ZGBriefs | May 21, 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

China’s Two-Track Approach to Christianity: Vatican vs. Wenzhou (May 15, 2015, China Brief)
Beijing and the Holy See are ostensibly as close to establishing diplomatic relations as they have been in over 60 years; yet, little has changed for mainland Chinese Christians. As Beijing turns the screws of ideological authority, those advocating for religious freedom must learn to coax the government out of its defensive stance. If successful, it could change the very nature of what it means to be Christian in China.

Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs

Survival of the Fittest: Foreign NGOs in China (May 13, 2015, China Digital Times)
On her China Law and Policy blog, Elizabeth Lynch has written a three-part analysis of the proposed Foreign NGO Law, the second draft of which has recently been read by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.

Pu Zhiqiang Indicted for “Inciting Ethnic Hatred” (May 15, 2015, China Digital Times)
After a year in detention, rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang has been formally indicted on charges of “inciting ethnic hatred” and “causing a disturbance and provoking trouble.” Two other charges against him, “inciting separatism” and “illegally obtaining personal information,” have been dropped, but he still faces up to eight years in prison.

Analyst: China's Djibouti Ambitions a Sign of the Future (May 16, 2015, USA Today)
China is negotiating a military base in the strategic port of Djibouti, raising the prospect of US and Chinese bases in the tiny Horn of Africa nation — and the latest example of China exerting its military muscle.

Creeping censorship in Hong Kong: how China controls sale of sensitive books (May 18, 2015, The Guardian)
The mainland’s economic control of bookshops and media outlets in the territory has resulted in soft censorship and restrictions on what people are able to read.

Film on Deng Xiaoping Celebrates Visit That Helped Open China to World (May 18, 2015, Sinosphere)
“Mr. Deng Goes to Washington” is one of the few independently produced political documentaries in China to obtain a highly coveted longbiao — the “local exhibition certificate” that signifies government approval.

U.S.-China Ties Could Run Aground on This Speck in The South China Sea (May 19, 2015, China Real Time)
Since China began reclaiming land in the South China Sea a few months ago using advanced dredging techniques, the Spratly Islands have become a test of wills between U.S. President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

China to invest billions in Brazil's economy, Chinese premier says (May 19, 2015, Christian Science Monitor)
Today Chinese Premier Li Keqiang makes his first official trip to Latin America, stopping in Brazil to present an economic plan that includes investing billions of dollars in the Brazilian railway system. 

U.S. Should Take A Tougher Stand Toward China, Report's Authors Say (May 20, 2015, NPR)
Two former U.S. diplomats argue it's time to think of China less as a trading partner and more as a threat. Steve Inskeep talks to Robert Blackwill and Ashley Tellis about a paper they co-wrote.

Religion

You Can't Ignore the Miracle of Christianity in China (May 14, 2015, Charisma)
Many Americans today seem discouraged by evidence of spiritual decline in the West. Now would be the best time for us to heed Jesus' words in John 4:35: "Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest." Our pessimism has blinded us to what is happening in the East. Consider these facts about the Chinese church:

China's atheist Communist government is embracing a very capitalist form of Buddhism (May 14, 2015, PRI)
Despite history and recent headlines, China is undergoing a spiritual revival. China now has the largest population of Buddhists in the world — by some estimates more than 200 million. That's in part because of a collaborative relationship between Chinese Buddhism and the Communist Party.

Chinese Catholics, Protestants slam new architectural law, banning crosses on rooftops (May 15, 2015, RT.com)
Catholic and Protestant leaders in China have criticized legislation drafted by Zhejiang province, home to a large Christian community, to reduce the quantity of Church crosses across the province and ban their placement on rooftops. The law “blasphemes the foundational belief of Christianity” and violates China’s constitution in respect to freedom of religious belief, Chongyi Church, the largest Protestant church in Zhejiang’s provincial capital Hangzhou, said in an outraged statement.

