FEATURED ARTICLEVideo: The history between the Catholic Church and China (August 27, 2012, UCA News)Rome Reports presents a brief look at the first apostolic delegate appointed to China, Cardinal Celso Constantini, and how he helped shape the modern-day Catholic Church in China.GOVERNMENT / POLITICS / FOREIGN AFFAIRSChina Is Said to Be Bolstering Missile Capabilities (August 24, 2012, The New York Times)China is moving ahead with the development of a new and more capable generation of intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched missiles, increasing its existing ability to deliver nuclear warheads to the United States and to overwhelm missile defense systems, military analysts said this week. Over all, Chinas steady strengthening of its military capabilities for conventional and nuclear warfare has long caused concern in Congress and among American allies in East Asia, particularly lately as China has taken a more assertive position regarding territorial claims in the East China and South China Seas.Government micro blogs accounts up to 50,000 (August 25, 2012, Xinhua)The first report on the operation of micro blogs run by ministry-level departments was released by Sina.com, a leading Chinese website. The government now has 50,000 micro blog accounts, according to the report released on Aug 23. Seventeen ministries and ministerial level organizations have accounts with Sina Weibo, Chinas largest micro blog platform, operating 44 official micro blogs. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has 11 micro blogs, the Ministry of Public Security seven and the Ministry of Health five.The Foreign Ministrys Waijiao Xiaolingtong Foreign Affairs Information micro blog has attracted more than 2.8 million followers since it was registered in April last year. As of Monday, it had made more than 5,000 posts.Angola deports China ‘gangsters’ (August 25, 2012, BBC News)Angola has extradited 37 Chinese nationals, accused of extortion, kidnappings, armed robberies and running prostitution rings. They allegedly targeted other Chinese, kidnapping businessmen for ransom and sometimes burying victims alive. They lured women to Angola, promising well-paid jobs, but then forced them into prostitution, Chinese police said. Tens of thousands of Chinese live in Angola, and Chinese state-run firms have large interests in the country. China’s Ministry of Public Security said a special police team was sent to Angola in July to help investigate criminal gangs.Liaoning Party boss flees to the US (August 28, 2012, Shanghai Daily)The former Party chief of Fengcheng City, Liaoning Province has fled to the United States as authorities began to probe allegations against him, the People’s Daily reported today. Wang Guoqiang, the Party secretary of Fengcheng, allegedly left the country in April or May after channeling more than 200 million yuan (US$31.46 million) of embezzled funds to the US where his other family members live as immigrants. Local officials said Wang was removed from his post before he went overseas but refused to disclose any details. “We are unfamiliar with his case,” said an official with the city’s Party organization department. Wang was being investigated for taking bribes from a local heating company and some property developers.Egyptian president concludes China visit (August 30, 2012, Xinhua)Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi concluded his three-day state visit to China and left Beijing early Thursday. During his stay in China, Morsi held talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao and had meetings with top legislator Wu Bangguo, Premier Wen Jiabao and Vice President Xi Jinping.This was Morsi’s first visit to China since he took office in June.RELIGIONChina’s Taoism shrine to mark 600th anniversary (August 28, 2012, Xinhua)A series of memorial activities will be held later this year in central China’s Hubei Province to mark the 600th anniversary of the construction of the ancient Chinese Taoism building complex at Mount Wudang, the provincial government announced Tuesday. Cultural and economic events, such as a painting exhibition and a Tai Chi martial arts conference, will be organized in Shiyan from September to October, the provincial government said at a press briefing in Beijing. Mount Wudang, with a long history associated with Taoism, houses numerous palaces and temples that exemplify the architectural and artistic feats of China’s imperial Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.HEALTHChina on guard against