FEATURED ARTICLEKey Issues for the Church in China: A Local Perspective (December 5, 2012, ChinaSource)If you asked most Christians in the west to identify the major issues facing the Chinese Church, the answer would probably be persecution and lack of Bibles. But what about Chinese Christians? What challenges do they see? One of the sister sites of ChinaSource, Chinese Church Voices recently posted translations of comments made by three Chinese Christian leaders concerning some of the key issues and challenges facing the church in China today. In each case, the perspective is that of the urban unregistered church, but many of these issues and challenges hold true for the unregistered rural churches and even the official Three-self churches.GOVERNMENT / POLITICS / FOREIGN AFFAIRSXis Wake-Up Call to the Nation (November 30, 2012, China Real Time)Is the Chinese Communist Party in danger of sleepwalking into the future? Apparently, new Party leader Xi Jinping thinks it could be. And he seems to be looking for ways to wake it up.The Tale of the Kidnapped Princeling (November 30, 2012, Foreign Policy)In established democracies, a false rumor about the health of an ageing Ronald Reagan or a Margaret Thatcher would be promptly debunked and have little bearing on the workings of government. In China’s powerful but brittle dictatorship, built on almost invisible lines of patronage, the false reports of Jiang’s death immediately became a major matter of national security. Chinese officialdom is extremely paranoid about anyone releasing unauthorized information about the leaders.Where is Liu Qibao? (December 3, 2012, China Media Project)Now, apparently, China is experiencing yet another mysterious high-level disappearance. And this time the missing person is the Partys newly-appointed chief of propaganda, Liu Qibao ().Business and The Xi Team: Focus on the Drivers (December 3, 2012, Silicon Hutong)What are the five things the members of the Politburo Standing Committee worry about when they wakes up at four oclock in the morning? Here is my list of the top five.Blind activist Chen Guangcheng appeals to China’s Xi Jinping (December 3, 2012, BBC)US-based blind Chinese activist, Chen Guangcheng, has urged the new leader of China’s Communist Party to institute reforms and uphold human rights. [] In a video posted online, Mr Chen said that Xi Jinping could “carry out reform” or maintain the Party’s power. The nine-minute video was released on Sunday by US-based non-profit organisation ChinaAid to mark World Human Rights Day. In the video, Mr Chen said that officials “have enacted revenge” on his nephew and others because he fled the country, and that those who ordered his nephew’s arrest have been promoted. He addresses the newly-elected head of the Communist Party, Xi Jinping, who was confirmed during the ruling party’s once-in-a-decade leadership change last month. “Dear Mr Xi Jinping, the whole nation is watching you. Whether you will follow the call of heaven and people to carry out reform, or kidnap the government and maintain the power of the Communist Party, it is a matter of whether China will have the transition in a peaceful way or a violent way,” Mr Chen said.China Youth clique maintains clout(December 4, 2012, Asia Times Online)Premier-designate Li Keqiang is the only member of the Communist Youth League clique, meticulously nurtured by President Hu Jintao, to have made it onto China’s inner circle of power. While that result of the 18th Party Congress looks like a setback, the close-knit network remains the ruling party’s largest faction, and its predominance will manifest itself no later than the next congress in 2017.How Crash Cover-Up Altered Chinas Succession (December 4, 2012, The New York Times)The ploy was one of many in a tangled effort to suppress news of the crash that killed Mr. Ling and critically injured two young female passengers, one of whom later died. The outlines of the affair surfaced months ago, but it is now becoming clearer that the crash and the botched cover-up had more momentous consequences, altering the course of the Chinese Communist Partys once-in-a-decade leadership succession last month.Xi pledges to implement rule of law (December 5, 2012, Xinhua)Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, pledged to protect the rights of citizens on Tuesday, in a message aimed at promoting the faithful implementation of China’s Constitution. Xi called on officials to respect and protect citizen’s rights, including human rights, and to reinforce public confidence in the law, as he delivered a speech marking the 30th anniversary of the current edition of the Constitution. He urged officials to work hard to let the people feel the sense of justice in every legal issue, and never allow unfair rulings to hurt people’s feelings. “We must firmly establish, throughout society, the authority of the Constitution and the law and allow the overwhelming masses to fully believe in the law,” Xi said. “To fully implement the Constitution needs to be the sole task and the basic work in building a socialist nation ruled by law.” The current version of China’s Constitution, passed in 1982, is more rights-oriented than previous versions, Xi said.Commentary: CPC leadership wages war against formalism, bureaucracy (December 5, 2012, Xinhua)The