ZGBriefs | November 19, 2015

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Due to American Thanksgiving, ZGBriefs will not be published next week. Look for us again the first week in December. 

Featured Article

Government Enlists NGOs to Help Homeless (November 18, 2015, China File)
Wang and her colleagues are visiting Chen as social workers from a non-governmental organization called Ruifeng Social Service Center. Every Thursday evening, they take to the streets to find homeless people who need help. Tonight, they’re caring for Chen.

Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs

After the One-Child Policy: What Happens to China’s Family-Planning Bureaucracy? (November 12, 2015, China Real Time)
China’s dramatic announcement that it will modify the one-child policy affects not only families but also the immense bureaucracy dedicated to enforcing the 35-year-old policy. What will happen to the officials who currently are the enforcers of family planning policy — and to the budgets of the local governments that depend on related fees and fines to fill their coffers?

Destroyer Makes First China Port Call Since U.S. Sailed Near Spratlys (November 17, 2015, China Real Time)
The destroyer USS Stethem docked in Shanghai on Monday in the first U.S. port call in China since Washington said last month it had sailed near territory in the South China Sea claimed by Beijing.

Video: China’s Power Play Tests Its Partnerships (November 18, 2015, China Real Time)
As the APEC summit brings Asia-Pacific leaders to Manila, China’s trading partners — including the U.S. — are struggling to calibrate their responses to Beijing’s expansive maritime claims.

Chinese security forces kill 17 in Xinjiang: Radio Free Asia (November 18, 2015, Reuters)
Chinese security forces in the restive far western region of Xinjiang have killed 17 people, including women and children, accused of involvement in an attack at a coal mine that left at least 50 dead, U.S.-based Radio Free Asia said on Wednesday.

Religion

Launching China’s Biggest Missionary-Sending Initiative (November 13, 2015, From the West Courtyard)
More than 900 house church pastors and leaders from China gathered around the challenge of planting thousands of churches in China, reaching the hundreds of Chinese minority people groups, and mobilizing at least 20,000 Chinese missionaries by the year 2030.

When The Glory Passes By (November 13, 2015, China Partnership Blog)
As citizens of the Kingdom of God who believe that we have been created by God to share in his own glory, what is the glory that we should seek? What type of glory expresses our collective identity and sets us apart from all others?

Chinese Scholar: Christianity Promoted Moral Construction in China (November 14, 2015, China Christian Daily)
On November 8th, at the final discussion held at the Christianity and Moral Construction in Modern China seminar, Li Ling, a scholar, said that tradition, modernity and universality was stressed in moral construction of China and that Christianity plays an important role in it.

3 Questions: Compiler of the Prayer Calendar: “Intercessors for China” (November 16, 2015, From the West Courtyard)
For 20 years a great tool—the “Intercessors for China” prayer calendar—has been available to  help those who love and/or serve in China pray effectively for China. Each year had a different theme, and each day had a specific item for prayer. The 2016 edition, which focuses on Taiwan, will be the last edition.

Interview with a “Post-80s Pastor,” Part 2 (November 17, 2015, Chinese Church Voices)
Last week we posted part one of an interview with a young urban church pastor that was originally published in the Christian Times. In this post, part two, he talks about the challenges of church administration and the lack of theological resources.

China accused of trying to 'co-opt and emasculate' Christianity (November 17, 2015, The Guardian)
Secretive conference to assess future of rapidly growing faith triggers concerns Communist party may seek to bring church in line with state agenda.

The Spiritual Legacy Of The House Church (November 18, 2015, China Partnership Blog)
I believe that there are seven aspects of the spiritual legacy of the house church: adherence to the essentials of the faith; holding to the separation of church and state; walking in the way of the cross; focusing on the inner life; focusing on repentance, prayer, and the work of the Holy Spirit; emphasizing the life of faith; and a special focus on evangelism. 

Society / Life

End of China’s One-Child Policy Stings Its ‘Loneliest Generation’ (November 13, 2015, The New York Times)
But for some of the more than 150 million young people who grew up as only children, the announcement has reawakened feelings of isolation and regret, according to interviews with more than two dozen of them.

New China, Old China (November 18, 2015, From the West Courtyard)
On a day that trumpets the supremacy of new China—when iPhones and iPads are purchased in staggering numbers from other iPhones and iPads—I kept crashing into the old China and the ways in which it continues to exert its influence over people’s lives.

