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Why dont we join the national TSPM? (Pacific Institute for Social Sciences)When Chinese Christians travel abroad and are asked why they do not join the Three-Self Church to resolve the issue of legitimacy, they should ask the following question in reply: Would you be willing to join the Three-Self Church if you faced the following restrictions? If a pastor is unable to fulfill his duties, the Three Self Church may assign another pastor to the church, even if his theological ideas are different from the church or from other pastors. The quota of persons baptized each year is assigned by a higher level government office. Furthermore, Christians must obtain approval from a higher level government office before they can promote Christianity outside of their church buildings. Many people cannot answer this question, because they dont realize how heavily the churches are restricted. GOVERNMENT / POLITICS / FOREIGN AFFAIRSPowerful North Korean official meets China’s Hu (August 17, 2012, AFP)A top North Korean official met China’s President Hu Jintao on Friday, state media said, in high-level talks which are seen as a precursor to a visit by Pyongyang’s young leader Kim Jong-Un. Hu met with Jang Song-ThaekKim’s unclefollowing several days of discussions between the two sides aimed at pushing forward the development of economic zones near the Chinese border, China Radio International (CRI) said. The talks represent the highest diplomatic exchanges between North Korea and China since Kim Jong-Un assumed power after the death last year of his father Kim Jong-Il.Anti-Japan protests across China over islands dispute (August 19, 2012, BBC News)Anti-Japanese protests have taken place in cities across China after Japanese nationalists raised their country’s flag on disputed islands. Thousands of people took to the streets in Shenzhen, Guangzhou and a number of other cities demanding that Japan leave the islands in the East China Sea. In Shenzhen, some demonstrators attacked Japanese restaurants and smashed Japanese-made cars. The islands are known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. Early on Sunday, at least 10 activists swam ashore after a flotilla carrying about 150 people reached the Japanese-controlled islands.Bogu Kailai sentenced to death with reprieve for intentional homicide (August 20, 2012, Xinhua)A Chinese court sentenced Bogu Kailai to death with a two-year reprieve for intentional homicide on Monday. She was deprived of political rights for life, said the court verdict announced by the Hefei City Intermediate People’s Court in east China’s Anhui Province. Zhang Xiaojun, an accessory in the case, was sentenced to nine years in prison.Foreign press groups in China decry ‘intimidation’ (August 21, 2012, BBC News)Foreign press associations in China say they are “extremely concerned” over recent instances of harassment and violence against foreign journalists. A statement from groups in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong said journalists had been “threatened, harassed and even beaten” while trying to work. The statement called on China to better protect journalists. Security tightened as congress nears (August 22, 2012, Global Times)Authorities in Beijing have kicked off a campaign to root out illegal activities around Tiananmen Square, in the countdown to the upcoming 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). According to the Xinhua News Agency, the capital launched on Monday a joint enforcement campaign, which is being headed by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of City Administration and Law Enforcement. Together with departments such as the public security bureau and traffic management authorities, the bureau will not permit unlicensed vendors, illegal taxis nor tour guides in the area. Xinhua reported that the joint enforcement task force will divide the area into sections. Three urban management officers or chengguan, one traffic police officer, two public security officers and six security guards will be assigned to each of the sections.China stamps down on Gu ‘body-double’ rumours (August 23, 2012, AFP)China has blocked Internet searches for the term “body double” after web users expressed suspicions that convicted murderer Gu Kailai used a stand-in at her court hearings. Chinese state television on Monday showed a brief clip of Gu, wife of the disgraced former Communist party leader Bo Xilai, standing in the dock as she was convicted and sentenced for the murder of a British businessman.But her appearancelooking notably plumper than in earlier photographs that have appeared in foreign mediasparked suspicions that the woman in court might actually have been someone else.Some overseas Chinese websites even alleged the person who appeared in court was a woman called Zhao Tianshao, from northern China’s Langfang city. China’s censors moved quickly to muzzle the rumours and on Wednesday the term “ti shen”, or body double, remained blocked on many popular websites in the country.HEALTHHIV rises