ZGBriefs | August 29, 2024

Featured Article

Blockbuster Chinese Video Game Tried to Police Players—and Divided the Internet (August 25, 2024, BBC News)
Ahead of Black Myth’s release, some content creators and streamers revealed that a company affiliated with its developer had sent them a list of topics to avoid talking about while livestreaming the game: including “feminist propaganda, fetishisation, and other content that instigates negative discourse.”

Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs

China in Central America: Just a Mirage (August 24, 2024, The Diplomat)
Since 2017, Central American countries have strengthened ties with China, based on promises of benefits. Instead, they face growing trade deficits and failed projects.

Rampant Nationalism Is Undermining China’s ‘Three Warfares’ (August 23, 2024, The Diplomat)
China hopes to leverage “homebrew” nationalism as an ideological defense to ensure its political security in an era largely defined by great power competition and weakening state power. However, this defense mechanism might be employed at the expense of China’s ability to project soft power. For example, overheated nationalism among average citizens and public officials alike is backfiring on China’s public opinion warfare and threatening its “Three Warfares” strategy.

Japan Says Chinese Spy Plane Violated Its Airspace (August 27, 2024, BBC News)
Japan scrambled fighter jets after a Y-9 surveillance plane “violated the territorial airspace” of Danjo Islands for about two minutes at 11:29 local time Monday (02:29 GMT). Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary called the breach “utterly unacceptable” and summoned a Chinese embassy official in Tokyo in protest.

Religion

China’s Banned Bestseller (August 21, 2024, ChinaSource)
The availability of the Bible in China has long been a contentious topic.

Whether it’s China “rewriting the Bible,” scripture apps disappearing from the Internet, or crackdowns on unofficial publishing, what we hear about the Good News in China is often anything but good news.

A new book by Cynthia Oh suggests a different narrative. In The Bible in China: From Banned Book to Bestseller, Oh, who has long served as Communications Manager for the United Bible Societies China Partnership, offers an insider’s view into Bible publishing in China.

Crossing Cultures: Missio Dei and Missionary Formation (August 26, 2024, ChinaSource)
I have heard it said that the church of God has a mission to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to all unreached peoples, and when we fulfill that mission, the Lord will return. It is better said that the God of mission has a church, a people he shapes and sends in collaboration with missio dei. God himself accomplishes missionary formation through a series of shaping events that unfold over a lifetime.

In the Fire, Yet Unburned: A Journey of Faith in Adversity (August 27, 2024, Chinese Church Voices)
Though I have become a respected professor at a renowned Chinese university, with a decent job and God-given gifts and talents sufficient to meet the university’s various assessment requirements, my journey of faith has been one of stumbling towards God as it is he who never abandons me. I fall, get up, and fall again. But after such fiery trials, I find myself reborn like wild grass.

Chongqing: I Long to See Revival (August 26, 2024, China Partnership)
More than a decade ago, the president of my seminary told me, “Chongqing has never experienced revival. At different times, there have been waves of revival throughout China, but Chongqing has never been touched.” He encouraged me to stay in Chongqing, believing that one day, I would see revival. This is my deep hope.

Chongqing: Student Ministry Is Not Like Other Cities (August 22, 2024, China Partnership)
The student ministry in Chongqing is not like other cities. Up to now, there is still not a good student ministry here. I’ve heard that other cities – like Shandong Province, or Xi’an—have large ministries, with many students who graduate from them. In Chongqing, many student ministries have faced difficulties and even eventually left the city. All the churches in Chongqing who do student ministry are being persecuted. They are very strict with students here.

Society / Life

Love and Marriage: China’s Dali Bai Region Pledges to Help its 33,000 Bachelors Find Wives (August 24, 2024, South China Morning Post)
Authorities in southwestern China have pledged to set up a task force and hold dating events to “tackle marriage problems” faced by tens of thousands of bachelors above 35. The initiative from the Dali Bai autonomous prefecture of Yunnan province comes as the country tries to fend off a dire demographic crisis caused by falling birth rates and an ageing population.

China’s Fresh Urbanization Push May Thwart ‘Birth Friendly Society’ Goal (August 21, 2024, Reuters)
Authorities are “foolishly” driving young people “to the most birth-unfriendly big cities, which will lead to a continued decline in fertility and exacerbate the ageing crisis,” said Yi Fuxian, a demographer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “The suppression of fertility rates by population density is a biological law.”

‘Twilight Love’: Shanghai’s Lonely and Retired Are Looking for Love (August 27, 2024, The New York Times)
It should not be this hard. There are more people in China who are 65 or older than there are in any other country. And Shanghai has more older adults than any other Chinese city. Most of these residents stopped working long ago because China has one of the lowest retirement ages in the world, and many are either widowed or divorced. Everyone seems to be lonely, the children and grandchildren too busy with their own lives to visit.

China Failing to Deliver Jobs for Its ‘Rotten-tail Kids’ (August 26, 2024, Radio Free Asia)
On social media, they’re calling them “rotten tail,” or unfinished kids, a play on a metaphor for something that never comes to a clean end but just falls apart, leaving nothing substantial to grasp hold of. It means that China’s bright young things are finding that the future they worked so hard for, much like the welter of unfinished apartment buildings that dot Chinese cities these days, isn’t delivering on its promises.

