ZGBriefs | March 6, 2025

Featured Article

The Chinese Migrants Hoping for a New Life in Germany (February 25, 2025, The Guardian)
Their journey from Jiangsu province in eastern China to the small town of Schöppenstedt on the outskirts of Hanover took more than three months and cost thousands of pounds in payments to people smugglers and plane tickets. Starting in August, it culminated with a dangerous wintry trek across the Balkan mountains from Bosnia into the European Union – first Croatia, then Slovenia, Italy, and, finally, Germany.

Sponsored Link
China and the Legacy of Matteo Ricci – A McGrath Institute Lecture by Dr. Anthony Clark (McGrath Institute for Church Life)
The Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci spent a mere 27 years in late Ming Dynasty China, but in that short time, he inaugurated a process of cultural engagement that transformed China, Europe, and the very landscape of global history. Shanghai historian Gu Yulu 顧裕祿 wrote in 1989 that the Catholic mission in China was effective because of Ricci’s method of “adapting Catholicism to the context of China.” What does Matteo Ricci’s legacy say to us in the twenty-first century?
Time: Thursday, March 6 at 4:30 pm USA Eastern time.
Link to livestream: mcgrath.nd.edu/MatteoRicci.

Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs

China Eyes Opportunities as US Scales Back Humanitarian Aid (February 25, 2025, The Christian Science Monitor)
For Li Qiang, the Trump administration’s sudden freeze on foreign aid could not have produced a more striking win – for China.“China goes into the empty spaces, always,” says Mathieu Duchâtel, director of International Studies at the Institut Montaigne, an independent think tank in Paris. “They will seize the opportunity.”

Tightly Choreographed Two Sessions Opens in Beijing as the World Order Roils (March 3, 2025, The Guardian)
As thousands of delegates from across China arrive in Beijing this week to participate in the annual parliamentary session, there is a barely perceptible shift in the mood in the capital. Though few ordinary Chinese pay much attention to goings-on inside the Great Hall of the People, the imposing 1950s modernist building that flanks the western edge of Tiananmen Square, the ripple effects of this week’s conclave can be felt across the city.

Religion

How Not to End Persecution (February 25, 2025, ChinaSource)
The evangelical China story, with its usual focus on religious persecution, highlights the political and social challenges facing China’s Christians. But in bringing the plight of Chinese believers into the global Christian discourse, this narrative also raises the question: what are evangelicals willing to do about it?

Returnee Ministry in the Era of Migration—Local Church as a Community to Receive (March 3, 2025, ChinaSource)
It is encouraging to see the Winter 2024 issue of ChinaSource Quarterly revisiting the timely issue of Chinese returnees (海归). Since the previous issue in 2016, there have been significant global changes that have impacted the landscape and movement of Chinese students. The editors of this latest issue have done an excellent job of compiling articles that present a variety of perspectives—featuring firsthand experiences and expertise from Chinese returnees, Chinese ministers in the US, pastors serving in urban churches in China, and field directors of organizations working in returnee ministry.

Kunming: Pray for the Gospel to Spread (March 3, 2025, China Partnership)
Because Kunming is relatively inclusive, I think of Gal. 3:26-28: “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” I think our church reflects this. No matter what ethnicity, in Christ we are all one family. On one hand, this verse encourages us that we need to serve these ethnic minority groups. On the other hand, we also hope that all churches in Kunming can be united in Christ.

Reaching out to the Disabled and Handicapped (March 4, 2025, ChinaSource)
While Ping has yet to believe, my encounter with him reminded me of the need to pray for the weak, the vulnerable, and handicapped in this country. Because they are different, they are often pushed aside and ignored. I saw this firsthand on my second trip to China when I visited an orphanage. Children with mental diseases, physical disfigurements, and handicaps filled each room.  

Society / Life

Viral Photo Makes ‘Puppy Mountain’ in China an Instant Sensation (February 26, 2023, The Guardian)
A cliff on the edge of the Yangtze River has become an overnight sensation in China after a Shanghai-based designer posted a photo of it earlier this month likening it to a dog. Guo Qingshan took the photo, which he captioned “Puppy Mountain”, while on a hike near his home town of Yichang, in Hubei province, in late January. When reviewing his images, he saw something he had not noticed before: a mountain shaped like a dog’s head rested on the ground, the tip of its snout at the water’s edge.

