A weekly roundup of news and analysis to help you follow key developments in China and the Chinese church.
China’s Belt and Road: Exporting Evangelism? (July 4, 2018, The Diplomat) Despite Beijing’s own misgivings about religion and proselytization, it appears to have no qualms in supplying the rest of the world with religious literature.
Meet the five urban Chinas (June 20, 2018, Brookings) While China’s cities are at the frontier of global growth, many of them are still little known to the world.
The Hidden History of Shanghai’s Jewish Quarter (June 13, 2018, Atlas Obscura)
When the world refused to let in Jews fleeing Nazi Germany, Shanghai was the only place on earth willing to accept them with or without papers.
How Bad Is Facebook’s New China Problem? (June 6, 2018, The Atlantic)
A Chinese tech giant with connections to the government appears to be among Facebook’s partners in a data-sharing program.
Tiananmen Square, A 'Watershed' For Chinese Conversions to Christianity (June 4, 2018, WBUR) It marked the beginning of "a quiet spiritual revolution" among many Chinese, who equated Christianity with modernity.
Will China finally end its one-child policy? (May 23, 2018, Lowy Institute)
Scrapping the one-child policy won’t undo the damage it’s caused over more than thirty years.
Baozi vs. Jiaozi (May 20, 2018, Transparent Language) Both are cheap, delicious little bundles of joy, so you really can’t go wrong either way.
How China is trying to impose Islam with Chinese characteristics in the Hui Muslim heartland(May 14, 2018, South China Morning Post) Calls to prayer are now banned in Yinchuan on the grounds of noise pollution.
The Chinese American Protestant Christians of Flushing, Queens (May 4, 2018, NYC Religions) Flushing’s Christian churches are becoming global hubs for Chinese evangelical Christians.
Grid Management and Social Control in China (April 29, 2018, China Policy Institute)
The adoption of grid management signals the government’s tightened monitoring of society in China.
Five ways China's past has shaped its present (April 20, 2018, BBC)
It is striking how many echoes of China’s past can be found in its present.
Why Christian High Schools Are Filling with Atheist Students(February 20, 2018, Christianity Today) Chinese parents send their children to America out of frustration with their own highly competitive and narrowly tracked education system.