newly elected leadership of China’s ruling party has adopted eight requirements on how top leaders should improve their work style, showing its determination to fight the obstinate problems of formalism and bureaucracy. The requirements, which were adopted at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on Tuesday, are feasible and targeted. The Political Bureau members called an end to “empty talk” and pointless inspection tours, visits, meetings, circulars and media reports concerning high-ranking officials.Bold Break: What Is Xi Up To? (December 5, 2012, China Real Time)Were not on earthquake alert yet, but the political ground in China is continuing to shake following the arrival of the Communist Partys new crop of leaders.Rise of the XiHu coalition? (December 5, 2012, East Asia Forum)In light of Hus early retirement as Chairman of the Central Military Commission and his ability to insert only a single protg into the new Politburo Standing Committee, many observers have concluded that Chinas recent 18th Party Congress represented Jiangs overwhelming victory over Hu. However, a closer look at the entire succession process reveals that, rather than a clear triumph for Jiangs faction, the most recent party congress actually represents the rise of a new condominium between Hu and the incoming President Xi Jinping.Video: Wife of Chinese Nobel Prize Winner Speaks Out (December 6, 2012, AP, via YouTube)Hong Kongs Leader Seeks to Ease Concerns About Mainland Chinas Influence (December 6, 2012, the New York Times)Seeking to address a local backlash against mainland Chinese control, the chief executive of Hong Kong called on Thursday for closer relations with the mainland but also emphasized his willingness to impose limits on mainland visitors and investors.China nudges up South China Sea tension(December 7, 2012, Asia Times Online)The change in China’s leadership confirmed last month has failed to bring any sign that tensions are easing in the South China Sea, with Beijing announcing plans to step up patrols in the contested area while underlining its sovereignty claims with newly designed passports. Official equivocation on what these moves imply does little to reduce the potential for armed clashes in the region.HEALTH HIV/AIDS cases in Yunnan exceeds 100,000 (November 27, 2012, Xinhua)Southwest China’s Yunnan Province has logged more than 100,000 cases of HIV/AIDS since it began taking records of the condition, the chief of local AIDS watchdog told Xinhua on Tuesday. As of the end of October, a majority of new HIV/AIDS cases in Yunnan are farmers and the unemployed, according to Xu Heping, head of the Yunnan Provincial AIDS Prevention Bureau. Xu said the proportion of HIV/AIDS infections through sex has been increasing in the province, where the spread of the pandemic remains stable in most regions.1,000 Tibetan children with heart disease to receive free treatments (December 6, 2012, Xinhua)Approximately 1,000 Tibetan children with congenital heart disease will receive free treatments by Chinese Lunar New Year in 2013, as part of a charity program aiming to cure children with the disease in poor families in ethnic minority-dominated areas. Initiated by the China Charity Federation in February 2011, the program has been brought to Tibet for a dozen times, and children who have been diagnosed with the disease have been sent to receive surgeries in big hospitals in Beijing and Guangzhou, said Xu Yixuan, honorary vice president of the federation, on Thursday.RELIGIONKuang-hsun Ting dies at 97; bishop led Protestant church in China (November 28, 2012, Los Angeles Times)”He has a positive legacy in many people’s eyes because he pushed forward Protestant Christianity and its interests in China, albeit under the scope of the government,” said Carsten T. Vala, an expert on Chinese Protestant Christianity who teaches at Loyola University in Maryland. “But he was also a lightning rod, seen by those in the house churches as having compromised by leading the Communist Party-controlled church.”Theologian says China to have largest Christian population (December 1, 2012, Catholic News Agency)During a recent book launch in Rome, a noted theologian said that China will be home to the majority of the world’s Christians within the next two decades. Interfaith dialogue is something that China, which will have the world’s largest Christian population in 20 years, lives with every day, said Harvey Cox during the presentation at the city’s Jesuit Gregorian University. Cox presented the book Catholic Engagement with World Religions: A Comprehensive Study, in dialogue with its two editors on Nov. 30 with Cardinal Karl Josef Becker, a German theologian of the Vatican’s the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The editors include Ilaria Morali of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, who also presented the book, and Cardinal Becker.A Christian Band on Chinese TV (December 4, 2012, Chinese Church Voices)Reality shows, along the lines of American Idol and Americas Got Talent are popular on Chinese television. This article from the Gospel Times is about the appearance of a Christian band on the show Chinese Dream, produced by Zhejiang Television.EDUCATION / CULTURE / TRAVELA Beginner’s Guide to Pu’er Tea (December 1, 2012, Life on Nanchang