ZGBriefs

ZGBriefs | April 9, 2020

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Featured Article

How China’s army of food delivery drivers helped keep country going during outbreak  (April 7, 2020, South China Morning Post)
“Well before the crisis, China had started to embrace digital technology in daily life whether it is in consumption, business, government and smart cities and use of third party payments. All of these things have been in place for a long time and the crisis tested its agility and capability to deal with peak demand.”


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Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs

China steps up western media campaign over coronavirus crisis  (April 3, 2020, The Guardian)
The Chinese state is ramping up its English-language media campaigns in a bid to defend the country’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, highlight the failings of western governments, and raise China’s standing on the world stage.

China does not know extent of its outbreak, CIA tells White House  (April 3, 2020, Sydney Morning Herald)
US intelligence agencies have concluded that the Chinese government itself does not know the extent of the coronavirus outbreak in China and is as blind as the rest of the world, according to current and former intelligence officials.

The coronavirus pandemic is the breakthrough Xi Jinping has been waiting for  (April 3, 2020, MacLeans)
The Chinese state is committing vast resources to a hybrid strategy of intensified propaganda and information control in lockstep with an aggressive Russian-style disinformation effort.

Vietnam protests Beijing’s sinking of South China Sea boat  (April 4, 2020, Reuters)
The Vietnamese fishing vessel, with eight fishermen onboard, was fishing near the Paracel Islands on Thursday when it was rammed and sunk by the Chinese vessel, Vietnam’s foreign ministry said in a statement posted on a government website on Saturday.

Will China’s political system pass the coronavirus test?  (April 5, 2020, East Asia Forum)
While Xi has declared an interim victory over the virus, dealing with its consequences will be the real test. Questions such as how to avoid economic calamity without aggravating financial risk, how to defuse record unemployment before it undermines social stability and how to maintain public confidence in the CCP should keep Chinese leaders awake at night.

‘Shameless’: anger as China quarantines freed human rights lawyer 400km from home  (April 5, 2020, The Guardian)
Prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang, who was jailed for four and a half years for subversion, has been released from prison but barred from reuniting with his wife and son in Beijing amid the coronavirus pandemic. His wife, Li Wenzu, fears that the authorities are using the pandemic as an excuse to hold him under de facto house arrest indefinitely. 

What Does the Coronavirus Mean for EU-China Relations? (April 6, 2020, China File)
What will happen next? How is the Coronavirus pandemic impacting EU-China relations? And how might it shape the relationship in the years to come?

Listen: The WHO and Taiwan  (April 6, 2020, The World, from PRI)
Taiwan is an island not far off the coast of China with about 24 million people. It has done an impressive job with the coronavirus pandemic. Only about ten people have died from COVID-19. So why is the World Health Organization unwilling to work with Taiwan’s government on lessons learned? Reporter Kyle Vass has the story.

The Delicate Dance of Loyalty  (April 7, 2020, China Media Project)
The phrase “loyalty to the Party, loyalty to the General Secretary” can be regarded as an ambiguous phrase under the current political environment, meaning that, though positive from the standpoint of CCP leaders, it does not appear in the People’s Daily or high-level speeches or other documents. But local officials know, at the same time, that there is little or no risk for them in shouting the phrase to the heavens, which might actually put them in good favour with senior officials.

Critic who called Xi a ‘clown’ over Covid-19 crisis investigated for ‘serious violations’  (April 7, 2020, The Guardian)
Late on Tuesday, party officials said Ren was accused of violations that are widely used as a euphemism for corruption and graft. The short statement posted online said Ren was undergoing disciplinary review and supervision by the Beijing discipline inspection commission, the top anti-graft commission in the country.

China closes land border with Russia to rein in coronavirus cases  (April 8, 2020, South China Morning Post)
In a statement on Wednesday night, the Chinese embassy in Moscow said all land border checkpoints for travellers between the two countries had been “temporarily closed”. It did not say when the checkpoints would reopen. Russia and China share a 4,300km border, with checkpoints at Heilongjiang, Jilin and Inner Mongolia.

