ZGBriefs | March 12, 2015

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

Why Has This Environmental Documentary Gone Viral on China’s Internet? (March 3, 2015, China File)
In a country where media is tightly controlled, it is surprising, if not unprecedented, to see the unimpeded release of a self-funded investigative documentary about one of the most sensitive topics challenging China’s growth, especially when the film is critical of more than a few government agencies and is circulating so widely just ahead of the annual convening of China’s main legislative body. Following below are contributor reactions to what has been described at China’s “Inconvenient Truth.”

Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs

Why a Confucian revival and the Internet could have unexpected consequences for China (March 4, 2015, Brookings)
For much of China’s imperial age, Confucius served – unwillingly – as a tool of autocratic emperors. Today, China’s new emperors – the leaders of the Communist Party – are again turning to Confucius to build support for their dictatorial rule. However, the Communists can’t ensure their political future by relying on the country’s philosophical past.

5 Takeaways From China’s State-of-the-Nation Speech (March 4, 2015, China Real Time)
With a state-of-the-nation speech, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang announced an era of slower growth, saying “China’s economic development has entered a new normal.” The nearly 100-minute speech inside Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on Thursday outlined the Chinese government priorities for the coming year. The overriding imperative: generating enough growth to keep people happy while the government guides a transition away from smokestack industries to services.

The Coming Chinese Crackup (March 6, 2015, China Real Time)
Despite appearances, China’s political system is badly broken, and nobody knows it better than the Communist Party itself. China’s strongman leader, Xi Jinping , is hoping that a crackdown on dissent and corruption will shore up the party’s rule. He is determined to avoid becoming the Mikhail Gorbachev of China, presiding over the party’s collapse. But instead of being the antithesis of Mr. Gorbachev, Mr. Xi may well wind up having the same effect. His despotism is severely stressing China’s system and society—and bringing it closer to a breaking point.

David Shambaugh's Wishful Thinking (March 6, 2015, Maoxian)
David Shambaugh, the academic and think tanker, posted a piece in the Wall Street Journal titled "The Coming Chinese Crackup." I didn't find his argument that "China’s system and society … [is now] closer to a breaking point" persuasive in the least.

Xi carries on China's tradition of political slogans (March 6, 2015, AP)
Political slogans have been a mainstay of Chinese life dating back to Mao Zedong, the founder of the People's Republic. President Xi Jinping is carrying on that tradition with two of his slogans, "Chinese Dream of the Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation" and the "Four Comprehensives," that are getting attention during the annual session of the national legislature this week.

How Xi Jinping’s presidency was shaped by traumas of Mao and Gorbachev (March 6, 2015, The Guardian)
For if Xi casts himself as the man to save the Communist party from its demons, he is also a man obsessively determined to retain full control of any reform process, in ways that Mao and Gorbachev did not do. The twin traumas help explain why he won’t allow the people to drive any process of change. His determination to crack down on corruption, for example, is matched by an equal resolve to exclude the public from participating in that campaign, lest the forces he unleashes spin out of control.

China Parliamentary Meeting is Xi’s Show, Even When It’s Not (March 6, 2015, China Real Time)
Xi has been noticeably more active than his predecessors in securing a higher profile for himself at these annual meetings. He’s gathered with a variety of delegates as is his prerogative, but Party media has given those encounters extensive play, including emphasizing Xi’s views on matters that would normally be part of the premier’s portfolio.

China warns Britain over MPs report on 'eroded' Hong Kong freedoms (March 6, 2015, AFP)
China said Britain had "no right to interfere" in Hong Kong on Friday following a report by British MPs that warned of an erosion of freedoms in the city. Britain's influential Foreign Affairs Committee report released late Thursday said the country's former colony could face a "crisis of governance" unless tensions over how it is ruled are resolved. The committee's chairman Richard Ottaway said the "real concern is that a high degree of autonomy is being eroded" — particularly over political reforms and press freedoms.

Move Over Mao: Beloved ‘Papa Xi’ Awes China (March 7, 2015, The New York Times)
Not since Mao dominated the nation with his masterly blend of populism, fervor and fear has a Chinese leader commanded so much public awe. Deng Xiaoping was a formidable power, but he disavowed the mania of the Mao era. Since then, fawning public displays over political leaders have been taboo. Mr. Xi’s immediate predecessor, Hu Jintao, made a virtue of dull self-effacement. Not Papa Xi.

