ZGBriefs | October 6, 2016

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. Please go here to support ZGBriefs.

Featured Article

How China got its name, and what Chinese call the country (October 5, 2016, South China Morning Post)
During periods when the Chinese nation was unified under one ruling house, the name of the dynasty was also the name of the nation, thus “the Great Tang”, “the Great Qing” and so on. The same principle applied when China was divided, with individual states, great or otherwise, bearing their own names. However, several names have been used to represent the idea of an integral geographic and cultural nation, the most famous one being Zhongguo (“the Middle Kingdom”).

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Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs

China’s President Xi Jinping faces his biggest political test (September 30, 2016, South China Morning Post)
He’s portrayed as most powerful leader since Mao but will he be able to cement his legacy at Communist Party congress next year?

Chinese Purchases of U.S. Companies Have Some in Congress Raising Eyebrows (September 30, 2016, The New York Times)
Movie theaters and studios are rarely the focus of geopolitical conflict. But 16 members of Congress are raising this question: Should foreign acquisition of these kinds of American companies be subject to special scrutiny?

Could Tug-of-War Turn to War With China? (October 4, 2016, Bloomberg)
A fleet of Chinese aircraft thunders into a strategically vital strait. Japan scrambles fighter jets. in other words, business as usual in the waters off China, where peace and $5 trillion of annual trade hang in the balance. only now it's even more worrying than before. Analysts warn of the possibility of armed conflict if tensions rise any higher and somebody misreads an intention — or reads it all too well.

Xi Jinping May Delay Picking China’s Next Leader, Stoking Speculation (October 4, 2016, The New York Times)
Although Mr. Xi’s decision will not be known until late 2017, the suggestion that he intends to break with precedent and begin his second term without a probable successor is magnifying uncertainties about who will rise and who will fall in the expected shake-up, including questions about the fate of the premier, Li Keqiang.

Taiwanese President Tsai: Taiwan Won’t Succumb to China’s Pressure (October 5, 2016, China Real Time)
Though she pledged to maintain the status quo with China, Beijing has sought to exert pressure on Taiwan—something she said Taiwanese will resist. Ms. Tsai sat down with The Wall Street Journal to discuss her first four months in office.

Thailand bars entry to teenage HK activist 'at China's request' (October 5, 2016, Reuters)
Thailand on Wednesday barred entry to a Hong Kong student activist who helped organize pro-democracy protests in the Chinese-ruled city in 2014, with a Thai newspaper saying he had been deported and "blacklisted" at China's request. Bespectacled Joshua Wong, 19, was detained in Bangkok where he had been invited to speak at universities about Hong Kong's "Umbrella Movement" street protests and on setting up his political party, Demosisto.

Start of China's coercive diplomacy towards Singapore (October 6, 2016, Straits Times)
What is at stake in this spat? In the first article, a Chinese academic says the issue points to Beijing's pent-up frustration with Singapore. In the second article, a Singaporean academic lays bare the politics of retaliation.

Religion

The Hook and the Cook: A Portrait of a Mainland Chinese Student in the UK (September 27, 2016, ChinaSource Quarterly)
There are currently over 80,000 mainland Chinese students studying in the UK with approximately 50,000 new students arriving from China each year. However, their relatively short period of stay coupled with the intensity of study presents a special challenge for local churches and Christian organizations to share the gospel with them during this time.

Returnee Ministry at Home and Abroad (September 27, 2016, ChinaSource Quarterly)
Thanks be to God that many overseas churches and organizations have recognized the tidal wave of returning Chinese students. They have responded to God’s call and become greatly involved in the gospel work among these students.

Dennis Balcombe: I Dream Chinese Church Can Be Changed into Church in Acts, to Experience Holy Spirit Revival (September 30, 2016, China Christian Daily)
"I have a dream that our Chinese church should turn into the church in Acts. This is called revival, not merely done with many people or many being baptized. It means that we should recover to the church in the time of Acts." Rev. Dennis Balcombe said in the opening ceremony of 2016 Chinese and Korean Revival Conference held on Jeju Island, Korea, on September 26.

Hospitality, a Comic Book, the Bible, and Lot: A Conversion Story in China (October 3, 2016, From the West Courtyard)
Over the past decade of living in China, I have been privileged to hear a number of wonderful conversion stories. Each is special, but occasionally one stands out as particularly uncommon. The following is one such story.

