ZGBriefs | July 28, 2016

ZGBriefs is a compilation of news items gathered from published online sources. ChinaSource is not responsible for the content, and inclusion in ZGBriefs does not equal endorsement. Please go here to support ZGBriefs.

Featured Article

In Search of a Place to Die (July 21, 2016, Sixth Tone)
According to Li, the Chinese fear death so much that they’d prefer to run away from it rather than have to think about it at all. In the case of palliative care, cultural taboos related to death also play a significant role. Take, for example, the quintessentially Chinese concept of filial piety: Children who want to be seen to “do the right thing” for their ailing parents will reject palliative care and insist on more aggressive treatment, trying to preserve life at all costs.

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Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs

Umbrella Movement student leaders convicted but not conquered, they say (July 21, 2016, Christian Science Monitor)
A student who helped lead the Umbrella Movement protests in Hong Kong, the strongest pro-democracy demonstrations against Beijing in years, has been convicted for inciting "unlawful assembly." Joshua Wong's conviction, along with two other student protesters, highlights the Communist Party's continuing effort to solidify power by cracking down on pro-democracy movements not only on the mainland, but also in Hong Kong.

What happens now in the South China Sea? (July 23, 2016, East Asia Forum)
As China is the major regional power, and has global ambitions, the onus is on it to take the lead in reducing tensions. This will mean working quietly behind the scenes to accommodate the interests of ASEAN member-states.

Foreign NGO Law: The Return of the Mother-in-Law (July 25, 2016, From the West Courtyard)
In other words, foreign NGOs that are currently working in China are going to have some hard choices to make going forward.

Top Chinese general Guo Boxiong jailed for life for taking bribes (July 25, 2016, The Guardian)
For a decade, Guo was one of the two vice-chairmen of the Central Military Commission, second only to China’s president in the top body of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). He retired in 2012 and was expelled from the ruling Communist party last year. 

Mysterious confession fuels fears of Beijing's influence on Hong Kong's top newspaper (July 25, 2016, The Guardian)
Hong Kong’s most prestigious English-language newspaper is facing calls to explain how it obtained a controversial interview with a young Chinese activist amid fears of Beijing’s influence on the 113-year-old broadsheet.

Grandson of China’s Most-Hated Landlord Challenges Communist Lore (July 26, 2016, The New York Times)
To many Chinese, Liu Wencai is the archetype of the despotic landlord from pre-Communist days, one who exploited his tenants, tortured those who fell behind on rent in a “water dungeon” and forced new mothers to breast-feed him as a longevity therapy. But his grandson Liu Xiaofei, 70, has spent the past two decades trying to prove that his grandfather was not only a good man, but actually aided the Communist forces in Sichuan Province.

Xi’s China: Smothering dissent (July 27, 2016, Financial Times)
The chill that has descended across Chinese civil society, especially over the past 12 months, has become one of the defining aspects of Xi Jinping’s presidency, alongside his own rapid consolidation of power over the party, government and military.

Chinese Court Sentences American Publisher to Prison (July 27, 2016, The New York Times)
Like the booksellers, the American, James J. Wang, who was sentenced on Tuesday by a court in the southern city of Shenzhen, published gossipy material about political intrigue in mainland China. Mr. Wang, a naturalized American citizen whose Chinese name is Wang Jianmin, was also based in Hong Kong, and was accused of running an illegal business.

Religion

Beijing-backed Panchen Lama Performs Ritual in Tibet (July 21, 2016, China Digital Times)
According to Xinhua, Chinese government-backed Panchen Lama Gyaltsen Norbu began a four-day Kalachakra initiation on Thursday, marking the first time this important Buddhist ritual has been carried out in Tibet in 50 years.

China to shut churches in G20 host city on safety grounds – reports (July 22, 2016, The Guardian)
The Global Times, a Communist party-run tabloid, said Xiaoshan, a district in south-east Hangzhou where the G20 meeting will be held, had outlawed large-scale religious activities until four days after the event. It said the move was an attempt “to create a safe environment for the meeting”. One Hangzhou pastor told the newspaper authorities had shut down a number of underground “house churches” in the city.

China 'razes Tibetan Buddhism center' (July 22, 2016, DW)
Exile groups have accused China of destroying Tibet's largest center for Tibetan Buddhist learning. Videos and images on social media showing complete devastation of the complex appear to support their claim.

