Featured Article
Tracing the Hidden History of Four Beijing Churches (August 13, 2025, The Beijinger)
Tucked away between shopping malls, state offices, and quiet hutong lanes are four of Beijing’s most famous churches. These centuries-old structures, rebuilt after years of turbulence, tell a layered story of imperial diplomacy, missionary persistence and urban survival. While tourists may flock to the Forbidden City or the Temple of Heaven, few realize that just blocks away stand churches also steeped in history.
Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs
The ‘Three Pats’: Xi Jinping’s Enduring Governance Dilemma (August 7, 202, The Diplomat)
Fifteen years into his tenure, having consolidated power and elevated his trusted leadership team into the highest echelons of the Communist Party and state, President Xi Jinping still faces a fundamental challenge: how to build a government that is not merely obedient, but capable – one that is incentivized to govern effectively, to take initiative, and to act in the long-term interest of the country.
Infrastructure and State-Building: China’s Ambitions for the Lower Yarlung Tsangpo Project (August 7, 2025, Made In China Journal)
19 July 2025, Nyingchi, Tibet. Against a bold red backdrop with snow-capped mountains looming in the distance, China’s Premier Li Qiang—flanked on both sides by four senior officials and leaders of major state-owned enterprises—formally announced the groundbreaking on the Lower Yarlung Tsangpo Hydropower Project (LYT project). Below the stage, rows of officials and engineers stood in disciplined formation, as though receiving orders for a pre-battle mobilisation.
Xinjiang History Documentary Aims to Counter Western Narratives, Bolster Chinese Identity (August 9, South China Morning Post)
China aired a documentary last week showing how the Qing dynasty took back Xinjiang from foreign forces in the late 19th century – Beijing’s latest effort to counter Western narratives and strengthen Chinese national identity in ethnic minority border areas. The six-episode documentary, titled Zuo Zongtang Recovers Xinjiang, was produced and aired by the broadcaster of Hunan province, the birthplace of Zuo Zongtang, one of the most famous generals and reformists in the late Qing dynasty (1644-1911).
China diplomat tipped as next foreign minister detained by authorities – report (August 10, 2025, The Guardian)
Liu Jianchao, a senior Chinese diplomat widely seen as a potential future foreign minister, has been detained by authorities for questioning, the Wall Street Journal has reported. Liu was taken away after returning to Beijing in late July from an overseas work trip, it reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Religion
Wenzhou: Gospel History (August 7, 2025, China Partnership)
Wenzhou has more Christians than any other city in China. Local pastors say the city also has a tendency towards pragmatism and practicality: if something is useful, Wenzhou believers use it — sometimes without stopping to reflect on biblical philosophy.
Walk the Talk: Countering the “Jesus Guys” in Business (August 8, 2025, Chinese Christian Voices)
How can we share the light of Christ beyond the church walls and pulpit—especially in the marketplace? In response to the “Jesus guys” phenomenon, where Christians are seen as failing to live out their faith authentically, Mr. Huang chose a different path of evangelism: offering biblical wisdom to help people navigate real-life challenges.
Shepherding Souls in the Digital Age (August 11, 2025, ChinaSource)
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping every aspect of society—including the church. In this special issue of the ChinaSource Journal, Where Wisdom Meets Faith, we explore how AI is challenging and transforming Christianity in China and beyond. Rather than offering easy answers, our goal is to equip readers with the theological insight, technical knowledge, and missional courage needed to shepherd souls in the digital age.
Wenzhou: How the Church and City Have Changed (August 11, 2025, China Partnership)
Like other Chinese cities, Wenzhou, in Zhejiang Province, has faced dramatic changes in the last five years, including an economic downturn and stricter political controls. Because Wenzhou people were used to living more freely than other places in China, local pastors say this has been a tough adjustment. Churches have been hard-hit, and the well-known Wenzhou church is also struggling to adjust to their new reality.
Opportunities for Diaspora Missions (August 12, 2025, Chinese Christian Voices)
The rapid growth of the Chinese diaspora in recent years has opened up new opportunities in global missions, creating fresh pathways for evangelism within Chinese communities and fostering connections with other ethnic groups through cross-cultural ministries. How can individuals and churches prepare to participate in this new movement of God’s work?
Society / Life
China Used to Fine Couples for Having Too Many Babies. Now It Can’t Pay Them Enough (August 5, 2025, CNN)
For decades, officials pressured couples to have fewer children, through hefty fines, forced abortions and sterilizations, only to now plead with Li’s generation to make more babies. Last week, in the latest push to boost flagging birth rates, China announced it would offer parents an annual subsidy of 3,600 yuan ($500) for every child until age three, effective retroactively from January 1.
