christians burdened by unconfessed abortions to repent and see the Lord use their healing to bring revival.

But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” Luke 23:28-31