ZGBriefs

ZGBriefs | June 11, 2015

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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.

Featured Article

Mao As Church Father (June 1, 2015, First Things)
In a brief review of recent Asian Church history (From Every Tribe and Nation), Mark Noll makes the arresting comment that “Mao Zedong counts as one of the most significant figures in modern church history.” Noll hastens to add this was not Mao's intention; rather, it is “because of what happened inadvertently through his actions.”

Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs

Watch Ian Bremmer Discuss the Rise of China (June 3, 2015, TIME)
While the U.S. struggles at home, China is increasing its presence on the global stage. Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group and TIME editor-at-large, discusses China’s geopolitical strategy in an increasingly fragmented world—and how the U.S. should respond.

Exiled Tiananmen student leaders find that home remains out of bounds (+video) (June 4, 2015, Christian Science Monitor)
26 years ago, pro-democracy protesters filled Tiananmen Square for weeks before government troops brutally dispersed them. Student leaders who fled into exile did not dream then that they would never be allowed to return.

Video: Chinese lawyer Mo Shaoping on his career, justice, and democracy (June 4, 2015, BBC)
Mo Shaoping is, perhaps, China's most famous defence lawyer who still walks free. Many of his colleagues have been arrested and disbarred but he continues to represent dissidents and artists whose work are deemed too critical.

Who wants to be a Mandarin if you can’t take bribes? (June 5, 2015, China Digital Times)
As a result of President Xi Jinping’s ongoing anti-corruption campaign, there has been a steady decline in the number of college graduates seeking employment in China’s public sector along with a parallel exodus of civil servants looking for more lucrative jobs in finance and industry.

Foreign NGO Law Would Have ‘Adverse Impact’, U.S. Groups Say (June 5, 2015, China Real Time)
Nearly four-dozen U.S. business and professional groups have signed a letter to the Chinese government urging it modify a draft law that seeks to tighten controls on foreign nongovernmental groups, saying that it could hurt U.S-China relations.

China likely behind hack of US data, says House homeland security chair (June 7, 2015, The Guardian)
Mike McCaul, the chairman of the House of Representatives homeland security committee, on Sunday said he believed China was responsible for the recent hacking of personal data of 4 million federal employees. The Obama administration has not apportioned blame, though it did this week threaten possible economic sanctions against the culprit.

China conducts first military mobility test on bullet train for rushing troops to Xinjiang (June 9, 2015, The Economic Times)
China has successfully conducted the first-ever military mobility test by rushing troops and weapons on its bullet train to the restive Muslim-majority Xinjiang province, aimed at evaluating its performance in quick movement of soldiers during a crisis.

China and Russia step up cooperation in Central Asia (June 9, 2015, East Asia Forum)
The growing Sino–Russian partnership is evidence that the Western policy of isolating Russia has failed. The policy has only served to push Russia deeper into Chinese arms. Russia and China are planning to increase their engagement in Central Asia and will coordinate their policies in the former Soviet territories in Eurasia.

Whither Chinese NGO’s? (June 10, 2015, ChinaSource Blog)
The news that Communist Party cells are to be established in all Chinese social organizations is the latest signal that “business as usual” for NGOs in China, both domestic and foreign, may be coming to an end.

Hackers May Have Obtained Names of Chinese With Ties to U.S. Government (June 10, 2015, The New York Times)
Investigators say that the Chinese hackers who attacked the databases of the Office of Personnel Management may have obtained the names of Chinese relatives, friends and frequent associates of American diplomats and other government officials, information that Beijing could use for blackmail or retaliation.

Religion

Becoming “Chinese”: The Problem Of Identity In Missions (June 5, 2015, China Partnership)
The phenomenon of staring in China accentuates some important truths about cross-cultural missions in China. Chinese have an extremely strong sense of the indigenous and the alien, and aliens are treated very differently. It is notoriously difficult to gain access to the genuine affections of the Chinese.

14 Questions (June 8, 2015, ChinaSource Blog)
On June 4, 2015, ChinaSource President Brent Fulton was a guest on the Connecting Faith program of My Faith Radio in the Twin Cities. Host Neil Stavem spent the hour talking with Brent about modern China and some of the unique challenges and opportunities facing the country and the church in China 26 years after the crackdown in Tiananmen Square.

