ChinaSource | ZGBriefs | April 2, 2020

Featured Article

China’s Travel Restrictions due to COVID-19: An Explainer (April 1, 2020, China Briefing)
As the COVID-19 is now a pandemic, China has formally suspended the entry of most foreign nationals to prevent a second wave of the outbreak at home. Meanwhile, Chinese provinces and cities have rolled out different quarantine policies, such as quarantining travelers from overseas or other parts of the country for two weeks in a designated hotel or at home.

Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs

Video: Coronavirus Social Impact: NGOs in China Operating and Evolving through COVID-19 (March 11, 2020, National Committee on U.S.-China Relations)

How China Built a Twitter Propaganda Machine Then Let It Loose on Coronavirus (March 26, 2020, Pro Publica)
Since August 2019, ProPublica has tracked more than 10,000 suspected fake Twitter accounts involved in a coordinated influence campaign with ties to the Chinese government.

China bars foreign visitors as imported cases rise (March 27, 2020, BBC)
China has announced a temporary ban on all foreign visitors, even if they have visas or residence permits. The country is also limiting Chinese and foreign airlines to one flight per week, and flights must not be more than 75% full.

Podcast: Viral Disruption (March 31, 2020, Little Red Podcast)
To discuss the geopolitics of COVID-19 against the backdrop of deteriorating US-China relations, we’re joined by Ian Bremmer, president and founder of the political risk consulting firm Eurasia Group and G-ZERO Media, and host of the podcast “GZERO World with Ian Bremmer”, as well as Bill Bishop, the founder of the Sinocism China newsletter, and Simon Rabinovitch, the Economist’s Shanghai-based correspondent

Video: Rising to the China Challenge: Ely Ratner (March 31, 2020, National Committee on U.S.-China Relations)
According to an assessment prepared for Congress as mandated by the FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act, the United States and China are “locked in a strategic competition over the future of the Indo-Pacific.” The authors of the report, including Ely Ratner, executive vice president and director of studies at the Center for a New American Security, describe competing visions for the rules, norms, and institutions that will govern international relations in the future and make more than 100 policy recommendations.

China hid extent of coronavirus outbreak, US intelligence reportedly says (April 1, 2020, CNBC)
The Chinese government has deliberately underreported the total number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the country, the U.S. intelligence community told the White House, a new report says. Bloomberg, citing three U.S. officials, reported Wednesday that the intelligence community said in a classified report that China’s public tally of COVID-19 infections and deaths is purposefully incomplete.

In Taiwan, anger at China over virus drives identity debate (April 1, 2020, Reuters)
Anger at being confused with China amid the coronavirus outbreak and Beijing’s stepped-up efforts to assert sovereignty is stirring heated debate in Taiwan about how to further distance itself from its giant and often threatening neighbour.

Religion

Together Apart (March 17, 2020, The Gospel Coalition Australia Edition)
We are past the panic now. In a city of over 10 million people in China (not in Hubei province) our church has experienced the “coronavirus wave” over the past 2 months. Others have written theological reflections, lessons from doing church and even how to do evangelism in this season. This article shares some of the practical things we’ve done, enabled by God’s strength, to keep doing gospel ministry as the coronavirus pandemic impacted us and stopped us meeting.

The Coronavirus Dashed My Dreams: Thoughts from a TCK about Her Senior Year (March 27, 2020, ChinaSource Blog)
“Sarah’s” story is a composite based on multiple conversations the author has had with Third Culture Kids (TCKs) who have been impacted by the coronavirus in China and unable to return to China or continue with their schooling as planned.

Funeral of Chinese Underground Bishop Restricted by the Government (March 28, 2020, International Christian Concern)
UCA News reports that the burial of Bishop Joseph Ma Zhongmu, China’s oldest and only ethnic Mongolian bishop, was moved from 8 am to 5 am. The authorities only allowed 15 Catholics, a bishop and two priests to attend. Bishop Ma, who was not recognized by the government, died on March 25 at the age of 100. He died of an age-related illness, said an official communication from Ningxia Diocese.

