ZGBriefs

ZGBriefs | January 14, 2016

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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

What Is Disappearing from Hong Kong (January 7, 2016, China File)
The recent disappearance of publisher Lee Po—allegedly kidnapped from Hong Kong and rendered to Mainland China—has prompted widespread alarm about the state of Hong Kong’s autonomy, both within the city and internationally.


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Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs

China wants Party's voice 'strongest in cyberspace' (January 7, 2016, Reuters)
China's Internet regulator has vowed to make the views of the ruling Communist Party the "strongest voice in cyberspace", as part of efforts to strengthen its tightening grip on the Internet in the world's most populous country.

The Storm Beneath the Calm: China’s Regional Relations in 2016 (January 8, 2016, China File)
n the surface, 2015 came to a close in a moment of relative tranquility after a turbulent year for China’s neighborhood. But the calm is misleading: the optics of regional diplomacy have become increasingly detached from the reality of the underlying tensions; this risks obscuring deepening fault lines.

The Latest Updates on Civil Society-Related NPC Legislation (January 8, 2016, NGOs in China)
Last month, the 18th Session of the NPC Standing Committee met and approved two laws that are particularly relevant to civil society. One is the Counterterrorism Law (反恐怖主义法, sometimes translated as the Anti-Terrorism or Counterespionage Law) which will go into effect on January 1, 2016, and the other is the Anti-Domestic Violence Law (反家庭暴力法, also translated as the Domestic Violence Law) which will go into effect on March 1, 2016.

A Hong Kong bookseller goes missing. Is China's long arm extending? (January 10, 2016, Christian Science Monitor)
Even after five of Lee Bo's publishing partners went missing this fall, the bookseller thought he was safe in Hong Kong. Activists say China's security agencies are extending their reach. 

The Consequences of China’s Stock Slide for Top Leaders in Beijing (January 11, 2016, China Real Time)
With the questions about economic stewardship swirling around a party that has tied its legitimacy tightly to the country’s economic performance, it stands to reason that top leaders could begin to come under pressure.

Wife of Chinese human rights lawyer missing for six months tells of despair (July 11, 2016, The Guardian)
Six months after her husband was spirited into secret detention by security forces, the wife of one of China’s top civil rights lawyers has spoken of her grief and despair.

Former China deputy security chief Li Dongsheng jailed (January 12, 2016, BBC)
China's former deputy national police chief Li Dongsheng has been jailed for 15 years for corruption offences, according to state media. Li had ties to Zhou Yongkang, jailed for life in June in one of China's biggest ever corruption scandals.

China charges rights lawyers held in secret for six months, say families (January 12, 2016, The Guardian)
China has formally charged at least five human rights lawyers and colleagues held in secret for six months after a sweeping crackdown on legal activism, family and associates said on Tuesday. It was the first time relatives have learnt the whereabouts of any of the 16 lawyers and their staff who have been held by police in undisclosed locations since July.

China Arrests Rights Lawyer and Her Husband on Subversion Charges (January 13, 2016, The New York Times)
A well-known Chinese human rights lawyer and her husband have been arrested on charges of political subversion, her lawyer said on Wednesday. The arrest of the couple followed the disclosure this week of formal charges for a number of legal workers who have challenged the grip of state power on citizens’ lives.

The Taiwan Elections: What to Expect (January 13, 2016, The New York Times)
Voters in Taiwan are expected to make history again when they go to the polls on Saturday to elect a new president and legislature. China’s authoritarian government claims Taiwan as part of its territory, so any time the self-governing island holds an election, the world tends to pay attention. Taiwan held its first direct presidential election only 20 years ago. China’s president, by contrast, is selected by the governing Communist Party, not elected by the public.

China steps up human rights crackdown with arrest of foreign activist (January 13, 2016, The Guardian)
The family and friends of a Swedish human rights campaigner who appears to be the first foreigner to become entangled in a Communist party crackdown on Chinese civil society are demanding his release from Beijing. Peter Dahlin, 35, disappeared on the night of 3 January while making his way to Beijing’s international airport, from where he had planned to fly to Thailand, colleagues say.