As China knocks down Christian crosses, the faithful restore them (June 8, 2015, Christian Science Monitor)
A group of Protestant churches in China’s Zhejiang Province are staging an unusual tryst with local authorities who have knocked down the cross from atop their churches: They are fighting back and restoring the traditional symbol of Christianity.

Authorities demolish huge multi-million dollar church (June 9, 2015, Christian Today)
A huge multi-million dollar cathedral-style church is being demolished in China, the latest church to go under the wrecking ball in a long-running campaign which reflects the growing concern in Beijing about the rise of the Christian evangelical movement.

Now, about Those "Cross Size" Regulations (June 9, 2015, Chinese Christian Voices)
The draft regulations were posted on the websites of two government agencies, with a request for comments from the public. One pastor in the province shared his comments with the Gospel Times, who in turn posted it on their site. It’s an interesting look at how these regulations are viewed by a Christian leader, as well a fascinating window into how the religious sphere “talks to” the state in China, employing language the state understands while respectfully pushing back. 

Society / Life

‘Dirty Words’: Communist Party Paper Takes Stand Against Internet Slang (June 4, 2015, China Real Time)
The ruling Communist Party’s staid mouthpiece, the People’s Daily newspaper, published on its website Wednesday a list of 25 vulgar online slang terms that the government frowns upon. Compared to Carlin’s seven dirty words, many are mild. At the top of the list was “your mom,” an imprecation with similar implications in Chinese as in English.

‘Did We Stand on the Side of Tank Man?’: An Interview with Teng Biao (June 4, 2015, China Real Time)
At a U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China hearing in Washington on the 26th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown this week, prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Teng Biao presented his listeners with a choice. “History will require us to answer one question: Did we stand on the side of the ‘Tank Man,’ or on the side of the tank?”

In pictures: Chinese salvagers lift out capsized ship (June 5, 2015, BBC)
Chinese salvagers have fully righted the ship which capsized on the Yangtze River, killing more than 400 people. The salvage operation began late on Thursday evening in Jianli, Hubei province. As cranes slowly turned over the stricken ship, relatives gathered to hold a candlelit vigil nearby.

China's Cruise Ship Disaster Is World News, So Why Is Beijing Censoring Information About It? (June 6, 2015, Huffington Post)
The WorldPost spoke with Jeremy Goldkorn about the way Chinese authorities are handling the flow of information about the tragedy. Goldkorn is the founder and director of Danwei, a research firm that tracks Chinese media and Internet.

Pictures: Inside China's capsized ship (June 8, 2015, Reuters)

China completes DNA collection to identify ship dead (June 8, 2015, BBC)
China has completed the DNA collection needed to identify the 432 bodies recovered so far from last week's deadly Yangtze boat disaster. […] Authorities are now planning to collect DNA from family members for matching purposes. A spokesman for China's public security ministry, Min Jianxiong, told reporters that they expect to finish matching the DNA within the next few days, and added that a number of victims had already been identified.

China Hebei shooting leaves five dead (June 9, 2015, BBC)
Five people have died in a shooting in a village in China's northern Hebei province, state media reported. Two police officers and the suspected gunman were among the dead, while at least three other people were injured in the incident.

Lu Wei: Four Rules for Being a “Good Chinese Netizen” (June 10, 2015, Council on Foreign Relations)
In a speech (English translation) given at the National Cybersecurity Week opening ceremony in Beijing, Lu Wei, director of the Central Leading Group for Internet Security and Informatization—China’s top cyber policymaking body—said that for China to become a strong cyber power, the country first needs citizens who know how to properly use the Internet. He laid out the “four haves” of a good Chinese netizen.

Education

Take the Test to Get Into China's Top Universities (June 2, 2015, Bloomberg)
The grueling nine-hour gaokao is all that matters when applying for universities in China. No one has ever got full marks.

24 photos of China's insanely stressful college entrance exam process (June 5, 2015, Business Insider)

On China's campuses, scholars battle ideology and red tape (June 7, 2015, Christian Science Monitor)
In the two years since China’s Communist Party put forth a sweeping new ideological edict, a deep chill has settled among many intellectuals and scholars. New restrictions on freedom of thought at Chinese colleges – havens of relatively open expression – are taking hold. Scholars are experiencing an increasingly stifling academic environment.