sharply among Chinese 50 and older (August 23, 2012, China Daily)People aged 50 and older in China have seen a large increase in HIV/AIDS cases in recent years, a trend that is apparently unique, a senior health official said on Wednesday.In South China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, men aged 50 and older accounted for nearly 40 percent of newly reported HIV cases in recent years, government epidemic surveillance statistics showed. The figure stood at about 20 percent across the mainland.SOCIETY / LIFEGerman TV crew attacked while filming at Chinese factory (August 17, 2012, The Guardian)A German television crew said it had to be rescued by Chinese armed police after it was attacked and detained for nine hours while filming near a chemical factory earlier this week. Broadcaster ARD said angry workers shouted “kill the foreign spies” as the four-person team was held at the Do-Fluoride plant near Jiaozuo in Zhongzhan county, Henan province. Reporter Christine Adelhardt said security guards detained them as they filmed a story on pollution outside the factory. Local police tried to protect them as angry workers gathered outside the factory canteen, where they were being held, but were overrun when the crowd stormed the building. The workers attacked the team, seized the camera and took the tape, but did not let them go. The camera was later handed back.Miss China crowned Miss World 2012, in China (August 18, 2012, AFP)Miss China won the coveted title of Miss World on Saturday, triumphing on home soil during a glitzy final held in a mining city on the edge of the Gobi desert. The mostly Chinese audience erupted in cheers, and fireworks lit up the sky, when it was announced that the home candidate, Yu Wenxia, had been awarded the coveted title. “When I was young I felt very lucky because so many people helped me, and I hope in the future I can help more children to feel lucky,” Yu, a 23-year-old aspiring music teacher said when asked why she should be crowned. Yu, who became China’s second Miss World winner, appeared on stage in a dazzling array of ballgowns during the two-hour final and serenaded the audience with a piercing rendition of a popular Chinese song.Beijing Plans to Levy Congestion Charges to Ease Traffic Jams (August 21, 2012, Bloomberg)Beijing plans to build a system for imposing road-congestion charges on motorists, adding to caps on vehicle registrations as Chinas capital seeks to ease traffic jams and cut emissions. The municipal government will also accelerate the expansion of the subway network, increase dedicated bus lanes and encourage the use of bicycles for short commutes, according to a five-year development plan by the citys transportation commission posted on its website. Unlucky numbers wont be skipped for addresses (August 21, 2012, Shanghai Daily)Beijing has vowed to prohibit the selective avoidance of “unlucky” numbers, normally deemed to include four, 13 and 14, in the registration of addresses, an official with the city’s quality watchdog said yesterday. “The numbers of storied buildings, units and door plates should be coded and registered in numerical order and no skipping or selective use of numbers should be allowed,” said Zhou Qiaolin, an official at the Beijing Municipal Administration of Quality and Technology Supervision. She said the prohibition, which is to take effect next month, will be included in criteria for setting building name plates and door number plates. The new coding criteria mainly target new buildings rather than existing buildings, said Li Xiaobo, an officer with the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau which is supervising its implementation. “Requests to skip the ‘unlucky numbers,’ though not that frequent, do occur,” he added.China Adds to Visa Demands in Move That Could Slow Tourists (August 22, 2012, Bloomberg)China has tightened visa rules for visitors, adding requirements for a letter of invitation and proof of hotel reservations in a move that could slow its push to become the worlds biggest tourism destination. Travelers applying for tourist visas, must submit a letter from an authorized tourism unit, company or person inviting them to China, along with a photocopy of their round-trip ticket and hotel reservation, according to rules posted on the website of Chinas embassy in the U.S The new visa materials were not demanded before Aug. 1, according to visa.ywpw.com, a Texas-based agency that helps customers obtain visas to China. Chinas embassies and consulates in countries including Japan, Thailand and New Zealand also posted the new rules on their websites.China eases restriction on passport issuing (August 22, 2012, China Daily)China will ease a restriction covering the household registration that people must hold when applying for passports and travel passes in six big cities, the Ministry of Public Security announced Wednesday.Those who work or study at higher education institutions in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen will soon be allowed to apply for passports and travel passes there, even