ZGBriefs | July 9, 2015

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.

Featured Article

The really worrying financial crisis is happening in China, not Greece (July 7, 2015, The Telegraph)
While all Western eyes remain firmly focused on Greece, a potentially much more significant financial crisis is developing on the other side of world. In some quarters, it’s already being called China’s 1929 – the year of the most infamous stock market crash in history and the start of the economic catastrophe of the Great Depression.

Special Section: China Stock Market Chaos

How Much Does the Chinese Market Matter to the World? (July 2, 2015, China File)
China’s main market, reflected in the Shanghai Composite Index, has fallen 24 percent since June 12, losing $2.4 trillion in value. While many analysts are focused on the financial crisis in Greece, some are beginning to wonder if China's woes may have a greater affect in the long run.

China’s Market Rout Is a Double Threat (July 5, 2015, China Real Time)
For nearly three years, President Xi Jinping of China has crushed opposition by silencing and often locking up anyone who dares defy the government. But that aura of invincibility has been shaken by stock market speculators who have made a mockery of efforts to halt a steep slide in share prices.

Three SignPosts to Guide You as China’s Stock Market Crisis Unfolds (July 6, 2015, China Signpost) 
Yet even if Greece exits the Euro, the global economic consequences are minor compared to the potential impact of events now unfolding in China. Indeed, focusing on Greece while a potentially larger crisis brews in Asia evokes a colorful, fitting Chinese idiom: “picking up sesame seeds but dropping the watermelon” (撿了芝麻, 丟了西瓜).

China's stock market fall hits small investors (July 7, 2015, BBC)
n China, unlike in the European or US markets, individuals make up around 80% of the investors. Many of them are new and inexperienced, often following whim and rumour to make decisions and so the market is arguably more vulnerable to quick turnarounds in herd behaviour.

Stock Sell-Off Is Unabated in China (July 8, 2015, The New York Times)
Stock prices in mainland China fell sharply again on Wednesday, continuing a decline that began last month despite another series of government measures meant to restore confidence and stabilize a market that has grown increasingly turbulent.

Here's a timeline of everything China has done to prevent a stock market meltdown (July 8, 2015, Business Insider)

Plunge in Chinese Stocks Leads to Bull Market for Gallows Humor (July 8, 2015, Sinosphere)
On social media the market routs and fumbling government efforts to stop them have triggered an explosion of jokes, as Chinese investors try to find ways to ease the pain.

5 Things Peculiar About China’s Market Meltdown (July 8, 2015, China Real Time)
China’s stock market is unusual thanks to government’s heavy-handed approach and the high participation of retail investors. Now as markets plunge and the government scrambles for ways to arrest the fall, things are getting more peculiar.

Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs

Images show Chinese airstrip on man-made Spratly island nearly finished (July 2, 2015, Reuters)
China has almost finished building a 3,000-meter-long (10,000-foot) airstrip on one of its artificial islands in the disputed Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea, new satellite photographs of the area show.

China National Security Law Aims to Create ‘Garrison State,’ Experts Say (July 2, 2015, China Real Time)
China has adopted a sweeping national-security law that the government says is needed to counter emerging threats but that critics say may be used to quash dissent and exclude foreign investment.

Jailed Chinese journalist denied medical care for heart pain (July 2, 2015, The Guardian)
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Chinese government to provide medical care to the imprisoned journalist, Gao Yu, who is serving seven years for allegedly leaking an internal communist party document that urged greater censorship of reformist ideas.

China's broad new security laws target 'cultural infiltration,' cybersecurity (July 2, 2015, Christian Science Monitor)
The laws appear poised to restrict forms of foreign investment and NGO activity, allow quick arrests on grounds of “security,” and quash free expression and social media. Officials stressed a need to “carry forth the exceptional culture of the Chinese nationality” and to route out “cultural infiltration.”

Is ‘China in Africa’ something to fear? (July 3, 2015, The Washington Post)
Should the West fear China’s growing influence on the African continent? While there is no question that China and Chinese companies are changing the way African politicians seek aid and investment, the relationship between the two sides is far more complicated than simple narratives about “democracy or dictatorship” or “trade not aid” suggest. Veteran journalist Howard W. French explores this complexity in his book, “China’s Second Continent: How a Million Migrants are Building a New Empire in Africa.”

Why Was Zhou Yongkang Denied a Public Trial? (July 6, 2015, China Digital Times)
The recent trial of former security chief and Politburo Standing Committee member Zhou Yongkang took place in secret, despite earlier assurances of openness.