China’s Only Solution Yet for Climate-Ravaged Villages: ‘Move Out’ (February 26, 2025, Sixth Tone)
One of Hunan’s largest-ever relocation drives seeks to move entire villages from disaster zones. While many whose homes were destroyed have already moved, those whose homes remain intact face a difficult decision.

Conversations With Chinese Feminists (February 27, 2025, The Diplomat)
Lihua*, sat at the wooden windowsill listening to American pop music and copying quotes from Chinese feminists, such as Lu Yin and Qiu Jin, into a small purple notebook. This was a daily activity for Lihua, as she ran two popular social media accounts dedicated to perpetuating feminist ideals on China’s most active online platforms: Weibo, WeChat, and Xiaohongshu. Her posts sometimes disappeared hours after they appeared online, censored for undermining the CCP’s position that gender equality issues had been “solved” in China. Still, Lihua assured me, the important messages reached millions nationwide.

Bow Down: Times Change for China’s Kowtow Ritual (February 27, 2025, Sixth Tone)
The ritual follows a standard procedure: the younger visitors cross the courtyard and kowtow to the elder family member waiting in the living room, where a large mat has been laid in preparation. Kneeling on both knees, they will bow and touch their foreheads to the ground, then rise and offer seasonal greetings such as “Grandpa, Grandma, Happy New Year.” During the ritual, the seniors will attempt to help their visitors back up, saying, “No need to kowtow, we’re just happy that you came.” 

Economics / Trade / Business

PRC Dominance Over Global Port Infrastructure (February 28, 2025, China Brief – The Jamestown Foundation)
Port infrastructure is key to building this strength. As the world’s largest trading nation, the network effects of the PRC’s extensive control over maritime shipping infrastructure are invaluable. By securing ownership stakes and operational leases in port infrastructure, Chinese firms can streamline global operations and grow their influence over supply chains while providing greater market access and reduced shipping costs for other Chinese companies.

Falling Prices Signal Bigger Troubles Ahead for China’s Economy (March 4, 2025, AP News)
China is experiencing a spell of deflation, or falling prices, that contrasts with inflationary pressures prevailing elsewhere in the world. Cheaper prices can be a blessing for some, but deflation is a symptom of relatively weak demand and stalling economic growth. Such challenges are the backdrop to the annual session of China’s parliament, which begins Wednesday.

Top 5 Marketing Lessons from China February 2025 (March 4, 2025, ChinaSkinny)
February has seen a mix of wins, losses and blunders for foreign brands in China. With the landscape ever evolving, here are some of the top marketing lessons from China, February 2025.

China slaps extra tariffs of up to 15% on imports of major US farm exports and adds trade limits (March 4, 2025, AP)
China responded to new U.S. tariffs by announcing Tuesday it will impose additional tariffs of up to 15% on imports of key U.S. farm products, including chicken, pork, soy and beef, and expanded controls on doing business with key U.S. companies.

Science / Technology

A Journey Through the Hyper-Political World of Microchips (February 27, 2025, The Guardian)
A small town in the Netherlands hosts the only factory that produces the only chip-making machines that generate a type of light found nowhere naturally on Earth: extreme ultraviolet, a light emitted by young stars in outer space. This light, known as EUV, is the only way to make one of the world’s most valuable and important technologies at scale: cutting-edge semiconductor chips. The factory is forbidden from selling its EUV machines to China.

What’s Hiding Behind China’s Great Firewall? (February 28, 2025, National Committee on U.S.-China Relations)
China’s internet is famously walled off from the global web. Despite barriers including censorship and moderation practices, a unique Chinese digital ecosystem has flourished—and unexpectedly, attracted Americans.  The recent temporary exodus of TikTok users to RedNote presented a rare opportunity for American and Chinese peoples to digitally interact on a large scale, sharing views and opinions on the Chinese internet’s own turf. Why is China’s internet so different from the global internet and in what ways can it be a bridge, or barrier, for online exchange? Yaling Jiang joins the National Committee in an interview recorded on February 9, 2025 to introduce China’s internet, its evolution, and forms of censorship that exist within it.

China’s Technological Acceleration (February 28, 2025, ChinaSkinny)
China has started the year of the snake well, including some technological wins. The nation’s rapid technological advancement is reshaping the global landscape, challenging traditional power dynamics in many areas, including artificial intelligence (AI). With initiatives spanning AI breakthroughs, chip self-sufficiency, EVs, green energy and more, alongside a renewed government push for private sector growth, China is positioning itself as a formidable tech leader.