Red Tape: China Wants to Constrict Christian Activities with 26 New Rules (October 3, 2016, Christianity Today)
This week is the last chance Chinese Christians have to tell their government what they think of its latest religion law. They have an awful lot to comment on.

The Oldest Church in Wuhan (October 4, 2016, Chinese Church Voices)
Many of the church structures in China were originally built by missionaries in the 1800s and early 1900s. Some are tucked away in old neighborhoods; others surrounded by gleaming skyscrapers or towering apartment blocks. All of them have interesting stories.

One Belt, One Road, One Mission? (October 5, 2016, From the West Courtyard)
History has shown that the Holy Spirit may use a variety of means to move God’s people forward in the accomplishment of Christ’s redemptive purpose. “One Belt, One Road” could potentially be another one of those means. But drawing a straight line between OBOR and the success of a new mission movement from China may be overly optimistic, to say the least.

Society / Life

PHOTOS: Typhoon Megi Slams Into Taiwan And Southeast China (September 28, 2016, NPR)

In Beijing, 'historical preservation' effort sends blunt message to migrants (October 2, 2016, Christian Science Monitor)
Workers have built walls in front of many of the small, migrant-owned shops that dot Beijing's traditional hutong alleyways. Beijing is working to rein in urban growth, but critics say policies largely target the migrants who helped build Beijing.

China’s Two Children Policy: A Quick Update (October 2, 2016, China Law Blog)
As promised, here is a follow-up on what’s happening in Guangdong. Pursuant to the amended PRC Law on Population and Family Planning and China’s nationwide two-children policy, major provinces/cities in China have all extended the mandatory maternity leave. As with almost everything having to do with Chinese employment laws, there is a variance in such rules around the nation.

China's elderly population to reach 240m in 2020 (October 2, 2016, China Daily)
China will have 240 million people aged 60 or above by the year of 2020, according to a senior health official. Liu Qian, deputy head of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, was addressing the InterAcademy Partnership for Health 2016 Conference, held on Tuesday and Wednesday in Beijing. By 2020, senior citizens will make up 17 percent of the population, the official said.

Chinese Tourists Take to the Road in Record Numbers for Golden Week (October 4, 2016, The New York Times)
If there is ever a time when one truly understands what it feels like to live alongside 1.4 billion people in the world’s most populous nation, it is the annual Golden Week holiday in China. […]  People’s Daily, the Communist Party newspaper, said 589 million people were expected to travel this week — almost twice the population of the United States.

8 Reasons the U.S. and China are Basically Twins (October 4, 2016, Small Town Laowai)
There are times when it feels like the U.S. and China are the farthest apart you could possibly get in terms of culture, language, and many other aspects of life. However, the two countries actually have quite a bit in common. In fact, when you stop to think about it, you could argue that China and the USA are basically twins.

China concerned about death of Syracuse student from Beijing (October 4, 2016, Syracuse.com)
The Chinese government expressed concern Tuesday about the death of a Syracuse University student from Beijing whose body was found behind an apartment complex near the campus. Yuan Xiaopeng, 23, was found dead after residents nearby reported hearing gunshots Friday.

Welcome to WeChat: Anything You Post May Be Used Against You In A Court of Law (October 4, 2016, What’s on Weibo)
Since October 1st, every selfie and sentence posted on WeChat or Weibo could be used as evidence in court. The new measurement comes after a string of new laws regulating the collection and use of personal electronic information in China over the past few years.

Landslides triggered by typhoon kill 16 in China (October 5, 2016, Toronto Star)
The death toll from two landslides last week in southeastern China following a major typhoon has risen to 16, with searchers finding the bodies of more people reported missing. Rescuers are still at work in Sucun village, in China’s Zhejiang province, where 10 people were confirmed dead Tuesday night.

Chinese people see US as 'top threat' to their country, poll shows (October 5, 2016, The Guardian)
Chinese people believe the United States is the “top threat” facing their country, a new poll shows, with most suspecting the world’s number one economy of trying to “prevent China from becoming an equal power”. A survey by the Washington-based Pew Research Center revealed 45% of Chinese people consider US power and influence to be a “major threat” – more than economic instability (35%), climate change (34%) and Islamic State (15%).