Religion

Coronavirus and Chinese Christians in Britain: Three Vignettes  (March 25, 2020, Religion and Global Society)
There has been solidarity with China’s whistleblowing doctors as fellow victims of Beijing repression, while coronavirus has also served to further stoke tension and resentment between Christians from Hong Kong and those from mainland China.

Mormon church to open first temple in mainland China  (April 6, 2020, Reuters)
The Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon church, plans to open its first temple in mainland China at a time when Beijing has been clamping down steadily on religious freedoms.

Encouragement for Those Contemplating Post-Virus Divorce  (April 7, 2020, Chinese Church Voices)
China has seen an increase in divorces following the COVID-19 pandemic. In this article from Green Olive Books, the author describes why some of these marriage problems occur, and gives marriage counsel for couples.

How to Practice Passive and Active Love Toward Your Chinese and Asian American Neighbors  (April l7, 2020, China Partnership Blog)
What exactly does gospel neighboring look like for our Asian American neighbors, as well as for brothers and sisters in Christ, in these COVID-19 times? For some it might be in the form of a passive love. For others gospel neighboring will be more active. 

Society / Life

Heads Bow And Sirens Wail As China Observes Day Of Mourning Amid Pandemic  (April 4, 2020, NPR)
For three minutes on Saturday, people across China stopped what they had been doing. In public spaces in major cities, residents clad in masks, together but physically separate, bowed their heads and paid respects to the thousands of neighbors and fellow Chinese nationals — friends, family, patients and medical workers — who are no longer with them. As they stood in silence, air raid sirens and vehicle horns wailed their lament.

After CDC Reversal on Face Masks, Chinese in the US Cautiously Put Theirs Back On  (April 6, 2020, Radii China)
Until the US’s Center for Disease Control reversed its position on face masks on Friday, Chen, like many Chinese nationals currently living in the US, had been caught between conflicting health policies that had put her at odds with other members of her community. But now that the CDC has revised their guidelines to recommend “cloth face coverings,” she feels secure wearing her mask out in the open.

How China made its COVID-19 lockdown work  (April 7, 2020, East Asia Forum)
Many of the lockdown tasks were the responsibility of individual communities, including enforcing social distancing and the travel ban. Most entrances to communities were shut down, leaving only one entrance open. Residents could only come in or out with valid IDs and while wearing masks.

Coronavirus: Guangzhou cases prompt shutdown in ‘Little Africa’ trading hub  (April 7, 2020, South China Morning Post)
Guangzhou officials reported on Tuesday that the city had 111 imported cases of Covid-19 including at least 16 patients from various countries in Africa. According to the officials, 10 Covid-19 patients including the five Nigerians could be linked to Kuangquan Street, prompting the authorities to impose stringent control measures for all people entering and leaving the area.

Video: Coronavirus: ‘Please learn from Wuhan’s mistakes’  (April 8, 2020, BBC)

As they emerge from their long lockdown, residents share the lessons they’ve learned from the outbreak, and offer encouraging words to the rest of the world.

Wuhan ends coronavirus lockdown – in pictures  (April 8, 2020, The Guardian)
After 76 days sealed off from the world, the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus pandemic began, has opened its doors again. At midnight on Wednesday, authorities allowed residents to leave the city for the first time since 23 January, when 11 million people were put under lockdown to contain the quickly spreading virus.

Collage: Wuhan Begins Life After Lockdown  (April 8, 2020, Sixth Tone)
A Sixth Tone photographer captures scenes from the city as its transport services resume for the first time in over two months.

As Wuhan Reopens, Couples Quick to Tie, and Undo, the Knot  (April 8, 2020, Sixth Tone)
The pandemic has in fact resulted in an unprecedented number of couples filing for divorce across the country. Coincidentally, Wednesday also marks a date on the Chinese lunar calendar that is believed to be favorable for separations and inauspicious for unions.

