A weekly roundup of news and analysis to help you follow key developments in China and the Chinese church.
Engineers of the Soul: Ideology in Xi Jinping's China by John Garnaut (January 16, 2019, Sinocism)
We will have to make a serious attempt to read the ideological road map that frames the language, perceptions and decisions of Chinese leaders.
WeChat Knows You Really, Really Well (January 10, 2019, Sixth Tone)
The Chinese social app’s 2018 report includes detailed profiles of five generations of users, impressing some and creeping out others.
How the State Is Co-Opting Religion in China (January 7, 2019, Foreign Affairs)
Today’s China seeks not to marginalize competing groups and belief systems, the way Beijing did during the Mao era, but to co-opt them.
The year 2018: China’s civil society past, present and future (December 30, 2018, NGOs in China) Both Terminal 2 and China’s present civil society are like someone’s utilitarian fantasy or nightmare.
Beijing Expats Decry “Click-bait-y” Reports About a Christmas Crackdown (December 26, 2018, The Beijinger)
Are the reports of anti-Christmas measures greatly exaggerated?
China's staggering 40 years of change in pictures (December 18, 2018, BBC) Forty years ago, China introduced major economic reforms - lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and leading to it becoming the second-largest economy in the world.
Chinese Police Detain Prominent Pastor and Over 100 Protestants (December 10, 2018, The New York Times)
The Chinese police have detained one of the country’s most prominent Protestant pastors.
Weibo’s Online Slang: 10 Chinese ‘Tribes’ & ‘Clans’ to Know (December 1, 2018, What’s on Weibo)
A major part of this online slang culture is the categorization of people into ‘tribes’ or ‘clans’ (族); classifying those (urban) young Chinese people who share certain traits.
How ‘Survivors’ Are Navigating the New Environment (November 27, 2018, The China NGO Project)
A discussion on the state of play nearly two years after the Foreign NGO Law went into effect.
Forty Years on, Is China Still Reforming? (November 9, 2018, China File)
What does this common but vague expression actually mean to Xi? And is Beijing actually reforming and opening up, or stagnating and closing down?
China's middle class: We're being picked like leeks by the government (November 4, 2018, CNN) Wang is one of millions of Chinese middle-class men and women who grew up in a roaring economy… but the past year has been especially tough.
Insights into the Social Credit System on Chinese Online Media vs Its Portrayal in Western Media (October 30, 2018, What’s on Weibo)
Contrasting Chinese and Western media coverage of China’s Social Credit System