Hong Kong leader pushes integration with China in policy speech (January 13, 2016, Reuters)
Hong Kong's leader announced steps on Wednesday to boost integration with China, pinning the city's future on the success of Beijing's international "One Belt, One Road" concept.

Religion

Suffering for Jesus and a knight in shining armor (January 7, 2016, China Partnership Blog)
As only children in a generation of only children, they are expected to take care of their parents in their old age without the help of any siblings. When their non-Christian parents look at the paltry salary of a pastor, which is what Fu is training to be, they naturally come to the conclusion that Fu and Hui will not have enough money to support them.

The future of religion: RSAA reveal new church design for China's Zhangjiagang (January 11, 2016, Wallpaper)
Cologne based architecture firm RSAA recently unveiled designs for a new church complex in China's Zhangjiagang district, marking a noteworthy new addition to this category. 

Top Christian News Stories in China in 2015 (January 12, 2016, Chinese Church Voices)
It’s a good reminder of the discrepancy between what many in the West think must be “top of mind” for Christians in China and what actually is.

Gospel-Themed Movie, "The Return of Heart", Filmed by Buddhist Director Goes Visual among Christians (January 13, 2016, China Christian Daily)
Recently, a movie filmed by a Buddhist director,“The Return of Heart”, goes visual in Chinese Christians. The movie tells a story about two young people in the underclass and their rough experiences that lead them to know God. 

Society / Life

China’s Most Wanted Can Run, but Increasingly They Cannot Hide (January 7, 2016, TIME)
As Beijing intensified its blockbuster anticorruption campaign last year, Chinese authorities unveiled Sky Net, a crusade to nab the top 100 suspected financial fugitives who had allegedly fled overseas with their ill-gotten gains.

Giant Mao statue 'removed' from Henan village (January 8, 2016, BBC)
A 37m-high (120ft) gold-painted statue of Chairman Mao in China's countryside has been removed, just days after it was erected, state media report. A village official told the People's Daily that construction of the Mao Zedong statue had not been approved.

The Porn Trial That’s Captivating China’s Internet (January 12, 2016, China Real Time)
The porn industry is known for driving innovation online. After the live-streamed trial on pornography charges of four Chinese Internet executives went viral over the weekend, it’s now driving an unusually vigorous debate in China over how the Internet should be managed.

Hezhou in Guangxi, the 1st longevity city in China (January 12, 2016, China Daily)
Until now, the number of residents above the age of 60 accounts for 19.91% of the whole population. There are 68,301 residents over 80 and 474 over 100 years old.

Powerball Craze Hits China (But There's a Catch) (January 13, 2016, NBC)
Powerball fever reached China on Wednesday as wannabe billionaires rushed to buy tickets from online entrepreneurs. A handful of U.S-based sellers on popular Chinese e-commerce site Taobao were offering $2 tickets for around 20-30 yuan ($3-$4.60) each.

Economics / Trade / Business

Chicken Little With Chinese Characteristics (January 7, 2016, China Real Time)
Growth rates in China fall precipitously. China’s nonperforming loans soar. Banks stop lending, consumer confidence tanks and the yuan falls sharply. These are among the assumptions laid out in a series of recent worst-case scenarios on what a collapse in China might look like and what the global spillover effects would be.

What Is Behind The Volatility In China's Financial Markets? (January 8, 2016, NPR)
It has been an unnerving week in China, where the world's second-largest economy watched its markets plunge by double digits. Prices fell so sharply on the Shanghai Stock Exchange that trade was halted twice. Meanwhile, the value of China's currency, the yuan, fell to its lowest level in nearly five years. All of that pushed markets down around the globe and here in the U.S.

Video: The anger of ordinary Chinese investors (January 8, 2016, BBC)
Trading was suspended twice this week in mainland Chinese markets, angering small investors, who blame the government for intervening in the markets. They say they feel "trapped" and "robbed" of not being able to trade, after the market was abruptly shut.

