ZGBriefs | November 14, 2024

Featured Article

Guangzhou: “I Truly Love This City” (November 7, 2024, China Partnership)
Guangzhou, a city of about 19 million, is one of the most important trade cities in China and the world. The city sits near the head of the Pearl River Delta, and for many years has been the means through which foreign influence first entered Mainland China. Guangzhou is famous for its Cantonese culture, and believers in the area say their city is comfortable, laid back, and simultaneously treasures its history while being an up-to-date and modern metropolis.

Events

China’s Crisis of Faith and the Struggle Over Moral Authority (Asia Society Policy Institute)
But for millions of Chinese, the quest for spiritual fulfillment is deeply personal. Join the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis (CCA) for a virtual discussion on the battle for the hearts and minds of China’s faithful featuring Pulitzer Prize–winning author Ian Johnson, Duke Divinity School Professor Xi Lian, and Whitman College Assistant Professor Yuan Xiaobo. The discussion will be moderated by CCA Fellow G.A. Donovan.
ONLINE
Tue 19 Nov 2024
12 – 1 p.m. (New York Time)

Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs

The Inner Workings of a Chinese Embassy (November 11, 2024, The Diplomat)
Perhaps nothing illustrates the fragmentation of Chinese foreign policy better than its embassies worldwide. While embassies are commonly perceived as unified entities representing their countries abroad, a closer look at China’s embassy system reveals a complex assembly of diverse and sometimes conflicting agencies. 

Satellite Images and Documents Indicate China Working on Nuclear Propulsion for New Aircraft Carrier (November 11, 2024, AP News)
China’s navy is already the world’s largest numerically, and it has been rapidly modernizing. Adding nuclear-powered carriers to its fleet would be a major step in realizing its ambitions for a true “blue-water” force capable of operating in seas far from China in a growing global challenge to the United States.

Chinese Perspectives on the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election (November 5, 2024, China Digital Times)
In China, initially reticent coverage by state media has given way to editorializing about the “unprecedented chaos” of the race and depictions of American democracy as a “messy” affair. Cartoons published this week by China Daily and the Global Times deride the enormous cost of the election and a “tide” of vitriol that is depicted as being spewed by both political parties, threatening to drown the American public.

The Tibet-Aid Project and Settler Colonialism in China’s Borderlands (November 12, 2024, Made In China Journal)
In this essay, I briefly examine the flawed hero complex driving the Tibet-Aid Project and argue that, despite its limitations, Xi Jinping remains resolute in completing what Emily Yeh (2013) labelled the ‘taming of Tibet’. By unleashing a new legion of Han officials and settlers on to the Tibetan Plateau, Xi seeks to complete the discursive, demographic, and cultural integration of Tibet into a new Han empire.

Religion

The Catholic Church in China (Autumn, 2024, ChinaSource Quarterlies)
The autumn 2024 issue of ChinaSource Quarterly, focusing on the Catholic Church in China, is a timely and commendable contribution to understanding the unique experiences of Chinese Catholics. As someone who has been involved with China for over 60 years, I’ve witnessed the shifts in Sino-Catholic relations, from the closed society of the Mao era to the cautious engagements of today. This Quarterly issue is especially significant, addressing both longstanding and emerging challenges faced by Catholics in China amidst ongoing socio-political pressures.

From Law to Light (November 8, 2024, ChinaSource)
In the 1920s and 1930s, John C. H. Wu was one of China’s brightest young intellectuals. After receiving a traditional Chinese education as a child at the end of the Qing Dynasty, Wu was taught by American missionaries and discovered an attraction to the study of law. Extraordinarily gifted in learning, by his early twenties he had won prestigious scholarships to study law in the US, France, and Germany. He studied under some of the best legal philosophers of the time and published articles in leading journals. By the late 1930s, back in China, he had found great success as a legislator and judge, and drafted the constitution for the Republic of China. He had reached the pinnacle of his profession and attained fame and wealth, yet he described his internal state as “misery.”

Divine Dance (November 5, 2024, ChinaSource)
Generations of Chinese Christian evangelists and scholars have attempted to synthesize Chinese traditional spiritualities with Christian faith. Just to name a few: Wu Li (吴历, 1632–1718) was the first to create Chinese Christian poetry that effectively contextualized traditional Chinese poetic structure with Christian themes; John C. H. Wu(吴经熊,1899–1986) wrote extensively on Christian spirituality and Chinese literature, seeking to bridge the gap between Western and Eastern thought; Watchman Nee (倪柝声, 1903–1972) taught a deep intimacy with Christ that has influenced indigenous Chinese Christian thought and movement to this day. As we enter the era of global missions from everywhere to everywhere, what would Chinese Christian spirituality look like?