For Beijing, Stock Market Fall Is a Security Threat (July 7, 2015, China Real Time)
Far more than simply a market crisis, the Chinese leadership views turmoil on the Shanghai stock exchange as a potential security threat to the regime.

Religion

Reformed Theology: A Christian Thought Movement to a Church Movement (June 26, 2015, ChinaSource Quarterly)
During the past fifteen years, these influences have resonated among mainland Chinese Christian intellectuals, which is quite remarkable. When asked why reformed theology appeals to them, their answers generally fall into categories such as: it resolves the cognitive problem between faith and reason; it offers a comprehensive worldview; it provides useful tools in responding to many schools of secular thoughts.

Liberalism and China’s Churches (June 26, 2015, ChinaSource Quarterly)
Instead, among intellectuals in China, the term “liberalism” is understood in the so-called “classical” sense and is often connected with free market, rule of law, and human rights. Clearly, what classical liberalism advocates is entirely incompatible with Communist ideology.

Urban Churches in China: A Pentecostal Case Study (June 26, 2015, ChinaSource Quarterly)
One of the most striking features of contemporary China is the startling pace of its modernization, urbanization, and economic development. Strange as it may sound, this process of modernization and development may represent a major factor in creating a context conducive for the growth of Pentecostal Christianity. 

A Problem of ‘Religion,’ and Polling, in China (July 1, 2015, Sinosphere)
Is China one of the world’s most atheist countries? That’s the conclusion of a poll by WIN/Gallup International, released earlier this year, that surveyed more than 50,000 people from 57 countries. In China, 61 percent identified themselves as atheist and 29 percent as nonreligious; 7 percent said they were religious.

Religion in China (June 3, 2015, Council on Foreign Relations)
Religious observance in China is on the rise. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is officially atheist, but it has grown more tolerant of religious activity over the past forty years. Amid China’s economic boom and rapid modernization, experts point to the emergence of a spiritual vacuum as a trigger for the growing number of religious believers, particularly adherents of Christianity and traditional Chinese religious groups.

Millions of silver pieces for China's official Christians (July 3, 2015, UCA News)
Chinese priest Lin Xiuqiang is pleased with his new Catholic church, its tall tower topped with a cross — and grateful to the Communist officials who paid $19 million to build it. China's Christians are divided between state-run churches, which pledge allegiance to the officially atheist Communist Party, and "underground" congregations who maintain their independence.

Are Chinese People Religious? (July 6, 2015, From the West Courtyard)
When I was teaching on a university campus, one of the things that surprised me was the admission by many of my students that they were afraid of ghosts. One of them put it to me very succinctly: “We are atheists during the day, but when the lights go out it’s a different story.”

Future of religion, religious freedom and world economy converge in China (July 6, 2015, The Weekly Number)
The future of religion, religious freedom and the world economy all converge in China, according to Brian Grim (葛百彦教授), in a new Q&A with Joey Marshall of the Center on Religion and Chinese Society (CRCS).

China Continues to Tear Down Crosses From Zhejiang's Churches (July 6, 2015, Radio Free Asia)
Authorities in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang claimed new casualties in a demolition program targeting Protestant Christian churches in the region, which is home to "China's Jerusalem," in recent weeks, local residents said. Officials sent in a demolition gang on July 2 to pull down a cross on a church in Zhejiang's Weiling county, a church member told RFA.

Learning to Love after the Earthquake (July 7, 2015, Chinese Church Voices)
On May 12, 2008 a massive earthquake struck the province of Sichuan, leaving close to 100,000 people dead and millions homeless. One woman affected by the tragedy was Liao Zhi, a dance instructor who lost her daughter and mother-in-law, and both her legs. Some rescue workers from Vancouver gave her a Bible, and helped her go to Canada for prosthetic legs. She became a Christian and was able to return to dancing. Her story inspired many people, both believers and unbelievers in China.

Religious Chinese are Younger: Report (July 8, 2015, Global Times)
A report released on Tuesday says religious worshippers in the Chinese mainland are becoming younger, with Islam having the largest number of followers under 30, while most religion leaders in the country feel that government regulations and policies are fair. The China Religion Survey 2015, released by the National Survey Research Center (NSRC) at Renmin University of China, included interviews from 4,382 religious sites across 31 regions between 2013 and 2015. Protestantism has the largest number of places of worship while Buddhism has the highest number of followers in China.

