ZGBriefs

ZGBriefs | December 1, 2016

ZGBriefs is a compilation of links to news items from published online sources. Clicking a link will direct you to a website other than ChinaSource. ChinaSource is not responsible for the content or other features on that site. An article’s inclusion in ZGBriefs does not equal endorsement by ChinaSource. Please go here to support ZGBriefs.


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. Please go here to support ZGBriefs.

Featured Article

Obtaining China’s New Unified Foreign Work Permit (November 25, 2016, China Briefing)
On November 1, 2016, China’s State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs (SAFEA) launched the new unified work permit in select regions across the country. The limited release targets the regions of Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Anhui, Guangdong, Hebei, Shandong, Sichuan, and Ningxia, as the government seeks to gauge the program’s success before the nationwide rollout on April 1, 2017.


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Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs

China Orders Everyone in One Province to Hand Their Passports Over to Police (November 25, 2016, TIME)
The Chinese government is requiring all residents of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in the country’s northwest to hand their passports over to police, the latest restriction on movement in the restive region. The Global Times, a state-controlled newspaper, reported Thursday that the “passport-management policy” is being implemented across the entire autonomous region, and requires all citizens to turn in the documents and apply for permission if they wish to leave the country.

Rules for overseas NGOs clarified (November 30, 2016, China Daily)
China's top security authority has issued a guideline for overseas NGOs to operate on the mainland, providing detailed rules for them to register a representative office and organize events. The Ministry of Public Security published the guideline on Monday on its website, saying the document was rolled out in accordance with a law on the management of overseas NGOs that was passed by the top legislature in April.

Hong Kong seeks to ban third pro-democracy member of parliament (November 29, 2016, The Guardian)
The Hong Kong government will seek to ban a third member of the city’s parliament, expanding a campaign to remove pro-democracy advocates after two pro-independence legislators were barred from taking their seats. The government will file a lawsuit against pro-democracy Lau Siu-lai this week or early next week, alleging she was not sincere when she took the oath of allegiance last month.

China tells Taiwan to stay out of Hong Kong debate (November 30, 2016, Reuters)
"Compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, especially those in Hong Kong, should be on high alert for this," spokesman Ma Xiaoguang told reporters in Beijing. […]  "We advise the Taiwan side not to talk nonsense about the Hong Kong issue, interfere in Hong Kong's enforcement of 'one country, two systems', or damage Hong Kong's prosperity and stability," he said.

3 Chinese Rights Activists Disappear in Apparent State Crackdown (November 30, 2016, The New York Times)
Three prominent Chinese rights activists appear to have been detained in recent weeks by the police, part of a continuing crackdown on groups operating outside the umbrella of the state, advocacy groups say. The three men, Jiang Tianyong, Huang Qi and Liu Feiyue, all disappeared within days of each other in November, each in a different province.

Religion

Talks to Heal Catholic Rift in China Gain Momentum Under Francis (November 26, 2016, The New York Times)
Now, he appears to be considering more significant action: a grand compromise with China’s Communist leaders to heal the bitter, decades-old rift that has divided generations of Chinese Catholics and prevented the pope from openly exercising authority in the world’s most populous country.

China Takes a Chain Saw to a Center of Tibetan Buddhism (November 28, 2016, The New York Times)
Atop a hill, a growling chain saw drowned out loudspeakers broadcasting a lama’s chants from a nearby temple. The chain saw, wielded by workers demolishing a row of homes, signaled the imminent end of thousands of hand-built monastic dwellings here at Larung Gar, the world’s largest Buddhist institute.

Religious extremism is spreading to inland China: official (November 28, 2016, Reuters)
Extremist thought was now infiltrating China's "inland provincial areas", Wang Zuoan, head of the State Administration for Religious Affairs, told the National Congress of the Chinese Islamic Association, according to an article in the official China Daily newspaper on Monday. The paper did not give details of the spread or mention specific provinces, but cited Wang as saying China's official Islamic clergy must be the "front line" in fighting extremism and should work to "convert" those influenced by it.

A Praise Song: "Listen Quietly" (November 29, 2016, Chinese Church Voices)
One of the more popular praise and worship songs in the Chinese church is “Qing Qing Ting,” or “Listen Quietly.” Based on Psalm 23, the song reminds us to listen quietly to the voice of our Good Shepherd.

How Chinese Christians View Themselves and Others (November 30, 2016, From the West Courtyard)
The study, entitled “Neural Consequences of Religious Belief on Self-Referential Processing,” was published by six researchers in Peking University’s Department of Psychology in 2008. They discovered that non-religious subjects used one part of the brain to evaluate themselves but another part to evaluate others. Christians, on the other hand, used the same portion of the brain to evaluate themselves and others.

Society / Life

Jiangsu Traffic Police Woman Becomes Internet Hit (November 25, 2016, What’s on Weibo)
Female traffic police Chen Zixuan from Jiangsu has become an internet celebrity since local government posted her picture on Weibo. The traffic police woman is praised as a model worker, but most netizens just like her for her looks.

The Place In China Where The Women Lead (November 26, 2016, NPR)
Tourists are drawn to the shores of Lugu Lake in southwest China by tales of an exotic "Kingdom of Daughters," where the women of the Mosuo ethnic group head one of the world's relatively rare matrilineal societies. In fact, the tourists have created their share of problems over the years.

Why More Rural Old People Are Choosing Suicide (November 28, 2016, Sixth Tone)
In 2008, the Center for Rural Governance at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, in central China’s Hubei province, conducted a six-year study of the living conditions of elderly people in 25 villages throughout 10 provinces in China, and discovered that the suicide rate among elderly had increased every single year. The investigation showed that the high suicide rate in rural China is closely related to drastic changes in rural family structure and intergenerational relations.