West Nile Fever (August 28, 2012, Xinhua)China’s quarantine authority said Tuesday that it has ordered strengthened prevention against West Nile Fever after the disease infected hundreds of people in the U.S. State of Texas. The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) said it will closely monitor the epidemic in the United States and increase checks on body temperatures of people travelling to China from the United States. People entering with fever, headache, nausea and a rash will receive careful tests and be sent to medical institutions for further treatment, and authorities should deliver timely reports to local health departments, said the AQSIQ.China Health-Care Spending May Hit $1 Trillion by 2020 (August 30, 2012, Bloomberg)Health-care spending in China will almost triple to $1 trillion annually by 2020 driven by an aging population and government efforts to broaden insurance coverage, according to a McKinsey & Co. report. China will spend more on drugs, medical devices and hospital treatments as it lifts spending to 7 percent of gross domestic product, from 5.5 percent, or $350 billion, in 2010, McKinsey said yesterday. This will make it the biggest market globally by 2020 after the U.S., which in 2009 spent $2.5 trillion, or 17.6 percent of its GDP, on health care, said the consulting company.EDUCATION / CULTUREChinese schools warned against extra fees, improper recruitment (August 28, 2012, Xinhua)The Ministry of Education on Tuesday warned the nation’s colleges and schools against fostering unfair competition in the student recruitment process and charging students extra fees ahead of the fall semester, which usually starts on Sept. 1. Schools, including kindergartens, and teachers are prohibited from forcing students to buy supplementary teaching materials and organizing classes or cram schools for students outside of regular school hours, according to a circular published on the ministry’s website.Elementary and middle schools cannot recruit students through any kind of self-organized tests or evaluation mechanisms, set up so-called “elite classes” or charge extra fees in the name of educational or social donations, said the circular.Scholars infuriated by dictionarys use of English (August 30, 2012, Shanghai Daily)An editor has come under fire over the inclusion of 239 English words, mostly acronyms or abbreviations, in the latest edition of the Modern Chinese Dictionary. She was accused of being disrespectful to the Chinese language and causing it “severe damage.” However, Jiang Lansheng, chief editor of the sixth edition published on July 15, said the additions were to make it easier for people to know the meaning of English words in everyday use, yesterday’s Beijing Youth Daily reported. Jiang was responding to a petition signed by more than 100 scholars from across the country saying the editors had damaged the language and might even have broken the law. They said printing the English words was encouraging readers to replace Chinese words with English ones.SOCIETY / LIFECollapse of costly NE China bridge kills three (August 24, 2012, Xinhua)The ramp of a multimillion-dollar bridge in northeast China collapsed early Friday morning, sending four trucks falling 30 meters to the ground, killing three people and injuring five. The ramp, about 3.5 km from the main body of the Yangmingtan Bridge, tilted to one side and crashed onto the ground at 5:30 a.m., said Sun Qingde, deputy head of the construction committee of Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province.The injured have been sent to the Harbin No.1 People’s Hospital. Liu Guodong, who suffered minor injuries, said that “I was dozing off in the truck when suddenly the truck rolled to the ground. It was so terrifying.”Chinese AIDS patients protesting lack of aid pull down local government gate, beaten by police (August 27, 2012, AP)About 300 AIDS patients and their relatives tore down the main gate of a government office in central China during a protest Monday over unmet demands for financial assistance. Protester Li Xia said police in Zhengzhou city beat some of the patients with batons after the group gathered outside the Henan provincial government office and blocked the main gate to demand a meeting with officials. She said one protester was dragged into the government building by police. We want the government to give us some help, said Li, who like many of the protesters was infected with HIV when she sold blood in 1995. Tens of thousands of people contracted the