Lu)Think of walking through a forest in late autumn, a few hours after rain. The smell of wet leaves, moss and rich earth mingle as you scuff the gently decaying leaves. This is how a good cup of pu’er tea should taste and smell – complex and earthy. Forest and stone, woodsmoke and lichen.Getting a Seat in a Chinese Restaurant (December 3, 2012, Lets Eat China)People usually just turn up at Chinese restaurants, normally in enormous groups. There is no dress code. Flip flops will do even in the nice places. The waitresses hate their jobs and they hate you.Have you been given a car for the good job youre doing? (Me neither) (December 4, 2012, The Messy Middle)Why is it that we wait until someone has died and then share with each other the impact of that person? So, with Connies permission, we will learn from her, mark a life well lived, and thank God for the years he has given her. This will be done in a three part interview: teaching in China, life in China, and her experience with Cancer. On Friday we will share with Connie the ways in which she has impacted us.Schools warn of gaokao trouble (December 6, 2012, Global Times)Dozens of parents of non-local high school students alleged Wednesday that schools had threatened to take action against their children if they did not withdraw their applications for the 2013 national college examinations (gaokao). The deadline to apply for next year’s test in Beijing was Wednesday. One parent, surnamed Liu, said her daughter’s school, the No.18 Middle School of Beijing, Fengtai district, had warned her to cancel her daughter’s online application, made on Monday. “A school employee said if we don’t cancel, my daughter can’t attend classes,” she said. Liu’s daughter’s hukou (household registration) is held in Heilongjiang Province. According to current regulations, all non-locally registered students should sit the test where their hukou is registered.Reflecting the Heavens: The Rice Terraces of Yuanyang (December 6, 2012, Life on Nanchang Lu)This is a big call, but I’m going to say it – if you only see one other place in China besides the Great Wall, it should be here, the Yuanyang region of Yunnan. (My husband, reading over my shoulder as I type this, is harrumphing and disagreeing – “What about the Terracotta Warriors? The Lost Library of Dunhuang? All of Shanghai??) He has a point – for a place that is five hours out of your way from either Kunming or the Xishuangbanna region, you need a solid commitment to go. But we wandered into the area with absolutely no plans to do more than a day trip and left five days later. It hooks you like that. I’m going to give you five good reasons you should consider going to all that bother.Why Poverty? Education Education (PBS Video)In China, education is considered the only way out of poverty. But as the nations higher education system has largely been privatized by for-profit companies, the future for millions of students is bleak. College is less accessible to Chinese youth than ever before, and without it, they are often shut out of well-paid employment opportunities. What will it mean for coming generations and the future?SOCIETY / LIFE‘Maternity Mansion’ Lures Pregnant Women From China (December 2, 2012, ABC News)The unassuming home at the top of the hill in an upscale Chino Hills, Calif., neighborhood has been operating as a “maternity mansion,” charging women from China high prices to give birth in the United States, essentially buying American citizenship for their babies, according to neighbors who want the operation shut down. An address found on AsiamChild.com, a Chinese language website advertising the American birthing experience to prospective mothers, matches with the Chino Hills residence. Packages on the site range from $5,000 to $15,000 and call the expenditure a “worthwhile investment” in order to have an American baby. best online levitra Chinese netizens vote for Good Samaritan of the year (December 3, 2012, Xinhua)Chinese netizens have been invited to vote for “China’s Good Samaritans” of the year. Initiated and sponsored by Xinhua News Agency, netizens can vote for their favorites at www.xinhuanet.com and www.qq.com, as well as via microblogs and smartphone applications, between Dec. 1 and Dec. 20, according to a jury panel statement. A total of 10 individuals or groups will be selected from 60 candidates.Famines and censorship: Back to 1962 via 1942 (December 3, 2012, Shanghaiist)The Chinese film (english title: ‘Back to 1942’) was released on the 30th November. It tells the story of the 1942 Henan famine in which 3 million people died. However the film’s release is creating opportunities for people to make comparisons with the more recent, more deadly, and more politically sensitive famine of 1958-1962.Photos: Jiangsu city has four fake US Capitols (December 3, 2012, Shanghaiist)Top Ten Myths About China in 2012 (December 3, 2012, The New Yorker)For China, 2012 was a humbling year. When the history of Chinas reform era is written, this moment may prove to be a pivot point, a time when the myths that China and the world had adopted about the politics and economics of the Peoples Republic began to wash away, leaving blunt facts about what Chinas idiosyncratic national system has and has not achieved. Here are some of the myths that collapsed this