ZGBriefs | September 26, 2024

Featured Article

How China Thinks About AI Safety (September 18, 2024, China Media Project)
China’s attitudes towards AI may be at a turning point, with officials not only pushing it up the list of priorities but also coming to terms with its existential capabilities. Matt Sheehan is a Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, specializing in China’s AI safety and governance. His latest paper highlights concerns within China’s government about regulating Artificial Intelligence.

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Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs

PRC Partnership Diplomacy in the New Era (September 20, 2024, China Brief Archives – The Jamestown Foundation)
“Partnership diplomacy” plays a central role in PRC foreign policy. Through its partnership network, Beijing seeks to shore up global support by swelling its ranks of various types of partners. There are no direct economic or institutional implications to becoming a “strategic partner” of the PRC, nor are there necessarily material benefits to advancing to the level of “comprehensive strategic partnership.” Such promotions can be significant in other ways, however. For partner countries, being officially designated a close partner can provide opportunities for real cooperation.

Is Beijing’s Renewed Charm Offensive Real? (September 23, 2024, The Diplomat)
Once again China has started a charm offensive, or so it seemed to me during a recent 10-day trip through the country. In many personal encounters and discussions at all levels, people reportedly expressed their strong interest in building constructive relations with the United States, the United Kingdom, and the countries of the European Union.

Video – Panda vs Wolf Warrior Diplomacy (September 18, 2024, The National Committee on United States-China Relations)
Chinese diplomacy has two main styles, known as Panda Diplomacy or Wolf Warrior Diplomacy. What do these nicknames for diplomatic styles really mean? National Committee #PIPFellow Diana Fu (The University of Toronto) joins us to explain the difference between the fierce Wolf Warrior diplomats and the friendlier, more open “panda diplomacy.”

Religion

From Pharmacy to Faith (September 24, 2024, Chinese Church Voices)
In the fourth year of my PhD program, I interned at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in Maryland. That fall, I was struck by the devastating news that my close friend from high school had committed suicide due to depression. Coupled with the struggles I was facing in my relationships at the time, I too fell into depression. Fortunately, I was attending a fellowship at a local Chinese church during that time. In those darkest days, God revealed himself to me.

Ministering Cross-Culturally (September 23, 2024, ChinaSource)
God intends and desires a spiritual maturity that moves beyond monocultural myopathy toward a perspective of ministering cross-culturally, one that increasingly grows away from an “us/them” perspective and toward an all-peoples praxis, where there are fewer and fewer of them and more and more of us.

Witnessing the Gospel Publicly (September 20, 2024, ChinaSource)
Today, the greatest challenge may not be overt persecution, but the subtle and pervasive influence of conforming to the culturally normalized approaches. In China, where loyalty to the Party-state is deeply ingrained and often presented as a divine mandate, Christians must carefully navigate the tension between cultural expectations of power and the upside-down kingdom presented by the gospel.

Lanzhou: Pray for Spiritual Barriers (September 23, 2024, China Partnership)
Pray the gospel will renew churches here in Lanzhou, so the gospel can renew the city. Also pray that the gospel will renew us, and that brothers and sisters will have courage in the face of persecution. Many in the workplace are facing pressure. We acknowledge their fear, but want to encourage them to be strong and bold in expressing their faith, passing it on, and demonstrating Christ through their actions.

The J-Curve and the Chinese House Church (September 19, 2024, China Partnership)
When Christians suffer, we ask, “Why?” and “How long?” We may go through depression and lose heart. But [this book] depicts Christ’s J-Curve so vividly. When we are suffering, with its help, we can truly have union with Christ. We can understand we are suffering and experiencing a spiritual valley. It’s not easy, but we know Jesus is with us. This gives us hope that he has already overcome the world! He has taken on our sins; we are with him and he is in us.

Society / Life

Viral Videos Flipping Guilt-Based Parenting Narratives (September 24, 2024, China Skinny)
A series of short videos have recently become a viral sensation in China by flipping the script on “Chinese-style parenting.” These videos, shot from a child’s perspective, reenact typical parent-child conversations but with a twist. Instead of children hearing the usual guilt-inducing phrases, the roles are reversed, with parents experiencing a taste of the bitterness that they used to put on to their children.

China’s Ban of International Adoption Leaves Families in Limbo (September 17, 2024, Radio Free Asia)
As US officials sought clarification on behalf of would-be American parents, the Manns were among those waiting in shock and anxiety at the prospect of not being able to follow through on their pledges to give a home to Chinese children, many of whom were unlikely to find another option than remaining in an orphanage until adulthood.

An Olympian’s Viral Photo Has Young Chinese Racing for Toy Turtles (September 18, 2024, Sixth Tone)
With just a single photograph, China’s teenage Olympic diving champion and national hero, Quan Hongchan, has plunged young Chinese into a new obsession: racing to collect quirky turtles hidden inside blind boxes.

Translations: China’s Olympic Reporters Fail to Win Medals (September 18, 2024, China Digital Times)
While China’s athletes won glory in Paris at this year’s Olympics and Paralympics, there was widespread agreement on Chinese social media that the country’s reporters did not. Bloggers and athletes alike rolled their eyes at the inanity of the Chinese press corps’ questions to competitors

After a Savage Attack, Brutal Silence (September 24, 2024, China Media Project)
The brutal killing of a Japanese schoolboy in the Chinese city of Shenzhen last week has made headlines across the world. The wider context of the tragedy — that it happened on the anniversary of the “Mukden Incident” that began Japan’s invasion of China nearly a century ago, and just months after another nearly deadly attack on a Japanese mother and her child in another city—raises serious questions about how it might be linked to decades of anti-Japanese education, entertainment and cultural conditioning in China.