Three and Easy: Racers Find a ‘Midlife Fix’ in Triathlons (August 11, 2025, Sixth Tone)
China is today home to more than 57,200 registered triathletes, according to the state-backed China Triathlon Sports Association. Some 28,304 of these have signed up in the past five years, with over-35s accounting for nearly 40%.
China Trend Watch: Pagoda Fruit Backlash, Tiananmen Parade Drill & Alipay Outage (Aug 11–12) (August 11, 2025, What’s On Weibo)
Top 5: What’s Trending in China Today – From a fruit retailer CEO’s tone-deaf remarks and a Tiananmen parade rehearsal to an Alipay outage, here’s the latest buzz on Chinese social media.
Netizen Voices on New Childcare Subsidies: “Are They Going to Refund All the Fines Paid by People Who Exceeded Childbirth Quotas Back in the Day?” (August 11, 2025, China Digital Times)
In an effort to combat falling birthrates, China’s central government has announced a plan to provide families with annual cash subsidies of 3,600 yuan per child under the age of three. Ninety percent of the funding will reportedly come from central government coffers, but the program will be administered and disbursed by local governments. The new policy quickly became a trending topic on Chinese social media, and hashtags such as “3,600 yuan annual subsidy for children under three years old,” “childcare subsidy,” and “childcare subsidy plan released” garnered over 100 million views.
Fever Pitch: More Provinces Roll Out Soccer Leagues to Boost Tourism (August 12, 2025, Sixth Tone)
Following the outsized success of Jiangsu’s grassroots “Suchao” soccer league in May, more regions are looking to replicate the eastern province’s winning formula. Northern China’s Hebei province is the latest to do so, launching what is billed as China’s first provincial home-and-away five-a-side soccer league for the general public.
Economics / Trade / Business
Xiaohongshu’s Soft-Sellers Are China’s Next Livestreaming Trend (August 6, 2025, Chinaskinny)
Li Dia is an example of the rise of China’s 00后 (post-2000) creators – young influencers who are bringing a refreshing wave of authenticity to China’s e-commerce landscape. Unlike traditional mega-streamers known for flashy gimmicks and relentless sales pitches, these younger hosts are winning over fans with transparency, empathy, and what Chinese media have dubbed huóréngǎn, meaning “a human touch.”
Why Peak China May Finally Have Arrived (August 11, 2025, The Guardian)
Common concerns about coercive politics and human rights aside, some notions of China as an unstoppable economic, technological and military behemoth sit alongside others focused more on an increasingly sclerotic, over-centralised political economy, that depends on wasteful economic stimulus, and features poor governance and institutions. The fusion of these notions suggests that we may already have reached “peak China”.
Science / Technology
Smart Device Empire, Part 2: Policy Underpins PRC’s Global IoT Ambitions (August 7, 2025, China Brief, The Jamestown Foundation)
Beijing is positioning the full spectrum of state policy tools behind its Internet of Things (IoT) ambitions—aligning telecom infrastructure, protected domestic markets, and tightly managed technical standards to consolidate its influence at home and extend it abroad.
Podcast – The Locknet: How China Controls Its Internet (August 7, 2025, Pekingology)
In this episode of Pekingology, CSIS Senior Fellow Henrietta Levin is joined by Jessica Batke, Senior Editor for Investigations at ChinaFile, and Laura Edelson, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Northeastern University. They discuss Jessica and Laura’s new report “The Locknet: How China Controls Its Internet and Why It Matters,” exploring how the government and internet platforms collaborate on censorship, how tensions between the CCP’s political and economic goals play out online, and how Chinese censorship is changing the internet outside China.
Unearthing Leverage: Critical Minerals in U.S.-China Competition (August 10, 2025, The National Committee on US-China Relations)
Critical minerals have become a cornerstone of economic and geopolitical competition, essential to technologies from EVs to advanced defense systems. China’s dominance in the sector reflects decades of strategic planning and global shifts in supply chains. This conversation examines how China attained its current position, the scale of its capacity, and why these minerals are so vital to national security and the energy transition. It also considers how recent global disruptions, including the war in Ukraine, COVID-19, and the U.S.-China trade war, have exposed strategic vulnerabilities in mineral supply chains.
