Joann Pittman

Joann Pittman

Joann Pittman is Vice President of Partnership and China Engagement and editor of ZGBriefs.

Prior to joining ChinaSource, Joann spent 28 years working in China, as an English teacher, language student, program director, and cross-cultural trainer for organizations and businesses engaged in China. She has also taught Chinese at the University of Northwestern-St. Paul (MN), and Chinese Culture and Communication at Wheaton College (IL) and Taylor University (IN).

Joann has a BA in Social Sciences from the University of Northwestern-St. Paul (MN), and an MA in teaching from the University of St. Thomas (MN).

She is the author of Survival Chinese Lessons and The Bells Are Not Silent: Stories of Church Bells in China.

Her personal blog, Outside-In can be found at joannpittman.com, where she writes on China, Minnesota, traveling, and issues related to "living well where you don't belong."

You can find her on Twitter @jkpittman.com and on Facebook at @authorjoannpittman.

She makes her home in New Brighton, Minnesota.

Latest

Chinese Indigenous Missions

On December 31, Christianity Today published a piece titled “Made in China: The Next Mass Missionary Movement.” This article provides an excellent introduction to the topic and some of the related issues.

To help provide context and background, we thought now would be a good time to highlight some of the resources that ChinaSource has published on the topic over the years. We hope these will be helpful to those wanting to learn more.

Top 10 Posts of 2015

It’s that time of year again in the blogosphere—the time to highlight the most popular posts/articles from the past year. Combining stats from our various original content publications (ChinaSource QuarterlyFrom the West Courtyard, and Chinese Church Voices), here is a list of what you were particularly interested in reading in 2015.

Chengdu!

My first visit to Chengdu was in 1985, just before the Spring Festival holiday in late January. Having just completed one semester of teaching in Zhengzhou, Henan Province my teammates and I decided to take a boat ride down the Yangtze River from Chongqing to Wuhan on our way out to Hong Kong for a teaching conference. A dozen or so other teachers working in other parts of the country wanted to make the journey as well, so we decided to meet up in Chengdu.

Cultural Chop Suey

In the past year, we have heard numerous reports of the Party’s attempts to promote traditional Chinese cultural values and to warn against the pernicious influence of western cultural values. But are the traditional values even there anymore? In the third section of the article ”The Shadow of Chinese History," Huo Shui takes a look at the destruction of traditional Chinese values and wonders on what values will China base her future development.

China: Grandfather or Grandchild?

In the first section of the article "The Shadow of Chinese History," writer Huo Shui gives an overview of Chinese dynastic history. We highlighted that section in a post titled “A Long and Glorious History.” In the second section of the article Huo Shui uses the concepts of grandfather and grandchild to help us understand China’s desire for dominance. 

A Long and Glorious History

If you’ve spent any amount of time in China, you have probably encountered the phrase “China has a long and glorious history.” In fact, you’ve probably encountered it so many times that you are tempted to roll your eyes when you hear it.

China’s New Two-Child Policy

Rumors were swirling all last week that the Chinese government would announce a major relaxation of the 35-year-old “one-child policy.”  Sure enough, on Thursday, October 29, it happened.