Borderlands: Walking With the Dai People of Yunnan (October 5, 2016, Sixth Tone)
The border of the Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture snakes across the lush, mountainous terrain of China’s Yunnan province and its southwesterly neighbor, Myanmar. Historically, the area’s inhabitants have always migrated frequently across the border. Families were often scattered across both sides, and their close interactions helped establish the friendly rapport that exists between the two nations. 

Beijing’s Skinheads (October 5, 2016, China File)
Skinheads are a rare breed in China. Ma estimates there are only between 10 and 20 of them, mostly in Beijing, with a handful scattered in cities such as Chongqing and Shanghai. “It’s hard to keep statistics, since some people who say they’re skinheads this year won’t be next year.” Ma said that for him, skinhead culture in Beijing is an indistinguishable mix of musical preference, dress code, and specific history—a committed lifestyle choice for him and his friends.

Economics / Trade / Business

Why is China buying up the global supply of donkeys? (September 29, 2016, CNN)
Gelatin produced from donkey hide is a key ingredient of one of China's favorite traditional remedies, known as ejiao, which is used to treat a range of ailments from colds to insomnia. But as the rising power shifts towards advanced industry and away from traditional agriculture, donkeys are in decline.

Beijing reforms household residence policy (October 4, 2016, China Daily)
On Oct 1, as part of the reform of China's residency system, Beijing began issuing residence certificates, ending the 31-year policy of temporary "stay cards" for residents without a Beijing hukou.

China's southern megacities roll out measures to cool property market (October 5, 2016, Reuters)
China's southern megacities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen are the latest centres to impose new measures to cool their overheated real estate markets, including higher mortgage downpayments and home purchase restrictions.

The Art of Estimating China’s Economic Growth (October 6, 2016, China Real Time)
Those in the crystal-ball-gazing business say forecasting economic growth in China presents unique challenges given longstanding misgivings about “the veracity of the statistics,” as Angus Nicholson, analyst with IG Markets Limited, put it.

Education

Constraints on Chinese Campuses (September 29, 2016, Inside Higher Ed)
A U.S. Government Accountability Office review of 12 American universities operating in China identified internet censorship and reports of self-censorship as two key issues.

Chinese “parachute kids” tackle U.S. schools on their own (October 4, 2016, Hechinger Report)
Ryan Ren, 14, loves the soccer fields around his middle school in Arcadia, California. Those don’t exist in his hometown of Guangzhou, China. But Ryan, now a student at Dana Middle School, hasn’t been to Guangzhou in a while. He’s what’s known as a “parachute kid,” an adolescent who comes to America alone to study, leaving parents at home.

West may be best for nation's teenagers (October 5, 2016, China Daily)
Emily Chen's experiences at a private boarding school in the United States have had nothing but positive results. It has been the opposite for some other young Chinese children attending US middle schools, spurring negative headlines and creating a stereotype of "rich, idle and reckless", Chang Jun reports in San Francisco.

Recognizing Boarding Schools’ Psychic Toll in China (October 5, 2016, The New York Times)
Millions of Chinese who attended boarding nurseries and preschools after the Communist revolution in 1949, when large-scale systems of institutional care were established to free parents to pursue revolution or to labor, experienced John’s plight to some degree. The generation most deeply affected may be those born in the early decades after 1949, as the boarding system spread unquestioned — those in their 50s and 60s who run the country today.

Health / Environment

Could this smog-eating tower solve China's pollution problem? (September 30, 2016, CNN)
It's into this environment that award-winning Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde unveiled his Smog Free Tower, a seven-meter (23 feet) tall structure that combines beautiful design and technological advancement, during Beijing Design Week.

Reported Spike in Maternal Deaths Spurs Questions in China (September 30, 2016, The New York Times)
An anxious, skeptical debate has broken out over the drastically higher figure, announced by Ma Xiaowei, deputy director of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, at a meeting on Tuesday on improving maternal health, in reports carried widely in the Chinese news media.

History / Culture

A National Day Quiz: How Much Do You Know about the Founding of the PRC? (September 30, 2016, From the West Courtyard)
So, how much do you know about National Day and the history of the founding of the country? Here’s a fun quiz to test your knowledge.

Fate Catches Up to a Cultural Revolution Museum in China (October 2, 2016, The New York Times)
“We built this museum in good faith,” he said. “We wanted to mourn the dead, to remember the history, to learn lessons from it, and never let the tragedy of the Cultural Revolution happen again.”

