Featured Article
What to Watch at the Xi-Trump Summit (September 17, 2026, ChinaFile)
We asked a group of China and US-China relations experts what observers should watch to determine what the meeting actually changes: Which decisions, mechanisms, regulatory actions, political signals—or notable absences—would reveal the direction of the relationship after the leaders leave Washington?
Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs
Is the East China Sea the Next Geopolitical Flashpoint? (September 17, 2026, National Committee on U.S.-China Relations)
From territorial disputes over uninhabited islands to the threat of military action in the Taiwan Strait, the East China Sea is a tense environment. China, Japan, and the United States have strong economic and security interests in the region, positioning it to be a major geopolitical flashpoint if conflict breaks out. As politics in the area are further complicated by Russia-China military collaboration and dynamics on the Korean Peninsula, the need for open channels of communication to mitigate risk remains important. How can China, Japan, and the United States manage tensions in the East China Sea?
Who from China’s Side Will Be in the Room at this Week’s Xi-Trump Summit? (September 22, 2026, South China Morning Post)
When Xi Jinping sits down with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday, the Chinese leader’s side of the table will be filled with senior aides bringing extensive policy expertise. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Monday that Xi would pay a state visit to the United States from Wednesday to Friday.
Xi Jinping Brings His “A-Game” to Donald Trump’s Washington (September 22, 2026, MERICS)
On the eve of his second summit with the US president in four months, China’s head-of-state is at the peak of his powers of summitry. Andrew Scobell explains Xi’s brand of “head-of-state diplomacy.”
Religion
Yantai: Challenges for the Church (September 17, 2026, China Partnership)
Yantai church leaders say believers in their city struggle with a weak economy that makes it tough to find a job, with educating their children, with poor teaching in some traditional churches, with persecution, and with the realities of a tired and aging population.
Where Is God Leading Me? (September 18, 2026, ChinaSource)
I grew up in a Christian family and in a rural evangelical church in S Province with Baptist leanings. It was a fairly large church, but it did not have a well-developed system of church governance or a strong theological framework. Most of the believers were farmers with little formal education. Even so, the church had a vibrant spiritual life, and it was where my own faith first took root.
Building Bridges (September 21, 2026, ChinaSource)
As archival photographs of Hangzhou, Yenching University, and early 20th-century China appeared on a large screen, voices from the stage read from the memoirs, letters, diaries, and speeches of John Leighton Stuart. Among the details that brought the historical figure closer to the audience was a simple one: Stuart, an American missionary’s son born in Hangzhou, spent his early childhood among Chinese neighbors, and the first language he spoke was the local Hangzhou dialect.
Society / Life
Unemployment Is Becoming a Way of Life for China’s Young (subscription required) (September 17, 2026, The Economist)
Few could have predicted the fallout last month after Xingyu Automotive Lighting, a big car-parts maker in eastern China, decided it had hired too many people over the summer. The company gave an ultimatum to some 140 fresh graduates who had been employed there for just a few weeks: either resign with half a month’s salary or pick up a screwdriver and take a poorly paid job on the factory floor. More than 100 chose to leave. In China, where worker-protection laws are feeble, sudden lay-offs of this sort are nasty, but hardly unheard of.
Pension Paradox: China’s Delivery Riders on a Rocky Road to Retirement (September 17, 2026, Sixth Tone)
At just 19, retirement feels light-years away for Lin Yi. Hunched over a plate of fried noodles, the takeout delivery rider’s face goes completely blank when asked about his pension plan. “I haven’t paid into anything,” he says, before hungrily returning to his lunch. The same goes for his colleague, Hai Liang, who is 42, though for him it’s simple arithmetic: “Pay nearly 900 yuan ($135) a month into a pension? That’s four days of deliveries for me. Can I bring myself to part with that?”
I Went to Kyrgyzstan to Find China’s Silent Nomads (September 20, 2026, China Talk)
On a rainy day at the beginning of September, I found myself standing under the giant sky at the foot of the mountains in rural Kyrgyzstan, shouting “add oil!” (加油) from the sidelines of a horseback archery track. I was back in Central Asia for the World Nomad Games, an Olympics-style celebration of traditional sports where China reluctantly lets some of its minorities compete.