Economics / Trade / Business

Video – What Does #decoupling From China Mean? (September 20, 2024, The National Committee on U.S.-China Relations)
The US and China are attempting to #decouple or #derisk their economies, especially sensitive sectors. Clark Packard joins the National Committee on US-China Relations to explain the economic rationale for these measures.
This interview is part of our US-China Counterpoints series, examining key topics in US-China relations to get to the bottom of what we believe, and why.

China Unleashes Boldest Stimulus in Years to Boost Ailing Economy (September 24, 2024, The Guardian)
China’s economy has struggled to rebound from harsh pandemic-era lockdowns, and previous piecemeal efforts to support the economy have failed to arrest a slowdown that risks the government missing its annual economic growth target.

Biden Administration Proposes Rules to Ban Chinese-Made Cars Over Spying Fears (September 23, 2024, The Guardian)
Chinese-made vehicles aren’t yet widespread on US roads but are becoming more common in Europe, Asia and other markets. The new rules, described as a national security action coming out of the US chamber of commerce, focus on Vehicle Connectivity System (VCS) and software integrated into the Automated Driving System (ADS). “Malicious access to these systems could allow adversaries to access and collect our most sensitive data and remotely manipulate cars on American roads,” the department said in a statement on Sunday.

Unconventional Douyin Livestreams Are Gripping Young Audiences  (September 12, 2024, China Skinny)
The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security recently officially recognized “online streamers” as one of 19 new professions, giving them official state recognition. Livestreaming has given ordinary workers a new way to showcase their value. The quirky, and sometimes even whacky, livestreams and short videos have drawn significant attention, becoming essential tools for everyday people to sell on Douyin.

Education

China’s Legal Warfare Closes a Beloved Tibetan School (September 18, 2024, The Diplomat)
When asked how Tibetans would like to see states express their solidarity for Tibetan youth being barred from their own linguistic roots, Tibet Policy Institute Deputy Director Tempa Gyaltsen Zamlha expressed a simple yet clear request: “Raise the issue.”

Opinion | How China’s Classroom Culture of Complaint Has Turned Toxic – And Not Just for Teachers (September 24, 2024, South China Morning Post)
This toxic culture of hasty complaints has left teachers very wary of what they say, fearful that a remark could be deemed politically incorrect. It also extends beyond the country’s campuses, with the authorities reliant on tip-offs to clamp down on corruption, extravagances and dereliction of duty.

Science / Technology

How China Thinks About AI Safety (September 18, 2024, China Media Project)
China’s attitudes towards AI may be at a turning point, with officials not only pushing it up the list of priorities but also coming to terms with its existential capabilities. Matt Sheehan is a Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, specializing in China’s AI safety and governance. His latest paper highlights concerns within China’s government about regulating Artificial Intelligence.

History / Culture

Photo History – China’s City of Bicycles (September 23, 2024, Sixth Tone)
Although cycling has declined in recent years, Shanghai remains a center of bike culture in China. After China’s first bicycle was produced here in the late 19th century, the city’s streets were teeming with them by the 1930s. Then, after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, it became a manufacturing hub; its Phoenix and Forever brands would become synonymous with the good life in the latter half of the 20th century.

Great, Glorious, and Correct: The Origins and Afterlives of a Maoist Slogan (September 20, 2024, Made In China Journal)
On 1 July 2021, General Secretary Xi Jinping stood atop Tiananmen Gate and thrust his fist in the air while saying: “Long live the great, glorious, and correct Chinese Communist Party.” It was the dramatic conclusion to his speech commemorating the one-hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Language / Language Learning

How to Use YouTube and Other Video Platforms to Learn Chinese (September 23, 2024, Hacking Chinese)
YouTube and similar platforms offer a vast treasure trove of content that can help you learn Chinese, whether you’re watching videos in Chinese or exploring content about language and culture. But how can you get the most out of this resource at different stages of learning?

Travel / Food

China’s Tourists Hit the Road in Record Numbers as Driving Tours Pick up Speed (September 18, 2024, South China Morning Post)
China has a near-unlimited set of options for the budding traveller to get from place to place —high-speed trains, buses and ride sharing, to name a few—but to reach the picturesque mountains of Shangri-La in Yunnan province, Bryce Linden prefers to venture onto the expressway in a car he has rented himself.

Arts / Entertainment / Media

Micro Dramas Shake Up China’s Film Industry and Take Aim at Hollywood (September 23, 2024, Reuters)
China’s $5 billion a year micro drama industry is booming, according to Reuters’ interviews with 10 people in the sector and four scholars and media analysts.
The short-format videos are an increasingly potent competitor to China’s film industry, some experts say, which is second in size only to Hollywood and dominated by state-owned China Film Group. And the trend is already spreading to the United States, in a rare instance of Chinese cultural exports finding traction in the West.

China’s New Hit Film is a Harsh Glimpse Into the Lives of ‘Aunties’ (September 24, 2024, Sixth Tone)
It was one of the feel-good stories of the pandemic. Four years ago, 59-year-old Su Min left behind her abusive husband and decades of domestic drudgery to begin an epic solo road trip across China. As she crisscrossed the country in her little white Volkswagen, Su became a viral sensation. Millions followed her journey via social media. Media outlets rushed to profile her. Women all over China hailed her as a symbol of female empowerment.

Pray for China

September 24 (Pray For China: A Walk Through History)
The first missionary to take up residence in Henan was John Joseph Coulthard (郭豁达) when he moved to the Henan village of Zhoukouzhen (then Zhoujiakou) in 1884. Hudson Taylor’s daughter Maria joined him there after their marriage in 1888. She died on September 28, 1897, leaving Coulthard with four small children. Pray for God our Rock to be glorified in Henan, which now has more Christians than any other province in China.“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” Revelation 5:12-13