Featured Article
Preparing Our Hearts (December 1, 2025, ChinaSource)
We’re grateful to once again offer an Advent calendar—inviting believers around the world to join together in asking for God’s mercy and giving thanks for his blessings on Chinese Christians. Each day includes an intercessory item to focus on. You can use it in your personal or family devotional time or with a small group. In addition, please share this calendar with others in your network who are passionate about prayer.
Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs
China’s Power Play: MI5 Warns of Relentless Espionage Attempts Britain (November 19, 2025, The Guardian)
An unexpected connection on LinkedIn. An offer of work from a headhunter, most likely a young woman, based in China. The chance to earn perhaps £20,000 part-time writing a handful of geopolitical reports for a Chinese company peppered with “non-public” or “insider” insights. Payment in cryptocurrency or cash preferred. It may seem obvious, on this telling, that something about this approach would be amiss. Nevertheless, China’s powerful ministry of state security (MSS) still considers it worthwhile to deploy recruitment consultants to try it – leading MI5 to warn repeatedly about their activity online.
What Xi Hopes to Gain from Tapping Into His Predecessor’s Legacy (November 26, 2025, The Christian Science Monitor)
For many older Chinese and longtime China watchers, it was a jarring moment. Chinese leader Xi Jinping, seated in front of a giant red curtain, was reading a speech last week praising his 1980s predecessor – the late revolutionary and Communist Party General Secretary Hu Yaobang – considered one of the boldest reformers of China’s post-Mao era. Mr. Hu’s death in April 1989 unleashed an outpouring of grief that helped trigger nationwide protests for political liberalization, centered in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Those demonstrations ended with the deadly military crackdown of June 4, 1989.
China’s ‘White Paper’ Protests: 3 Years Later (November 26, 2025, The Diplomat)
Three years ago this week, people across China, outraged by a deadly fire in Urumqi and profoundly frustrated by the government’s harsh “zero COVID” policies, took part in impromptu protests, some of the most visible expressions of public discontent since the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy demonstrations. Most choose to simply hold aloft blank pieces of white paper – in and of itself a comment on the dire state of free expression.
Religion
Our Generational Stories (November 24, 2025, ChinaSource)
Understanding China today requires a sense of where China has been. When China’s leader takes his cues from philosophers who lived more than 2,000 years ago, when following an everyday conversation depends on grasping an obscure idiom drawn from people or events in ancient China, when the various items on a restaurant menu comprise mini history lessons, it is only by reaching back into China’s rich past that we can engage the present.
This Child Is Chinese, Too (November 25, 2025, Chinese Christian Voices)
In this three-part series, the ChinaSource team presents stories that trace the longing for home, identity, and grace across borders. Through encounters with people once considered Chinese—and others who longed to be—the author reflects on what it means to belong when history, memory, and faith tell different stories.
Northwestern Pastor’s Bible Copying Ministry: Nurturing Faith Line by Line (November 27, 2025, China Christian Daily)
Now in his sixties, the pastor, a graduate of Yanjing Theological Seminary, started to copy the Bible by hand in 2017, inspired by a Bible-copying initiative initiated by the seminary and the Three Revelation Society (Revelation, Enlightenment, Initiation). That year was also the centennial year of the Chinese Union Version Bible. For many years, he has actively promoted the practice of Bible copying, encouraging believers to sit quietly before the Lord and faithfully write out Scripture by hand.
Joyful In Jail (November 27, 2025, China Partnership)
This is a recent, true story of how several Chinese believers from a house church in northern China were put in jail for two weeks — and how that persecution allowed them to rejoice together, share the gospel with police and cellmates, and gave them a bigger heart for their city and province.
Gospel Obstacles Today: Part 2 (December 1, 2025, China Partnership)
Guo believes Chinese Christians need to hold tightly to the truth, and not seek to “over-contextualize” their faith. Instead of bending Christianity to conform to China, ordinary people need to see what true faith preaches, and to witness that true faith lived out. For Christianity to grow like a native plant in China, normal people need to see how faith challenges, blesses, and changes society.
