FEATURED ARTICLE
Faces of Christian leadership in China (June 9, 2014, ChinaSource Blog)
The 2006 China Church Leadership Study, conducted jointly by ChinaSource and Geneva Global Research, identified seven types of Christian leaders in China. While three of these are in traditional church roles at various levels, the other four function largely outside the bounds of the local church and represent the growing role of Christians in China's larger society.
GOVERNMENT / POLITICS / FOREIGN AFFAIRS
China's new repression a bitter echo of the past (June 3, 2014, The Age)
A surprising proportion of the lawyers, journalists and intellectuals who are leading todays citizens rights movement in China are veterans of the Tiananmen protest movement. Some have been sent back to prison, like writer Liu Xiaobo, whose crime was to circulate a charter in 2008 that called for the Party to abide by its own laws.
China investigation finds 1,000 'naked officials' in Guangdong (June 7, 2014, BBC)
An investigation in China has revealed that more than 1,000 officials in the southern province of Guangdong have spouses or children living abroad. China's communist leaders want to stamp out the practice because they believe it is linked to corruption. The practice is not illegal but gives corrupt officials a route to send abroad any money obtained illegally. Guangdong bureaucrats were told to bring their families home, quit their jobs or face demotion.
Border Makes China and India Bristle, Even as They Seek Closer Ties in Trade (June 8, 2014, The New York Times)
It points to abiding tensions between the worlds two most populous countries, focusing on their shared 2,521-mile border and dating back more than 50 years, to Chinas territorial claim over Tibet.
Chinese party newspaper says Western democracy only brings chaos (June 9, 2014, Reuters)
China's top newspaper on Monday warned against aping Western-style democracy just a week after the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown, pointing to Thailand and Ukraine as examples of the kind of chaos the system can bring.
Labor Pains: A Rising Threat to Stability in China (June 10, 2014, China Real Time)
As workers demands for expanded social and economic rights continue to grow, the party-states long-standing anxiety over threats to overall stability maintenance is bound to increase.
Beijings White Paper Sets Off a Firestorm in Hong Kong (June 11, 2014, Sinosphere)
But on Tuesday, Beijing released a new report asserting its authority over the territory, igniting a firestorm of criticism from many people in Hong Kong who said that the Communist leadership was reneging on its pledges to abide by the one country, two systems policy that allows for a democratic, autonomous Hong Kong under Beijings rule. We were taken completely aback by the white paper, Alan Leong Kah-kit, a legislator and leader of the pro-democracy Civic Party, said in referring to the report. It is rewriting one country, two systems for us.
Q. and A.: Anson Chan on Beijings Pressure Tactics in Hong Kong (June 12, 2014, Sinosphere)
In an interview, Ms. Chan talked about letters she exchanged with top executives of the banks, and what she sees as increasing control from Beijing, which had guaranteed Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy until 2047 under the One Country, Two Systems formula. Edited excerpts follow:
Xi of Two Minds: Be a Good Neighbor, or Assert Chinas Power? (June 12, 2014, The New York Times)
If youre sometimes discombobulated by Chinas foreign policy gyrations, there may be some consolation in knowing that so, apparently, is President Xi Jinping. A new report argues that Chinas external strategy under him remains an unstable compound of impulses: swelling ambitions that China will use its growing economic and military power to subdue rivals versus a longstanding desire for a stable, benign regional setting so that the ruling Communist Party can tend to domestic priorities.
China, Japan blame each other for jet encounter (June 12, 2014, AP)
China and Japan are blaming each other for a close encounter between military jets over the East China Sea. China's Defense Ministry said Thursday that Japanese F-15 fighters followed a Chinese TU-154 plane on a regular patrol Wednesday morning and got as close as 30 meters (100 feet). It released two videos on its website purporting to show the incident, which it said had "seriously affected" the safety of the Chinese plane.
Harsh Sentence Feared for Detained Rights Lawyer (June 12, 2014, Sinosphere)
A lawyer who met with Pu Zhiqiang, a crusading human rights lawyer who was detained after a meeting in Beijing to mark the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, has expressed pessimism about the prospect of his speedy release.