Chinese stocks slip again, deepening worries over Beijing’s handle on crisis (January 11, 2016, The Washington Post)
The latest sell-off in China continues what has been an awful start to 2016. Shanghai last week dropped almost 10 percent in the first five trading days of the year, erasing 2015 gains and leaving global markets reeling.

China’s Two Children Policy: What China Employers Should Know (January 12, 2016, China Law Blog)
As a China employer, it is now going to be incumbent upon you to get up to date with China’s new family and marital leave laws, particularly those local laws that apply to your China business. To the extent that new rules have not yet been published in your location, we suggest you monitor what is being proposed as that is likely what will be coming next.

China To Build 66 New Airports Over The Next Five Years (July 12, 2016, The Nanfang)
China plans to build 66 new airports over the next five years says Dong Zhiyi, a Deputy Director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). The expansion will raise the number of airports in mainland China from 206 to 272.

Starbucks says aims to open 500 new stores in China in 2016 (January 12, 2016, Reuters)
Starbucks Corp, the world's largest coffee chain, said on Tuesday it aims to open 500 stores in China this year, shrugging off a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy that has hit global retailers.

How Starbucks made it big in tea-drinking China (January 12, 2016, Mashable)
When Starbucks first opened in China in 1999, the company's future seem doomed in a country that has thousands of years of tea-drinking history. However, in just 17 years, Starbucks changed and revolutionised the way the Chinese view and drink coffee.

Education

Where Are the "Liu Mei?" (January 11, 2016, From the West Courtyard)
In the 1980s, following the launch of the Reform and Opening Policy by Deng Xiaoping, the government began sending liuxuesheng to America to study. They are liumei. They are immersing themselves in science, technology, and, in many cases, western notions of policy and governance. Many are encountering the gospel and becoming Christ-followers. What would it mean for China, Professor Y and I wondered, when the returning liumei rose to positions of power in the Party and government.

Health / Environment

Six Cases of Bird Flu Reported in China, With One Fatality (January 7, 2016, TIME)
Local officials in China have reported six new cases of H5N6 avian flu — commonly referred to as bird flu — in the country, though they say the virus is not currently transmittable through human-to-human contact.

Video: Inside China's plastic surgery boom (January 10, 2016, BBC)
More and more people in China are going under the knife in the name of beauty. In 2014, more than seven million cosmetic surgeries were performed. The industry is now valued at 400bn yuan ($62.6bn; £41.7bn) and is expected to double by 2019, according to the China Association of Plastics and Aesthetics.

China's craze for 'aquatic cocaine' is pushing two species into oblivion (January 11, 2016, The Guardian)
Affluent Chinese are putting two Mexican species at risk due to demand for dried swim bladders. But will this year’s Cites meeting on the wildlife trade force a crackdown?

China Discusses Medical Secrecy After Woman Infects Unaware Husband with HIV (January 12, 2016, What’s on Weibo)
The story of a young man being infected with HIV because he was unaware that his wife was HIV positive has made the headlines in China. Netizens discuss an ethical dilemma: should patient confidentiality override the safety of the partner?

History / Culture

My parents always said ‘We are Chinese.’ I never understood until now (January 8, 2016, Matador Network)
Who were my parents before they had to defiantly state that “We are Chinese”? I don’t know the answer to any of these questions yet. I wonder if I ever will? Perhaps it’s not for children to know everything about their parents.

19 Colorized Postcards from Early 1900s China (January 8, 2016, Asia Society)
On January 5, the New York Public Library released a cache of 180,000 digitized public domain images previously only available in its New York City locations. Among them were colorized photographs from around China in the early 20th century.

Think Beijing's Air is Bad Now? You Should've Seen It in the Qing Dynasty (January 11, 2016, The Beijinger)
As early as the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), written records indicate that Beijing's air has been a mess. "Fog (雾) has the captial locked in, no sun for several days, all doors are hidden behind the wind and the haze (霾)," said one record Tan references.

Typing in Chinese (January 13, 2016, Outside-In)
When I first went to China, computers and keyboards were not yet a part of everyday life (not even for Americans, if you can believe it), and Chinese typing was still done on machines pictured above. The typist would hunt for the desired character, use the contraption to grab it, move it to the paper, press it on the paper, then put it back in its proper place. As you can imagine, typing a document was a mind-numbingly laborious task.

