Blog Entries by 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 of Northwestern-St. Paul (MN), and Chinese Culture and Communication at Wheaton College (IL) and Taylor University (IN).
Joann has a BA in Social Sciences from the University of Northwestern-St. Paul (MN), and an MA in teaching from the University of St. Thomas (MN).
She is the author of Survival Chinese Lessons and The Bells Are Not Silent: Stories of Church Bells in China.
Her personal blog, Outside-In can be found at joannpittman.com, where she writes on China, Minnesota, traveling, and issues related to "living well where you don't belong."
You can find her on Twitter @jkpittman.com and on Facebook at @authorjoannpittman.
She makes her home in New Brighton, Minnesota.
3 Questions: Songs from the Heart
An interview with theologian and composer Scott Callaham.
Webinar Video: WeChatting to the Glory of God
At our May 31 webinar, we featured four ministry leaders who have years of experience as evangelists in a digital environment. They told encouraging stories about how God is working through technology in China and the Chinese diaspora.
3 Questions: Chinese through Scripture
Last month I had the opportunity to meet Shuguang Wang, the author of a new textbook called Chinese through Scripture. I looked at the book and my first thought was, “I sure could have used this in 1990!”
WeChatting to the Glory of God, a Free Webinar
Serving China Through Digital Engagement
Despite restrictions and an increasingly tight environment, there are still creative ways that Christians are using the internet for evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, and encouragement. In this webinar, we will present a picture of what God is doing through four different ministries involved in digital engagement.
Recording: Chinese Christian Posters in Early 20th Century China
I want to thank Daryl Ireland for delivering such an interesting and enlightening lecture. We were deeply blessed, and we hope that those who view this recording will be as well.
Xiamen!
Xiamen (厦门), meaning “door to the house,” is on the western side of the Taiwan Strait and was a treaty port ceded to the British. Today it’s the eighth largest port city in China with a thriving economy.
A Numbers Game
I’m not the tidiest or most organized person in the world, so the expression luan qi ba zao (乱七八糟) was one I learned and took to heart early. A direct translation is “chaos seven eight in a wretched state.”
Lecture Video: New Civil Religion in China—Opportunity for Engagement?
Johnson talked about how China is using civil religion, which he defines as the government using religion and religious images to legitimize its rule. This has been most visible in the government’s more tolerant attitude towards what it considers to be indigenized religions.
Political Counting
An interesting feature of Chinese social and political discourse is propensity to label institutions or political campaigns using numbers… They are catchy and thus relatively easy to remember. Here are some of my favorites.
National People’s Congress 2023
A Reading Roundup
There is no question that we are in a new era. To understand the recent National People’s Congress and National People’s Consultative Conference, read Joann Pittman’s roundup of news and analysis.