ZGBriefs | March 13, 2025

Featured Article

Video – China Is Hard to Get To for Most Americans. Why? (March 11, 2025, The National Committee on U.S.-China Relations)
Andrew Cap, an English teacher and American media personality in China, explores the obstacles preventing #tourism and #travel to China.

Sponsored Link

Free Lecture | China’s Earliest Christians: Who Were They and What Can We Learn from Them? (ChinaSource)
In 1625, a great stone stele was discovered near modern-day Xi’an that told the story of a Christian presence in Tang Dynasty China during the 700s. The name given to their religion in this stele is Jingjiao (Luminous Teaching). Who were they and what did they believe? In this lecture, Dr. Thompson will introduce us to these early Christians and how their story can inform and inspire the work of the modern church in China.
Date: March 20, 2025
Time:    6:15 — light refreshments
              7:00 –  Lecture & Q&A
Location: Nazareth Hall, University of Northwestern – St. Paul, 3003 Snelling Avenue North, St. Paul, MN 55113
(no live stream, but please register to receive a link to the recording)

Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs

Explained: What Is China’s Two Sessions Meeting? (March 4, 2025, The Guardian)
China’s annual Two Sessions meetings begins this week, with thousands of political and community delegates descending on Beijing from across mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau to ratify legislation, personnel changes and the budget over about two weeks of highly choreographed meetings.

China Will Increase Its Defense Budget 7.2% This Year (March 5, 2025, AP News)
China said Wednesday it will increase its defense budget 7.2% this year, as it continues its campaign to build a larger, more modern military to assert its territorial claims and challenge the U.S. defense lead in Asia. China’s military spending remains the second largest behind the U.S. and it already has the world’s largest navy.

Eastward, Westward: A Life in Law with Jerry Cohen (March 5, 2025, National Committee on U.S. China Relations)
Few Americans have done more to advance the rule of law in East Asia than Jerome A. Cohen. For over 60 years, he has been a scholar, teacher, lawyer, and activist—championing legal reform, fostering economic cooperation, mentoring law students, and helping to resolve international crises. In his memoir, Eastward, Westward: A Life in Law, Professor Cohen shares firsthand insights from his extraordinary career in Sino-American relations.

Viral Two Sessions Proposals of 2025 (March 11, 2025, The World of Chinese)
This past week, thousands of delegates from all walks of life gathered for the country’s annual legislative sessions. Heated discussions erupted over a range of pivotal issues, from the use of AI tools like DeepSeek and declining marriage rates to workplace overtime and the mental health crisis among teenagers.

Religion

Guilin: City of Beauty (March 6, 2025, China Partnership)
This March, we are praying for the southern China city of Guilin. Guilin is famous for its beautiful karst hills, rising up out of the misty air. The area is home to many ethnic minorities, and is one of China’s top tourist destinations. We spoke today with three Guilin pastors, who shared about the culture and gospel history of their beautiful city.

Nestorian? Or Not? (March 7, 2025, ChinaSource)
While most of the steles told the accounts of emperors going hither and yon and engaged in this war or that, or promulgating policies, there was one that was of particular interest to me. It was a black marble stele that told the story of a religion called Jingjiao that had existed in the Chinese empire in the late 600s and early 700s.

Breaking the Cycle: Can Our Denomination Be Revitalized? (March 10, 2025, ChinaSource)
For decades, we have never seriously examined or reflected on the structure of our denomination—because, of course, we had no problems! If something wasn’t working, it had to be someone else’s fault. Naturally. When a church’s system is flawed, it is just like a company with structural problems—no matter how many people come in to serve, they ultimately cannot stay long. Either they become disheartened, or they burn out, leaving them no choice but to “fall in battle”.

Guilin: Restoring the Culture of Fellowship (March 10, 2025, China Partnership)
Three Guilin house church pastors told us about their city, and how it has changed (and stayed the same) in recent years. They say that area churches seem to be growing slowly, but overall, there are not many believers in Guilin. Their city is built around tourism, so Covid had a big impact on Guilin’s economy, and now many people are focusing on making as much money as possible, trying to make up for the time they lost during the pandemic.