virus that causes AIDS in a blood-selling scandal in Henan in the 1990s that is widely seen as a failure of government leadership.Chinese fishermen killed as typhoon hits South Korea (August 28, 2012, BBC News)At least five Chinese fishermen have been killed and 10 others are missing after their boats capsized as Typhoon Bolaven hit South Korea, officials say. The two boats were just off Jeju island when they capsized. The South Korean coast guard rescued 12 crew members, while six others swam to shore. Three other people have also died in separate incidents in the country. The typhoon has cut power to tens of thousands of homes. Trees have been felled and many flights cancelled.Nanjing paper punished for exposing Liu Xiang injury scandal (August 28, 2012, Want China Times)The management staff of a Nanjing-based newspaper have been punished for revealing that China’s state broadcaster CCTV knew about Olympic hurdler Liu Xiang’s injury heading into his failed heat in London, reports the Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao The Oriental Guardian’s editor-in-chief Chen Zhaohui has been suspended and deputy editor Yu Jiechen was given an official warning, while news directors Guo Xiaosong and Zhao Zaiqiang and editorial assistant Zhang Yuhai were sacked, Ming Pao said. The reporter who wrote the article was reassigned to another position because he was not responsible for the offending headline, Ming Pao added.Hong Kong police target Pearl River triads (August 28, 2012, The Guardian)Operation Thunderbolt, supported by police in Macao and neighbouring Guangdong province, consisted of 1,700 raids on suspicious premises including gambling dens, unlicensed bars and warehouses.Almost 1,200 suspects were arrested on charges ranging from drug trafficking or illegal possession of arms to membership of a criminal organisation, an offence in Hong Kong. Investigators seized about $450,000, along with drugs, contraband cigarettes, pornographic DVDs and large amounts of untaxed petrol. The triads thrive on the administrative divisions between Macao and its casinos to the west, Zhuhai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou to the north, and the financial centre of Hong Kong.Drivers blamed for collision that killed 36 (August 30, 2012, Shanghai Daily)Both drivers of the sleeper bus and the methanol-loaded tanker were found guilty of breaking the traffic law and causing a rear-end collision that killed 36 people in blaze in northwestern Shaanxi Province last Sunday. The driver of the long-distance sleeper bus died in the accident while the two tanker drivers have been held by police and may face criminal charges, investigators sent by the State Council said yesterday. The disaster happened in Yan’an City on Sunday afternoon when the bus ran into the rear of the tanker and was engulfed in a raging fire on the Baotou-Maoming Expressway.Bachelors seek love from billboard ad (August 30, 2012, China Daily)Three young bachelors have posted their pictures and personal information on a billboard on a bustling Beijing street and are waiting for calls from their future wives. Novel approaches to find dates are becoming popular among young people, but not everyone approves of the new trend. The oversized lonely-heart advertisement has been up in Zhongguancun, China’s “Silicon valley” in Beijing, since the Qixi Festival on Aug 23, the traditional Chinese day of romance. Gao Weilun, 30, the CEO of an IT company in Beijing, said on the billboard that he does not want a gold-digger girlfriend. “I don’t have time to find a suitable girlfriend because of my busy schedule and limited choices,” Gao said.”Besides, I think it’s acceptable to post my requirements and cell phone numbers on a billboard. We need to have the courage to tell others what we want in love.” All three bachelors agreed to post their statuses and requirements this way, he added.LINKS TO DETAILED ARTICLES AND BLOGSChristian Chinese Leader Freddie Sun Passes Away; Historic Work Revealed (August 24, 2012, Christian Post)One of the of the most significant leaders in the history of Christianity in China, Dr. Sun Yi-yin, known in America as “Freddie Sun,” passed away on August 22 from cancer at the age of 76, allowing for his full story and missionary work to be revealed.6 Unusual Ways to Better Health with TCM (August 24, 2012, World of Chinese)With a history that dates back 2,000 or 3,000 years, it is perhaps not unfathomable that Chinese medicine may hold some answers. Over its evolution, Traditional Chinese