Economics / Trade / Business

Luckin Coffee is a painful reminder of ‘the extreme fraud risk’ of some China-based companies  (April 3, 2020, CNBC)
Here we go again. It sounds outrageous: The chief operating officer of Luckin Coffee, the largest domestic coffee chain in the China, was accused by his own company of fabricating much of its reported sales in 2019.

China Law Blog and Social Media in the Time of Coronavirus  (April 4, 2020, China Law Blog)
Without a doubt, the two biggest issue most companies that do business in or with China are facing these days is whether to stay or go and/or whether to continue having their products manufactured in China or diversify production elsewhere.

Coronavirus has lit the fuse on a time bomb in China’s economy: debt  (April 5, 2020, South China Morning Post)
But there is an even greater danger for what was once the world’s fastest-growing major economy: that Covid-19 will become the catalyst that will bring its many long-simmering  problems  to the boil. At the centre of these problems is a rising systemic risk in its banking and financial systems caused by a high level of debt accrued over the past decade.

Nearly half a million Chinese companies close in first quarter as pandemic batters economy  (April 6, 2020, South China Morning Post)
More than 460,000 Chinese firms closed permanently in the first quarter as the coronavirus pandemic pummeled the world’s second largest economy, with more than half of them having operated for under three years, corporate registration data shows.

Don’t Count on China to Lift the Global Economy  (April 8, 2020, Foreign Affairs)
Rather than joining the ranks of new consumers as many had hoped, rural Chinese—including the several hundred million who have migrated to cities—have effectively become an underclass. Overall incomes have risen, but people with rural origins still earn less than half of what city natives pull in yearly.

Education

Video: Coronavirus Social Impact: Difficult Choices for Chinese International Students  (April 2, 2020, National Committee on U.S.-China Relations)

Universities Forced to Face Addiction to Foreign Students’ Money  (April 6, 2020, Bloomberg)
The outbreak has jolted universities worldwide, upending a multi-billion dollar international student market that underpins the finances of many leading institutions. With about one in six international students hailing from China, the upheaval has highlighted the risks of over-relying on the world’s second-largest economy — an issue the education industry will have to confront once it emerges from the crisis.

Online or offline? Education sector ponders its future  (April 6, 2020, China Daily)
According to market consultancy QuestMobile, the daily active users of online education apps have soared to 127 million during the pandemic, almost double the figure before the outbreak. Thousands of online education teachers like Li are busy preparing their lectures and presentation materials for the livestreaming sessions. But, they also worry if the online boom would sustain once the pandemic ends.

China to Bring Under-18 Students Home From US  (April 7, 2020, Sixth Tone)
The Chinese Embassy has said that minors studying in the U.S. will be prioritized for repatriation flights based on age, with youngest served first.

Health / Environment

‘We’re Hardly Heroic’: Wuhan Medical Workers Look Back in Anger  (April 3, 2020, China File)
Now that COVID-19 has escalated into a global pandemic, it has become increasingly important that the rest of the world understand what the doctors and nurses in Wuhan—several of whom I now call friends—experienced and are still experiencing. Insofar as China has achieved a “victory” over the coronavirus, it has come at a massive and lasting human cost.

The Trail Leading Back to the Wuhan Labs  (April 3, 2020, National Review)
There’s no proof the coronavirus accidentally escaped from a laboratory, but we can’t take the Chinese government’s denials at face value.

Life or Death Decision  (April 5, 2020, The World of Chinese)
The notion of palliative care was not even introduced to China until the 1980s, partly because the notion of improving one’s “end of life” quality, instead of focusing on a cure, was culturally anathema. Chinese medicine may be a culture unto itself, but the notion of death remains stubbornly off-limits.

China reports no Covid-19 deaths for first time  (April 7, 2020, BBC)
China reported no coronavirus deaths on Tuesday, the first time since it started publishing daily figures in January. The National Health Commission said it had 32 confirmed cases, down from 39 on Monday. It comes as the government is under scrutiny as to whether it is underreporting its figures.