China deploys drones to stamp out cheating in college entrance exams (June 8, 2015, The Guardian)
Students have been caught using wireless equipment to communicate but now authorities are flying six-propeller craft over testing centres to detect signals.

Can you answer this year's tricky gaokao essay questions? (June 8, 2015, Shanghaiist)
From philosophical quotes to the meaning of a buzzword, these essay questions are designed to test not only students' language abilities and knowledge, but also their creativity, experience and wisdom.

Chinese Students Studying Abroad a New Focus of CCP’s “United Front Work”  (June 9, 2015, China Change)
At the recently convened Central United Front Work[1] Conference (link in Chinese), Xi Jinping stressed that Chinese students studying abroad are an important component of the ranks of the talented, and they are also a new focal point for the Communist Party’s United Front Work.

China's gaokao: High stakes for national exam (June 9, 2015, BBC)
Every year, more than nine million students in China sit a high-stakes examination – the gaokao. The latest test took place on Sunday and Monday. It is the only way for students to gain entry to university and pressure is high from parents and the nation.

Motivation For The Gao Kao (June 9, 2015, The World of Chinese)
For each stressed and hard-working student is a large bundle of social media posts backing them all the way. During this time of disproportionately high pressure, the bulk of responses have been motivational. These motivational proclamations however have not just been limited to the web, but have also been plastered well and truly all over schools and classrooms in the form of displaying ‘inspirational’ slogans for students.

China’s Millennials: The Want Generation (June 10, 2015, China File)
In 1989, students marched on Tiananmen Square demanding democratic reform. The Communist Party responded with a massacre, but it was jolted into restructuring the economy and overhauling the education of its young citizens. A generation later, Chinese youth are a world apart from those who converged at Tiananmen. Brought up with lofty expectations, they’ve been accustomed to unprecedented opportunities on the back of China’s economic boom. But today, China’s growth is slowing and its demographics rapidly shifting, with the boom years giving way to a painful hangover.

Health / Environment

More than 60 pct of China's underground water rated unfit for human contact (June 4, 2015, Reuters)
Nearly two-thirds of China's underground water, and a third of its surface water, were rated as unsuitable for direct human contact in 2014, the environment ministry said on Thursday.

Attack on Nurse Stirs Discussion of a Medical Strike in China (June 8, 2015, Sinosphere)
The reports in Chinese news outlets on Monday about an attack on a nurse in a hospital in the southwestern city of Kunming were brief and virtually identical, suggesting they were coordinated by the authorities — often a sign of a politically delicate issue.

China’s Impressive Performance on HIV/AIDS (June 9, 2015, The Diplomat)
With a unique model of cooperation, the country has achieved a remarkable turnaround in its response to the disease.

Science / Technology

On the Anniversary of June 4, a VPN Company Explains How It Gets Around Internet Censorship (June 4, 2015, Nanfang Insider)
VPN providers and the Chinese government are in a constant game of cat and mouse. VPN providers purchase new IP addresses, implement new VPN protocols, and develop new technologies to combat Chinese censorship, but in return the Chinese government also develops new technologies for the “Great Firewall” in an attempt to thwart the innovations of most VPN companies.

China’s Troubling Robot Revolution (June 10, 2015, The New York Times)
In 2014, Chinese factories accounted for about a quarter of the global ranks of industrial robots — a 54 percent increase over 2013. According to the International Federation of Robotics, it will have more installed manufacturing robots than any other country by 2017.

Economics / Trade / Business

China to Have Veto at Infrastructure Bank (June 9, 2015, China Real Time)
A new China-led infrastructure bank aims to differentiate itself from other lenders with a leaner, more efficient structure that ultimately gives Beijing veto power over major decisions, people close to the institution said.

China’s Slow Internet a Drag on Businesses, European Chamber Says (June 10, 2015, China Real Time)
China’s slow Internet speed and censorship of an ever-growing number of websites are having a negative impact on businesses in the country, according to a new survey by the European Chamber of Commerce in China. And Jörg Wuttke, the chamber’s president, has some advice for those seeking to take up the issue with China’s government.