Arts / Entertainment / Media

6 Chinese films to watch out for in 2016 (January 16, 2016, Time Out Beijing)
A brand new year means a brand new slate of films to get excited about. We scope out the best of 2016’s Chinese blockbusters, gorgeous cartoons, kung fu favourites and new work from acclaimed directors.

China's Hollywood studio buy-up begs questions (January 12, 2016, BBC)
When Star Wars: The Force Awakens opened in Beijing over the weekend, it took $53m (£37m). That is still under a fifth of the $238m that it took on the opening weekend in the United States, but the Chinese market is growing at a phenomenal rate – up 35% in 2015 over the previous year.

Photos: Shanghai Disney Resort to officially open on June 16 (January 13, 2016, Xinhua)
Shanghai Disney Resort will officially open and welcome its first guests on June 16, the Walt Disney Company and Shanghai Shendi Group announced Wednesday. Construction of the resort, the sixth of its kind worldwide, started in 2011 with an investment of 34 billion yuan (about 5.5 billion U.S. dollars).

Travel / Food

China’s Magical World of Ice and Snow (January 8, 2016, Intelligent Travel)
Winters can be harsh in Heilongjiang, China’s most northeastern province, bordering Siberian Russia. The residents of Harbin, Heilongjiang’s capital, brighten the long, frigid months by carving fantastical frozen sculptures for the International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival that takes place in January and February.

Keep warm with dongbei stew (January 9, 2016, World of Chinese)
Though not one of the famed eight major Chinese cuisines, Dongbei cuisine is popular among diners. Considering the cold extremes of weather in Northeast China, one might easily understand the Dongbei obsession with stew. What better way to battle the cold than with hardy cooked meat and piping hot soup? In this spirit, nothing comes to mind quite like stewed chicken with mushroom.

Language / Language Learning

Is it necessary to learn to write Chinese characters by hand? (January 9, 2016, Hacking Chinese)
Being able to do these things in Chinese is not enough to motivate that you spend hundreds of hours learning how to write all the characters you know how to read. This doesn’t mean you should skip handwriting altogether, though. Let’s look at this a bit closer.

Manchu, Former Empire’s Language, Hangs On at China’s Edge (January 11, 2016, The New York Times)
Two and a half centuries later, the roughly 30,000 people in this rural county who consider themselves Xibe have proved to be an ethnographic curiosity and a linguistic bonanza. As the last handful of Manchu speakers in northeast China have died, the Xibe have become the sole inheritors of what was once the official tongue of one of the world’s most powerful empires, a domain that stretched from India to Russia and formed the geographic foundation for modern China.

8 Ways to Dramatically Accelerate Your Chinese Learning (January 13, 2016, Lingholic)
Today, I’d like to share some of these virtual-classroom tools with you, in the hope that it’ll enable you to regain motivation, learn more efficiently, and have fun treading the path leading to fluency in Chinese.

Books

Three Names of Me – A Book Review (January 8, 2016 From the West Courtyard)
As the father of three children adopted from China, I have an interest in books focused on adoption. Over the years I’ve read numerous books concerning this pressing topic, and Three Names of Me is definitely one of the better adoption books you’ll find for children.

Looming Transitions: The Backstory and the Benefits (January 13, 2016, From the West Courtyard)
This book is for those who will be going through a major cross-cultural life transition, either moving to the field or preparing to return to your “home” country.  It covers all of the potential moves you might make: to China, back to your home country for a home assignment or furlough, and when you sense for now your time in China is coming to a close.

Links for Researchers

“Old China” Vs. “New China” – The Importance of Understanding Change in the Middle Kingdom (January 8, 2016, China Briefing)
Change has created prosperity for China and opportunity for business. But change also creates confusion. More specifically, change makes China harder to understand because change makes China a moving target. You have to make sure you understand China as it is now, not as it was, and your understanding of China should probably anticipate how it will be in the not-too-distant future.

Image credit: Hong Kong Snapshot, by Jonathan Kos-Read, 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