‘People Had Naive Expectations’: How MeToo has Changed in China (September 20, 2026, The Guardian)
When Jasmine, a once active member of China’s MeToo movement, organizes feminist activities in Beijing, she often does so under the guise of an art or cultural event. She avoids publicizing them on social media, instead sharing details privately in her personal circle.
Watch: Six Year-Old Girl from China Sets New Rubik’s Cube World Record (September 22, 2026, BBC)
A young girl has broken the women’s world record for the 3x3x3 Rubik’s Cube twice in three days at the World Cube Association. At age six, Lian Yunzhi has become the only female cuber in the world to have an average time under 4.5 seconds. She first broke the record with an average of 4.52 seconds and then 4.27 seconds at competitions in Wuhan and Guangzhou, China.
Economics / Trade / Business
Broken China: How China’s Economic Miracle Shatters (September 10, 2026, Hoover Institution)
In a new episode of China Considered, Elizabeth Economy sits down with Logan Wright, partner at Rhodium Group and author of the forthcoming book Broken China: How the Economic Miracle Shattered and What It Means for the World (Polity, 2026), to reconcile the competing narratives about China’s economy: inexorable rise, “K-shaped” growth, or “peak China.” Wright argues that the financial system that once fueled China’s growth now constrains it.
China Is Building a Global Infrastructure for Its Cultural Industries (September 17, 2026, The Diplomat)
On September 4, Lingang New Area in Shanghai launched an AI+microdrama overseas service station, with initial service points in Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland. The initiative is designed to help Chinese companies navigate overseas regulations, localize content, and connect production with distribution in foreign markets.
Why Beijing May Favor a “Slow and Steady” Rise For its Currency (September 22, 2026, The Wire China)
China’s manufacturing and export success is provoking growing anxiety among its trading partners. Amid the largest trade surplus in world history—likely over $1.2 trillion this year—calls for Chinese policymakers to ‘rebalance’ the economy towards domestic demand are growing louder.
History / Culture
From Paris to Hangzhou: The $9m Quest to Return China’s Lost Encyclopedia (September 21, 2026, Sixth Tone)
Over six centuries, the Yongle Encyclopedia has all but disappeared. Commissioned by the Ming emperor Zhu Di and compiled by more than 3,000 scholars, it once contained over 11,000 volumes on science, poetry, philosophy, medicine, and law. Today, less than 4% survives—fires and foreign invasions consumed the rest.
Travel / Food
China Can Now Demand Travelers’ Phone Data at Border (September 15, 2026, Seoul Economic Daily)
According to China’s State Council, the Regulations on Entry and Exit Administration, consisting of 19 articles, took effect that day. The rules state that authorities may require travelers to submit electronic data as well as documents and other materials when verifying their identity and their purpose for entering or staying in China.
China Allows Foreign Visitors to Skip Police Stations, Register Stay Online (September 21, 2026, South China Morning Post)
Foreign visitors to China who choose to stay somewhere other than a hotel can now register their accommodation with the authorities online, which analysts say will make travelling to the country more convenient.
Science / Technology
How AI Is Changing Marketing in China (September 9, 2026, Chinaskinny)
Chinese consumers are among the world’s most engaged users of AI. A survey last quarter found that almost 80% of Chinese consumers ask AI tools for help with purchase decisions. This has transformed the age-old marketing goal from being “seen by users” to being “recommended by AI”.
Why China Is Pushing Back on US Warnings over Rapid AI Development (September 20, 2026, The Guardian)
About two years ago, education entrepreneur Boris had what he calls a “penny-drop moment”–that, like countless others in China, his company needed to embrace AI before it was made obsolete by it. His clients, well-off parents looking to send their children to study overseas, had begun arriving in his office reeling off information and opinions gleaned not from rival firms, but from chatbots. In response, he started developing his own AI study tool, concluding: “If you can’t beat them, join them.