The Beauty That Persuades (December 2, 2025, ChinaSource)
When Reverend Charlie Wang spoke at the Lead the Way lecture series on behalf of the Biola Chinese Initiative about “Cultural Apologetic,” his words carried a quiet conviction. Drawing on philosopher Paul M. Gould, he reminded the audience that cultural apologetics seeks “to make Christianity both reasonable and desirable—to show that the gospel is true and satisfying even before it is fully understood.”
Society / Life
Pathways to Empowered Motherhood in Contemporary China (November 19, 2025, Made In China Journal)
Chinese society has long been patriarchal, whereby men hold more privilege and power than women. Despite challenges and transformations over time, patriarchy has been a persistent and pervasive foundational organizing principle of social and political life (Evans 2024). The ideological reinvention of neo-Confucianism as the moral standard in Xi Jinping’s China (Yan 2021) has further promoted the ideals of the ‘virtuous wife’ and ‘good mother’ as not only desirable qualities for women to pursue but also central to the China Dream of national rejuvenation.
A Coach With a Side of Safety Concerns: China’s ‘Sports Takeout’ (November 24, 2025, Sixth Tone)
One Saturday morning in November, Li Yue ordered herself a unique form of takeout: a man, not a meal. The man in question, a young coach advertising his athletic services online to parents wanting to boost their children’s sports skills, now stood outside Li’s building in the apartment complex, guiding her ninth-grade daughter through jump rope drills. He counted rhythms patiently, correcting her wrist motion to demonstrate the proper swing.
“The Dating Game” in China (November 24, 2025, ChinaFile)
Violet Du Feng has produced and directed more than a dozen documentary films about China. Her latest is The Dating Game, which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Filmed in Chongqing, the film follows a group of desperate bachelors participating in a dating “boot camp.” In this Q&A, Feng talks about how a film about women inspired her to make a film about men, the problems facing China’s many young single men, especially those from lower economic classes, their “incel” peers in the U.S., women who “date” AI boyfriends, and filmmaking in a low trust environment.
Dysfunctional Checks and Balances Are to Blame for Hong Kong’s Devastating Fire – Not Bamboo Scaffolding (December 2, 2025, The Diplomat)
The fire that tore through the Wang Fuk Court apartment complex in Tai Po on November 26 was the deadliest fire Hong Kong has experienced in decades. Over 150 people have died, and the death toll continues to climb. This tragedy is a manmade disaster through and through. I say this with great love for Tai Po as a resident for all my life before coming to Boston for graduate school.
History / Culture
Political Depression and China’s Foreign Student Programs, 1950-1966 (December 2, 2025, Made In China Journal)
In June 1950, the newly socialist governments of Czechoslovakia and Poland initiated a plan to send 10 students to China. Soon after, Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria also expressed their intention to send five students each. In September of that year, these students arrived in Beijing, marking the first official cohort of foreign students in the new China.
Economics / Trade / Business
A Tale of Two Responses to China’s Economic Transformation (November 14, 2025, East Asia Forum)
Over the past two decades, China’s industrial policies and entrepreneurial dynamism saw the country transform from a low-cost manufacturer into a hub of innovation deeply embedded in global supply chains, delivering growth for developing economies and disinflationary benefits for advanced ones. While China’s rise caused painful adjustment in economies like the United States, the severity of disruption partly reflects domestic policy failures, with countries like Germany and ASEAN adapting more effectively. China’s integration is now irreversible and countries that invest in adjustment, competitiveness and social resilience can treat China’s ascent as an opportunity rather than a threat.
China Leverages Paperwork to Ration Rare Earths (November 20, 2025, East Asia Forum)
China has turned administrative procedure into a chokepoint for rare earths exports. Licensing, inspections and a ‘one batch, one license’ rule have created supply frictions without embargoes or direct threats. The licensing regime entrenches dependence, increases Beijing’s legibility and enables calibrated pressure across supply chains. Manufacturers should treat conditional access as permanent and build resilience through exposure mapping, strategic buffers and alternative sourcing.