What American Christians can learn from the Chinese church in coronavirus crisis (March 29, 2020, Christian Post)
As churches across America begin to wrestle with new challenges, we can be inspired by the church in China, which has managed be a light to their society during the coronavirus despite continuous pressure from their own government.

COVID-19: The Response of Faith (March 30, 2020, ChinaSource Blog)
What repercussions will COVID-19 have on the church in China? Will we look back at the infectious spread of the gospel during this time? The same questions apply to the rest of the world. How is the church handling the development of the coronavirus as it spreads?

Concerns of a Three-Self Pastor for 2020 (2) . . . before the Covid-19 Crisis (March 31, 2020, Chinese Church Voices)
Before news of COVID-19 broke into their lives, what were Chinese Christians concerned about? What were the top issues to monitor going into 2020? In this article, Chen Shengfeng, a Three-Self pastor, gives 20 concerns facing the Chinese church.

China: “We are all sisters and brothers” (March 31, 2020, Independent Catholic News)
This is the tenth exclusive ICN report from a Catholic – who lives in Wuhan and prefers to remain anonymous – giving a first-hand account of the situation in the Chinese city which was the original centre of the Coronovirus pandemic.

Beijing Church Says Christian Cemetery to Be Closed during Qingming Festival (March 31, 2020, China Christian Daily)
On March 25, 2020, the Beijing Christian Council and Three-Self Patriotic Movement (CC&TSPM) stated that the Xibeiwang Christian Cemetery would be closed to the public since that day. It also encouraged church workers and believers to guard their own safety, and appealed to congregations to pray for their brothers and sisters who had returned to the kingdom of heaven and their late relatives.

Society / Life

Foreigners face suspicion in China as coronavirus worsens overseas (March 27, 2020, Reuters)
Some expatriates in China are now complaining of unfair treatment, said Kyle Hadfield, who runs expatrights.org, a platform for foreigners with more than 10,000 subscribers on WeChat. “It’s people being denied access to gyms, supermarkets, spas etc. Avoided in public, treated like a virus,” Hadfield said.

Non-Mask Wearing and Open Sneezing Soon To Be Officially Frowned Upon by Law (March 27, 2020, The Beijinger)
In reality, the municipal legislature is considering adding the practice to its list of “uncivilized behaviors,” a work in progress that already includes several behaviors that are officially frowned upon but heretofore unenforced in any meaningful sense.

‘They see my blue eyes then jump back’ – China sees a new wave of xenophobia (March 29, 2020, The Guardian)
Over the past few weeks, as Chinese health officials reported new “imported” coronavirus cases almost every day, foreigners living in the country have noticed a change. They have been turned away from restaurants, shops, gyms and hotels, subjected to further screening, yelled at by locals and avoided in public spaces.

Wuhan revives: From outbreak epicenter to forefront of hope (March 30, 2020, Christian Science Monitor)
“I’m so excited, I want to cry,” said one customer on one of Wuhan’s major shopping streets as stores started reopening after two months. Residents and business owners are cautiously emerging to normal routines.

How the Cameras Reached China’s Front Doors (March 31, 2020, Sixth Tone)
Chinese cities are quietly rolling out massive networks of facial recognition-enabled security systems. But do local residents care?

Wuhan Will Suffer Long After Virus is Gone, ‘Battlefield’ Diarist Says (March 31, 2020, Caixin)
In an email interview with Caixin on completion of her personal narrative, Fang Fang voiced her opinions on the outbreak, what it was like to live through the lockdown, and the long-term effects the city may suffer.

Chinese forest fire: Firefighters and guide killed in Sichuan blaze (March 31, 2020, BBC)
Eighteen firefighters and their guide have died while battling a forest fire in China’s Sichuan province, state media has reported. The Xinhua news agency said a sudden change in wind direction led to the group becoming trapped early on Tuesday morning. The fire in Liangshan prefecture has now spread across 1,000 hectares.

One Dead, Over 120 Injured After Train Derails in Hunan (March 30, 2020, Sixth Tone)
An eyewitness claims he alerted police to stop the train 11 minutes before a landslide caused it to run off the track.