A Peaceful World: The Story of An Ning, Part 2 (November 11, 2024, China Partnership)
This is the second article we have published this fall mourning the passing of the older generation of Chinese Christian leaders, the believers who steered the Chinese church through the dark days of the Cultural Revolution and severe suppression of their faith. Many of these believers spent years in jail for their faith, and younger Chinese Christians look up to them for their sincerity, piety, and faithfulness as they walked the road of the cross and followed Jesus through suffering.

Society / Life

China’s Urban Question: The Other Side of the Agrarian Question (November 7, 2024, Made in China Journal)
In China, the status of the peasant shifted over time from potent guerilla force of the revolution, to idealised collective labourer of the Cultural Revolution, only to return once more to the symbol of agrarian backwardness of the post-Mao market reforms. This notion that China’s ‘peasantry’ is destined to ‘disappear’ has continued to underpin China’s development thinking and policies in recent decades.

Tens of Thousands of Chinese Students Went Cycling at Night. That Put the Government on Edge (November 11, 2024, 2024, CNN)
They arrived in huge numbers on shared bikes after pedaling 30 miles in the evening chill, pumped by the adrenaline of youth and the thrill of embarking on a spontaneous adventure with friends. Nighttime bike rides to Kaifeng, an ancient city in central China’s Henan province known for its historic sites and soup dumplings, have been all the rage among college students in the nearby provincial capital Zhengzhou – a trend initially encouraged by the government as it sought to promote local tourism.

Hope in Hardship: How an Illiterate Woman ‘Wrote’ Her Memoir (November 8, 2024, Sixth Tone)
Ad Bel grew up in an impoverished village in China’s southwestern Guizhou province in the 1960s. Legally named Li Yuchun, she goes by her ethnic Miao name, which means “Thorns by the Roadside.” After a lifetime of struggles, including having to escape the clutches of human traffickers, in 2022, she overcame her illiteracy to publish an autobiography, “Ad Bel,” saying she hopes it will help her two daughters avoid similar hardships.

Why China’s Soccer Reforms Are Struggling to Deliver (November 11, 2024, Sixth Tone)
China has ambitions of becoming a soccer powerhouse by 2050, but years of reforms have yet to lead to a sustained uptick in results on the field. The Chinese men’s national team currently sits bottom of its Asian qualifying group for the 2026 World Cup after a string of embarrassing defeats.

Dozens Killed in China After Car Driven Into Sports Centre (November 12, 2024, The Guardian)
A driver killed 35 people and severely injured another 43 when he rammed his car into people exercising at a sports centre in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai, police said on Tuesday. Police had detained a 62-year-old man at the sports centre in Zhuhai after the ramming late on Monday, on the eve of an airshow by the People’s Liberation Army that is hosted annually in the city.

‘Taking revenge on society’: Deadly car attack sparks questions in China (November 13, 2024, BBC)
On social media, many are discussing the social phenomenon of “taking revenge on society”, where individuals act on personal grievances by attacking strangers. Police said the driver who ploughed into crowds at a stadium in the southern city of Zhuhai on Monday night acted out of unhappiness over a divorce settlement.

Science / Technology

Dinosaurs Unearthed in China May Have Ended With a Collapse, Not a Catastrophe (November 9, 2024, NPR)
For decades, a few hundred miles northeast of Beijing, the Yixian Formation has offered up a treasure trove of exquisite dinosaur fossils dating back to the early Cretaceous (about 145 to 66 million years ago). “It gives us this extraordinary window into the past and into this time where there were very diverse dinosaurs,” says Paul Olsen, an earth scientist at Columbia University. “We’re looking at this snapshot of an ecosystem.”

Arts / Entertainment / Media

Commending a Compliant Press (November 12, 2024, China Media Project)
Last Friday, in cities and counties across China, it was time to celebrate the crucial role journalists play in society. As the festivities unfolded, there was fun and games. But there were also stern reminders of the imperative of press control. Quite unlike the UN’s World Press Freedom Day, which every May is intended as a day of reflection among journalists and media about press freedom and professional ethics, China’s Journalist’s Day is a time for Party and government officials to reiterate the need for collaboration and compliance. 

Chinese State Television Lionises Xi Jinping’s Father in 39-Part Serialised Drama (November 4, 2024, The Guardian)
The show, which has received overwhelmingly positive reviews on China’s closely censored social media platforms, is the latest in a string of mass market productions which focus on glorifying the CCP’s military history. But unlike other popular television shows and films, Time in the Northwest also glorifies Xi Jinping’s personal family history.

China’s ‘Ultrashort’ Dramas Embrace the Mid-Life Crisis (November 7, 2024, Sixth Tone)
At first, many ultrashort dramas targeted younger demographics with sudsy romances or urban fantasies. This year, however, the makers of ultrashort dramas have pivoted to older viewers — a reflection of the country’s booming online “silver economy.”