year:The Best of Chinas Internet From 2012 (December 4, 2012, Tea Leaf Nation)What a year it has been on the Chinese Internet. In Chinese politics, 2012 brought a long-anticipated leadership transition at the highest levels, but incoming president Xi Jinping hasnt dominated the headlines all by himself. A post on Weibo, Chinas Twitter, by well-known economist Han Zhiguo listed nine stories, cultural phenomena, and memes that got the most buzz in China over the past year.In China, A Growing Refrain: We Are Taxpayers (December 4, 2012, Tea Leaf Nation)Chinese Internet users have a new name for themselves: Taxpayers. Over the past year, the word taxpayer (nashuiren or nashuizhe) has appeared with increasing frequency on Chinese microblogs and websites, yielding almost 12.5 million results in a search on Sina Weibo, one of Chinas most popular microblogs. And just like in the United States, many Chinese taxpayers are hardly satisfied with their governments fiscal record.Surfing on crest of a wave in China (December 4, 2012, Reuters)A beginner paddles his surfboard out into Hainan Island’s warm waters wearing white gloves, a mask and snorkel. Another has his board back-to-front, while a woman wants to wear her leg rope like a dog collar. Surfing has a long way to go in China but there is no denying the sport has a future here. A year after the Association of Surfing Professionals held its first event in China on the lush, palm-tree lined island, surfing’s popularity has blossomed.Unknown migrant worker dies after lying 20 days under a bridge in Henan (December 4, 2012, Danwei)In Zhengzhou () in Henan province in November, a migrant worker lay under a bridge for more than 20 days. He didnt seem to be very ill, just cold, hungry and destitute. People came and went, even emergency medical services were there once yet he still died, alone. Who is he and why did he die? This is what the Henan Business Daily () asks today with a front page special section on the fate of this forlorn migrant worker and others like him in China.Dont Let Them Eat Cake: How Ethnic Tensions in China Explode on the Streets (December 5, 2012, Time)On Monday a report about an altercation over the cake in central Hunan province quickly became one of the most discussed items on Chinese microblogs, revealing a current of frustration about ethnic policy in China. Police in the city of Yueyang reported that a dispute between Uighur vendors and a customer ended in a mass brawl with two people injured and the destruction of about $25,000 worth of qiegao, plus $6,500 in hospital bills and damage to the peddlers vehicles. A local customer was arrested and 16 Uighurs sent back to Xinjiang.‘Angry’ China worker admits deadly Shantou arson (December 5, 2012, BBC News)A former garments factory worker in China has told state media that he set his former workplace on fire because he was angry about not being paid wages owed to him for three years. The fire in Shantou city in Guangdong province killed at least 14 people, officials say. Speaking from jail, Liu Shuangyun said that he was still owed less than $80. Xinhua news agency has reported that he has been arrested, but it did not specify what charges he is facing. Officials said that all the victims in the blaze on Tuesday were women.Modern Chinese youth on filial piety (December 5, 2012, Chengdu Living)What do you get when you assign a group of one hundred Chinese graduate students an extended argumentative essay on a moral issue of their own choosing? More plagiarism than you bargained for, grammatical constructions you could not have possibly imagined, and, when the semester is done, a pile of writing that provides a unique snapshot of how the world looks to the post-eighties generation of young Chinese. I like to consider myself at least somewhat knowledgeable on this last topic. []Here, then, is the first of my five major takeaways from this experience, the most important things I learned from my students that semester about how they see the world and what the implications are for the rest of us.The five levels of expression in China (December 6, 2012, China Media Project)The following article, shared through Sina Weibo as a text image this week, shares a recent talk given by Wu Si (), a former China Media Project fellow and the editor-in-chief of the liberal journal Yanhuang Chunqiu. In his talk, Wu Si described freedom of expression in China as a building with five levels starting at the Constitutional ground level and moving up to the odd and unpredictable space of the internet and social media. Wus talk offers a great overview of how media and information control work in China, how much can actually be said (and how much cant), and why.Coming Soon, Visa-Free Beijing Visits (December 6, 2012, China Real Time)Good news for travelers who have always wanted to see the Chinese capital, just not badly enough to go through all the trouble of getting a visa: Starting New Years Day, foreigners will be allowed to stay in Beijing without a visa for 72 hours. []The visa-free offer is only available to passengers from a list of 45 approved countries who are in transit, meaning travelers will have to show they have a plane ticket to a third country before being allowed out of the airport and into Beijing. The U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and