In a Test of Wills, Japanese Fighter Pilots Confront Chinese (March 8, 2015, The New York Times)
The high-velocity encounters over the East China Sea have made the skies above these strategic waters some of the tensest in the region, unnerving Pentagon planners concerned that a slip-up could cause a war with the potential to drag in the United States. Japan’s refusal to back down over months of consistent challenges also represents a rare display of military spine by this long-dovish nation, and one that underscores just how far the rise of China and its forceful campaign to control nearby seas has pushed Japan out of its pacifist shell.

I Have No Idea What’s Going to Happen in China and Neither Do You (March 9, 2015, SinoStand)
By now, most China watchers have probably seen this piece by David Shambaugh cogently arguing that “the endgame of communist rule in China has begun.” If you want to see an equally cogent argument lead to a very different conclusion, you can see Arthur Kroeber’s piece from December about how Xi Jinping and his governing style are here to stay. Both make for interesting reading, as do the countless other pundits who’ve made similar arguments on both sides of the CCP endurance question over the years. If they hadn’t wrapped all their interesting points together into a grand thesis predicting the future of the Communist Party, they would have been quite insightful. However, they did make rather firm conclusions, and that’s rather pointless. That’s because…We really have no idea what’s going on in China right now

Yao Ming Stands Up — Real Tall — for Chinese-Style Democracy (March 9, 2015, China Real Time)
China’s basketball star Yao Ming has a message for any journalist who thinks his role in the Chinese government is just part of a parade: Stop asking for an autograph and get to work. In a press briefing meant to explain the advantages of what the Chinese government calls “consultative democracy,” a process by which it taps those of fame and fortune to represent its people on the big advisory board, one journalist was dubious of the former NBA player’s government position.

Concern for women's rights activists detained in China (March 9, 2015, BBC)
Supporters of five women's rights activists detained in China say they are concerned for their welfare. The women were taken into police custody last week in the run-up to International Women's Day on Sunday. Activists said that the detainees were planning to hold public campaigns against sexual harassment.

National security? China ready to slam door on foreign NGOs. (March 10, 2015, Christian Science Monitor)
After years of operating in a precarious legal limbo, foreign non-governmental organizations in China are facing a moment of truth that could force many of them to close their doors. The Chinese government is drafting a new foreign NGO law that is widely expected to make work more difficult, if not impossible, for many of the 6,000 overseas non-profits that operate here in a broad range of fields from education and the environment to HIV-Aids and legal education.

Xi aspiring to equal Mao and Deng (March 10, 2015, Asia Times Online)
President Xi Jinping, barely two years in office, has laid claim to being the third most powerful politician of post-liberation China following Mao Zedong and the architect of the country's economic reforms, Deng Xiaoping. The zealousness with which the party's propaganda machinery is eulogizing his words of wisdom smacks of the cult of personality. 

Chinese Xinjiang Muslims 'fighting with IS' (March 11, 2015, BBC)
Chinese Muslims from Xinjiang have fought alongside Islamic State militants, a top Chinese official says. The comments came from Zhang Chunxian, party chief in Xinjiang, which is home to the Uighur Muslim minority group. Mr Zhang said some of the fighters had returned to Xinjiang "to participate in terrorist plots", but gave no further details.

Is Xi Jinping protecting himself from an internal threat? China president reshuffles elite security unit (March 11, 2015, South China Morning Post)
President Xi Jinping has reshuffled the Central Security Bureau that is in charge of his personal safety, three separate sources have told the South China Morning Post. Major General Wang Shaojun, the executive deputy commander of the bureau, has been promoted to lead it and also the Central Guard Regiment. The bureau's incumbent commander, Lieutenant General Cao Qing, is being transferred to the Beijing Military Area Command as its deputy commander, the sources said.

Religion

Challenges for the Church in China (OMF International)
The Chinese church has experienced explosive growth over the last 40 years and has also matured. What are the greatest challenges facing it in the 21^st century?

Post-Conference Reflections on Expatriate Ministry in China (March 6, 2015, ChinaSource Blog)
I doubt we will see any substantial changes to the patterns of the Thailand exodus in the foreseeable future. But the observations gleaned from this year’s Thailand conference circuit provide a very clear indication of the trends that will shape expat ministry in China over the next few years.