Growing pains, great gains (May 15, 2015, World Magazine)
Christianity continues to surge throughout China. Professors, lawyers, even police officers are professing Christ in the Communist nation. As long as unregistered house churches stay small and keep away from foreigners and making loud statements, the government leaves them unmolested.

China urged to release Panchen Lama after 20 years (May 17, 2015, BBC)
Tibetan exiles are calling for China to release a high-ranking monk who disappeared 20 years ago when he was just six years old. The boy was detained by the Chinese authorities just three days after the Dalai Lama declared him to be the reincarnated Panchen Lama. The Panchen Lama is the second most important figure in Tibetan Buddhism.

The State of Chinese Urban Churches (May 19, 2015, Chinese Church Voices)
The speaker looks at the situation from three different perspectives: the Chinese value system, the political system, and the expansion of Christianity.

President Xi stresses localizing religions (May 20, 2015, Xinhua)
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday stressed that the development of religions in China should be independent from foreign influence. "Active efforts should be made to incorporate religions in the socialist society," said Xi at a high-profile meeting on the united front work. He promised to fully implement the Party's policy of religious freedom and manage religious affairs in line with the law.

Society / Life

China Debates Its Own Police Shooting Incident (MAY 14, 2015, China Real Time)
At a train station in the northern province of Heilongjiang on May 2, a police officer identified by official media as Li Lebin shot and killed Xu Chunhe. Photos of Mr. Xu’s body on the station floor – his child standing over it – quickly ricocheted around the Internet in China, followed by allegations of police brutality by some Chinese online.

China van crammed with 51 people (May 15, 2015, BBC)
A van driver in China has been fined after he was found to be carrying 51 people in a vehicle designed to seat six. The passengers were said to be migrant workers on their way to a building site, as David Eades explains.

Starfish Project: An Opportunity to Get Involved (May 15, 2015, ChinaSource Blog)
The main goal of Starfish Project has always been to provide alternative employment and holistic care services to the exploited and abused women we work with so they can have the tools to empower themselves and make an impact in the lives of their families and communities.

Protesters in Southwest China Rally to Demand Railroad Link (May 18, 2015, Sinosphere)
The authorities in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan said on Monday that plans for a regional railroad line were still under discussion after thousands of people took to the streets in protest over reports that the line would bypass their community.

Photos: China’s Superrich: The Bling Dynasty (may 14, 2015, The New York Times)
Through photographs and videos, she has tracked how the Chinese learn to acquire the goods of the good life, which often entails also having to learn how to use them. She has also shown how their relationship to wealth has changed from tacky to thoughtful, with an eye toward national growth and the greater good.

Make it so: Chinese building looks just like Star Trek's USS Enterprise (May 19, 2015, Mashable)
There's a building in China that looks almost exactly like the USS Enterprise from Star Trek. Drone footage (which we really wish was set to this music) shows how a relatively conventional-looking building from the ground dramatically transforms into a regal starship when viewed from the air.

China’s Hmong go uncounted (May 20, 2015, East Asia Forum)
In recent years Uyghur and Tibetan issues have captured most of the national and international attention granted to China’s minorities. Yet Uyghurs and Tibetans account for less than 15 per cent of China’s minority population of about 113 million. How have other large minority groups, such as the Hmong, fared politically, economically, and socially in the last decade? How well do the Chinese leadership’s strategies and policies address ethnic minority challenges?

Uighurs: Dreaming of Vatan (May 20, 2015, BBC Radio)
Thousands of Uighur Muslims have been forced to flee their native Xinjiang province after the Chinese secret police began arresting religious Uighur men. They have fled to the nearest and safest country, Kazakhstan. Relation between the Uighurs and Beijing have reached a critical point in the last few years. Violent attacks by the Uighurs and the crackdown of Uighur dissent by the Chinese authorities is just making the situation unbearable for many.