Medicine has offered an alternative system of diagnosis and cure to that of the West.China’s rural migrant workers deserve more respect from the city-dwellers(August 25, 2012, The Guardian)The people who make up half of China’s urban workforce are marginalised and patronised, yet they are indispensableCorruption: The Small Potatoes (August 25, 2012, Sinostand)Lets say for instance that Mr. Li runs a widget factory. One day he receives an invitation to the wedding of Mr. Guos daughter. How nice, you might think. Mr. Li hardly knows Mr. Guo and hes never met the daughter. But Mr. Li isnt too pleased. It so happens that Mr. Guo is one of the official regulators responsible for Mr. Lis factory.Patriot games (August 25, 2012, The Economist)The curriculum has been a blunder. Set alongside the Diaoyu debate, it has reminded Hong Kongers that it is possible to love China while loathing the Communist Party.Translation: Seven Chinese Myths About Money in America (August 27, 2012, Tea Leaf Nation)Recently, a blogger calling himself Stock Investor Tang Tang wrote a post on the Sina forum with an ungainly title reading in part: A Warning To Chinese In The U.S.: Chinese People Have Too Much Blind Faith In The U.S.Puer: Not Your Average Tea Party (August 27, 2012, World of Chinese)High up in the Xishuangbanna () mountains, where the air is crisp and cool, a unique variety of Camellia Sinensis grows. Here, for over 1,500 years, local farmers have been harvesting the large, soft leaves of the ancient tea trees and compressing them into a cake-like casing, ready to sell to a tea market thirsty for one of the worlds finest brews. But unlike other teas, this one wont be consumed for many, many years. For this is Puer () the prized tea that, much like a fine wine, improves with age.For a Chinese Student of English, Learning to Forswear Perfection (August 28, 2012, Tea Leaf Nation)The awkwardness of opening our mouths stalks almost all of us as language beginners. The most mundane utterances take painful deliberation, as we orchestrate our facial muscles to pronounce those new syllables. The daily conversations are limited to short, rehearsed exchanges, the ones we have spent hours memorizing from textbooks.Translation: To Know Whats Wrong With China, Look At Her Construction (August 28, 2012, Tea Leaf Nation)To prominent blogger Li Chengpeng, deceit is everywhere in modern China. In the aftermath of the shocking collapse of a 10-month-old bridge in the northeastern city of Harbin, Li took to his account on Sina Weibo, Chinas Twitter (@) to comment on the bridges unfortunate role as a metaphor for todays China.Victims Sons in Tough Fight for Redress After China Rail Crash (August 28, 2012, The New York Times)As Mr. Cao has struggled to recover over the past year, he has found himself drained by a different sort of battle: trying to wrest compensation from the Ministry of Railways, an unbending government behemoth unaccustomed to dealing with determined foreign citizens.China Frets Over Coming Pork Shortage (August 28, 2012, Reuters, via NYT)Pigs may seem like an unlikely barometer of inflationary pressure, but in China, declining herds are a matter of concern amid fears that a sharp increase in pork sales could drive consumer prices higher next year.The Most Famous Chinese Blogger and Racecar Driver You’ve Never Heard Of(August 28, 2012, The Atlantic)The 29-year-old Han Han is one of the most-read and consequential bloggers in China, maybe the world, so why is he so little-known in the West?A model for conservation in China? The Tibetan antelope (August 28, 2012, Christian Science Monitor)Since the antelope’s population plunged to around 70,000 in the early 1900s, its numbers have stabilized at more than 100,000, according to 2009 field estimates by the Wildlife Conservation Society. Special Report: China’s “wild east” drug store(August 28, 2012, Reuters)Philippe Andre, a detective in the murky world of Chinese pharmaceuticals, has some alarming tales to tell.Parents reject China’s classrooms for home schooling (August 28, 2012, Channel News Asia)Giving up his successful career as the head of a medical research firm to spend his days at home reading from children’s story books was a tough choice for Chinese father Zhang Qiaofeng. But Zhang, one of a small but growing number of Chinese parents who are turning their backs on the country’s rigidly exam-oriented state-run school system, felt he had no choice. “China’s education system has special problems,” said Zhang, a wiry-looking graduate of one of the country’s top universities.Hong Kong Braces for More Mainland Tourists (August 29, 2012, China Real Time Report)Hong Kong is getting ready to roll out the doormat for more mainland Chinese touristsmuch to the chagrin of many residents.Scripture in China: Please, Sir, can I have some more?