ZGBriefs from 2016
The Resource Library is where you will find the latest resources from across our publications.
ZGBriefs | December 29, 2016
Weibo From A to Z: A Look Back at the Biggest Trending Topics of 2016 (December 27, 2016, What’s on Weibo)
As we are getting ready for a new year, What’s on Weibo reflects on the most popular trending stories on Chinese social media in 2016. It was a year where many things happened, from political controversies to online scandals and social hypes. Sometimes the most trivial things got big, while the biggest things remained trivial.
ZGBriefs | December 22, 2016
Attempts to ‘Clean Up Beijing’ Target Low-Cost Migrant Homes (December 15, 2016, China File)
Amid worsening pollution and traffic woes, the municipal government last year said it wants to cap Beijing’s population at 23 million by 2020. At the end of 2015, the Chinese capital had 21.7 million residents, including migrant workers who stay in the city for at least six months. Each of its districts has also set its own targets for curbing population growth. For example, Haidian, where Li is living, wants to reduce its population from 3.71 million in 2015 to 3.13 million by 2020, a 16 percent cut, according to a government plan released in January.
ZGBriefs | December 15, 2016
Lost lives: the battle of China's invisible children to recover missed years (December 14, 2016, Reuters)
Ending the one-child policy has left people like Li scrambling to make up for lost years, resentful as they fear this recognition may have come too late and unsure what the government is going to do to help them make up for those years. Li missed out on an education and struggled to learn everything by herself, using library books borrowed under her elder sister's name with her family unable to afford a tutor.
ZGBriefs | December 8, 2016
How Does Education In China Compare With Other Countries? (Center for Strategic and International Studies)
The ability of a country to cultivate its capacity for innovation rests with its domestic education system. A well-educated workforce is instrumental to technological and scientific discovery, which can propel states to the apex of the increasingly innovation-based global economy. This need is particularly salient for China as its leaders seek to push the Chinese economy up the global value chain.
ZGBriefs | December 1, 2016
Obtaining China’s New Unified Foreign Work Permit (November 25, 2016, China Briefing)
On November 1, 2016, China’s State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs (SAFEA) launched the new unified work permit in select regions across the country. The limited release targets the regions of Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Anhui, Guangdong, Hebei, Shandong, Sichuan, and Ningxia, as the government seeks to gauge the program’s success before the nationwide rollout on April 1, 2017.
ZGBriefs | November 23 2016
Why Grace Is Hard for Me as an Asian American (November 17, 2016, The Gospel Coalition)
A gift given means a gift must be repaid. That’s what my Chinese culture taught me. For my family, this meant mental tallies of who gave what on which occasion, so that when the time came the Yong family would be able to return a gift of equal or greater value. Welcome to the principle of reciprocation. But what does one do when a gift cannot be repaid? More specifically, what do Christians do when they’re in a position of eternal indebtedness, incapable of reciprocating God’s gift of grace in Christ?
ZGBriefs | November 17, 2016
Desperate Housewives See No Way Out of Rural-Urban Fringe Life (November 11, 2016, Sixth Tone)
Chen is by no means unique among rural-urban fringe communities. With no land and no opportunities, they are unable to make changes to their lives when problems arise. For Chen, the precariousness of her situation became apparent when depression set in; for others, the realization may be triggered by physical injury or sudden unemployment. Without the tools to address these issues, families on the fringe have a hard time recovering.
ZGBriefs | November 10, 2016
The Politics of Religion in China (November 4, 2016, The Diplomat)
The revivals of various religions, especially Christianity, show that the rapid social change has both generated the social needs and created the social space for religion. As long as social change continues in the current direction, that is, increasing urbanization, globalization, and migration, religions will continue to grow in the foreseeable future.
ZGBriefs | November 3, 2016
How the Education Consultancy Industry Fuels Essay Fraud (November 2, 2016, Sixth Tone)
Once again, as high school students across China agonize over their American college essays, allegations of fraud plague the education industry. Dipont Education Management Group, a large Shanghai-based educational consultancy, has become the most recent target of accusations, with reports circulating that staff turned a blind eye to high-level application fraud that included buying access to current admissions officers at U.S. colleges.
ZGBriefs | October 27, 2016
Vatican and China in final push for elusive deal on bishops (October 21, 2016, Reuters)
Representatives from the Vatican and China are expected to meet before the end of the month in Rome in an effort to finalize a deal on the ordination of bishops on the mainland, a move aimed at ending a longstanding dispute, according to Catholic Church sources familiar with the negotiations. The Church sources also told Reuters that China is preparing to ordain at least two new bishops before the end of the year and these appointments would have the blessing of the Vatican. A person with ties to the leadership in Beijing confirmed that these ordinations would go ahead.