if they do not hold household registrations in these six cities, the ministry said in a statement. The new policy will take effect on September 1, the statement said. Currently, every Chinese must apply for a passport or travel pass to police in the area where he or she is registered in a household. That has caused great trouble for people who leave their hometown but do not transfer their household registration locations. The policy is being applied in the six cities because they see a large inflow of people, the ministry’s statement said.CCTV knew of Liu Xiang’s injury before London race; emotional narration carefully scripted (August 23, 2012, Shanghaiist)When Liu Xiang crashed and burned at the 110m hurdles prelims at the London Olympics, CCTV’s narrator Yang Jian was also remembered for his emotional narration which was delivered in an almost weeping tone. He said then: ” Liu Xiang was like a warrior. He flew when he clearly knew that he could not reach the end. It reminded me of his victory in 2004. He is a 29-year-old veteran and should take a rest now. Thank Liu Xiang for the glory he has been bringing us ” All that now appears to have been carefully scripted before the race even began. Sha Tong, head of CCTV’s Olympic narration team, has made the revelation that Yang Jian had known the severity of Liu Xiang’s injury beforehand. Yang reported the situation to Sha Tong immediately, and Sha reported it to Li Ting, CCTV’s deputy editor in chief. Yang then prepared four versions of possible narrations for Liu Xiang’s exit.SCIENCE / TECHNOLOGY / ENVIRONMENTShanghai ‘most vulnerable to flood risk’ (August 21, 2012, BBC News)Shanghai is the most vulnerable major city in the world to serious flooding, a study suggests.Despite its economic wealth, the Chinese city is considered to be more exposed to the risk of flooding than much poorer cities such as Dhaka.As well as evaluating a city’s physical attributes, the study also considers social and economic factors when rating an area’s vulnerability.Details of the research appear in the journal Natural Hazards.Beijing to dredge rivers, renovate reservoirs after fatal storm (August 22, 2012, Xinhua)Beijing will step up flood-control efforts by dredging river channels and reinforcing dikes and reservoirs after a devastating rainstorm killed 79 people last month and sparked nationwide fury over the city’s lack of focus on flood prevention. By October, workers will have cleared sludge and other waste that was washed into rivers by the July 21 rainstorm, the heaviest in 60 years in the Chinese capital, Cheng Jing, head of the Beijing Water Authority, said Wednesday. The city will also harness its 34 small and medium-sized rivers, reinforce 13 reservoirs and renovate flood control works in 15 river basins, Cheng said, adding that these projects will be completed by June next year.China to spend $372 billion on cutting energy use, pollution (August 22, 2012, Reuters)China will plough $372 billion into energy conservation projects and anti-pollution measures over the next three-and-a-half years, part of a drive to cut energy consumption by 300 million tonnes of standard coal, the country’s cabinet said Tuesday. A report from China’s State Council, or cabinet, said the investments will take China almost halfway to meeting its target to cut the energy intensity 16 percent below 2010 levels by 2015. The government has earmarked $155 billion of the money for projects that shrink energy use, and while the plan did not detail which types of projects or sectors would benefit from the funds, a big share of the cash is expected to go to industry. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) in February set an overall 21 percent energy intensity reduction target for industry from 2010 to 2015.BUSINESS / ECONOMICS / FOREIGN TRADEChina bubble in ‘danger zone’ warns Bank of Japan (August 21, 2012, The Telegraph)China risks a repeat of Japans boom-bust disaster 20 years ago as exorbitant property prices combine with a demographic tipping point, a top Japanese official has warned. China is now entering the ‘danger zone, said Kiyohiko Nishimura, the Bank of Japans deputy-governor and an expert on asset booms. The surge in Chinese home prices and loan growth over the past five years has surpassed extremes seen in Japan (EUREX: FMJP.EX – news) before the Nikkei (Osaka: ^N225 – news) bubble popped in 1990. Construction reached 12pc of GDP in China last year; it peaked in Japan at 10pc. Mr Nishimura said credit and housing booms can remain benign so long as the workforce is young and growing. They turn malign once the ratio of working age people to dependents rolls over as it did in Japan. Chinas ratio will peak at around 2.7 over the next couple of years as the aging crunch arrives. It will then go into a sharp descent, compounded by the delayed effects of the one-child policy. China manufacturing at nine-month low, HSBC survey says (August 23, 2012, BBC News)China’s manufacturing activity fell to a nine-month low in August, a preliminary HSBC survey has