Chinese Cities Shut Tourist Sites and Entertainment Venues, Again (March 31, 2020, Sixth Tone)
Just as China was enthusiastically opening up for business after a weekslong shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, authorities have asked the country’s tourist attractions and entertainment venues to close their doors again.

Pandemic Journal (April 1, 2020, New York Review of Books)
I spent the first five weeks of the coronavirus lockdown in Beijing, walking and walking and walking, as if by circumambulating the city I could open it up.

Chinese county goes into coronavirus lockdown as country tries to get back to work amid fear of second wave (April 1, 2020, South China Morning Post)
Curfew-like measures came into effect on Tuesday in Jia county, near the city of Pingdingshan, with the area’s roughly 600,000 residents told to stay home, according to a notice on the country’s official microblog account. Special approval was required for all movement outside the home, it said.

A Family, a Flight, a Fight to Get Home (April 1, 2020, Sixth Tone)
With the pandemic taking root in the United States, a young family decides to return to China.

Postcards from Wuhan: residents tell the world to stay strong, stay indoors (April 1, 2020, Reuters)
Reuters asked several Wuhan residents to share their experiences with the millions of people across the globe now in some form of lockdown or isolation. Their advice? Stay united, stay indoors and “add oil”, a Chinese saying that means stay strong.

Economics / Trade / Business

In the Face of Lockdown, China’s E-Commerce Giants Deliver (April 1, 2020, Harvard Business Review)
Let’s look at how two of China’s retail giants rose to the challenge of keeping Wuhan’s quarantined residents supplied during their two-month isolation.

How a Rugged COVID-19 Recovery Risks Over 100 Million Jobs (April 1, 2020, Sixth Tone)
The pandemic has left much of China’s private sector on life support. Now that the threat of infection is finally receding, can the country jump start a recovery in time?

China’s ports brace for second hit as virus spread wipes out exports (April 1, 2020, Reuters)
China’s ports and shipping firms are bracing for a second wave of supply chain disruptions that may be deeper and more prolonged than during the country’s coronavirus lockdown as the global spread of the virus chokes off international demand.

Education

Notes on COVID-19 and the Abrupt Digitization of Learning (March 26, 2020, Sixth Tone)
The coronavirus has closed classrooms and forced education online. A professor reflects on what’s been lost in the transition.

China’s Struggles with Hospice Care (March 30, 2020, The New Yorker)
As social transformations sweep the country, who will tend to the dying?

National college entrance exam postponed for one month (March 31, 2020, china.org.cn)
China’s national college entrance exam, also known as Gaokao, will be postponed by a month to July 7 and 8 due to the novel coronavirus disease epidemic, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said Tuesday.

China’s coronavirus health code apps raise concerns over privacy (April 1, 2020, The Guardian)
As millions of people in China emerge from weeks of lockdown, their freedom of movement is largely dependent on phone apps. The “health code” service – run on the ubiquitous platforms Alipay and WeChat and developed for the Chinese government – give users colour-coded designations based on their health status and travel history, and a QR code that can be scanned by authorities.

Health / Environment

China Created a Fail-Safe System to Track Contagions. It Failed. (March 29, 2020, The New York Times)
Now, interviews with doctors, health experts and officials, leaked government documents, and investigations by the Chinese media reveal the depth of the government’s failings: how a system built to protect medical expertise and infection reports from political tampering succumbed to tampering.

China starts to report asymptomatic coronavirus cases (March 31, 2020, Reuters)
Chinese health authorities began on Wednesday reporting on asymptomatic cases of the coronavirus as part of an effort to allay public fears that people could be spreading the virus without knowing they are infected with it.

Foreigners Can Finally Use the Beijing Health Kit to Prove Their Health Status. Here’s How. (March 31, 2020, The Beijinger)
This will allow foreigners to easily show their official health status if questioned, and will solve issues that were caused by official guidelines that recommended that certain industries require customers to prove their status using the app. For ease of use, the app has also been translated into English.