Case Study of Tiaohai Village, a Pub Celebrated as a “Spiritual Utopia” for Chinese Young Adults (August 23, 2024, ChinaSkinny)
Today’s Chinese young adults are drawn to a low-pressure style of socializing known as “finding a buddy (找搭子).” They’re not avoiding social interactions but are seeking a type of socialization that’s free from the constraints of familiar relationships and doesn’t go too deep. Bars, which use drinking culture to foster social bonds, now need to create new ways for young people to connect while also offering an atmosphere that suits their preference for low-pressure socializing.

Economics / Trade / Business

Shein Reveals Child Labour Cases at Suppliers (August 23, 2024, BBC News)
Chinese fast fashion giant Shein says it found two cases of child labour in its supply chain last year as it tightens scrutiny of the companies that make the clothes it sells. The firm says it temporarily suspended orders from the suppliers involved and did not resume business with them until they had stepped up efforts to tackle the issue.

IBM Pulls Research Operations Out of China, Lays Off 1,000 Employees (August 26, 2024, PC Magazine)
IBM is closing its research and development operations in China, resulting in the loss of 1,000 jobs, the South China Morning Post reports, citing local Chinese news outlets. Jack Hergenrother, IBM’s VP of global enterprise systems development, confirmed the R&D shutdown in China to IBM employees in a meeting on Monday, citing Chinese competition, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Education

Morality and Rules, and How to Avoid Drowning: What My Daughters Learned at School in China(August 21, 2024, The Guardian)
Our twins spent two years at primary school in Chengdu. Their lessons featured alarming cautionary tales and stories of Chinese superiority, but there was fun and irreverence, too.

Why China’s Universities Are Ditching Their Engineering Programs (August 22, 2024, Sixth Tone)
China’s universities are rapidly moving to reallocate their academic resources in line with government priorities, with 19 institutions so far looking to suspend or discontinue a total of 99 degree programs this year, domestic media outlet ScienceNet.cn reported on Tuesday.

Science and Technology

China Powers the Future of Global AI Innovation (August 27, 2024, East Asia Forum)
Shanghai’s 2024 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) highlighted major technological advancements and heightened global competition in AI development and governance. Despite challenges posed by US-led sanctions, China demonstrated resilience and innovation, reinforcing its role as a major player in the future of AI.

Public Diplomacy Through Social Media: the Chinese Way (August 2024, China Research Center)
The reach of digital technologies and its power to influence, monitor and manipulate global perceptions, has been significant in shaping China’s Public Diplomacy while helping to construct international and domestic public opinion on major global issues.

Survey: How Do Elite Chinese Students Feel About the Risks of AI? (August 23, China Brief Archives)
Transformative artificial intelligence (AI) poses many potential benefits for humanity’s future, but it also poses many risks. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) will likely play a prominent role in shaping this trajectory.

Health / Environment

Biodiversity of China’s Yangtze River Improves, but Endangered Species Still Under Threat (August 24, 2024, South China Morning Post)
The Yangtze—China’s longest river and a critical habitat for aquatic life—is showing signs of ecological improvement, the latest government report says, while warning that there is still a long way to go to protect biodiversity in its waters, especially rare and endangered species.

History / Culture

Deng Xiaoping: 120th Anniversary of the Man Who Changed China (August 24, 2024, South China Morning Post)
The late paramount leader Deng is credited as being the “chief architect” of China’s economic reform which transformed a poor, backward country into a global superpower. In this series, the Post looks at how his legacy continues to affect China today.

Travel / Food

Expats & Visitors Rejoice: Upgrades to Digital Payments are Here (August 27, 2024, The Beijinger Blog)
It’s a new era of payment convenience for international residents in Beijing and visitors to the capital city. A series of updates to Weixin Pay (a payment feature within WeChat, commonly known as WeChat Pay) and Alipay services, as well as new currency exchange services at the airport, making payments considerably more accessible for foreign visitors.

A Far Cry from Sweet and Sour: Hong Kongers Bring Their Food to the UK (August 24, 2024, Radio Free Asia)
Hong Kongers fleeing a political crackdown in their home city are the biggest wave of migrants to settle in Britain since the Windrush generation arrived from the Caribbean—and they’re bringing their food with them.

Arts / Entertainment / Media

Black Dog Review—State-of-the-Chinese-Nation Drama with Feelgood Furry Antics(August 26, 2024, The Guardian)
This isn’t the first film to serve up redemption through a furry emissary—and it won’t be the last. Guan Hu’s Chinese drama-cum-western, cum-state-of-the-nation missive won Un Certain Regard at Cannes this year.

Pray for China

August 26 (Pray for China: A Walk Through History)
On Aug. 26, 1854, Wang Tao (王韬先生) was baptized as a Christian in Shanghai after working as a Bible translator. Wang traveled to Scotland to assist James Legge (理雅各) with his masterful five-volume Chinese Classics, work which convinced Legge that the ancient Chinese worshiped the God of the Bible. Wang Tao returned to Hong Kong to found the first Chinese-language daily newspaper and wrote prolifically on behalf of modernization and political reform. He died in Shanghai in 1897 at age 70. Pray for the lost in Shanghai and Hong Kong to read God’s Word and know that apart from the Lord there is no savior.

I am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior. Isaiah 43:11