Language / Language Learning
Beginner Chinese Listening Practice: What to Listen to and How (September 20, 2026, Hacking Chinese)
Learning to understand spoken Chinese is both hard and easy at the same time. It’s hard because it takes time, but it’s also easy because the solution is not complicated. To put this into concrete terms: engage in hundreds or thousands of hours of comprehensible input, and you’ll reach your goal. Listening that much is difficult in the same way that walking a thousand miles is difficult; not because each step is hard or that walking is complicated, but because there are so many steps in total.
Education
The Rise, Decline, and Transformation of University Majors in China (September 21, 2026, The World of Chinese)
As China’s university majors are increasingly reshaped around national strategy, technological progress, and industry needs, what happens to the students and teachers whose fields are left behind—and what are the prospects for those entering this new academic world?
Arts / Entertainment / Media
China Trend Watch (Week 37-38 / 2026) (September 17, 2026, What’s On Weibo)
Welcome back to China Trend Watch, my weekly on trends and topics driving conversations across Chinese social media. This week covers: The Rise of “Shuaqi-ism,” Taking Starbucks to the Fields, and Pretending to Go to Work.
Chinese Literature Is Undergoing a Vibe Shift (subscription required) (September 18, 2026, Foreign Policy)
In the spring of 1942, Mao Zedong—already a dominant figure in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), though not yet its formally elected chairman—addressed a hall packed with some of China’s leading intellectuals, military brass, and artists. Mao, himself a diligent writer of classical-style poems, shared a vision of creative work that was centered on workers’ experiences and made in service to the masses rather than elites. “There is in fact no such thing as art for art’s sake, art that stands above classes, art that is detached from or independent of politics,” he reportedly said.
Sojourners and the State in Chinese Grassroots Cinema (September 18, 2026, East Asia Forum)
The 2026 low-budget Teochew-dialect film Dear You—which traces one family’s migration history across generations—became a surprise global box office hit. Viewers have responded strongly to the film’s humanistic portrayal of sojourners’ lives and the film’s success has sparked debate over whether it serves as a subtle instrument of Beijing’s diaspora policy and around the politics of language in China and Singapore. Dear You has become entangled in wider debates over language policy and state narratives even as it demonstrates audiences’ appetite for authentic storytelling.
Books
The Last Emperor of China with Author Paul French (August 27, 2026, Jeremiah Jenne via Substack)
Author Paul French has made a career of evocative stories of old China, including the New York Times bestseller Midnight in Peking and City of Devils: A Shanghai Noir. The Economist has called him “a champion storyteller.” His new book, The Last Emperor of China: Twilight of the Forbidden City (out today in the UK), is built around the unpublished letters of Ingram and Johnston. They describe the trials and tribulations (but also the small pleasures and moments of joy) shared by three remarkable young people: Puyi, Wanrong, and Wenxiu. They longed to escape, but when they were finally expelled from the courtyards of Beijing’s imperial palace, they found only despair and tragedy.
Red Pine: Channeling Silent Voices (September 10, 2026, China Books Review)
“I’m not trying to become Chinese,” the American translator and travel writer Bill Porter tells me over Zoom. “I’m trying to accompany the Chinese poet.” The genial, lavishly bearded man on my laptop screen, speaking from his home in Port Townsend, Washington, has published over 30 books on China. Most of them are the translations of classical Chinese poetry and Buddhist religious texts he has released under the pen name Red Pine, while another seven volumes are the accounts of his travels in China, from the 1980s into the 2010s, that he issues under his own name.
Pray for China
September 26 (Pray For China: A Walk Through History)
In September 1942, Timothy Zhao (赵世光牧师) led a Shanghai group in founding the first Lingliang (灵粮-Bread of Life) Church. Zhao was ordained as a Christian & Missionary Alliance pastor in 1932. Two years later he married seminary graduate Tang Ling’an (汤灵安师母); they raised seven children. As a gifted evangelist and author, Zhao became a leader in the indigenous church movement. Under his leadership, Bread of Life churches, schools, orphanages, and nursing homes were soon planted in several Chinese cities. Zhao moved to Hong Kong on October 1, 1949, and oversaw churches planted there as well as on Taiwan and across the globe. He went to be with the Lord in 1973. Pray for Jesus, the Bread of Life, to satisfy Christians who hunger for his Word. “For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. John 6:33-35
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)