A weekly roundup of news and analysis to help you follow key developments in China and the Chinese church.
China is vaccinating a staggering 20 million people a day (June 9, 2021, Nature) For more than a week, an average of about 20 million people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 every day in China. At this rate, the nation would have fully vaccinated the entire UK population in little more than six days.
Faced with a demographic crisis, China relaxes birth limits (June 1, 2021, Christian Science Monitor) On May 31, China’s ruling Communist Party announced it will ease birth limits to allow all couples to have three children instead of two in hopes of maintaining its growth and avoiding the prospect of a declining population.
China's Mars Rover Touches Ground On Red Planet (May 22, 2021, NPR) China's first Mars rover has driven down from its landing platform and is now roaming the surface of the red planet, China's space administration said Saturday.
Head of Chinese Jesuits named new bishop of Hong Kong (May 17, 202, America Magazine) In a surprise move, after a search that lasted more than two years, Pope Francis has named the Jesuit Stephen Chow Sau-yan, 61, the provincial of the Chinese province of the Jesuits, as the ninth Catholic bishop of Hong Kong.
6 Stunning Statistics from China’s Population Census (May 10, 2021, Radii China) The results of China’s Seventh National Population Census have finally been released, triggering a wave of headlines and social media hot takes. There’s a lot of data to sift through, but here are six bits of info that made us sit up and take notice.
Will Easing of Student Visa Restrictions Rekindle China-US Exchanges? (May 5, 2021, The Diplomat) It’s a step in the right direction, but there are still substantial hurdles – both logistical and political – for Chinese students to come to the U.S.
US Relaxes Entry Restrictions on Students Traveling From China (April 28, 2021, Sixth Tone) Finally, Chinese people traveling to America for school won’t have to take a 14-day detour in a country not affected by the Trump administration’s travel bans.
“The Six,” a Film About Chinese Titanic Survivors, is Getting Rave Reviews in China (April 19, 2021, Radii China) The six were professional sailors onboard the Titanic, heading to New York to transfer to their next destination.
'Ping Pong Diplomacy's' Legacy Challenged, 50 Years Later (April 10, 2021, NPR) Today marks the 50th anniversary of Ping-Pong diplomacy. That's when the U.S. table tennis team went to China for exhibition games at the height of the Cold War. Their trip changed history.
China’s expat tax reform could see more than a third of American firms leave Shanghai, AmCham says (April 1, 2021, South China Morning Post) More than a third of multinational firms in Shanghai are considering moving all or part of their operation out of China or to another Chinese city when tax exemptions on allowances for foreign employees expire next year…
China’s Social Credit System: Speculation vs. Reality (March 30, 2021, The Diplomat) Today, the social credit system still remains a disjointed mix of ambitious national level targets and guidance, varying regional pilot programs, and scattered mass data collection mechanisms.
Wuhan study spotlights China’s Covid-19 herd immunity challenge (March 20, 2021, South China Morning Post) Swift lockdown measures brought disease under control but population vulnerable to imported infections without vaccinations. Researchers find possibly 10 times more people than original estimates could have been infected but herd immunity is a long way off.