Science / Technology

Taiwan Bans Official Use of Zoom Over Cybersecurity Concerns  (April 7, 2020, Bloomberg)
Zoom routed data through servers in China and used developers there, Citizen Lab said in its report last week. Any official data being routed through China poses a major risk for Taiwan. 

Watch: How China’s Army of Apps Helped People Through Coronavirus Isolation  (April 8, 2020, Radii China)
In the below video, we document the experiences of life under social distancing measures — and highly online — in China. We follow the journey of a young woman in Shanghai as she uses 13 separate apps to follow Covid-19 news, buy groceries, order medicine, work out, and purchase consumer goods through livestreaming.

History / Culture

A collection: Beijing street life in 1983  (Everyday Life in Maoist China)

Travel / Food

China’s Wuhan Airport Has Now Re-Opened  (April 8, 2020, View From the Wing)
Wuhan Tianhe International Airport is 16 miles from the city center of Wuhan, capital of the Hubei province. As the epicenter of the initial COVID-19 breakout, it has been shut down since January 23.

Arts / Entertainment / Media

Chinese Folk Music Meets Appalachian Tradition On ‘Wu Fei And Abigail Washburn’  (April 5, 2020, NPR)
Wu and Washburn are also longtime friends. Their new album, which weaves together traditional folk tunes and melodies from across the U.S. and China, is the product of both their illustrious solo careers and over a decade of collaboration and friendship.

Language / Language Learning

Alphabetical transcriptions in Cantonese  (April 5, 2020, Language Log)
I live in Hong Kong, and many things are fascinating here, especially the way they use English characters in Cantonese.

Cantonese: good news and bad news  (April 6, 2020, Language Log)
The good news is that it’s a language. The bad news is that you can’t speak it.

Chinese vocabulary challenge, April 2020  (April 7, 2020, Hacking Chinese)
Lack of vocabulary is also a big problem for many learners when it comes to reading and listening ability. Too many unknown words in authentic input makes it impossible to understand. When reading, nothing kills reading speed like a word you’ve never seen. 

Living Cross-culturally

How to Welcome Chinese Guests: The Complete Guide  (April 3, 2020, Sapore di Cina)
In this brief guide I want to share a few experiences from over the years with Chinese friends and tourists who came to Italy and also those I directly knew in China. I’m sure they’ll be useful for welcoming Chinese guests the best way possible, whether on vacation or for work, when they come to your country, as well as for better understanding their culture when traveling in the Middle Kingdom.

Foreigners in China in the Time of Coronavirus: “See the Whole as Well as the Parts”  (April 5, 2020, China Law Blog)
The completely unreasonable restrictions being placed on foreigners trying to get on with their daily lives in China has and will continue to compromise the livelihoods of many. […]  The most interesting — and concerning — thing about China’s response is what it tells us about broader attitudes towards foreigners, and their place in China’s economy and society. 

Should I Stay or Should I Go?  (April 6, 2020, ChinaSource Blog)
Whether you stay or go, remember the work doesn’t depend on you. God has grown his church in China greatly with and without cross-cultural workers. Our first duty is to glorify his name, not our own.

Can I Leave Now?  (April 8, 2020, ChinaSource Blog)
I am not naïve: this is what I signed up for, and I’ve had decades of success at this—and found joy in those victories. I understand the historical and systemic reasons for that suspicion and fear, and have developed a host of ways to respond. But feeling so unwelcome in the place I think of as my home: that takes a psychological toll. And after more than two decades I don’t know how much longer I can take it. So why do I stay?

Books

Coronavirus and Christ  (April 8, 2020, Desiring God)
Piper offers six biblical answers to the question, What is God doing through the coronavirus?—reminding us that God is at work in this moment in history.

Resources

Webinar: Ongoing Language and Culture Learning  (Global Trellis)
In this workshop, Joann will share: Key principles for learning to talk again, Characteristics of good language learners, How to learn to think again, Three ways to move towards being an “acceptable outsider.”

Image credit: Joann Pittman, via Flickr
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Joann Pittman

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