Unpacking the Shifting Narrative of Christianity in China (March 11, 2025, ChinaSource)
This issue explores the Sinicization of Christianity, unpacking its historical roots, ideological implications, and contemporary debates. With contributions from leading scholars and experts, the journal examines how this evolving policy—driven by both state directives and grassroots religious dynamics—continues to shape the relationship between faith and politics in China.

Society / Life

Chinese Architect Liu Jiakun Wins the 2025 Pritzker Prize (March 4, 2025, NPR News)
The winner of this year’s Pritzker Architecture Prize, announced Tuesday, is Liu Jiakun. The prize, established in 1979, is commonly referred to as “the Nobel Prize of architecture.” Liu is from Chengdu, in the Sichuan province of China. He was born there in 1956. His childhood was spent roaming the halls of the large brick hospital where his mother worked as an internist. “Sometimes when we were young, we would go to the roof of the building to see the whole city,” he recalled during a video conference interview with NPR.

“Beijing +30” Inspires Reflection on the Evolution of Gender Equality in China (March 6, 2025, China Digital Times)
Convening next week for its annual gathering, the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) will mark 30 years since the famous Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, also known as the “Beijing conference.” CSW will assess the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a landmark resolution adopted at the conference that provided a comprehensive, progressive framework for achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The Exhausting Lives of China’s ‘Mompreneurs’ (March 8, 2025, Sixth Tone)
Siyuan wakes up at 6 a.m. sharp every day. As the founder of a creative landscaping company in the southern megacity of Shenzhen, the 47-year-old has her schedule set to the minute: At 7:40 a.m., she drops her 6-year-old son off at school, then spends the next hour reading. She arrives at the office at 9, and at noon takes a quick break for lunch and a workout. She picks her son up at 6, then it’s more work or, during slow periods, sports. Even on weekends, her days are packed with hiking or art classes.

Revisiting the End of Zero-Covid (March 10, 2025, Reading The China Dream)
The text translated below is a journalistic study of how many Chinese people reacted to the deaths of their parents or relatives in the period immediately following the relaxation of China’s zero-covid policy in December of 2022.  When I visited China in May of 2023 for the first time since the pandemic, many young people spoke to me passionately about how the end of zero-covid had challenged their basic view of the state, which they had previously assumed to be basically competent and caring, but which proved itself in this instance to be the exact opposite, even as it demanded that the people whistle a happy tune and look to an ever more glorious future.  

Economics / Trade / Business

Chinese Leaders Face Slowing Economy and Rising Citizen Discontent (March 7, 2025, The Christian Science Monitor)
The economic malaise has left China’s citizens far more pessimistic than in past decades about their prospects of getting ahead. Many complain that they cannot advance because the system is unfair and perpetuates inequality, surveys show.

Are China’s Biggest Firms Turning the Page on 996-style Work Culture? (March 10, 2025, South China Morning Post)
Since late February, the employees of DJI – China’s premier drone maker – have conducted an unusual nightly ritual. At precisely 9pm, human resource managers fan out across its Shenzhen headquarters, herding workers from their cubicles as if leading a fire drill. Stragglers are quickly prodded from their desks in service of a new rule; employees must clock out by nine. The scene just minutes later – vacant parking garages, a silent campus – was previously unheard of at the tech company, long known for keeping the lights on well past midnight.

Science / Technology

Meet China’s ‘Six Little Dragons’ (March 5, 2025, Sixth Tone)
Move over Alibaba and Tencent, China has a new set of tech champions. Often referred to as the “six little dragons,” they’re DeepSeek, the Black Myth developer Game Science, robotics firms Unitree and DeepRobotics, Neuralink challenger BrainCo, and spatial intelligence firm ManyCore. And while they may still pale in size relative to their more established peers, they’ve breathed new life into China’s tech sector over the past month.