The Blast That Nearly Destroyed Beijing (October 3, 2016, The World of Chinese)
In 1626, the Wanggongchang Armory exploded taking most of southwest Beijing with it. But to this day, nobody can agree exactly what happened. It was an explosion so immense that it was heard beyond the Great Wall over 150 kilometers from the blast site. Reports of a “mushroom shaped” cloud hanging over Beijing after the accident have provided grist for historical conspiracy theorists ever since.

Red guards clash in Shaanxi in 1967 (October 5, 2016, Everyday Life in Mao’s China)

Arts / Entertainment / Media

A Storied Hong Kong Newspaper Feels The Heat From China (September 30, 2016, NPR)
In recent years, though, the Post's coverage of mainland China has gradually softened and it's eliminated some of its content entirely: In early September, the paper shut down its Chinese-language website, deleting its archives.

Pro Football Is Coming to China. But Will the Chinese Care? (September 30, 2016, TIME)
But the arena league is just one part of the fast-growing race to bring American football to China. There are now 75 amateur teams in the country—up from less than a half dozen in 2013—boasting around 3,500 players altogether.

News Buzz to Biz I: The Rise of China’s New Media Content Makers (October 3, 2016, Sixth Tone)
Frequently referred to as neirong chuangye, or “content entrepreneurship,” the movement is carried by a whole host of players, many of whom are former traditional media journalists who have discovered how to make a career of distributing content across multiple platforms, including WeChat.

Video: China's Rubik's fanatics go crazy for cubing (October 4, 2016, CNN)
Wang Qiang is six years old and can solve a standard Rubik's Cube in less than 30 seconds. He started cubing when he was in kindergarten and attended his first competition this weekend. Almost 1,000 Rubik's fanatics gathered to test and showcase their skills at The Asian Championship in Beijing.

China Picks ‘Xuan Zang’ for Oscars Run (October 5, 2016, Variety)
Produced by Wong Kar-wai and directed by Huo Jianqi, “Xuan Zang” is the first Sino-Indian co-production by the state-owned China Film Corporation and Eros International. The story follows the 17-year journey of Xuan Zang played by Huang, a Buddhist monk who travelled from China to India during the Tang dynasty and whose famous journey served as an inspiration for Chinese fantasy classic “Journey To The West.”

Travel / Food

From Xi’an to Kunming on bicycle – The story of a slow ride (October 1, 2016, Sapore di Cina)
Landing in China on an university exchange program, after a few months of studying in Beijing I discovered that the dates of my exams left me a month and a half of visa to explore this enormous country. I chose to do so by bicycle so as to be able to freely visit the large cities, untouched villages and virgin valleys.

Culinary Incursion (October 1, 2016, The World of Chinese)
As China’s economy grows and Chinese dishes such as steamed buns and pancakes begin to appear in bistros and gastropubs of eastern American cities, a recent headline in The Atlantic recently felt confident enough to predict, “The Future is Expensive Chinese Food”. If that is true, the future arrived 30 years ago in the Canadian Pacific coast city of Vancouver, and it has been changing faster than anyone can keep up.

Tour bookings show outbound tastes are evolving (October 2, 2016, China Daily)
With more Chinese seeking diverse experiences overseas, some uncommon destinations are receiving attention, reports Zhu Wenqian. Chinese tourists are increasingly preferring high-quality hotels and memorable experiences when they travel abroad, reflecting their rising purchasing power and evolution of taste, travel agencies said.

Language / Language Learning

The Modern Ritual Of The English Name (October 4, 2016, The World of Chinese)
Journalist Peter Hessler’s memoir, River Town, featured the unforgettable Chinese student named “Mo Money”; Public Radio International’s coverage of this issue introduced us to “Cinderella”, “DreamJazz”, and “Yes”. In Chinese media, a mother on Sina Weibo received both serious answers and criticism for asking whether her kindergartener should be called “Watermelon” or “Eleven”.

An introduction to extensive reading for Chinese learners (October 4, 2016, Hacking Chinese)
In fact, in terms of time spent, extensive reading should take more time. Extensive reading is the opposite, i.e. reading many/long and easy texts where you don’t need much assistance.

Links for Researchers

China's Religious Persecution Report (2015-2016): An Executive Summary (October 5, 2016, China Aid)
The following is an executive summary of Christian persecution in China in 2015-2016 that was presented to the European Union Parliament.

Image credit: Green China, by Steve Webel, via Flickr