No Free Lunch: China’s Takeout War Wraps Up Without a Winner (December 2, 2025, Sixth Tone)
China’s three food delivery giants waged an aggressive subsidy war, pouring billions into deep discounts and seasonal promotions to seize market share and lure delivery riders. But last week, all three companies — Meituan, Ele.me (now Taobao Flash), and JD.com — disclosed steep third-quarter losses, confirming that months of heavy subsidies have taken a steep financial toll.
Science / Technology
Netherlands Suspends State Seizure of Chinese Chipmaker Nexperia (November 19, 2025, The Guardian)
The Netherlands has suspended its seizure of the Chinese-owned chipmaker at the heart of a six-week dispute between the EU and China that threatened to halt car production at sites around the world. The Dutch minister of economic affairs, Vincent Karremans, said in a statement on Wednesday that the government would suspend its decision to take supervisory control of Nexperia as a gesture of “goodwill” to Beijing.
China’s New Web ID Tightens Government’s Grip On Online Activity (December 1, 2025, MERICS)
China’s new National Internet Identity policy (国家网络身份认证) is voluntary for now, and officially targets information security and fraud prevention. But the system consolidates user data and gives various government agencies, including the police, increased power to track users’ activity across platforms, remove their anonymity, and restrict them if they make statements deemed unacceptable.
From Space Follower to First Responder: How China Pulled Off the Shenzhou Rescue Mission (December 2, 2025, South China Morning Post)
China has revealed details of its emergency involving the damaged Shenzhou-20’s return capsule in November and how it pulled off its first astronaut rescue mission in rapid fashion. Within just 20 days, Chinese engineers diagnosed the threat, returned the Shenzhou-20 crew safely to Earth aboard the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft and launched the uncrewed Shenzhou-22 capsule to provide a new safe return vehicle for the remaining crew.
Living Cross Culturally
Beijing News: WeChat Rolls Out New Services for Foreign Visitors (November 22, 2025, The Beijinger Blog)
Recently, WeChat has also announced other features designed to facilitate the experience of foreign visitors to China. A number of foreign and domestic e-wallets can now be used to pay merchants who support WeChat Pay transactions. Rather than worrying about paying by card or cash, or linking a foreign bank card to WeChat, those with supported e-wallets can now use those to scan or be scanned with WeChat Pay instead to complete their transactions.
Education
War of Words: How Chinese College Students and Professors Survive the Thesis Season (November 26, 2025, The World of Chinese)
If you’re a Chinese student aged about 21, December is anything but a season for joy: When their Western counterparts start preparing for Christmas, Chinese 应届生 (yīngjièshēng, final-year college students) are typically scrambling to pick a research topic for their graduation thesis (论文 lùnwén), which needs to be proposed (开题 kāití) and approved by their academic supervisor (导师 dǎoshī) before the end of the year.
History
Political Depression and China’s Foreign Student Programs, 1950–1966 (December 2, 2025, Made in China Journal)
In 1966, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution began. On September 30, the Ministry of Higher Education issued a notice to all universities hosting foreign students instructing them to temporarily suspend courses. By that time many universities were already struggling to maintain regular teaching.
Food / Travel
‘The English Person with a Chinese Stomach’: How Fuschia Dunlop Became a Sichuan Food Hero (November 20, 2025, The Guardian)
Every autumn in the mid-00s, when I lived in China, my friend Scarlett Li would invite me to Shanghai to eat hairy crab. Named for the spiky fur on their legs and claws, the crabs are said to have the best flavour during the ninth month of the lunar calendar. They’re steamed and served whole, with a dip of rice vinegar spiked with ginger. The most prized specimens come from Yangcheng Lake near Suzhou, which is not far from Scarlett’s home town of Wuxi. She had moved to Hong Kong as a child, attended high school and college in Australia, and returned to China to pursue a career as an entrepreneur. Despite her years abroad, she remained Chinese through and through – and eating hairy crab with her, I became Chinese, too.