Researchers may have ‘found’ many of China’s 30 million missing girls (November 30, 2016, The Washington Post)
John Kennedy of the University of Kansas and Shi Yaojiang of Shaanxi Normal University have released a study claiming that the births of many of the girls may, in fact, simply not have been registered.

Economics / Trade / Business

China Employment Law: Do These Eight Things To Improve Your Rules And Regulations (November 25, 2016, China Law Blog)
As the end of the year is fast approaching, regardless of whether you are conducting a year-end employer-employee audit, now is a good time to update and refine your China employee rules and regulations.

China unveils crackdown on companies investing overseas (November 29, 2016, CNBC)
The Chinese government has embarked on a nationwide crackdown against sham overseas direct investments, China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said on Tuesday, following rumors that the regulators set $5 million cap on all capital flowing out of the country.

Why Facebook's China adventure will need more than censorship to succeed (November 29, 2016, The Guardian)
Even if Facebook jumped through enough hoops to break into the Chinese market, there’s no guarantee it will be successful. Tencent’s WeChat is already ubiquitous in the country and combines many of the features Facebook provides, such as messaging, posting photos and sharing links.

All-American pick-up trucks aim to lure China's wealthy (November 30, 2016, Reuters)
Ford said in April it would bring a high-performance version of its F-series – the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. for 34 years – to China, the world's biggest auto market. A spokesman said the company is studying whether to also bring a mass-market model such as the F-150 or Ranger pick-up to China, depending on demand and future regulations.

Inner Mongolia's unauthorised steel factories – in pictures (November 30, 2016, The Guardian)
‘We will make China a beautiful country with blue sky, green vegetation and clear rivers,’ vowed President Xi Jinping in September. But these haunting photographs by the award-winning Canadian photojournalist Kevin Frayer, who travelled to Inner Mongolia to witness the activities of unauthorised steel mills, underline the scale of Beijing’s challenge to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels.

Education

Chinese University Students in the US (November 28, 2016, From the West Courtyard)
The good folks at the Center on Religion and Chinese Society at Purdue University recently published the results of a survey they conducted among Chinese university students.

Conquer English Now! The Roots of China’s Study Craze (November 30, 2016, Sixth Tone)
Today, however, English learning is strongly tied to two dominant discourses in Chinese society: neoliberalism and nationalism. For most students, proficiency in English is a tool used not only to become individually competitive in the global economy, but also to represent China as part of that economy. With the promotion of English learning by both governmental and nongovernmental actors, millions of Chinese are now throwing themselves into the language.

Science / Technology

This Remote Military Base Is Where China Blasts Humans Into Space (November 28, 2016, Bloomberg)
Jiayuguan was once the tangible edge of Chinese civilization –- where the Great Wall ends and the desolation of the Gobi Desert begins. now, four hours beyond those limits in a locked-down location along the Ruoshui River, China has built a gateway to the new final frontier. Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center is the nation’s preeminent “space city”—one of only three places where humans are blasted into the cosmos.

History / Culture

Photos: Rare Ancient Banknote Dates Back to China's Ming Dynasty (November 30, 2016, Live Science)
A rare paper banknote dating from China's Imperial Ming Dynasty was discovered inside this antique Chinese wooden sculpture when it was being prepared for an art auction in Australia. Art experts think the banknote was hidden inside the sculpture more than 600 years ago, possibly as an auspicious offering when the sculpture stood in a temple.

Arts / Entertainment / Media

Real-name registration starts for live streaming presenters (November 30, 3016, China Daily)
A regulation on live streaming comes into effect on Thursday making it compulsory for presenters to register with their real names. The regulation by the Cyberspace Administration of China bans use of live streams to undermine national security, destabilize society, disturb social order, infringe upon others' rights and interests, or disseminate inappropriate content, including pornography.

Travel / Food

First high-speed train runs through China’s Three Gorges region (November 28, 2016, China Daily)
The first high-speed railway running through China's Three Gorges reservoir region started operation Monday. At 7:06 a.m., the C6402 Train departed from Chongqing North Station, marking the operation of the 247-km-long railway, which connects Wanzhou City, where the Three Gorges is located, and Chongqing Municipality. At the initial stage, 21 pairs of trains are scheduled every day between Wanzhou, Chongqing and Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province.

The Five Steps of Ordering 串儿 (November 30, 2016, The World of Chinese)If you are afraid of going to a 串儿 restaurant because you don’t speak the language, don’t be. Here are five spicy 串儿 scenarios that will offer you opportunities to practice your Mandarin.

Language / Language Learning

Three factors that decide how much Chinese you learn (November 25, 2016, Hacking Chinese)
Language learning is a complicated process influenced by a large number of factors. These can loosely be sorted into two categories: those we have the power to change and those that are beyond our control.

Books

Author’s Vision of a Future Beijing Looks to China’s Present (November 29, 2016, The New York Times)
Sunlight is so scarce that it is rationed based on economic class. Schools are so packed that the poorest parents must wait in line for days to secure spots for their children. Those are the grim scenes of Hao Jingfang’s “Folding Beijing,” a science-fiction novelette that won a Hugo Award in August, beating out Stephen King. The story is set in a futuristic Beijing, though many of its scenes seem grounded in the problems vexing Chinese society today.

Resources

Christmas Cards Made in Shanxi: But Made with a Purpose (November 25, 2016, From the West Courtyard)
Here in the rural villages surrounding the town of Huangzhai, approximately 30-35 ladies lovingly create tens of thousands of individually hand-cut greeting cards every year. Using such simple tools as Exacto knives and cutting boards made from beeswax they make Christmas, Easter, and general greeting cards that are used by people all over China, North America, Australia, and the world.

Image credit: Max Braun, via Flickr

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Joann Pittman

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