China Arrests 7 For Faking Car Crashes To Claim Life Insurance For Dead Cancer Patients (May 20, 2015, International Business Times)
Three doctors in eastern China’s Anhui province were among seven people arrested on charges of faking car crashes to claim life insurance payouts — for patients who had already died of cancer. A report by the online edition of China’s People’s Daily newspaper said police were tipped off to the case when local insurance companies became suspicious, following repeated payouts for car-crash victims in Anhui’s rural Lingbi County.

A Foreign Face (May 20, 2015, Outside-In)
When I was living in Changchun in the 1990’s it was common to field requests to be “token foreigners” at various events or productions. Changchun is home to one of China’s largest film studios so whenever a director was in need of a foreign face for a film, he/she would call up the Foreign Student Office at Northeast Normal University and ask to borrow some foreigners.

Education

UK-based boarding schools cash in on increasing demand from greater China region for quality education (May 20, 2015, South China Morning Post)
The headmaster of the Malaysian branch of a top UK boarding school is seeking to explore the growing market in China, as more parents are now able to afford the fees even though they are higher than expensive boarding schools in Hong Kong.

Health / Environment

China’s Uncounted Children With Autism (May 18, 2015, Wall Street Journal)
There isn’t a reason to think China’s rate of autism, a developmental disorder characterized by social and communication deficits, is very different from that of other countries, experts say. That means that there likely are millions of people in China with autism, though researchers are unsure about exact numbers.

In China, The Making of an App for Autism (May 19, 2015, China Real Time)
Among the advances that have helped some families is a Chinese-language mobile phone app called Yuudee (Little Rain Drop) for minimally verbal autism-spectrum disorder children. The simple app includes pictures and speaks phrases like “Help me to wipe my face.” It is thought to be the first Chinese-language communication app for children with autism, according to experts.

Public Hospitals to Be Opened to Investors, State Council Says (May 19, 2015, Caixin Online)
Some public hospitals around the country will be opened to private investors as part of an overhaul of the hospital system, the State Council said on May 17. The cabinet has not announced how the hospitals will be chosen or what stakes investors can hold, but it urged hospital administrators to evaluate assets ahead of the change.

Economics / Trade / Business

Dying to Breathe—A Short Film Shows China’s True Cost of Gold (May 15, 2015, National Geographic)
This alpine landscape in central China is home to hundreds—perhaps thousands—of men too sick to breathe normally.

China Employment Contracts: If Yours Are Not Current, You Have A Problem (May 17, 2015, China Law Blog)
If you have employees working without a current written contract (in Chinese) you are sitting on a ticking time bomb in need of immediate defusing.

Xiaomi starts selling accessories in the UK, US, France and Germany (May 18, 2015, The Guardian)
‘China’s Apple’ launches low-cost headphones, fitness bands and portable battery packs to test the waters for a full smartphone launch.

China approves $40 billion of rail, subway projects to bolster economy (May 18, 2015, Reuters)
China has approved close to 250 billion yuan ($40.30 billion) of railway and subway projects, the country's top economic planner said on Monday, as Beijing ramps up efforts to support growth amid a wider slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.

China’s Housing Market Shows Signs of Hope (May 18, 2015, The New York Times)
The tentative rebound in some cities’ housing prices suggests that recent steps by policy makers are helping engineer at least a slight turnaround in the market. Last week, the central bank cut interest rates for the third time since November; it had already removed several restrictions on some home purchases.

U.S. Charges 6 Chinese Nationals With Stealing Tech Secrets (May 20, 2015, NPR)
A 32-page indictment by federal prosecutors charges the six with economic espionage and trade secret theft. They are accused of stealing wireless technology from a pair of U.S. companies.

Pay for expats on the rise in Chinese mainland (May 20, 2015, China Daily)
Expat pay packages are on the increase in China which has climbed to fourth in the latest ranking for the Asia-Pacific region. A package for an expat middle manager in the mainland is now worth more than $276,000 per year on average, a survey by consulting firm ECA International revealed.