RELIGION
Two China regions arrest 1,500 cult members (June 10, 2014, China Daily)
Police in two northern Chinese regions Tuesday said they have arrested some 1,500 cult members over the past two years. The public security bureau in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region said it had detained over 800 members of Quannengshen (Almighty God) and 580 of the Mentuhui cult (Disciples Sect) members since 2012. About 1,200 cult members were given security administration punishments. Eight-seven Quannengshen members were indicted and of them, 59 have been given prison terms, it said.
China's Christians fend off church demolition crew amid latest Communist Party crackdown on faith (June 11, 2014, The Telegraph)
Demolition workers were forced to abandon attempts to strip a cross from a church in a city known as 'Chinas Jerusalem after angry Christians forced their way through a blockade of armed guards.The scuffles broke out as security guards carrying black batons and riot shields tried to stop members of Wenzhous Guantou church from entering their place of worship to stop the crosss removal in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The demolition team withdrew after congregants had retaken their church, one witness told The Telegraph.
Campaign to Crack Down on Fringe Sects in China Worries Mainstream Churches (June 11, 2014, The New York Times)
Still, some Chinese religious leaders worry that campaigns against heterodox groups will spill over and affect congregations that are doctrinally mainstream but unsanctioned by the Communist Party, which seeks to manage all religious activity.
The Social and Political Status of Christianity in China: Ten "Take-aways (June 11, 2014, ChinaSource Blog)Is Christianity transforming Chinese society? The Brookings Institute China Center recently hosted two panel discussions exploring that question.
SOCIETY / LIFEChina expands high-caliber work visa scheme (June 6, 2014, China Daily)
China will issue more of its "talent visas" for high-caliber professionals from abroad, as the country is increasingly thirsty for global personnel, authorities said on Friday. China began issuing the talent visa, or the R visa, in 2013 to foreign high-level professionals who are scarce and urgently needed in China. Holders of R visas can enjoy a longer stay and a more convenience for their entry and working in China. Their family members can also be issued an ordinary visa.
Meet China's Tony Robbins: The predatory gospel of China's most popular motivational speaker (June 8, 2014, The New Republic)
According to his spokesperson, his students number more than 32 million. This has made him the grandfather of the Chinese self-help industrywhich is booming, thanks to 30 years of rapidly rising incomes and even more rapidly rising status anxiety. If youre not rich, the stats imply, youre doing it wrong.
Chinas Dancing Queens Scolded for Gettin Down on the Highway (June 9, 2014, China Real Time)
The controversy surfaced Friday, when a netizen posted three photographs of a group of middle-aged women dancing on an expressway in southwestern Sichuan province to her Weibo microblogging account. […] The fab five apparently were attempting to spice things up while their bus was stopped in traffic following a car accident.
Support for Blind University Aspirant Turns to Censure (June 10, 2014, Sinosphere)
Li Jinsheng, a massage center owner, was among the first blind people to take the gaokao, or nationwide university entrance examinations, after the government, in a major turnaround in April, allowed blind people to do so. But Mr. Li says he failed.
China Police Kill Man Who Took 50 Students Hostage (June 10, 2104, ABC News)
A convicted criminal who took 50 elementary school students and a teacher hostage was shot and killed by police in central China on Tuesday, the Public Security Ministry said. Officers on the scene were searching the school in the Hubei province city of Qianjiang for any explosives that might have been hidden by the suspect, the ministry said on its microblog. State media reports identified the hostage taker as Zhang Zeqing, who previously served prison terms for robbery and illegal gun making.
Six Killed, Two Injured in Fresh Xinjiang Clashes (June 11, 2014, Radio Free Asia)Police shot dead five ethnic minority Uyghurs and lost one of their own in fresh clashes in Chinas restive northwestern Xinjiang region amid stepped up security checks in an anti-terror clampdown imposed after deadly attacks in the capital, according to police. Four of the men were shot in Kashgar prefectures Konasheher (in Chinese, Shufu) county in a confrontation triggered when local officials lifted a womans veil during a house check in her village a week ago, police there said.
Capital mobilizes anti-terrorism volunteer force (June 12, 2014, China Daily)Beijing has deployed an anti-terrorism force of about 850,000 urban volunteers to patrol its streets following recent terrorist attacks across the country. The capital adopted a similar security measure for the 2008 Olympics. Local residents, including sanitary workers and retirees, have been recruited to work with public security officers and armed police to eliminate any possible danger.