How Did Northeastern Mandarin Become the Official Tongue of Chinese Stand-up Comedy (March 4, 2025 Global Voices)
Since Chinese President Xi Jinping took office in 2013, censorship has tightened in China, and critical commentaries and political satires have vanished on television and online. Instead, stand-up comedians have turned to the country’s diverse and rich cultural resources, particularly dialect humour, to develop their jokes. Against this backdrop, Dongbeihua, or Northeastern Mandarin, has emerged as the official tongue of Chinese standup comedy.

Health / Environment

Podcast – What China’s Planned Mega-Dam Means for Asia (February 24, 2025, Chinese Whispers)
Just before the end of 2024, Chinese state media Xinhua slipped out an announcement – the long discussed mega-dam in Medog County, Tibet, has been greenlit. When built, it will generate three times more energy than China’s Three Gorges dam, currently the largest in the world. The Xinhua write-up gave few other details, but the news has caused reverberations across Asia as the river on which the dam would be built, the Yarlung Tsangpo, flows into both India and Bangladesh.

Living Cross Culturally

The Beijing Christening: Ten Things Every True Beijinger Must Do (February 27, 2025, The Beijinger Blog)
We all know that visiting the Forbidden City or the Great Wall is a Beijing must, but there is a moment when you cross that tourist line and actually begin living the life of a true Beijinger. Here, we’ve compiled a list of some classic and slightly unorthodox but very Beijing things that will tell you if you have gone through your Beijing Christening. 

Language / Language Learning

How To Turn On Type and Translate in WeChat (February 26, 2025, The Beijinger Blog)
We recently discovered a feature on WeChat that automatically translates your text as you type. To use the feature, you simply long press in the text box and select translate. The feature currently supports translating in Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, Japanese and English, although we’ve heard feedback from some Beijinger followers that they have other languages available too.

China Is Winning Its Language War in Tibet (March 4, 2025, The Diplomat)
Three days after he was released from prison in December, a Tibetan village leader named Gonpo Namgyal died. As his body was being prepared for traditional Tibetan funeral rites, marks were found indicating he had been brutally tortured in jail. His crime? Gonpo Namgyal had been part of a campaign to protect the Tibetan language in China.

How did Northeastern Mandarin become the official tongue of Chinese stand-up comedy? (March 4, 2025, Global Voices)
Stand-up comedians have turned to the country’s diverse and rich cultural resources, particularly dialect humour, to develop their jokes. Against this backdrop, Dongbeihua, or Northeastern Mandarin, has emerged as the official tongue of Chinese standup comedy.

Arts / Entertainment / Media

China’s Fragile Online Spaces for Debate (February 21, 2025, Mercator Institute for China Studies)
China’s social media landscape is remarkably diverse, sophisticated and popular. A host of platforms and services cater to the needs of hundreds of millions of users, reflecting the varied preferences and behaviors of the country’s vast and dynamic population. But new government measures seek to further contain the room for debate these platforms offer.

Chinese architect Liu Jiakun wins the 2025 Pritzker Prize (March 4, 2025, NPR)
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.

Events

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)

Pray for China

March 4 (Pray For China: A Walk Through History)
On Mar. 4, 1934, Jin Yamei (金雅妹医生) went to be with Lord at age 70 in Beijing. Jin was adopted by a missionary family in Zhejiang after her parents died when she was 2. She was the first Chinese woman to earn undergraduate and medical degrees overseas, and after practicing in the U.S. for several years, she returned to China in 1888. Although her personal life was full of tragedy, she was a pioneering Christian doctor in many ways—including founding the Chinese Red Cross and serving as a medical college dean in Tianjin. The importance she attached to Christian education was reflected in the decision to leave her estate to Yenching University. Pray for the Lord of Hosts to be glorified by Christian medical personnel who proclaim in word and deed the gospel of salvation found through the bloodstained cross of Jesus Christ. Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Peoples shall yet come, even the inhabitants of many cities. The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, ‘Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts; I myself am going.’ Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the Lord.” Zechariah 8:20-22

Pray For China: A Guided Prayer Resource (February 28, 2025, ChinaSource)
As part of our ongoing effort to promote and mobilize prayer for China, we are highlighting various prayer resources. Today’s post is about “Pray for China,” a prayer initiative started by B.F. Weston. It is an interactive site that matches US states with Chinese provinces.

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