most of Europe are on the approved list.Left-behind American children in China (December 6, 2012, Offbeat China)Among Chinas vast troops of left-behind children, an even more special segment is left-behind foreign children. Their parents are oftentimes illegal immigrants to other countries (primarily the US) who work low-paid jobs on foreign lands. Below is a story done by Netease on the lives of about 10,000 such left-behind American children in Fuzhou, Fujian province, which is the home town of many early Chinese immigrants.Guizhou in photos (December 6, 2012, Go Chengdoo)Although Guiyang (), the capital city of Guizhou (), boasts an amazing night market scene, the true allure of Guizhou comes with exploration of the countryside, where rice terraces and traditional houses sculpt the landscape.ENVIRONMENT / SCIENCE / TECHNOLOGYChina to flatten 700 mountains for new metropolis in the desert (December 6, 2012, The Guardian)In what is being billed as the largest “mountain-moving project” in Chinese history, oneof China’s biggest construction firms will spend 2.2bn to flatten 700 mountains levelling the area Lanzhou, allowing developers to build a new metropolis on the outskirts of the north-western city.BUSINESS / ECONOMICS / TRADEChina Hits 1.1 Billion Mobile Phone Users, Revenues and Smartphones on the Rise(November 30, 2012, Mobisights)In the first 10 months of the year, according to official figures, Chinas population of phone users has reached approximately 1.1 billion by the end of October. This means that of the 1.34 billion people living in China, approximately 82% of them already own and use cell phones.Fear and Loathing in Chinas Banking System (December 6, 2012, China Real Time)A bank raises money from its customers to make an off-the-books investment packaged by a private investment company as a loan to a pawn shop, which in turn makes loans to companies that banks arent willing to lend to because theyre not comfortable with the credit risk. Welcome to the wheels-within-wheels of Chinas shadow banking system.LINKS FOR RESEARCHERSThe 18th Party Congress Work Report: Policy Blueprint for the Xi Administration (November 30, 2012, China Briefing)The 18th Party Congress Work Report outlines policy guidance for the next five years and thus provides a preview of the type of policies that the incoming Xi administration is likely to pursue [1]. The main theme permeating the Work Report centered on solidifying the domestic and international foundations for Chinas development as a great power.Doubtless at Forty (December 1, 2012, The China Story)Two decades ago, in 1992, an old friend of mine, the Beijing-based film director Li Shaohong released a movie called Doubtless at Forty. Named Sishi buhuo in Chinese, its title was immediately recognisable to audiences as it drew one one of the most famous (and clichd) quotations in the Confucian Analects.2012 China Internet White Paper (IDG ACCEL) (pdf)Regulation on Religious Staff in Chinese Religious Organizations (Part 2) (Pacific Institute for Social Sciences)ARTICLES IN CHINESE(Pacific Institute for Social Sciences)BOOKSA Different Kind of Book Featuring China (November 12, 2012, ChinaSource)Mark’s observations go beyond mere travelogue or commentary on the “weirdness” of other cultures. With warmth and humor he brings to life the peculiarities of places he has experienced (Mark’s description of a child’s first visit to the hairdresser is alone worth the price of the book). But he also does much more. Each carefully written piece is a parable that transcends culture, bringing larger than life meaning to otherwise ordinary life situations. Beautifully illustrated and artistically designed, Insights from Outside cleverly incorporates photographs and sketches that draw the reader further into the vignettes as they unfold.Yang Jisheng is a Confucian Sage, and Mao Zedong was an Inhumane Qin Shihuangdi Wannabe (December 3, 2012, Useless Tree)We hear a lot these days about the revival of Confucianism in China. Some argue that it will bring something like political meritocracy and moral leadership to the PRC. But these outcomes are fairly remote, obstructed as they are by powerful institutional structures and incentives to maintain the power, and perquisites of the ruling party. The system is not meritocratic, it is fundamentally corrupt and in need of reform. But examples of a more immediate embrace of Confucian values are more readily at hand. An outstanding example is the Yang Jisheng and his impressive book, Tombstone: The Great Chinese Famine, 1958-1962.Paul Frenchs Recovery Mission (December 5, 2012, The Wall Street Journal)His latest book The Badlands: Decadent Playground of Old Peking breathes life into this formerly forgotten world. The slight volume sketches out the lives of a handful of Badlands residents, from the dancer Tatiana Korovina to the hermaphrodite and King of the Badlands Shura Giralidi. Mr. French shared his thoughts on what made the Badlands tick.Recounting First Visit to China, Orville Schell Evokes a World of Difference (December 5, 2012, Asia Society)The book My First Trip to China chronicles the accounts of such people remembering their first passage into this world after Mao Zedong came to power in 1949.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. zp8497586rq