Featured Article
There Is No Such Thing as Chinese Food (October 9, 2026, Numb and Spicy, via Substack)
I had the banquet-hall dim sum experience for the first time in Maryland, and my first bowl of wonton noodle soup at a stall in Manhattan’s Chinatown. None of these experiences directly remind me of home.
Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs
The PRC and Russia Deepen Biosecurity Integration (October 6, 2026, Jamestown Foundation)
The PRC and Russia have built increasingly institutionalized mechanisms for biological security, pathogen research, and epidemic early warning under direct political guidance from Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.
Religion
Chinese On Mission: Am I Garbage? (October 8, 2026, China Partnership)
In the last five years, over 1.5 million people have left mainland China to settle in foreign countries: some for education, some for family, and some for jobs. But a tiny percentage of them left for foreign missions, seeking to obey Jesus’s Great Commission to make disciples of all nations. This is the story of two non-believers who met Jesus, followed him, and—eventually—became missionaries.
When Questions about Eternity Become Personal (October 9, 2026, ChinaSource)
After the doctors gave us their condolences and final report, one of them said, “We can see how deeply you loved your mother and how sad you are. But why is there something so different about your family?” In that moment, we understood: knowing our final destination is not only hope for the future—it changes how we face sorrow today. Faith did not remove our grief, but it kept grief from becoming despair. My prayer is that many more people will discover this same living hope in Jesus while there is still time. —YiJu
The Work of Remaining (October 12, 2026, ChinaSource)
“Thank you for your sharing. It felt like the entire time, you were speaking in the language of my heart.” I am a Chinese American, born into an immigrant family and raised in a Chinese heritage church. I never expected a sister from northern India to say those words to me, especially at a conference for missions and the church in Asia.
The Lockdown That Made Shanghai Home (October 13, 2026, ChinaSource)
I have been living and working in Shanghai, China, for five years. I moved to Shanghai in the middle of COVID-19, when it was nearly impossible to get into the country as a foreigner.
Society / Life
Where Every Tree Hides ‘an Enemy’: How I Watched China’s Paranoia Grow (October 11, 2026, The New York Times) (subscription required)
Returning to China after decades away, a correspondent finds bullet trains, dazzling skylines—and a surveillance state more paranoid and pervasive than ever.
Why Chinese College Grads Are Becoming Farmers (October 12, 2026, The New York Times) (subscription required)
Facing a competitive job market, college graduates in China are trading corporate jobs for farming, equipped with smartphones and tech skills.
The Lives of Others—by Zichen Wang (October 12, 2026, Pekingology, via Substack)
Perhaps I simply worry that, amid all the coverage—including by this substack—of US—China relations, Taiwan, geopolitics, and AI, we risk losing sight of how ordinary people in China actually live, especially those struggling to get by. And I struggle to think of many news outlets, Chinese or international, that still make much room for those stories.
Haigui privilege ain’t what it used to be (October 13, 2026, China Policy Leads, via Substack)
The overseas degree that once bought a hukou (household registration), a subsidy and a salary premium now, at best, buys equal treatment. An audit study led by He Haoran 何浩然 Beijing Normal University School of Economics and Business Administration, published in China Economic Quarterly in 2026: 4,500 fictitious résumés sent to 2,250 real postings, differing only in a mid-ranked US versus a domestic master’s. Returnees were 16.2 percent less likely to get a callback.
China sentences three people to death for running brutal scam centers in Myanmar (October 13, 2026, CBS News)
A Chinese court sentenced three members of a criminal gang to death on Tuesday for operating a network of brutal scam centers in Myanmar’s Kokang region on the border with China, while jailing dozens more. China has stepped up cooperation with Southeast Asian nations to crack down on a vast industry that has flourished in the region in recent years to fleece people out of billions of dollars.
Economics / Trade / Business
Chinese carmakers are coming for Europe’s luxury market (October 13, 2026, Politico)
Brussels struck a preliminary deal with Beijing to curb the flood of Chinese hybrid cars into the EU. It may be too late. Chinese automakers made clear at the Paris Auto Show that they’re already preparing for their next offensive: conquering Europe’s luxury car market. From high-end hybrid SUVs to all-electric roadsters, Chinese manufacturers unveiled ambitious expansion plans that threaten to challenge a segment long dominated by German automakers Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Porsche.
Travel / Food
Through the Lens: China’s Golden Week Holiday (October 9, 2026, Nikkei Asia)
As China’s weeklong Golden Week holiday drew to a close on October 7, millions of travelers returned home from journeys across the country and trips abroad. China recorded 2.14 billion passenger trips during the period, averaging 306 million per day, and an increase of 0.6% from last year, according to transport ministry data.
Science / Technology
‘Super app’ aimed at UK students uses servers owned by Chinese firm on US blacklist (October 13, 2026, The Guardian)
A new messaging and payment “super app” marketed at British students uses servers owned by a Chinese company that has been put on a US military blacklist for its alleged affiliation to the People’s Liberation Army. ZyMix, which is being pushed on university campuses as the UK’s first super app designed “for gen Z”, combining chat, payments and community features, has a contract with a German-based subsidiary of Tencent Holdings, a Chinese conglomerate in Shenzhen.
Arts / Entertainment / Media
She is Chinese Opera’s Greatest Star. And Its Most Divisive (October 13, 2026, Sixth Tone)
Few outside China may have heard of her, but the 63-year-old is a titanic figure in her chosen discipline, Yue opera, and part of that rare group of artists who transcend their field to achieve crossover fame. Over her nearly 50-year career, Mao has fearlessly reinvented the traditional art form, dragging it back into China’s cultural mainstream through a series of daring—and often provocative—creative choices.
Books
Homesick Nation: A Conversation with Linda Qian (October 13, 2026, Made in China Journal)
Linda Qian’s Homesick Nation: Development, Migration and Yearning in Rural China (Cambridge University Press, 2026) examines rural development in contemporary China through the lens of 乡愁 xiangchou, a concept connoting homesickness and rural nostalgia.
Events
Free Online Public Lecture: A Tale of Two Churches (US-China Catholic Association)
Lecture Abstract: Both Churches have resurfaced in China since 1980 with a similar number of believers (3 million), and both have been living in the same socio-political reality undergoing similar rapid changes in China. Although sharing similar religious DNA, the Protestant communities seem to gain several times more in terms of followers than what the Catholic counterparts in China have achieved during the past four decades. This talk will highlight some of the sociological, missiological and the ecclesiological issues that have arisen from the different ecclesial experiences contributing to their divergent growth dynamics.
When:
US: Thursday evening, October 22nd, 7:30 p.m. ET.
China: October 23rd, 7:30 a.m. Chinese Standard Time
Sponsored by the US-China Catholic Association in coordination with ChinaSource and China Academic Consortium (CAC).
Pray for China
From Deep Thinking to Deep Prayer (July 21, 2026, ChinaSource)
Prayer 2026: Off the Beaten Path (January 1, 2026, China Partnership)
Operation World (April 21, 2025, ChinaSource)
Pray for China (prayforchina.us)
Prayer Walking as a Rhythm of Life (May 30, 2025, ChinaSource)