China challenge for Pope Francis (March 6, 2015, Asia Times Online)
In less than 20 years, Protestants of all denominations in China went from being less than 1% of the population to about 10% while the number of Roman Catholics has fallen to less than 1% of the population. As Pope Francis seeks to revolutionize Church affairs against the opposition of many in the Curia, China may become part of an existential issue for the Church.

The Boss Christians of Wenzhou (March 6, 2015, The Diplomat)
A July 2010 NPR report featured a woman named Yao Hong, who considers Christianity patriotic. “If you look at the U.S. or England […] their churches are rich,” she said, “because God blesses them. So I pray for China.” This brand of capitalist Christianity, which some would argue is self-contradictory, is best exemplified by the boss Christians, or laoban jidutu, so named because they are in fact Christian bosses of their companies. The article describes one such person, Zheng Shengtao, the biggest boss Christian in Wenzhou, and one of the richest men in China, who believes he serves God by making money.

What Are Our Young People Thinking: Post 90s Generation (March 10, 2015, Chinese Church Voices)
Post-90s youth value friendship and are willing to pay an enormous price for a friend. For them, a very important daily activity has become spending time with a close group of friends from childhood.

Official claims China has ‘best religious policy in the world’ (March 10, 2015, The Telegraph)
A prominent Islamic leader from China’s violence-stricken west has claimed the Communist Party’s religious policies are the "best in the world", despite activists accusing Beijing of waging an increasingly repressive campaign against religion. Speaking on Tuesday morning, Abudulrekep Tumniyaz, a pro-government cleric, painted an unusually rosy picture of religious affairs in Xinjiang, a sprawling border region that is currently witnessing a major government offensive against religious extremism and terrorism. “Our religious policy is the best in the world,” Mr Abudulrekep, the dean of the Xinjiang Islamic Institute, told a session of China’s annual rubber stamp parliament.

Society / Life

Wedding wows: How the one-child policy changed Chinese nuptials (February 28, 2015, The Economist)
The change in wedding frippery also reflects a fundamental shift in society. For the first time in the history of Chinese family life, the child—rather than ancestors or parents—is regarded as the centre of the family, says Yan Yunxiang of the University of California, Los Angeles. Most newly-weds now are single children, born since the one-child policy was introduced more than 30 years ago. Parents have more to spend if they only have to fork out for one wedding (they usually share costs with the spouse-to-be’s family).

Hilarious English Names Chinese People Choose (March 5, 2015, The World of Chinese)
As English teachers at Renda (Renmin University), we had the awesome responsibility of giving our students their first English name. I went with conventional names like Carol and Fred, while my colleague, the future Mr. Magic, gave his female students saucier names like Roxanne (from the Police song) and Mercedes. Over the years in China since my first stint at Renda, I’ve become acquainted with some Chinese folks with colorful English names you wouldn’t normally encounter in the West.

Fading Hope and Little Help for Families of Flight 370 Passengers (March 5, 2015, TIME)
One year on, the relatives of Chinese passengers face plenty of harassment and grief, but few answers.

China knife attack suspect shot dead after wounding nine people (March 6, 2015, The Guardian)
At least two assailants armed with knives have attacked people at a train station in southern China, injuring nine before police fatally shot one of the suspects, officials said. The second suspect was captured, police in the city of Guangzhou said in a statement. The incident was still under investigation and a motive had not been determined, police said.

China’s Good Girls Want Tattoos (March 9, 2015, Tea Leaf Nation)
It seems that Chinese men don’t want to marry a girl with tattoos,”complained one such girl on the Chinese online discussion platform, Douban. She posted a picture of her body art, an abstract design on her lower back. “In East Asian cultural circles, normal people wouldn’t get tattoos,” responded one user. “After all, this isn’t America.”

Tang Yinghong: Why “Under the Dome” Went Viral (March 9, 2015, China Digital Times)
While an anonymous essay earlier attempted to explain the reasoning behind the official backlash against the film, psychologist and frequent popular science writer Tang Yinghong (唐映红) explains the psychology behind the film’s record-setting virality in a post from his personal WeChat account.

China by the Lists (March 10, 2015, ChinaSource Blog)
To usher in the Year of the Sheep, President Xi Jinping has placed his indelible stamp on Chinese history by unveiling the Four Comprehensives. In so doing, Xi continues a long tradition of Chinese leaders wrapping up complex policy packages into concise numbered lists with catchy names.