EDUCATION / HISTORY
First World War: Chinas forgotten foreign legion (June 2014, Chatham House)
On August 24, 1916, in the middle of the battle of the Somme, a contingent of Chinese workers arrived in France to help the Allied war effort. By the time the war ended in 1918, their numbers had grown to more than 140,000. They dug trenches, unloaded military cargoes in the docks, worked in railway yards and factories, and collected corpses for burial from no mans land. More than 2,000 paid with their lives.
A Jesuit Astronomer in a Qing Emperors Court (June 10, 2014, China File)
But while Ricci is the role model to whom our better selves might all aspire, Father Johann Adam Schall von Bell (Tang Ruowang) is perhaps the Jesuit it would have been most fun to be. Schall lived a life so epicspanning the Ming and the Qing, encompassing war, charges of sexual impropriety, a death sentencethat it cries out for a Hollywood or Beijing film studio biopic.
These questions from the 2014 Chinese college entrance exam will melt your mind! (June 10, 2014, Shanghaiist)
Last Saturday marked first time ever that the Chinese college entrance examination, Gaokao () was hosted at the same time as its US counterpart, the SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test). Although two tests are in completely different formats, they both have one section in common, the essay/composition.
Look: Nifty Chinese test-cheating devices put the KGB to shame (June 10, 2014, Shanghaiist)
In light of the upcoming Gaokao ((), China's notoriously difficult college entrance exam, pics have surfaced of confiscated Chinese test-cheating equipment that looks like it was taken straight from the KGB.
Revealed: Wen Jiabao's family is behind Cambridge University professorship (June 10, 2014, The Telegraph)
A charity that gave 3.7million to Cambridge University to endow a professorship for Chinese development studies is run by members of the family of the countrys former prime minister, Wen Jiabao, according to a well-placed source in Beijing. The donation from the Chong Hua Foundation in January 2012 raises serious questions over whether Beijing is buying influence at one of Britains most important universities, with one academic accusing it of allowing the Chinese government to appoint a professor at Cambridge.
HEALTH
Tackling malnutrition among China's rural babies (May 29, 2014, Stanford University)
In regions of rural China where health education is limited, parents know more about the nutritional needs of their pigs than of their own children. And while piglets are raised to be robust and ready to command high market prices, infants in this part of the world suffer from high rates of anemia and cognitive delays that put them and the countrys economy at risk, according to Stanford researchers.
ECONOMICS / BUSINESS / TRADE
The True Cost of Chinas Fakes (June 9, 2014, The New York Times)
The ubiquity of counterfeits points to a serious problem in China today: an absence of good faith. In a society where people lack confidence in the integrity of others, a key factor behind Taobaos rapid expansion was Alibabas introduction of the Alipay online payment service in 2004.
China's Alibaba plans US online shop (June 11, 2014, BBC)
China's e-commerce giant Alibaba is launching its first online marketplace in the US – 11Main.com – as it looks to expand its operations outside China. The move comes ahead of Alibaba's share sale in the US, widely expected to one of the biggest by a technology firm. Alibaba is China's biggest online retailer. The total value of goods sold on its platforms last year exceeded that on Amazon and eBay combined.
Why Chinese Officials Are Resigning From Company Boards Left and Right (June 11, 2014, China Real Time)
In concept, a companys independent directors serve to check abuse of power and protect shareholders. In practice here in China, theyre often seen as a vehicle for corruption, as companies stack their boards with government officials who accept handsome compensation for the post and do an indifferent job.
SCIENCE / TECHNOLOGY / ENVIRONMENT
LinkedIn under fire for censoring Tiananmen Square posts (June 4, 2014, The Guardian)
Networking site's decision to stop members accessing prohibited content goes beyond Beijing's strict web censorship rules.
Q. and A.: Yang Yong on Documenting the Damage to Chinas Rivers (June 9, 2014, Sinosphere)
As a geologist for a state-owned company, Yang Yong saw firsthand both the beauty of Chinas rivers and the damage done to them by the countrys rapid development. In 1992, he set out to document the degradation of Chinas waterways on his own, and has since widely explored rivers across China, particularly in the south and west of the country. His photographs of the Jinsha River, the Yangtze Rivers upper reach, which flows through Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces, show vividly how that critical waterway has been harmed by the development of mining and hydropower.