China bans export of test kits, medical supplies by firms not licensed to sell them at home (April 1, 2020, South China Morning Post)
Chinese manufacturers of coronavirus test kits and related medical supplies have been told they can no longer export their products unless they also have the relevant licences to sell their products in the domestic market. The move comes after China was hit with a number of complaints from buyers in Europe about the quality and accuracy of tests kits and other products.

China Says It’s Beating Coronavirus. But Can We Believe Its Numbers? (April 1, 2020, TIME)
If you believe the Chinese authorities, the country’s battle against the novel coronavirus is all but won. But that claim is clouded by a fog of skewed data, political imperatives—and unreported cases and possibly deaths.

Science / Technology

Zoom under increased scrutiny as popularity soars (April 1, 2020, BBC)
New York’s attorney general has written to the firm raising concerns over its ability to cope with the rise in users. Zoom is now being used by millions of people for work and leisure, as lockdowns are imposed in many countries. But its data security and privacy measures have been questioned.

Travel / Food

6 Documentaries for Chinese Food Lovers to Stream in Self-Quarantine (March 27, 2020, Radii China)

Food Fit for a Poet (March 28, 2020, The World of Chinese)
But the great poet not only lives on in verse, but in a number of culinary dishes that bear his name and his association. Su, unlike most other literati of the time, wrote extensively on food, often crafting poems for his favorite dishes.

Arts / Entertainment / Media

Regional Harmonies (March 31, 2020, The World of Chinese)
A testament to enduring musical cross-pollination in the region, as well as the universality of love songs, these Chinese pop classics have lives of their own in Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Language / Language Learning

Social Distance (April 1, 2020, ChinaSource Blog)
Is it “social distance” or “physical distance?” What’s the difference and why does it matter to language and culture learners?

Challenges to Character Understanding (April 1, 2020, Sinosplice)
…learn your character components (but not necessarily their full origins), and stay diligent. Your future Chinese literate self will thank you.

Living Cross-culturally

How to Handle an Abrupt Transition (March 31, 2020, Global Trellis)
I wrote Looming Transitions with known transitions in mind. But what the world has been experiencing recently is the exact opposite of a looming transition. Instead, it is akin to an abrupt transition and compounded by information changing on the daily, as well as layers of loss. Probably most on the planet have had this experience: This is not where you want to be. This is not where you thought you’d be. This was not your plan.

Finding a Job in Hong Kong: The Complete Guide (April 1, 2020, Sapore di Cina)
In this article, you’ll learn how you can find a job in Hong Kong and what tactics you should have. We will explain the job market, the requirements to work there, the salary levels, and more. Finally, you’ll also learn how much you need in tax, which is important to many.

Books

10 Works of Chinese Fiction to Get You Through Self-Isolation (March 31, 2020, Radii China)
The breadth and scope of Chinese literature is at times hard to fathom. With such an array of literary history, as well as non-fiction offerings, at your disposal, the task of finding a good, dependable novel to read from the country can often feel intimidating.

Exploring The Soong Sisters, Their Famous Marriages and Getting Their Story Right (March 31, 2020, Radii China)
Jung Chang’s latest book promises a fresh take on the story of the Soong Sisters but ultimately falls short.

Resources

Global Trellis Culture Challenge (Global Trellis)
No matter where you are in the world these days Covid-19 has changed how you interact with a culture you love. Maybe you are currently displaced or maybe you are isolated. You might find yourself wondering, “How do I connect with the culture?” Enter the Global Trellis Culture Challenge. Because no matter where you are, you are somewhere. You are still engaged with a culture that is beautiful and messy and needs Jesus. You are still able to learn. You can take breaks from the weight of this time, as you learn more about a place you love. This challenge is for you, right where you are.

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Image credit: Jay Zhang on Unsplash

Joann Pittman

Joann Pittman is Vice President of Partnership and China Engagement and editor of ZGBriefs. Prior to joining ChinaSource, Joann spent 28 years working in China, as an English teacher, language student, program director, and cross-cultural trainer for organizations and businesses engaged in China. She has also taught Chinese at the University …View Full Bio

ZGBriefs

ZGBriefs | April 2, 2020