shown.The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) posted a reading of 47.8, compared with a final reading of 49.3 in July, HSBC said.A reading below 50 indicates that manufacturing activity is contracting. Some analysts said that the data indicated that government efforts to spur the world’s second-largest economy had not boosted firms’ confidence.LINKS TO DETAILED ARTICLES AND BLOGSSlavery is out, the web is in: China updates ancient morality text for young (August 15, 2012, The Guardian)Out go strangling tigers and selling yourself into slavery for the sake of your parents. In comes teaching them how to use the internet. Chinese authorities have updated an ancient morality text, as they seek to encourage a new generation to show suitable gratitude and respect to their mothers and fathers.China leaders’ summer retreat to Beidaihe shrouded in secrecy (August 16, 2012, The Los Angeles Times)Unlike their predecessors Mao Tse-tung and Zhou Enlai, China’s present leaders remain behind closed doors during their annual summer retreat to Beidaihe.Xu Bing: Smashing the Rules on Chinese Characters (August 17, 2012, Tea Leaf Nation)For Xu Bings Book From the Sky exhibit, he painstakingly carved thousands of invented words into wooden blocks and used moveable type, a historical printing system first applied in the Song Dynasty, to fill ancient-styled books and scrolls with these new and unreadable characters.Beaten but unbowed (August 18, 2012, The Economist)IN 2006, when she was seven months pregnant, Kim Lee was kicked so hard in the abdomen by her husband that she needed hospital treatment. Such domestic violence, though shocking, is not uncommon in China. Around a quarter of Chinese women have experienced domestic abuse, according to the All China Womens Federation (ACWF), a state-controlled NGO, but experts say the real figure is probably much higher. Concerns about losing family face mean many incidents go unreported, and few offenders are ever punished.Christianity Brings Western Medicine to Guangdong (Part 1) (August 20, 2012, Chinese Church Voices)In recent years it has become more common for political and religious leaders in China to acknowledge some of the positive aspects of early foreign missionary work in China. These usually include the building of hospitals and schools. This article, from the website Fuyingmen (Gospel Door) is about the contribution of Christianity to the medicine and education in Guangdong Province.Why Chinese are protesting Japan again (+video) (August 20, 2012, Christian Science Monitor)Japan and China both gave vent this weekend to nationalism over the Senkaku/Diaoyu island dispute. But indications now are they want to keep the hostility in check. China Conflicted Over Anti-Japan Protests (August 20, 2012, China Real Time Report)But in a country where deep-seated mistrust of Japan is apparent even in Chinas most cosmopolitan cities, an unusual number of voices both online and in state-run media argued that protesters from Shenzhen to Shenyang went too far.Should the Chinese Government Fight Back Against Rumors on Social Media? (August 20, 2012, Tea Leaf Nation)Part of our job here at Tea Leaf Nation is trying our best to separate real (often censored) news from unsubstantiated rumors on Chinas social media.Family of Murdered Briton Silent on China Sentencing (August 20, 2012, The New York Times)Relatives of Neil Heywood, the British businessman whose murder in China is at the center of a huge political scandal there, remained silent Monday on the news that Gu Kailai, the wife of a disgraced Communist Party leader, had received a suspended death sentence after being convicted of poisoning him.Notes on a scandal: The cast of China’s Bo Xilai drama(August 20, 2012, Globe and Mail)But the Bo family has experienced purge and humiliation before, only to improbably return to Chinas political mainstream years later. Mark MacKinnon explores the cast of characters in a story tightly intertwined with the 63-year history of the Peoples RepublicIn China, Gu Kailais Reprieve Reinforces Cynicism (August 20, 2012, The New York Times)The partys carefully scripted trial of Ms. Gu which led to her conviction on Monday for poisoning the Briton, Neil Heywood, and a suspended death sentence appears to have prompted anger and cynicism from almost everyone here who paid attention.The Two Chinas at the Olympics (August 20, 2012, The Atlantic)Now that the London Olympics have come to a close, it is time to reflect on another aspect of China’s role in the games. No, not the medals that Chinese athletes hauled home (second place in the world with 88, a lucky number!), nor the potential U.S.