‘Leftover Woman’ Spends 16000¥ For Dating Site, Still Single (November 18, 2015, What’s on Weibo)
A 41-year-old woman who spent over 16000 Chinese yuan (±2500 US$) in service fees to a matchmaking company is still single. She is now suing the company.

Economics / Trade / Business

China’s New ‘Little Red Book’: A Shopping App for Foreign Products (November 16, 2015, China Real Time)
XiaoHongShu (小红书), which literally translates as “little red book,” is a social e-commerce shopping app based in Shanghai. Aimed at 18-to-35-year-old Chinese women, the platform helps users discover and buy luxury products from overseas, share shopping tips and swap fashion ideas.

Outrage as McDonald's outlet opens inside historic Hangzhou villa (November 17, 2015, CNN)
It might just be the most controversial McDonald's outlet in the world. The fast food chain has opened a McCafe franchise in an historic building in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou. Located near the city's famous West Lake, the 84-year-old villa once briefly housed a former Taiwan leader.

Copyright Takedowns in China (November 16, 2015, China Law Blog)
This is the first in a series of posts looking at online takedowns. In this post we provide a general summary of the regulations that establish the takedown procedures for copyright subject matter.

Z and M Visa Issues: Seven Things to be Aware of When Employing Foreign Staff in China (November 17, 2015, China Brief)
China’s work visa system is complex and fast-changing. For visa applicants and hiring companies alike, relevant legal information can be convoluted and difficult to find. Mistakes made can prove extremely costly in both time and money.  This article will not go through all the processes involved when hiring a foreign national in China. Rather, it will run through some of the less well-known but potentially important considerations regarding hiring foreign staff in China.

Chinese Sea Salt May Contain Small Plastic Particles, Study Says (November 17, 2015, China Real Time)
A recent study by researchers at Shanghai-based East China Normal University found that sea salt may contain high levels of plastic particles, with more than 550 plastic particles for every kilogram. Most of the pollutants were less than 0.2 millimeters large and came from materials commonly used in daily life, such as water bottles, plastic bags and plastic wrap.

Education

China’s Neglected Problem: Student Kicked Out for Being Autistic (November 16, 2015, What’s on Weibo)
A young boy from Henan was sent away from school for being autistic, leading to furious reactions from Chinese netizens. China’s education system is failing our children with special needs, they say.

Chinese Students in America: 300,000 and Counting (November 18, 2015, China File)
Now, Chinese students are by far the most visible international presence at many universities across the United States, and their numbers continue to grow. This year, during the 2014-2015 academic year, the number of Chinese students studying stateside was 304,040, a 10.8 percent increase over the 2013-2014 academic year, according to a just released report by the nonprofit Institute of International Education (IIE).

Health / Environment

China Bends Vow, Using Prisoners’ Organs for Transplants (November 16, 2015, The New York Times)
“They just reclassified prisoners as citizens,” said Huige Li, a Chinese-born doctor at the University of Mainz in Germany.

Science / Technology

China nearly triples number of supercomputers, report says (November 17, 2015, BBC)
The country has 109 high-performance computing systems on the biannual Top500 list of supercomputers, up 196% from 37 just six months ago. The most powerful supercomputer, China's Tianhe-2, also retained the top spot for the sixth consecutive time. In contrast, the US has seen the number of its supercomputers decline.

History / Culture

Photo: The reopening of the Beijing Catholic Church in 1985 (November 11, 2015, Everyday Life in Mao’s China)

Photo: The first shipment of Coca Cola to post-Mao China in 1979 (November 16, 2015, Everyday Life in Mao’s China)

Travel / Food

Welcome to Wuhan – a photographic tour of a historic Chinese city (November 17, 2015, The Guardian)
It looks like a typical second-tier Chinese city, yet Wuhan played a great role in the country’s history, becoming the de facto capital in 1938, the year that WH Auden and Christopher Isherwood made a trip, and Mao often took breaks here.

Language / Language Learning

800 Most Common Character Components (November 11, 2015, carlgene.com)

How to verify that you use the right Chinese font (November 17, 2015, Hacking Chinese)
If you are already literate in Chinese, which font you use to display characters on screen isn’t very important, but for second language learners, it can be very confusing if you use the wrong font (or if someone else is using the wrong font). This is especially true if you’re going to handwrite characters you read from screen (including from most dictionaries).

Books

China's Urban Christians: A Light That Cannot Be Hidden  (Amazon)

Articles for Researchers

Webinar for Beginners — Making Spatial Data on Chinese Religions (Center on Religion and Chinese Society)

Image credit: Denis, via Flickr