ZGBriefs is a condensation of news items gathered from published sources. ZGBriefs is not responsible for the content of these items nor does it necessarily endorse the perspectives presented.Get daily updates from ZGBriefs on Twitter @ZG_Briefs.To make a contribution to ZGBriefs, please click here and then select Donate Through Paypal.FEATURED ARTICLEWhy China’s economic opacity is a serious problem (July 10, 2012, Shadow Government)The part that is troubling is that China’s economy is not becoming more transparent. All of their statistics come from a national statistics bureau ultimately beholden to political leadership.GOVERNMENT / POLITICS / FOREIGN AFFAIRSLeader-in-waiting says no need to fear China (July 7, 2012, AFP)China’s leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping insisted Saturday that Beijing would never impose its will on the rest of the world and instead wanted to “abandon the old mindset” and strive for global peace. Speaking at a forum in Beijing, Vice President Xi sought to reassure other countries that the rise of China, which in 2010 became the world’s second largest economy, was not something to be feared. “Even when China becomes developed in the future, it will never seek hegemony,” Xi told the World Peace Forum. “China is always committed to economic development, world peace and common development of mankind.” “We must abandon the old mindset and approach that has been rendered obsolete, we must keep pace with the times, forge ahead with innovation and foster a new security concept,” he added.China, U.S. seek to calm South China Sea tensions (July 12, 2012, Reuters)The United States and China signaled a willingness on Thursday to work together on “sensitive issues” in a move to cool tensions between rival claimants to the potentially oil-rich and increasingly militarized South China Sea. Long-simmering tensions in the waters have entered a more contentious chapter this year as the six parties who claim the territory search deeper into the disputed waters for energy supplies while building up their navies and defense alliances. Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Beijing was ready to work with Washington “to expand our common ground, respect each other, properly handle differences on sensitive issues, and push forward” relations. Echoing Yang’s conciliatory tone, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stressed the importance of U.S.-China cooperation in regional institutions.RELIGION43rd Tibetan Sets Himself on Fire (July 11, 2012, The New York Times)A Tibetan man in his 20s set himself on fire in a village near Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, according to reports by Radio Free Asia and Free Tibet, an advocacy group. The self-immolation took place on Saturday and was the 43rd self-immolation since 2009 in protest of Chinese rule in a Tibetan area, the Radio Free Asia report said. The condition of the man was unclear.China investigating Catholic bishop who quit government-run church (July 12, 2012, AP)The government body that controls the Catholic church in China has said it is investigating the selection of a bishop who cut ties with the group as soon as he was ordained, in an embarrassment to Beijing that could deepen its rift with the Vatican. Shanghai’s auxiliary bishop, Ma Daqin, announced that he was leaving the Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA) at the end of his ordination ceremony on Saturday, saying he wished to devote himself fully to his duties as bishop. The move marked the biggest public challenge to Beijing’s control over the Catholic clergy in years. The Vatican does not recognise the CPA and says the Chinese church should take its orders directly from Rome. Ma’s announcement was greeted with applause by hundreds of worshippers in Shanghai’s cathedral of St Ignatius, the seat of one of China’s largest, wealthiest and most independent dioceses. He has not been seen since. The 44-year-old was reportedly being held in isolation at a seminary. The Shanghai diocese said he had applied for, and received, permission to go into retreat beginning on Sunday.HEALTHSmoking habit may cripple China social security (July 7, 2012, Xinhua)The rising medical costs linked to tobacco-related sickness and deaths, along with the aging of the Chinese population, may cripple the country’s social security system in just two decades, a tobacco control official warned Thursday. Tobacco-linked deaths have been on the rise over the past decade and are expected to reach a peak between 2025 and 2030, a time when China will overtake Japan as the world’s most aged society, said Liang Xiaofeng, deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The combination of the two will strain the country’s social security system, Liang, who is also director of the center’s tobacco control office, said at a forum in Beijing. Health care and other smoking-related costs exceeded the tobacco industry’s economic gains by 61.8 billion yuan (9.8 billion U.S. dollars) in 2010, according to research by Hu Angang, director of the Research Center for Contemporary China at Tsinghua University.China maintains low birth rate in 2011: report (July 9, 2012, Xinhua)China had a birth rate of 4.79 births per 1,000 people in 2011, with 16.04 million newborns, according to a Monday report from the National Population and Family Planning Commission. The birth rate has remained stable