History / Culture

Just joking! Westerners are changing the face of comedy in China (June 4, 2015, Global Times)
Have you heard the one about the foreign comic in Shanghai? Neither have most people. Still in its nascent stages and relegated to the backrooms of bars, stand-up comedy is struggling to break into Shanghai's mainstream nightlife.

The Chinese Chinese Room (June 11, 2015, Sinosplice)
I’ve been listening to a series of lectures called Philosophy of Mind: Brains, Consciousness, and Thinking Machines. A lot of these concepts I’ve read about before, but it’s nice to have everything together in a coherent set. One of the topics covered refers to the Chinese Room, an anti-AI argument devised by philosopher John Searle.

Arts / Entertainment / Media

Your Guide To Chinese Reality TV (June 4, 2015, The World of Chinese)
In recent years, reality TV shows have taken entertainment to a new level in China. What originally began as potential car-crash TV, has now become a vehicle for irrelevant celebs to reintroduce themselves, or a way for established celebs to earn easy money. Here, we take a look at 6 types of reality TV that have been invading Chinese programming.

Travel / Food

A Smorgasbord With Chinese Characteristics (June 5, 2015, Roads and Kingdoms)
When I emerge from the confines of an office building around 8 am for the day’s first taste of food and glimpse of sunshine, a half-block of restaurants and stalls tucked away in western Beijing serves as a breakfast dàzáhuì (smorgasbord… with Chinese characteristics) for me and its many patrons.

Understanding Yangtze River Tourism Beyond Last Week’s Fatal Accident (June 7, 2015, Skift)
The Yangtze is a top tourist attraction in China, and boats offer mostly four- or five-day trips to and from the metropolis of Chongqing. Slow-sailing cruise boats offer spectacular views and short stops at historical and cultural sites, such as the world-famous Three Gorges Dam and the more mysterious Fengdu Ghost Town, which got its reputation from a local folklore.

Better than a sandwich (June 8, 2015, Outside-In)
I have some friends from Beijing visiting for a couple of weeks, which is always a rip-roaring good time. One of the fun (and sometimes challenging) things is keeping them well-fed. They are not enamored with a lot of American food, so I’ve been trying to make sure they get a Chinese meal in every other day or so. We all know about comfort food, right?

Beijing and Shanghai are keeping New York and Los Angeles tourism flush with cash (June 8, 2015, Quartz)
New York and Los Angeles, the most popular destination cities in the US, can thank two of China’s largest metros—Beijing and Shanghai—for some of their biggest-spending tourists. This year Beijing will be the top “feeder city” for New York in terms of tourist spending, according to the MasterCard 2015 Global Destination Cities Index (pdf). This is despite four other cities—London, Sao Paulo, Paris, and Toronto—supplying a greater number of tourists.

After Decades of Hard Work China’s Seniors Are Ready for Tourism (June 9, 2015, Skift)
Travel agencies and packages catering to elderly Chinese say business is booming, amid overall growth in the country’s travel industry. The number of senior tourists in China jumped by 58 percent last year compared to 2013, according to the state-run China Daily newspaper, and 62 percent of Chinese senior citizens join organized tours.

Language / Language Learning

Learning Mandarin Chinese: 5 Great Ideas to Improve Your Skills (June 9, 2015, Outside-In)
Learning Mandarin Chinese can be undertaken via a wide variety of methods. Recently, we at Learn Mandarin Now spent considerable time interviewing a number of Chinese language teachers, students and experts in order to find out about the preferred methods to effectively learn Chinese. We are now pleased to share with you five great ideas to improve your learning skills.

Articles for Researchers

Journal of Chinese Religions (Maney Online)

30 Lawyers’ Proposal on Halting Foreign NGO Law (June 3, 2015, China Digital Times)
The text below is a proposal by 30 Chinese lawyers to the National People’s Congress for the abandonment of the proposed Foreign NGO Management Law.

Full Text: Progress in China's Human Rights in 2014 (10) (June 8, 2015, Global Times)

China in 1989 and 2015: Tiananmen, Human Rights, and Democracy (Congressional-Executive Commission on China)

Image credit: Mao Buttons, by 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