Human vs. Machine: Beijing’s Next Half Marathon Gets a Mechanical Twist (March 10, 2025, The Beijingers Blog)
Beijing E-Town has hosted a half marathon since at least 2023, and there have been a number of marathons and half marathons around the country that have introduced robot participation, but this is the first year that humanoid robots will compete along the entire length of the course along with human runners. During last year’s Beijing E-Town half marathon, a robot named Tiangong, the brainchild of Beijing Embodied Artificial Intelligence Robotics Innovation Center, or HUMANOID, ran the last 100 meters of the race as a closing pacer, and then cheered them on at the finish line.

History / Culture

Mao Zedong’s First Little Red Book Had Blue Cover and Less Propaganda (March 8, 2025, The Guardian)
The thoughts of Mao Zedong, published in 1964 under the title Quotations, are considered the blueprint for Chinese communism and a guidebook to the Cultural Revolution. The collected soundbites from his speeches and writings have become known the world over as the Little Red Book. But the red-covered Quotations of the former Chinese Communist Party chairman, who died in 1976, aged 82, went through many ideological iterations before the official version was settled on.

Travel / Food

Mandarin Monday: A Meaty Guide to Chinese Sausages (March 10, 2025, The Beijinger Blog)
With tickets for Sausage Fest 2025 now on sale, we thought we’d take a dive into the world of Chinese sausages. The general word for sausage in Mandarin is 香肠 xiāngcháng, which literally means “fragrant intestines” (appetizing, right?). But there are plenty of regional varieties. From the sweet and smoky Cantonese lap cheong to the spicy and garlicky Hunan sausage, there are quite a few to explore… 

Language / Language Learning

The Best YouTube Channels for Learning Chinese in 2025 (March 10, 2025, Hacking Chinese)
Videos are ideal for learning Chinese. The visual element makes the content more comprehensible and engaging, resulting in effective and enjoyable learning. But what videos should you watch? What are the best YouTube Channels? In this article, I’m going to recommend the best YouTube channels I know for learning Chinese. My recommendations are based both on my experience learning and teaching Chinese and student recommendations.

Arts / Entertainment / Media

Ancient Outpost Seeks a New Voice (March 5, 2025, China Media Project)
In a ceremony last week, local propaganda officials in Guyuan signed an agreement for framework cooperation with China Daily, the government-run multiple-language outlet that serves as one of the country’s primary communication vehicles. The agreement corresponded with the official launch of the local “Guyuan International Communication Center” (固原国际传播中心), a rebranded entity under the local propaganda office that will leverage local media content production — and the China Daily relationship — to promote Guyuan to the world. 

Heavy Online Censorship of Articles Critical of Animated Chinese Blockbuster “Ne Zha 2” (March 5, 2025, China Digital Times)
The engaging story, painstaking animation, and box-office success of “Ne Zha 2” have inspired a great deal of pride among the Chinese movie-going public, not to mention birthing a plethora of memes, trends, and social-media hashtags. But this surge of pride has also resulted in the suppression of critical takes on the film and the buzz around it: some critical articles have been deleted from social media platforms, and Chinese bloggers and reviewers have reported being criticized or attacked online for expressing dissenting views.

My Year as a RedNote Professor (March 10, 2025, Sixth Tone)
One video, titled “Three Rules for Applying to an Overseas Ph.D. Program,” has been viewed over 80,000 times. Only then did I start to realize the potential of a site like Xiaohongshu — apparently better known as RedNote abroad — for reaching a pool of students just like the ones I teach in Beijing, only on a much, much larger scale.

Pray for China

March 12 (Pray For China: A Walk Through History)
On Mar. 12, 1925, Dr. Sun Yatsen (孙中山先生), China’s first president, died of liver cancer in Beijing. As a young Christian, Sun was forced to flee his family home after destroying the village idols. Just before his death, he told his only son, “As a Christian I have wrestled with the devil for forty years. You should do likewise and believe in God.” Pray for officials in China to find refuge in Dr. Sun’s Lord. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Psalm 91:1-2

Praying for China | Prayercast (January, 2025, ChinaSource)