Behind the Great Firewall: What it's really like to log on from China (June 11, 2014, PC World)
China makes headlines every other week for its censorship of the Internet, but few people outside the country know what its like to live with those access controls, or how to get around them.Foreigners who visit the country should expect some headaches. Be prepared to live without Google, Twitter and your favorite daily newspapers, and to have a hard time connecting with friends back home, or even firing off an email. Thats how bad it can get.
Instagram grows in China, despite ban on parent Facebook (June 11, 2014, CNet)
While Facebook itself is blocked by the Chinese government, Facebook-owned Instagram is growing fast in that country.
ARTS / ENTERTAINMENT / SPORTS
Zhang Yimou on Failure, House of Cards and Coming Home (June 11, 2014, China Real Time)
Zhang Yimou, Chinas most prolific and internationally acclaimed director, is bringing something new to the countrys booming box office with his latest work, Coming Home. The low-budget period drama, which stars Gong Li and tells the story of a man who reunites with his wife and daughter after years of separation due to the Cultural Revolution, has so far raked in almost 300 million yuan ($48 million), a record for a domestic art-house film.
FOOD / TRAVEL / CULTURE
Video Spoof About Instant Noodles Becomes an Instant Hit (June 6, 2014, China Real Time)
A video spoof about instant noodles made by a troop of college freshmen has become a hit online.The eight-minute video parodies the hit CCTV documentary series A Bite of China, the second installation of which just finished running on state TV. Featuring a dramatic voice-over reminiscent of the kind used on CCTV, the video received more than 15 million views in just 10 days.
Climber admits she got a lift (June 8, 2014, Xinhua)
A Chinese entrepreneur who claimed to have climbed the world's highest mountain admitted on Friday that she had used a helicopter to avoid risks. Wang Jing, 40, co-founder of the domestic outdoor sportswear manufacturer Toread, responded to a week of accusations by acknowledging that she in fact used a helicopter while climbing Qomolangma, also known as Mount Everest in the West, on May 23.
The Shanghai Watch Factory (June 12, 2014, Life on Nanchang Lu)
Imagine yourself on a wet Sunday, walking Shanghai's streets through the kind of persistent rain that, despite an umbrella, works its way in drips into the inside of your jacket and runs across your collarbone. It was a rainy day like this when I visited the site of what was once the Shanghai Watch Factory (Shanghai Shoubiao Chang ) The Shanghai Watch Factory was the very first in China, founded in 1958. Watches became important status symbols, one of the 'Three Bigs' (san da jian ) necessary for a groom to bring to a marriage.
LANGUAGE / LANGUAGE LEARNING
A Comprehensive Guide to Euphemisms in Chinese and English (June 6, 2014, Carl Gene)
ARTICLES FOR RESEARCHERS
Decoding Chinas Emerging Great Power Strategy in Asia (Center for Strategic and International Studies)
With a Constant Stream of Media Directives, Chinas Leaders Micromanage the News (May 30, 2014, Freedom House)
As part of a larger research project to be published in the fall, Freedom House has analyzed over 300 censorship directives that were issued by the central authorities and posted on CDT between November 2012 and May 2014the first year and a half under the new party leadership headed by President Xi Jinping. Although the sample is by no means exhaustive, it is sufficiently robust and detailed to provide valuable insight into areas of particular sensitivity and insecurity for the regime.
Chinas Air Force Modernization: Unprecedented in History (June 6, 2014, The Diplomat)The Pentagon's annual report on China says that the scale of the PLAAFs modernization is unprecedented in history.
EVENTS
World Chinese Restaurant Mission Conference, June 17-20, Hong KongCMI conference on Urban Mission and BAM, June 23-27, Hong Kong(For information on these conferences, please contact cmihk1978(at)yahoo.com.hk
New Media, the Internet, and a Changing China
This one-day international seminar addresses the dynamic and evolving relationships among China's new media, civil society, public opinion, commerce, international relations and legal system. Leading scholars, journalists, and bloggers will engage in an open discussion on the impact of new media on contemporary Chinese society. Co-sponsored by Beijing University School of Journalism & Communication. No registration required, open to all. Tuesday, June 17, 2014, 9am -5pm, Auditorium, Peking University Law School Kaiyuan Building 1st Floor.
Image credit: Joann Pittman