Nvidia and AMD Agree to Pay 15% of China Chip Export Revenues to US (August 11, The Guardian)
The chipmakers Nvidia and AMD have agreed to give the US government 15% of their revenue from advanced chips sold to China in return for export licences to the key market. The unprecedented move, an apparent reversal of US national security restrictions on the chip sales, signalled an easing in the US-China trade war.
Health / Environment
China Has Declared War On the Chikungunya Virus. How Much of a Threat Is It? (August 8, 2025, NPR)
Soldiers are fogging streets and parks in the city of Foshan with insecticide. Community workers are going door-to-door to look for stagnant water, where mosquitoes can breed. People who test positive are reportedly being forced to hospitalize to isolate themselves, says Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. “It’s reminiscent of the COVID-19 tactics,” he says, where citizens were extremely restricted in their activities to slow the spread of SARS-CoV-2.
Education
In Specialized Education Push, China Opens Wave of Elite Research Universities (August 11, 2025, Sixth Tone)
A new wave of research universities is emerging in China, competing with the country’s traditional top schools via more flexible academic models, promising career and postgraduate study opportunities, and strong government backing. Compared to traditional universities, these institutions tend to be smaller and more focused, often emphasizing international education, hands-on coursework, and strong research orientation in the sciences.
History / Culture
Vanished Empire: Resurrecting China’s Western Xia Tombs (August 11, 2025, The World of Chinese)
In the 1930s, German pilot Wulf-Diether Graf zu Castell-Rüdenhausen captured a remarkable photograph over the Helan Mountains in Ningxia, China: clusters of white conical earthen mounds rising from the desolate plain. Initially mistaking them for termite mounds, Castell-Rüdenhausen published the image in his book Chinaflug, little expecting that what he had casually recorded was actually the royal necropolis of one of the most mysterious dynasties in Chinese history: the Xixia, or Western Xia.
Arts Entertainment / Media
Fate of the Moonlight: Three Generations of Women in the Crack Between City and Countryside (August 8, 2025, The World of Chinese)
Qin’s film Fate of the Moonlight, also known as Moonlight Sisters, draws inspiration for its Chinese title from the renowned ci poem by the 11th-century poet Su Shi (苏轼), particularly the well-known lines, “May we all be blessed with longevity/ Though miles apart, we’ll share the beauty of the moon together （但愿人长久，千里共婵娟）.”
After the Flood (August 11, 2025, China Media Project)
The Taishitun care home tragedy accounted for the majority of Beijing’s 44 flood casualties during torrential rainfall last month. Yet the story, typical of disaster coverage that China’s leadership has long feared could raise questions about readiness and responsibility, received cautious treatment from Chinese media.
Language / Language Learning
构: The Character That Brings Blueprints Into Reality (August 6, 2025, The World of Chinese)
In modern Chinese, 构 is commonly used in phrases involving both literal and abstract concepts. One example is 构成 (gòuchéng), meaning “to form” or “to make up,” for instance: 山水和人家，共同构成了美丽的乡村。(Shānshuǐ hé rénjiā, gòngtóng gòuchéngle měilì de xiāngcūn. Mountains, rivers, and households together form the beautiful countryside.) Then there’s 构造 (gòuzào), meaning “structure” or “to construct,” and functions as both a noun and a verb to emphasize the process or mechanism of formation.
Pray for China
August 11 (Pray For China: A Walk Through History)
Over a million Red Guards gathered in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on Aug. 18, 1966 while Mao Zedong (毛泽东) urged them to take part in destroying China’s “Four Olds.” Although many pastors recanted their faith under heavy pressure that month, elderly Shanghai pastor Zhu Guishen (竺规身牧师) did not. Though Zhu had been a close friend of evangelist Dr. Song Shangjie (宋尚节博士- John Sung), he joined liberals in signing the Three Self Manifesto. However, he was labeled a “rightist” in the late 1950s because of his firm evangelical convictions, and he suffered horribly during the Cultural Revolution. Zhu went to be with the Lord in 1978 at age 95. Pray for officials in Beijing and Shanghai to remember that the Lord pleads for the poor and takes the life of those who rob them. Do not rob the poor, because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate, for the Lord will plead their cause and rob of life those who rob them. Proverbs 22:22-23
Fuzhou: How to Pray (July 28, 2025, China Partnership)
Jason Mandryk on Intercessory Prayer (June 29, 2025, ChinaSource)
Operation World (April 21, 2025, ChinaSource)
Pray for China (prayforchina.us)
Pray for China (China Partnership)