Snack Attack: Explaining the Milk Skin Tanghulu Craze (November 20, 2025, The Beijinger Blog)
If you’ve been out and about in any of Beijing’s tourist areas or malls recently, or taken a scroll on Chinese social media, then you might have noticed that tanghulu has a brand new look! China’s latest food craze, milk skin tanghulu 奶皮子糖葫芦 nǎi pízi tánghúlu, is a twist on the traditional street snack, which started off as a regional curiosity but has explosively crossed into the mainstream. So, just what is milk skin tanghulu, and why is it so popular?
Why Chinese Culinary Customs Aren’t Weird, but Smart (December 1, 2025, Sixth Tone)
The stereotype that Chinese people will eat everything and anything is based on a misconception. Chinese culinary culture is better described as “making the best use of everything.” This approach to food developed out of China’s long history of famines. Historically, a lack of food was the norm rather than the exception in the country, due to its large population, frequent floods, and many wars.
Nearly half of China flights to Japan cut in December, Chinese state media says | The Straits Times (December 2, 2025, Straits Times)
The number of cancellations has now topped 1,900 flights, broadcaster China Central Television reported, citing unnamed online platforms. Japanese cities Sapporo and Osaka – which rely heavily on tourism – saw the biggest cuts as a percentage of planned services, according to data from flight scheduling database AeroRoutes.
Arts / Entertainment / Media
CDT’s “404 Deleted Content Archive” Summary for October 2025, Part Two (November 20, 2025, China Digital Times)
CDT presents a monthly series of censored content that has been added to our “404 Deleted Content Archive.” Each month, we publish a summary of content blocked or deleted (often yielding the message “404: content not found”) from Chinese platforms such as WeChat, Weibo, Douyin, Xiaohongshu (RedNote), Bilibili, Zhihu, Douban, and others. Although this content archived by CDT Chinese editors represents only a small fraction of the online content that disappears each day from the Chinese internet, it provides valuable insight into which topics are considered “sensitive” over time by the Party-state, cyberspace authorities, and platform censors.
Binge-Worthy C-Dramas of the Season (November 25, 2025, The World of Chinese)
Winter is here, the days are short, and the air has a nip—it’s prime TV season. If you’re looking for a quick, plot-twisty escape, micro-dramas may deliver. But for those seeking more substance, Chinese drama series in traditional form are more diverse than ever. Whatever your viewing pleasure, we’ve got you covered with our picks to keep you cozy and entertained.
Events
Online Courses for those working with Chinese students (Thriving Turtles)
January 19-30, 2026. Thriving Turtles Training is an initiative to equip front-line gospel workers with the knowledge and skills they need to be effective cross-cultural gospel ministers. These courses are asynchronous (not in real time) running for 6-10 hours over a 2-week period. They are NOT webinars, so you are free to work in your own time and time zone. Courses contain a variety of interactive activities including (written) discussion forums. For more information see our website https://www.thrivingturtles.org/online-courses/
Courses offered this year:
• Cultural Intelligence for Ministry
• Helping Your Friend Thrive in China
• Discipling People with a Chinese Worldview
• Culture Values and Distance
Pray for China
December 2 (Pray For China: A Walk Through History)
Zhang Guotao (张国焘先生) was a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party and a leading figure for many years before losing a power struggle to Mao Zedong during the Long March. He then defected to the Nationalist government, but moved to Hong Kong after the Civil War ended in 1949. He and his wife Yang Zilie (杨子烈女士) moved to Canada in 1968; the year before Zhang’s death, they were visited twice by old acquaintances—acclaimed Christian scholar Zhang Lisheng (章力生先生) and his wife Guo Lingyi (郭令宜女士). On the second visit, Zhang Guotao and Yang Zilie were baptized into the Christian faith. Zhang died on December 3, 1979. Pray for China’s current leaders to learn as the king of mighty Assyria did—to repent and humbly accept that God’s ways are right and just. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. Jonah 3:6
Praying Through the ChinaSource Journal (October 13, 2025, ChinaSource)
Praying Through ZGBriefs (August 29, 2025, ChinaSource)
Operation World (April 21, 2025, ChinaSource)
Pray for China (prayforchina.us)
Prayer Walking as a Rhythm of Life (May 30, 2025, ChinaSource)