The Importance of Christian Education for Chinese Christian Families (July 22, 2016, From the West Courtyard)
If Chinese Christian families are to break out of traditional understandings of family and to weather challenges from modern social norms, they must build Christian institutions that both teach Christian ethics and are strong enough to engage with wider Chinese society.

Conference addresses challenges facing Christianity in China (July 25, 2016, Vatican Radio)
Organised by the Ecclesiological Investigations International Research Network, the meeting brought together a wide range of theologians from different denominations and many national or ethnic backgrounds to discuss the challenges facing the different Christian Churches and communities in China today.

Hubei Churches Damaged by Flooding (July 26, 2016, Chinese Church Voices)
According to Rev. Zhang, the disaster has badly damaged the churches—especially the four main county churches—, believers' families, and the provincial seminary. In addition, many other buildings and crops have been destroyed. Fortunately, no deaths have been recorded in the region.

Relational and Cultural Renewal (July 27, 2016, From the West Courtyard)
How do we deal with the decay of the institution of the traditional Chinese family left behind by the Cultural Revolution? I think one of the greatest mistakes a Chinese Christian can make right now is to adhere to the absolute distinction between Christian family life and Chinese family life, whether “traditional” or contemporary forms of family.

Society / Life

Balancing Pension Challenges in a Graying Society (July 20, 2016, Caixin Online)
Authorities must find ways to minimize the negative impact of its plan to delay the age of retirement, particularly on the most vulnerable segments of society.

Oil and Water: Being Han in Xinjiang (July 25, 2016, Chinoireise)
Since I first lived in Xinjiang for eight months in 2001-2002, I have been asking myself: ‘What is it like to be a Han person living in Xinjiang?’ I asked myself this question because I felt that it was not the same as being a Han person who lives in the core area of China. Perhaps the question came to me because, as an Australian-born child of European parents, I felt some sort of affinity with these settlers on the edge of their empire. Xinjiang was both alien and strangely familiar to me.

Tiger Attacks Women in Beijing Animal Park, Killing One (July 25, 2016, TIME)
The beginning of the attack was caught on surveillance footage in the Siberian tiger enclosure of Badaling Wildlife World. The video shows the younger woman exiting her car and walking around it to get back in, when the tiger seizes her and drags her off-screen. In the widely-shared video, the woman’s husband and mother jump out of the car to follow the attacker.

Anhui couple celebrates their 80th wedding anniversary by taking some adorable pictures together (July 26, 2016, Shanghaiist)
Song Qinglin and his wife Song Lishi, both 103 years old, have been together now for eight decades. Tencent reports that the couple has four children. Of course, those children have had their own children, and then those children have also had children of their own. Four generations all live together under one roof in Fuyang city, Anhui province. To help the two lovebirds celebrate their 80th wedding anniversary, some good Samaritans from a local volunteer center helped to buy them a wedding dress and gifts.

North China Flood Roundup (July 26, 2016, The World of Chinese)
In the last week, northern China has been harassed by heavy rain and flooding, which comes shortly the widespread flooding in southern China earlier this month. Statistics released by floodlist.com show that parts of Beijing have seen up to 165mm of rainfall in the space of 24 hours, while the northern city of Tianjin has been inundated with as much as 193 mm in the same space of time.

Economics / Trade / Business

Chinese Students in the U.S. Fear the Yuan’s Fall (July 25, 2016, China Real Time)
The yuan’s depreciation may benefit exporters, but it makes life costly for Chinese students in the U.S., many of whom are buying extra dollars because they think the yuan will fall further.

Negotiating with Chinese Companies: Distribution Agreements with no Joint Venture Required (July 26, 2016, China Law Blog)
We represent many foreign companies that have their product made in China under a contract manufacturing arrangement. At the start, the foreign company targets its product sales in the North American and European markets. But as China’s consumers grow wealthier and more sophisticated, it often happens that the foreign company is approached about selling its products  in China to Chinese customers.

Education

Students and teachers detail pervasive cheating in a program owned by test giant ACT (July 25, 2016, Reuters)
The program, known as the Global Assessment Certificate, also offers some students an advantage that isn’t advertised: At three different GAC centers, school officials and proctors ignored and were sometimes complicit in student cheating on the ACT, according to seven students interviewed by Reuters.

Health / Environment

Full Of Hot Air: China’s Summer Colds (July 21, 2016, The World of Chinese)
While conventional wisdom in the West associates the cold with the fall and winter season, as defined by institutions such as the US Center for Disease Control, the wind is the phase of qi associated with spring in TCM. Colds, however, can be caught in any season, and there are different classifications of the illness depending on the exact type of wind imbalance of a particular season.