Beijing Scholar Criticizes Red Chinese-Character Banners Throughout City (March 10, 2015, The Beijinger)
A Beijing-based scholar has criticized the big Chinese-character slogans and banners seen at intersections and subway stations as “creating confusion about the city’s international image,” ecns reports. Xu Lin, who is not only a scholar but also a member of the CPPCC National Committee and director-general of the Confucius Institute headquarters, emphasizes that foreigners may not see Beijing for the international heaven that it really is because of the banners. On top of that, many of them are translated into English incorrectly, or awkwardly, and may create confusion.

Shanghai Voted Best City For Expats (March 10, 2015, The World of Chinese)
For all their griping about China, expats often love their lifestyles here – but which place do they love the best? Pollsters have done what pollsters do best, and revealed that Shanghai is once again the most attractive city for expats – no doubt the Beijing expat loyalists just let out a howl of dismay.

The father searching for his abducted son (March 11, 2015, BBC)
An illegal market in children has developed in China, in which babies are being openly sold online. Police say many of the victims are from the estimated 20,000 children abducted each year – a crime with a devastating impact on separated children and parents.

Education / History

What Is Wrong With Chinese Universities? (February 28, 2015, of L.A. Review Blogs)
It depends who you ask. A Communist Party official might tell you that the most pressing problem is pernicious “Western” values espoused by certain university professors. Colleges and universities, they might continue, “need to champion core socialist values.” University professors have sometimes expressed a different view: not being able to access resources like Google Scholar, they argue, prevents them from doing their job. Of course, students might list the usual litany of problems: small dorm rooms, boring teachers, bad food in the cafeteria. If you ask this question of Zhang Ming, a professor at People’s University in Beijing, he will probably ask how much time you have — because he has a lot to say.

Health / Environment

Watch: Chai Jing's review: Under the Dome – Investigating China’s Smog 柴静雾霾调查：穹顶之下 (with English subtitles) (YouTube)

How The Us Embassy Tweeted To Clear Beijing’s Air (March 6, 2015, Wired)
When the US Embassy in Beijing started tweeting data from an air-quality monitor, no one could have anticipated its far-reaching consequences: It triggered profound change in China’s environmental policy, advanced air-quality science in some of the world’s most polluted cities, and prompted similar efforts in neighboring countries.

China cannot relent on effort to tackle pollution: minister (March 7, 2015, Reuters)
China cannot relent on efforts to tackle pollution, though a rapid turnaround should not be expected, the environment minister told a news conference on Saturday during China's annual parliamentary meeting. The country's environmental laws were still not as strong as its economic laws, and innovation was also weak, said the newly appointed minister, Chen Jining. China would also step up international cooperation on the environment this year, he said.

Education

Video: Pollution film 'disappears' from websites in China (March 7, 2015, BBC)
Authorities in China appear to have removed from websites a popular local documentary which highlights the country's problems with severe pollution. The film – entitled Under the Dome – looks at the social and health costs of pollution in China.

Now You See It; Now You Don’t (March 9, 2015, Outside-In)
Well, that finally happened on March 6. With the authorities apparently feeling that 200 million viewers were a significantly greater threat to social stability than 100 million, the order went out for its removal from the Internet. Social media sites were told to disable sharing of the video and by Friday night it was gone from China’s major video sites, Youku and Tudou. Now you see it; now you don’t!

Economics / Trade / Business

China by the Numbers (March 5, 2015, Bloomberg)
China's Premier Li Keqiang Thursday announced a slower economic growth target of about 7% for 2015. Is that bad news for the world? Some of the other numbers detailed in his 39-page work report suggest there's still plenty of demand stemming from the world's second-largest economy.

Amazon opens second shop on Alibaba's Chinese Tmall.com (March 6, 2015, BBC)
Amazon, the US online retail giant, has opened another shop on rival Alibaba's Tmall marketplace in China. Amazon is offering food, women's footwear, toys and kitchenware on the platform in an attempt to expand further into the huge Chinese market. It launched a shop for its Kindle e-book reader on Tmall last year and has had an online presence in the country since 2011. Tmall hosts nearly half of all Chinese business-to-consumer transactions.

China to raise retirement age as pressure on pension fund rises (March 9, 2015, Reuters)
China's pension fund will come under tremendous pressure to break even in coming years and as such, the government needs to gradually raise the official retirement age to salvage the finances, a top official said on Tuesday. Yin Weimin, minister of human resources and social security, said the government will gradually raise the official retirement age, which is as low as 50 for some female workers, but stressed that any policy changes will be phased in over five years. He did not say when retirement ages will be raised.