Science / Technology

China aims to be first to land on 'dark side' of moon (May 20, 2015, China Daily)
China is planning to land its Chang'e-4 probe on the moon's "dark side", which has never before been explored, Wu Weiren, the chief engineer for China's Lunar Exploration Program told Chinese Central Television.

History / Culture

An Important Lens: The Taiping Rebellion (May 18, 2015, ChinaSource Blog)
I have always thought that in order to understand the Chinese Communist Party’s attitude toward (or shall we say fear of) religion, one needs to study up on two key events: The Boxer Rebellion (1900) and the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864). Both of those movements started out as quasi-religious and morphed into anti-government political movements that weakened, and eventually led to the downfall of the Qing Dynasty.

See old Beijing on film (May 19, 2015, Time Out Beijing)
The British Film Institute (BFI) has released some of the oldest surviving films of China. The films are available via the BFI’s website as part of an ambitious digitisation programme, Unlocking Film Heritage, which aims to make 10,000 largely unseen titles available online by 2017. The China on Film section currently consists of more than a hundred rare films from 1900-1949.

Arts / Entertainment / Media

Sinica Podcast: Leonard Bernstein and China (May 17, 2015, Popup Chinese)
This week on Sinica, Kaiser Kuo and David Moser are delighted to host Alexander Bernstein, son of Leonard Berstein and director of the Bernstein Family Foundation, and now also in China on part of a cultural tour.

How China's Censors Influence Hollywood (May 18, 2015, NPR)
China's government chooses which movies can be shown in what is now the world's second-biggest cinema market, so many filmmakers have to think more carefully about how to attract Chinese audiences and not offend the country's censors, according to scholars and theater owners.

Mountains May Depart review: Jia Zhang-ke scales new heights with futurist drama (May 20, 2015, The Guardian)
This giddily ambitious new movie from the Chinese film-maker begins relatively conventionally, before spinning out into a commentary on globalisation and a glimpse of a bravura new world.

Travel / Food

Gang Gang Style: Let the Good Times Roll with this All-Natural, Traditional Yi Spirit (May 20, 2015, The Beijinger)
From Kalahari Bushmen of Africa to reindeer herding Siberian nomads, just about everyone loves a good drink. The Yi of Liangshan, Sichuan are no exception, and for them, getting loaded and letting loose is a strictly communal affair – Yi festivals are filled with communities gathering around massive barrels to sip the good stuff through long bamboo straws as they sing and dance in celebration.  

Language / Language Learning

4 Reasons I Want the Outlier Dictionary of Chinese Characters (May 20, 2015, Sinosplice)
There’s a new Kickstarter project related to learning Chinese definitely worthy of more attention: the Outlier Dictionary of Chinese Characters. I’ve had the pleasure of multiple Skype calls with John and Ash of Outlier Linguistic Solutions, and this project is no joke. They’re out to build something I’ve wished has existed for quite a while, and they’ve got the skills and dedication to make it happen.

Books

Shanghai Gone: Domicide and Defiance in a Chinese Megacity (May 17, 2015, China Rhyming)
The intro to Qin Shao’s book may slightly overstate Shanghai’s importance in terms of an international financial centre, but that doesn’t detract from the awful destruction wrought upon the city by communist politicians, property developers and architectural vandals,

On Top of the World: Five Women Explorer in Tibet, by Luree Miller (May 19, 2015, Outside-In) 
In the late 1800’s, when women were laced into layer upon layer of cumbersome clothing and bound by strict Victorian morals, a small band of astonishing women explorers and travelers burst forth to claim for themselves the adventurous life

How Do You Measure Success? (May 20, 2015, ChinaSource Blog)
Faith-based organizations have, for too long, adopted a secular business model for gauging their effectiveness. This is the conclusion of Gary Hoag, Scott Rodin and Wesley Wilmer in their short but provocative book, The Choice (Winchester, VA: ECFAPress, 2014).

Image credit: by Matthew Stinson, via Flickr