and low, the report said. The gender ratio among newborns, which is used to calculate gender imbalances, dropped for the third year to 117.78 male infants for every 100 females born in 2011, the report said. The commission attributed the gender ratio reduction to improved family planning services. The report said the number of married women of child-bearing age reached 277.69 million in 2011, an increase of 4.42 million over 2010.EDUCATION / CULTUREChina’s National Museum celebrates centennial (July 9, 2012, Xinhua)Monday marked the 100th anniversary of the opening of the National Museum, with the country’s top leaders calling for more promotion of Chinese culture. In a congratulatory letter, President Hu Jintao spoke highly of the achievements made by the National Museum in collecting and protecting cultural relics, undertaking scientific research and hosting exhibitions. Lying to the east of Tian’anmen Square in central Beijing, the National Museum was formed as a merger between the former National Museum of Chinese History and the National Museum of Chinese Revolution in 2003. The National Museum of Chinese History opened in July 1912. The National Museum reopened in March 2011 after nearly four years of renovations. With a total area of nearly 200,000 square meters, it is the largest museum in the world.Beijing tightens control over officials training abroad (July 12, 2012, Xinhua)The Beijing municipal government will tighten controls on officials’ going abroad for training, as it aims to stop taxpayers money being wasted on overseas junkets. According to a circular posted on the website of the Beijing Municipal Human Resources and Social Security on Wednesday, the Beijing government will make it harder for officials to go overseas on training programs. All overseas training programs must be approved by the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, according to the circular. Though short-term training can be granted, officials are not allowed to obtain diplomas via these programs, the circular reads.SOCIETY / LIFEAirplane crew, passengers rewarded for stopping hijackers (July 9, 2012, Xinhua)he crew of an airplane that was targeted by hijackers in west China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region last month have received cash, apartments and cars as a reward for thwarting the attack. The crew of flight GS7554, carried by Tianjin Airlines, were rewarded by parent company Hainan Airlines (HNA) and the provincial government of Hainan at a ceremony held in the southernmost island province Monday. The hijacking attempt was made just 10 minutes after the plane took off on June 29 from Hotan in southern Xinjiang for the regional capital of Urumqi. Six hijackers, wielding aluminum pipes, tried to storm the cockpit but were beaten back by both crew and passengers. At least 10 people, including four crew members, were injured in the attack.China’s video sites told to pre-screen and censor content (July 11, 2012, BBC News)China’s websites must pre-screen all videos under new censorship rules from its broadcasting regulator. The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) revealed the move in a published series of answers to reporters’ questions. It said that site administrators would be expected to self-censor material to remove “violence, pornography and some swearing”. It said state officials would offer guidance, but did not give specifics.American stabbed in Dashilan (July 12,Global Times)An American man was murdered at Qudeng Hutong in Dashilan, Xicheng district, on Wednesday afternoon, police announced. “A foreign man was stabbed to death by a man at the east of Qudeng Hutong at 3:20 pm Wednesday, and police have arrested the suspect. The case is under investigation,” Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau announced on its Sina microblog early Wednesday evening. At 11 pm Wednesday, Beijing police issued further details of both the alleged suspect and the victim. The victim was named as Howard Thomas Mills, 62, from the US. He arrived in Beijing on July 3. The suspect, An Libo, was born in 1977 and is from Heilongjiang Province. He had previously committed two robberies in Shanghai in 2011 before being sent back to his hometown due to mental problems, police said. Li Jianren, media officer from the Beijing Emergency Medical Center, told the Global Times the victim was transferred to police after medics pronounced him dead at the scene.BUSINESS / ECONOMICS / FOREIGN TRADEChina cuts retail fuel price by 5% as oil demand falls (July 11, 2012, BBC News)China, the world’s second biggest consumer of fuel, has cut retail oil prices by about 5% with immediate effect. This is the third cut in two months, and some analysts say could be an attempt to increase fuel consumption. Demand for oil fell for the first time in three years in April. Domestic and global factors have weighed on the Chinese economy in recent months, which has shown signs of slowing. Gasoline retail prices will be reduced by 420 yuan ($65.90; 42.50) a tonne and diesel prices by 400 yuan, the National Development and Reform Commission said.China second quarter economic growth around 7.5 percent: government think-tank (July 12, 2012, Reuters)China’s economy may have grown around 7.5 percent in the second quarter and nearly 8 percent in the first half, and will recover steadily in the second half as policy stimulus gains traction, a