You can already buy a fake Apple Watch in China (March 10, 2015, CNN)
The Apple Watch doesn't go on sale officially for more than a month, but China is already awash with clones. Knockoff versions of the Apple Watch can be found at Huaqiangbei electronics market in the southern city of Shenzhen, and others are being sold nationwide via popular e-commerce websites.

China’s Jobs Picture Darkens (March 11, 2015, The Wall Street Journal)
The number of new jobs created in urban China slowed sharply in the first two months of this year, China’s labor minister said, while a private employment survey suggested a sharp pickup in hiring was unlikely to happen anytime soon.

Made in China: Beijing plans new wave of state firm consolidation (March 11, 2015, Reuters)
China is poised to embark on a fresh round of industrial consolidation, as part of a sweeping plan to reinvigorate the country’s inefficient state-owned enterprises and raise the global competitiveness of domestic industry. The initiative, dubbed "Made in China 2025", focuses on promoting key sectors, led by railways and nuclear power plant construction, in offshore markets, in Beijing's latest move to create leading international giants.

History / Culture

Secret historians preserve past in China amid state amnesia (March 11, 2015, AP)
In his small ground-floor apartment just a few blocks from Beijing's landmark Bird's Nest stadium, Chinese language teacher, writer and do-it-yourself documentary maker Xu Xing is urgently preserving what he can of China's forbidden past. Traveling usually by himself all over the country, the tall 58-year-old has recorded hours of interviews with everyday Chinese who were jailed, sometimes for years, on the barest of political charges during the decade-long spasm of social chaos known as the Cultural Revolution. Xu has edited that footage into documentaries that he only shows to those he trusts, in living rooms and coffee houses, preserving for history memories kept secret for decades.

Science / Technology

Security firm finds preinstalled malware on Xiaomi Mi 4 smartphone (March 7, 2015, Venture Beat)
Data security firm Bluebox has discovered preinstalled malware and a host of other issues with a Xiaomi Mi 4 device the company tested. Scarier still, the phone seems to have been tampered with by an unidentified third party. Bluebox first issued a report.

Arts / Entertainment / Media

7 Types of Chinese TV Shows You Should Know (March 10, 2015, Project Pengyou)
Chinese people love watching TV just like everyone else, and they talk about it with a passion whenever a hit show sweeps the country. Let’s take a look at the most common types of shows you’ll see on a Chinese TV channel on a day-to-day basis.

Travel / Food

Direct flight to link Nanjing, Los Angeles (March 8, 2015, China Daily)
China Eastern Airline will launch a direct flight connecting Nanjing, capital city of East China's Jiangsu province, and Los Angeles on June 30, the carrier has said. This will be the first air route linking Jiangsu province, one of China's major economic powerhouses, with the United States.

China, Canada Establish New 10-Year Visa Scheme (March 10, 2015, The Beijiinger)
Qualified passport holders from Canada and the People's Republic of China are now able to apply for visas in each other's countries that will be valid for up to 10 years. 

Language / Language Learning

Three steps to more and better Chinese listening practice (March 11, 2015, Hacking Chinese)
This month’s challenge is about improving listening ability, so in this article, I want to focus on the listening part of immersion. Listening ability is a tricky beast. While there are some things to say about how to improve, it’s much more about exposure than anything else. You learn to understand Chinese by listening to Chinese, preferably with varied input from different speakers and, once you reach an intermediate level, with different regional accents.

Books

Review: Michael Meyer’s ‘In Manchuria’ Documents a Changing Rural China (March 8, 2015, The New York Times)
In Chinese, the region that was once the cradle of the mighty Qing dynasty is today rather prosaically known as Dongbei, the Northeast. Home to 110 million people, it has smoggy cities and bitingly cold weather. It can seem drab or worse to a visitor. But Michael Meyer has a more refined sense of history and poetry, and with his new book, “In Manchuria: A Village Called Wasteland and the Transformation of Rural China,” he seizes the opportunity to dig beneath the region’s gritty surfaces.

Tea Tuesdays: The Scottish Spy Who Stole China's Tea Empire (March 10, 2015, NPR)
For All the Tea In China: How England Stole the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History is writer Sarah Rose's account of the effort to control the tea market, what she calls the "greatest single act of corporate espionage in history."

Image credit: Taxi washer in midnight, by Peng Zhang, via Flickr