Society / Life

Infographic: Average heights of Chinese men and women by province (July 1, 2015, Shanghaiist)
The State Council Information Office yesterday released the nation’s latest nutrition and chronic diseases status report, which includes a summary of the average height of males and females (aged between 20 and 25) from 34 divisions across China.

'Hong Kong is not China': Artist's illustrations go viral (July 1, 20105, Shanghaiist)
A collection of illustrations created by a Hong Kong designer has gone viral since being published to the Facebook page of Local Studio HK (本土工作室).

Shanghai's Natives Have No Business Scorning Migrants (July 2, 2015, Caixin Online)
Slurs are again being directed at people from other regions, but this hostility ignores the economic need for talented, hardworking people.

Teens' attack on Chinese girl draws comparison to 'Lord of the Flies' from judge (July 2, 2015, The Los Angeles Times)
The March 30 attack has prompted soul-searching not just in Rowland Heights but also in China — the victim and her alleged attackers were "parachute kids," part of a new wave of Chinese youngsters who live in Southern California and attend local schools while their parents remain back home.

Women Must Get Pregnant ‘On Schedule,’ Chinese Company Tells Staff (July 3, 2014, China Real Time)
How much say should an employer have over when — and whether — an employee gets pregnant? That’s the question Chinese Internet users were debating Friday after a controversial notice from a company in central Henan province to employees went viral on China’s social networks.

Security in a fast food nation (July 3, 2015, BBC)
From government regulation to waistlines, there's been plenty of expansion in China this week. But also one significant shrinkage blamed on "reckless" humans.

A Magnitude-6.5 Quake Hits China’s Restive Far Western Region of Xinjiang (July 3, 2015, TIME)
A magnitude 6.5 earthquake shook buildings in China’s far western region of Xinjiang on Friday, sending people out onto the streets, but there were no immediate reports of casualties from the sparsely populated area surrounding the epicenter. The quake hit Pishan county in the Hotan region of Xinjiang at a depth of about 10 kilometers shortly after 9 a.m. Friday, the China Earthquake Networks Center said.

China factory collapse: Six dead and 49 rescued (July 4, 2015, BBC)
A shoe factory has collapsed in eastern China, killing six workers, according to Chinese state media. More than 50 people were working in the factory in the city of Wenling, in Zhejiang province, when it collapsed at around 16:00 local time (08:00 GMT) on Saturday. CCTV News said 49 people were rescued, 40 of whom were hospitalised.

How China stopped its bloggers (July 4, 2015, Australia Financial Review)
For a brief Chinese 'spring', the country's bloggers exposed corruption, cheating and other abuses of power, writes Angus Grigg. Then the Party bosses took back the internet.

Q. and A.: Xie Shi on the Brotherhood of Skateboarding in China’s Far West (July 6, 2015, Sinosphere)
n the ethnically mixed region of Xinjiang, in China’s far west, tensions run high, and the government-promoted slogan that “Uighurs and Han are all one family” is not embraced by everyone. But Xie Shi, a 30-year-old photographer and skateboarder based in the eastern city of Nanjing, says that the skateboarding scene there is both ethnically diverse and more harmonious than the mainstream of society.

Report: Beijing Has Highest Number of Divorces in China (July 8, 2015, The Beijinger)
The Ministry of Civil Affairs announced that 3.67 million Chinese couples got divorced in 2014, and 56,000 of them – the most in the country for any one location – were from Beijing.

Health / Environment

High Off the Hog (June 24, 2015, China File)
China’s new urbanites eat more meat than their rural forbears. Can farms and world meat production adapt?

It's Official: Beijing Air Was Cleaner in the First Half of 2015 (July 4, 2015, The Beijinger)
The blue skies of June may be here to stay: Beijing's air was cleaner in the first half of 2015, as efforts to reduce air pollution begin to take effect. PM 2.5 readings were down by 15.2 percent January-June, Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau said, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

China wants mothers to breast-feed, but they keep choosing formula (July 4, 2015, The Washington Post)
An overwhelming number of young women in China are reaching for formula over breast milk prematurely to feed their newborns, despite ­government-led campaigns to promote breast-feeding as the exclusive diet of infants until ­­­6 months of age.

Economics / Trade / Business

Airbus signs deal for second plant in China (July 3, 2015, BBC)
Airbus has signed a deal for its second factory in China as it expands further its growing relationship with the world's second-largest economy. The new cabin-completion factory for A330 jetliners is worth a reported €150m ($166.3m; £106.5m) and is aimed at attracting new orders for Airbus. The plant will be built alongside an existing site in the city of Tianjin.