(August 29, 2012, The Long View)Much is made of Amity Press, the UBS-affiliated press in China, which in 2010 had printed over 80 million Bibles (now approaching 90 million), and prints 1 million Bibles monthly. It is one of the largest Bible presses in the world (Christian Today, Christian Post), even to the point of being a Bible exporter. It has exported 26 million Bibles, leaving and distributed 54 million to the internal China market. That sounds like a lot. Is it enough?Video: This is what Hong Kong’s Repulse Bay looked like in 1932 (August 29, 2012, Shanghaiist)Militarization of Chinas Civilian Leaders?(August 29, 2012, The Diplomat)In other words, the question that needs to be asked is whether recent Chinese assertiveness in the East and South China Sea is the result of greater push by an increasingly vocal PLA, or more pull by the civilian leadership.Chinas Greatest Challenge is not America, but Within (August 29, 2012, The Diplomat)China faces tough economic, demographic and social issues it must deal with. Foreign affairs, while important, may get a back seat.Beijing lines up new leaders (August 28, 2012, Asia Times Online)As Beijing prepares to host the 18th National Congress, which will confirm the Chinese Communist Party’s most radical leadership shake-up in a decade, authorities in China’s capital are taking security measures and the populace is being delivered populist pledges to ensure the event takes place in a “harmonious” atmosphere. The shape of the new ruling Politburo Standing Committee has taken shape, with one-faction politics the most likely outcome.Chinas Bridges Are Falling Down (April 30, 2012, Bloomberg)Nobody in China was surprised by this. Since 2007, China has experienced at least 18 bridge collapses resulting in 135 deaths and untold economic hardship, according to records aggregated by the South China Morning Post, the leading English-language newspaper in Hong Kong. These are not mere footbridges: They are major, expensive spans connecting key corridors.Video: Paralympics success changing attitudes in China (August 29, 2012, BBC News)The 2012 Olympic Games saw China finish second behind the US; if Chinese athletes perform as well in the Paralympic Games it could help change attitudes towards disabled people in China. The Beijing Paralympic Games in 2008 played a huge part in changing attitudes, but campaigners say China still has a lot to do.Bo Xilai issue hangs over China’s 18th Party Congress (August 30, 2012, Los Angeles Times)China must be working hard on making the larger-than-life political character, whose wife recently confessed to murder, essentially vanish, analysts say.China not to pick that East China Sea fight (August 30, 2012, Asia Times Online)Mainland Chinese media are banging hard on the war drums over Japan’s control of the Senkaku Islands (known in China as the Diaoyu Islands) in the East China Sea. Public sympathy appears to be with those spoiling for a fight, but the government is made of cooler stuff.Christianity in Guangdong an Interview(August 30, 2012, Chinese Church Voices)Guangdong was the first stop in the journey of Christianity entering China. A lot of good things began in Guangdong. In the late Qing Dynasty, when North China was experiencing numerous wars, people were plunged into an abyss of miseryChina plans to cut power of domestic security chief in party shakeup (August 30, 2012, The Guardian)Communist leaders want to limit role and scope of successor to powerful Zhou Yongkang, who is expected to retire this yearARTICLES IN CHINESE (August 29, 2012, Christian Times) (Pacific Institute for Social Science) (Pacific Institute for Social Science)LINKS FOR RESEARCHERSOn the Relationship between Religion and State in Chinese History (Pacific Institute for Social Science)How China Sees America (August 24, 2012, China-US Focus)The world as seen from Beijing is a terrain of hazards, beginning with the streets outside the policymaker’s window, to land borders and sea-lanes thousands of miles away, to the mines and oil fields of distant continents.RESOURCES: (wanming.org)Top 15 most popular Chinese video websites (August 29, 2012, China Whisper) essay cause and effect 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.