senior economist at the cabinet’s think-tank said on Thursday. The assessment comes a day before China reports its second quarter growth rate. The think tank’s view roughly matches a Reuters poll, which forecast that for April-June, the economy expanded 7.6 percent from a year earlier – the slowest pace since the first quarter of 2009. “The economy is likely to stabilize and even recover modestly in the second half as such policy measures show results,” Yu Bin, director of macro-economic research department of the Development Research Centre (DRC), told a news conference.China overtakes US as world’s largest smartphone market (July 12, 2012, Want China Times)China overtook the United States as the world’s largest smartphone market in the second quarter of this year, with 33.1 million handsets in shipments, more than the 25 million handsets for the US. In the first half of this year, China’s smartphone shipments stood at 94.86 million, accounting for 48.66% of total shipments in the global mobile phone market, according to data published by the China Academy of Telecommunications Research. Significantly, since the beginning of the second quarter of this year, smartphone shipments exceeded conventional mobile phone shipments, accounting for more than half of the mobile phone market. The market share of smartphones in June reached 56.9%.LINKS TO DETAILED ARTICLES AND ANALYSISHong Kong’s best (July 3, 2012, The Economist)HONG KONG is the best city in the world, according to the winning entry in a competition devised by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and BuzzData, a data-sharing company.A Reporter’s Revelatory Journey to 1990s China (July 5, 2012, The Atlantic)The New Yorker’s Peter Hessler describes what it was like to arrive in Beijing in 1994 and cover the changing country.Two Children, No Cults: Chinese Family Advertising (July 5, 2012, Letter from China)The pressure for change of Chinas one-child policy seems to be mounting. In the weeks since China recoiled at the story of Feng Jianmei, the twenty-three-year-old expectant mother who was forced to have an abortion at seven months, the issue has lingered in the national conversation, and scientists have begun to lend their authority.Eyewitness: Xiaolangdi dam, China (July 7, 2012, The Guardian)Water is released from the Xiaolangdi dam to clear up the sediment-laden Yellow River and to prevent localized floodingChinas Mobile Market Figures at Your Fingertips [VIDEO] (July 8, 2012, Tech in Asia)15 Years After Hong Kong Handover, Let the Brainwashing Begin (July 9, 2012, Tea Leaf Nation)Chinas ruling party is progressive, selfless and united, while hard battle among political parties brings disaster to the people of America.New Chinese Media Mixes Daily Life, Social Activism Into Firefly Community (July 9, 2012, Tea Leaf Nation)Traditional media has some leeway to cover such topics, but podcasts form the true growth space for todays hottest topics. As more listeners use iTunes and become more familiar with podcasts, media content in China has diversified. For China-watchers looking for a little humor and spice in their news, this writer recommends Suancai News Podcast ().Dalai Lama says he must remain neutral on self-immolations (July 9, 2012, The Guardian)Tibetan spiritual leader says he does not wish to upset families of the dead or offer political opportunity to ChinaWhat Hong Kong looked like 40 years ago (July 9, 2012, Business Insider)Photographer Nick DeWolf captured daily life in Hong Kong during a trip to Asia in 1972. The Pearl of the Orient was far from its current stunning skyline and glossy skyscrapers.Chinas Economy: Apocalypse Soon? (July 9, 2012, The New York Times)Talk of an economic slowdown in China has become so loud and persistent that it now has its own slang: ghost cities, ghost fleets, rocket eggs, naked officials. The downturn has even led to the invention of a new financial algorithm, something called the China Stress Index and the index remains high.Deflation Coming to China? Brace Yourself, America (July 9, 2012, American Interest)The Chinese economy cant seem to catch a break these days. Two years ago, analystsalong with the Chinese governmentwere concerned about overheating and runaway inflation. For the past couple years, theres been an equal but opposite worry that China has reached the beginning of the end of the long period of rapid growth.Video: Congregation Applauds as Chinese Bishop Leaves Patriotic Church (July 10, 2012, China Real Time Report)In a surprise move that could increase tensions between China and the Vatican, Thaddeus Ma Daqin, an auxiliary bishop in Shanghai, told his congregation on Saturday he was resigning from the Patriotic Catholic Association, the state-approved organization that oversees the Catholic Church in mainland China. Video shows Mr. Ma making the announcement to a round of applause.Spreading the Faith Where Faith Itself Is Suspect (July 10, 2012, The New York Times)As a priest at an officially sanctioned government church as opposed to the legion of illicit unofficial congregations Father Liu struggles to balance his faith with the often-intrusive dictates of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, the omnipotent government body that oversees religious life for Chinas 12 million Roman Catholics. (Nearly half of Chinas Catholics are thought to attend underground churches.)Slideshow: In China, Catholic