-China rivalry at the games. Let’s instead reflect on how the China that never even got close to the games is the one that London could not have functioned without.Runners with a Conscience: Join the Starfish Project (August 21, 2012, The Beijinger)The Starfish Project is many things: a jewelry brand, a shelter, a business and a charity. Their core purpose is to help and empower exploited women in Asia by providing them with counseling, housing, health services and, perhaps most importantly, vocational training for alternate employment.Deaths Tell The Story Of Life In Old Hong Kong (August 21, 2012, NPR)For more than a decade, author Patricia Lim researched the 8,000 graves of the Hong Kong Cemetery, one of the city’s oldest Christian cemeteries.Chinas Party papers, losing touch? (August 21, 2012, China Media Project)The influence of Chinas Party-run newspapers has been sliding steadily for almost two decades now. Ever since the mid-1990s, these mouthpieces, operated by top Party leaders at various levels of Chinas vast bureaucracy and full of tinder-dry accounts of their official claptrap have been out-gamed and out-sold by a new generation of metropolitan newspapers offering a much richer variety of news and consumer fare.China’s leftists dig in for fight over Bo Xilai(August 21, 2012, Reuters)Leftist supporters of China’s toppled politician Bo Xilai are digging in for an unusually defiant defense of their hero, arguing that he and his wife are victims of a plot that has opened a dangerous schism between them and the Communist Party.To flee or not to flee? (August 22, 2012, Analects)Foreigners, after all, are not the only ones pondering them and choosing, sometimes, to leave.Among the small proportion of Chinese who have the means to do so, many have already taken the plunge and many more are making plans.China needs some creative destruction to avoid a Japan-like quagmire (August 22, 2012, Globe and Mail)On paper, China has averted such a crunch. Though annual mortgage loan growth has dropped to 12.5 per cent from 53 per cent in early 2010, overall loan growth has recovered to nearly 40 per cent and the money supply is expanding at 13.6 per cent. But Chinas banks lend how theyre told. Was Liu Xiangs Olympic flop all a set-up?(August 23, 2012, Danwei)The front page of the Oriental Guardian () today speculates on the conspiracy theories surrounding hurdler Liu Xiangs Olympic race.The Party who cried Wolf! (August 23, 2012, China Media Project)The following post by Chinese writer Zhang Yihe () about the crippling climate of doubt and credibility created by the control of information in China was deleted from Sina Weibo sometime before 11:56 a.m. today, I wish I could live in Xinwen Lianbo (CCTV News) (August 23, 2012, Offbeat China)Xinwen Lianbois a 30-minute prime time news program aired on CCTV1 at 7 pm sharp every evening and is also simultaneously shown on most TV channels in China. Netizens often make fun of Xinwen Lianbo as being the longest-running sitcom in China.Is Ai Weiwei Chinas Most Dangerous Man? (September 2012, Smithsonian.com)Now obsessed with China, the West would surely invent Ai if he didnt already exist. China may after all become the most powerful nation in the world. It must therefore have an artist of comparable consequence to hold up a mirror both to Chinas failings and its potential. Can Chinese eye exercises help prevent myopia? (August 23, 2012, Behind the Wall)For 49 years, the Chinese Education Ministry has required students to exercise their eyes in the name of the Communist Revolution and to combat myopia, or short-sightedness. The prevalence of myopia, however, is skyrocketing. Video: Mao Yushi: China nowhere near the standard of a world power (August 23, 2012, Shanghaiist)Liberal economist, winner of the Cato Institute’s 2012 Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty, and outspoken critic of the Communist Party Mao Yushi, speaks to NTD and lets rip at the Chinese government for its lack of respect for human rights.ARTICLES IN CHINESE(August 21, 2012, Gospel Times) (August 22, 2012, cyol.net) (August 23, 2012, 163.com): 08 (Youku)(Video: A film about Beijing urban planning Chinese, with English subtitles)LINKS FOR RESEARCHERSLeadership Transition in the CPC: Promising Progress and Potential Problems (August 2012, Brookings Institute)Chinese Posters Propaganda, Politics, History, Art (chineseposters.net)RESOURCESChinese Urbanization, By the Numbers (August 16, 2012, The Atlantic)However, a number of news reports from the Telegraph, China Daily, Xinhua and The Global Times highlight some interesting figures: How to talk about “pets” in Chinese – photo and discussion of chng w (August 16, 2012, Study More Chinese) how to get the girl ZGBriefs is a weekly compilation of the news in China, condensed from published sources and emailed free-of-charge to more than 6,000 readers in China and abroad. ZGBriefs brings you not only the most important stories of the week, but also links to blogs, commentaries, articles, and resources to help fill out your understanding of what is happening in China today. Coverage includes domestic and international politics, economics, culture, and social trends, among other areas. Seeking to explore all facets of life in China, ZGBriefs also includes coverage of spiritual movements and the role of religious believers and faith-based groups in China. The publication of ZGBriefs is supported by readers who find this weekly service useful. ZGBriefs is a publication of ChinaSource.