Still a long way to go for China’s new normal (July 5, 2015, East Asia Forum)
China’s old model of growth produced the strongest, most resource-intensive economic growth the world has ever seen. But the period in which China’s growth dominated world demand for energy and metals and lifted global commodities prices to unprecedented levels has come to an end. This is most decisive for commodities like coal, for which production or use has large negative effects on local and global environmental amenity.

8 Questions For Doing Business in China (July 6, 2015, China Law Blog)
The China lawyers at my firm are often asked what foreign companies should know and do to stay out of legal trouble in China. The following eight questions make for my answer:

History / Culture

A 1932 Map of Shanghai (July 2, 2015, China Rhyming)

Video: Marking 70 years since Second Sino-Japanese War (July 7, 2015, BBC)
Commemorations are taking place to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1945 – the biggest war in Asia in the 20th Century. The war later merged into the Second World War and changed the history of China and the world – but little is known outside the region about it.

Arts / Entertainment / Media

‘Fifteen of Us': This is the Chinese Utopia (July 6, 2015, What’s on Weibo) 
Fifteen people with different backgrounds build a new society: one place, hundreds of camera’s, starting from scratch. The format of Dutch reality TV programme Utopia has now made it to China. The question is: what will Chinese Utopia look like? Who are the contestants? Will their society be communist or capitalist?

Meet China’s Young and Rebellious Hip-Hop Dancers (July 6, 2015, TIME)
In China, where personal expression is often discouraged, a group of young dancers are riding the wave of an imported cultural phenomenon, appropriating the highly individual hip-hop genre to transform it into a choreographed group performance.

Travel / Food

It’s More Than a City! The Many Districts of Hong Kong (June 27, 2015, Peanuts or Pretzels)
Even though Hong Kong is relatively small, it’s large when it comes to places to stay and things to do. Hong Kong is separated into districts, and each district offers a unique mix of culture, food, activities, and transportation. When planning your visit to Hong Kong, it’s helpful to become familiar with these different “neighborhoods” and what they have to offer visitors.

Language / Language Learning

Top 5 HSK preparation tips (July 2, 2015, Live the Language)
The HSK language exam can be slightly different to other language exams you may have taken. In order to get prepared and have the most efficient revision time, we sat down with our director of studies, Gloria Hao, to help structure your study sessions and put the odds in your favour to achieve the highest possible scores.

Will Chinese be the next essential global development language? (July 7, 2015, Devex)
In the short to midterm, development contractors and consulting firms that are doing business in Asia and Africa may increasingly be bidding for projects funded by the Chinese government and multilateral banks where Beijing is a major stakeholder. Would proficiency in Chinese then be an essential skill for development professionals to have in the next few years?

Books

5 Books on Hudson Taylor (July 3, 2015, From the West Courtyard)
June 25th marked the 150th anniversary of Hudson Taylor’s call to take the gospel to China and the founding of the China Inland Mission (today’s OMF), an event that not only precipitated a wave of missionary activity to China, but also upended the traditional ways in which missionary work had been conducted. If you haven’t done so already, this would be a good time to brush up your Hudson Taylor reading.

A Star In The East: The Rise Of Christianity In China (July 6, 2015, The Gospel Coalition)
In many ways it tells the story of the Messiah’s triumph in China. Stark and Wang set out to shed light on both the how and the why of the spread of Christianity in China. Along the way, they challenge assumptions and shine new light on the types of people turning to Christianity. Six things in particular stand out to me:

China’s Foreign Places: The Foreign Presence in China in the Treaty Port Era, 1840-1943 (July 6, 2015, China Rhyming)
Robert Nield’s China’s Foreign Places – now out and highly recommended as a history of the treaty ports.

Explaining China’s “Religious Awakening” (July 8, 2015, From the West Courtyard)
Stark and Wang’s statistical treatment adds both credibility and clarity to the often anecdotal accounts of church growth in contemporary China. Their theories about why this growth has taken place shed new light on the nature of the church’s remarkable expansion. Their helpful study also suggests new directions for research for those engaged in the study of Chinese Christianity.

Articles for Researchers

The Chinese Communists Are Not Confucianists (July 1, 2015, China Change)
The following is an unauthorized translation of an excerpt from an interview with Prof. Yu Ying-shih [via Skype] during a symposium in November 2014 marking the 65th anniversary of the founding of Hong Kong’s New Asia College. Statements in parenthesis have been added, and endnotes provided, by the translator for clarity.

Image credit: by Aaron Goodman, via Flickr