Faith Meets an Atheist State (July 10, 2012, The New York Times)China’s Post-Olympic Woe: How To Fill An Empty Nest (July 10, 2012, NPR)Even the state-run government mouthpiece, the China Daily, worries that Beijing’s iconic structures risk becoming “white elephants.”Eight Questions: Scott Kennedy, Beyond the Middle Kingdom (July 10, 2012, China Real Time Report)In Beyond the Middle Kingdom, a new collection of essays edited by Indiana University professor and China-hand Scott Kennedy, some of the worlds leading China scholars attempt to turn that around exploring China in comparative perspective. China Real Time recently caught up with Mr. Kennedy to get the lowdown on the new approach.Monitoring the monitors (July 10, 2012, The Economist)THE 500m people who use the internet in China have long been aware of the presence of the censors who watch their movements online and delete their more inflammatory posts. Now those monitors may have to get used to someone watching over their shoulders.Toilet Paper Abuse Prompts China Morality Debate (July 10, 2012, China Real Time Report)What does abuse of free toilet paper at public bathrooms say about the state of a countrys public morality? Thats the question Chinese people have been debating since news emerged late last month that an experimental free toilet paper program in a coastal Chinese city had resulted in users making off with as much as two kilometers of the gratis paper per day.A Look at One of Chinas Fastest Growing Consumer Goods: Illegal Drugs (July 10, 2012, Tea Leaf Nation)With more relaxed borders, increased wealth, and greater individual freedoms, drug addiction and its consequences threaten to become a permanent fixture within Chinese society.15 hilarious animal sayings in Chinese (July 11, 2012, Matador Network)China needs a new citizens movement Xu Zhiyongs () controversial essay (July 11, 2012, Seeing Red in China)On May 29th Xu Zhiyong published an article titled New Citizens Movement (sometimes translated New Civil Movement), it is presented here in English for the first time with the permission of Xu Zhiyong (translated by an anonymous friend of the blog).Chinas malformed media sphere (July 11, 2012, China Media Project)From July 2 to July 3, the residents of the city of Shifang in Chinas western Sichuan province staged protests to oppose a molybdenum-cooper project they feared would poison their community. The protests were marked by fierce conflict, and the government exercised strict controls over news reporting. Meanwhile, one side of the net was left open for social media and chatter about Shifang was lively on platforms like Sina Weibo.How Technology is Changing Chinese, One Pun at a Time (July 11, 2012, The World)When Sabrina Zhang and Jack Wang took their high school writing exam in China they remember a funny new rule written at the bottom of the test. You cant use Internet words in the writing, remembers Zhang. But, says Wang, Its just natural right when we use it. Its the youth way of expressing ourselves.Online Rage Flares Against Chinas Urban Enforcers (July 12, 2012, Tea Leaf Nation)On July 10, netizens in China were outraged, yet again, by a brutal incident involving civilians and chengguan. Chengguan () are officers charged with maintaining order in Chinese cities. They have developed a reputation for treating unlicensed or otherwise noncompliant street peddlers violently.CHINA: Changing climate for religious NGOs? (July 12, 2012, Forum 18)Religious non-governmental organisations (RNGOs), both local and international, exist in China but those that are legally registered as non-profit organisations are often linked to either the representative bodies of the five state-approved religions or other state organisations.Getting the Great Wall to Talk (July 12, 2012, China Real Time Report)The Great Wall has fascinated William Lindesay since he first saw it on a map. In 1987, the Liverpool native made his first trek along 2,470 kilometers of the landmark, and he has called China home ever since.Watch: The Ka-Ching Dynasty (July 12, 2012, Shanghaiist)Excellent documentary on China’s fuerdai (or “2nd generation rich”) by Journeyman Pictures.Fear for Reform Under Chinas Next Leaders (July 12, 2012, China Real Time Report)Chinas leaders appear to have misgivings about the fate of their reform programs once theyre gone.Netizen Voices: Surprise! Chinas a Democracy (July 12, 2012, China Digital Times)In the June 20 Global Times piece China Became a Kind of Democracy Long Ago (), Zheng Ruolin contested the centrality of elections to democracy: Baffled netizens had a few things to say about this on Weibo. A selection of their comments are below.Global Markets Brace For China’s Slowing Economy (July 12, 2012, NPR)The latest Chinese economic figures are due to be released Thursday night. Most analysts are predicting they’ll show that the world’s second largest economy is suffering its deepest slowdown since the global financial crisis.Songs by Xiao Cao (July 12, 2012, Chinese Church Voices)I had never thought that I could write songs! My background is in Biology. I spent many years working in labs and no one around me had anything to do with music.RESOURCESChinesePod iPad App (Sinosplice)How to Apply for a Chinese Visa in Hong Kong China (China Travel Go)Visualising China: 1850 to 1950 an Interactive Resource download adobe cs6 trial Chinese Childrens Songs (61 Baobao.com)