Science / Technology

China’s Best Drains (Are 600 Years Old) (July 22, 2016, The World of Chinese)
The 30,000 visitors who braved record-level rainfalls in Beijing to tour the Forbidden City on Wednesday, July 20, were rewarded with a sight worth writing (or micro-blogging) home about: a system of storm drains built 600 years ago utterly upstaging its modern counterparts across the city.

History / Culture

A collection: Everyday life in Beijing in 1948 (July 20, 2016, Everyday Life in Mao’s China)

Entertainment / Media / Sports

China, Explained (June 3, 2016, Foreign Policy)
A new Chinese media start-up hopes to appeal to U.S. readers. But Beijing's censorship may get in its way.

Chinese weightlifters prepare for games at Beijing national sports centre (July 21, 2016, International Business Times)
Getty Images photographer Kevin Frayer documents China's weightlifters at China's Training Center of General Administration of Sports, in preparation for Rio de Janeiro.

China shuts several online news sites for independent reporting (July 25, 2016, BBC)
News services run by some of China's biggest online portals, including Sina, Sohu, NetEase and iFeng, were shut for publishing independent reports instead of official statements, the media said. The sites had seriously violated reporting rules, officials said. China has tightened controls on online communications in recent years.

Playing Pokémon Go in China Is Not Easy, but Many Are Still Risking It (July 27, 2016, Global Voices)
Here are six things that make it hard — and risky — to play Pokémon Go in China:

Travel / Food

Chinese company plans fleet of cruise ships to take tourists around exotic South China Sea (July 22, 2016, Shanghaiist)
Although cruises from Hainan to China's disputed artificial islands have already been in operation since 2013, SCMP reports that this project involves a whole conglomerate of different industries in an attempt to create a number of "Maldives style resorts" around the South China Sea. Bigger development such as hotels, villas, duty-free ships, commercial parks and streets will also be implemented to aid the tourism industry there.

Yunnan To Sichuan — The Best Scenery To The Spiciest Food In China! (July 23, 2016, Peanuts and Pretzels)
Our first destination after returning to China from our little break in Southeast Asia was to the beautiful city of Kunming.  This city is in the famed Yunnan region of China, and we must admit, it was by far one of the most beautiful areas we have seen in all of China — definitely a must visit!

Vladivostok Lures Chinese Tourists (Many Think It’s Theirs) (July 23, 2016, The New York Times)
Cui Rongwei, a businessman from northeastern China, could not afford a trip to Paris, so he settled for an exotic taste of Europe right on China’s doorstep. He liked Vladivostok so much that he has made three trips there to savor a city so strikingly different from his own hometown just a few score miles away.

Sticky Rice Chicken (July 24, 2016, The World of Chinese)
Sticky rice chicken is one of the most popular types of steamed dim sum, beloved by dim sum aficionados all around the world. Though its name makes it seem pretty simple, the dish actually contains a variety of ingredients, including mushrooms, Chinese chestnuts, Chinese sausage, scallions, and sometimes dried shrimp or salted eggs.

Cycling in Xinjiang | What You Need to Know (July 26, 2016, Far West China)
Based on my own experience, there is no better way to experience the beauty of Xinjiang’s scenery and culture than while riding a bicycle.

Hong Kong’s Best Markets & Shopping Streets (July 26, 2016, Wild China Blog)
Goldfish, birds, toys, clothes and electronics – there seems to be a street in Hong Kong for just about every type of commodity you might need. Inside the checkered warren of the city’s lanes you will find many great bargains, and interesting slices of local life. Here are some to visit during your next trip to the city:  

Language / Language Learning

Are you practising Chinese the right way? (July 21, 2016, Hacking Chinese)
How do you know that your current way of studying will actually take you to your destination? One way of finding out is of course to keep going and see if you reach your goal a year or two from now.

Books

The Water Kingdom: A Secret History of China by Philip Ball – review (July 24, 2016, The Guardian)
Ball’s journey along the history, politics and culture of China’s waterways encompasses many heroes of Chinese hydrology, men who grappled with elemental forces and imperial censure and sometimes came out on top. Equally dramatic is his account of riverine warfare, a lesser-known tradition than the sea voyages of the Ming eunuch admiral Zheng He, with his 10-masted treasure ships, 1,500-ton floating fortresses that dwarfed anything Europe produced.

Image credit: Grave-sweeping Day, by Jonathan Kos-Read, via Flickr