Language / Language Learning

Four Key Principles to Improve Your Mandarin Listening Comprehension (November 11, 2024, Hacking Chinese)
Listening comprehension is the most powerful skill to develop in Mandarin. Strong listening skills let you engage in conversations, connect meaningfully with others, understand culture and society, and even improve other areas, including speaking.

Taiwan Mandarin vs. Mainland Mandarin (November 12, 2024, Language Log)
In recent weeks and months, we’ve been having many posts and comments about Taiwanese language.  Today’s post is quite different:  it’s all about the difference between Mandarin as spoken on the mainland and as spoken on Taiwan.

Economics / Trade / Business

THE BOX, Youth Energy Center, Creates a New Paradigm for Offline Retail Business in China (November 3, 2024, ChinaSkinny)
Standardized malls filled with similar chains and stores are losing appeal for a generation seeking authenticity and richer experiences. Today’s youth crave something more engaging, something that breaks from routine.  As we’ve covered community marketing and the Tiaohai Village case study, community spaces foster mental well-being by connecting people who share a similar mindset.  For this younger generation, getting outside and engaging in real-world spaces is a form of self-care, especially in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic which impacts the shift in today’s offline retail landscape in China.

What is China’s Singles’ Day and How Is It Celebrated? (November 11, 2024, Chinese Language Institute)
Although not an official holiday, Singles’ Day is celebrated throughout China, and over the years it has gained immense popularity even in other countries. This is a day for singles to self indulge and to treat themselves to presents, fine meals, and a night on the town. Although arguably the notion of “self-care” is somewhat commodified, it is one of the main drivers and methods of branding behind the huge sales created each year on this day.

Gen AI Can Help Retailers Defy China’s Economic Slowdown (October 29, 2024, Bain & Company)
After making its Singles Day debut in 2023, generative artificial intelligence is set to play a bigger role in the 2024 edition of the world’s biggest shopping event, which begins in October and hits a crescendo on November 11.

Travel / Food 

Read Your Way Through Shanghai (November 8, 2024, The New York Times)
It’s easy to get caught up in the heady feeling of being immersed in that Shanghai, where my mother was born. In the decades since she left in 1966, the city has transformed dramatically, but the smells and views of the ultramodern megalopolis it is today continue to fire my senses and feed my imagination. To read the literature of Shanghai is to be caught in this city’s past and future: all its ever-expanding mystery, intrigue, excess and abundance.

China Slides Open Economic and Diplomatic Doors with Visa-Free Travel (November 11, 2024, East Asia Forum)
Since the introduction of visa exemptions in late 2023, foreign tourist arrivals in China have surged. China’s visa-free policies include mutual exemptions, unilateral waivers to select nations and a 144-hour visa-free transit policy. These policies not only reduce time and financial costs for travellers, but also enhance the perceived value of a stopover in China.

Health / Environment

How Feng Shui Can Inspire China’s Quest for Environmental Justice (November 11, 2024, South China Morning Post) 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Tristan Brown’s book Laws of the Land: Fengshui and the State in Qing Dynasty China won the American Historical Association’s John King Fairbank Prize this year. The prize is awarded annually for outstanding scholarship in East Asian history. Brown argues that feng shui embodies an understanding that the overexploitation of natural resources disrupts the balance of nature and undermines social welfare. Industrial projects, mining, railways and telegraph lines were evaluated and debated to balance the needs of modernisation with environmental well-being and people’s livelihoods.

Pray for China

November 10 (Pray For China: A Walk Through History)
On Nov. 10, 1949, Overseas Chinese Mission founder Shi Qisheng (史祈生牧师) and Ou Yangren (欧阳仁姊妹-后笔名涤然) were married. Pastor Shi was born into a Christian family in Fujian in 1920, and became a Christian at a revival service conducted by Dr. Song Shangjie (宋尚节博士- John Sung) in Xiamen in 1934. He attended Bethel Seminary—first in Shanghai and then after the Japanese invasion in Hong Kong—where he graduated in 1945. After the war ended, revival meetings were again held in Xiamen, but due to John Sung’s death, Shi Qisheng became the main speaker. He also served as a pastor in Singapore. In 1958, he moved to New York City and three years later founded the Overseas Chinese Mission in Chinatown. By 1974, Sunday worship attendance exceeded 1,000. By the time he retired in 1983, daughter congregations had been planted in several countries. On July 11, 1984, Shi Qisheng died in Honolulu at age 64. Pray for Overseas Chinese Christians to bear fruit as they share near and far what God has done for their souls. Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul. Psalm 66:16