Featured Article
AI Joins Primary Schools (May 19, 2025, China Media Project)
On May 13, China’s Ministry of Education released guidelines for integrating AI into the earliest stages of child education. According to the guide, schoolchildren will be introduced to the key concepts driving AI, as well as its basic uses and best practices. By the time students reach high school, they will learn to build simple algorithms of their own. But despite allowing schoolchildren to use AI as a learning aid, the guide prohibits them from using generative AI alone for their work.
Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs
The Long March Toward Chinese “Modernization” (May 13, 2025, China Research Center)
Through a brief review of the CCP’s rise to power and three transformational 3rdPlenums, this paper suggests that after staying in power for more than 70 years, its leaders are trying to defy historical trends and operationalize a political arrangement that can enable it to sustain perpetual rule without alienating its people or antagonizing the more advanced countries in the world.
As Geopolitical Competition Heats up, China Is Eyeing the Caribbean (May 15, 2025, The Diplomat)
China continues to mount a challenge to U.S. power and influence in the Caribbean Community bloc, as this grouping feels increasingly boxed in by Trump 2.0.
China-US Ties: Lawmakers Call on American College to End Role in Duke Kundshan University (May 16, 2025, South China Morning Post)
In a letter to Duke president Vincent Price, which was made public on Thursday, Michigan congressmen John Moolenaar and Tim Walberg said the partnership created a “direct pipeline between US innovation and China’s military-industrial complex” and facilitated the use of Americans as “pawns” for Chinese propaganda. Duke Kunshan University (DKU) was founded in 2013 as a liberal arts-focused joint venture between Duke and Wuhan, both frequently ranked among the top 10 universities in their respective countries.
Religion
Hangzhou Chongyi Church Commemorates 20 Years of Blessings: ‘A Testament to the God of Great Deeds’ (May 5, 2025, China Christian Daily)
On December 21, 2001, with the approval of the CPC Hangzhou Municipal Committee and Hangzhou Municipal People’s Government, the historic Chongyi Church, with a century-old legacy, commenced its reconstruction at a new location, and the foundation stone was laid on December 30, 2003. A thanksgiving service was held on May 2, 2005, to celebrate the new church building, bringing together Christians from near and far to mark the beginning of a new era for the Hangzhou church.
Sharing Masks and Sharing the Gospel (May 15, 2025, China Partnership)
At a time masks were almost unavailable, brothers and sisters risked their lives to go out nearly every day, and were able to distribute nearly half a million masks in both the city and in countryside villages. Later, a [Communist] Party county secretary met brothers from our church and said, “You were truly our benefactors. Although the surrounding villages all have infections, our village does not, thanks to the masks you delivered.” For the first time in ten years of preaching the gospel, we saw a change in the attitude of citizens toward our evangelistic efforts.
What the Chinese Diaspora Is Talking About (May 16, 2025, ChinaSource)
In April 2025, more than a hundred pastors, theologians, and ministry practitioners from around the world gathered in Toronto, Canada, for the first-ever Chinese Diaspora Network Consultation (CDNC 2025). Organized by CCCOWE Canada and co-sponsored by the Lausanne Movement and the Global Diaspora Network, the conference was fast-paced and content-rich. It covered everything from theological frameworks to regional practices and personal testimonies, all centered on the theme: “Chinese Diaspora and Glocal Evangelism: New Challenges and Opportunities.” Attendees were invited to reimagine the role of diaspora churches in the evolving landscape of global missions.
Letter to a Prisoner May 19, 2025, China Partnership)
In this letter to a Christian brother imprisoned for his faith, Early Rain elder Li Yingqiang thinks about what it means for his dear friend to follow Christ inside the detention center. He admires his friend’s faith, and is encouraged because they are united by faith and through prayer, even though they cannot be together physically. Li does not know if he will one day have to walk the same path as his friend, but he trusts that God’s grace is sufficient, no matter the road ahead.
Cross-Cultural Work in China Today (May 19, 2025, ChinaSource)
While it is true that there are far fewer cross-cultural China workers than there were ten or even five years ago, we shouldn’t be surprised that women and men continue to respond obediently to God’s call to China. The same God who, with his blood, has purchased for himself persons from every tribe and language and people and nation, continues to send his people to the ends of the earth—even to the hated Ninevehs of our present world. The constricted environment within China does mean work looks different now, but for those who obey God’s calling, there is still much to be done.
Imprisoned Chinese Pastor: ‘Pursue Unity, Not Homogeneity, in the Church’ (May 20, The Gospel Coalition)
Wang Yi is the planting pastor of Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, China. He was arrested in December 2018 and, in a closed trial in 2019, sentenced to nine years in prison. He wrote this letter to his congregation a year before his arrest. It has been translated by Brent Pinkall and adapted for clarity.
Crossing the Divide (May 20, 2025, ChinaSource)
“Where did I come from? Where am I going? Who am I?” These were the questions that haunted Liu as a teenager growing up in China. He tried asking around. He searched in philosophy. He asked others. He turned to science. None offered satisfying answers. None could explain why he longed to be a good person but couldn’t seem to do it on his own, or why suffering felt so inescapable and unbearable. Eventually, Liu came to believe that only God—one who sees, hears, and loves—could answer such questions.
Society / Life
Top 5 Marketing Insights from China April 2025 (May 13, 2025, ChinaSkinny)
April has been a dramatic month on the geopolitical stage and there are some key consumer shifts of which foreign brands will need to be wary. With the landscape ever evolving, here are some of the top marketing insights from China, April 2025.
Scroll Locked: Why Rural Teens in China Struggle to Disconnect (May 14, 2025, Sixth Tone)
China’s rural students are increasingly at risk of mobile phone addiction and depression, according to a recent survey by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Researchers cite the absence of parental support and limited access to mental health services as key contributing factors.
Young Chinese Turn to Digital Mysticism (May 14, 2025, China Digital Times)
In today’s China, the most popular “spiritual” items aren’t books or teachings but small objects—especially crystals. These are sold not only as fashion items but as tools for cosmic power. Supposedly, they bring wealth, block bad energy, and balance inner forces. Livestreams offer quick lessons in “crystal basics,” and influencers promote them with the excitement once shown for new tech.
Redacting History (May 19, 2025, China Media Project)
That old interview — and the selective way it was handled this year — illustrates how even decades-old disasters remain politically sensitive in China. While breaking disaster stories routinely face strict media controls, past tragedies are subject to equally careful narrative management, with inconvenient truths often airbrushed from official memory.
The Small-Town Women Still Dreaming of a Big Payday (May 19, Sixth Tone)
In November 2020, my research partner and I met Jessica, an agent at a major domestic services company in Shanghai. As an agent, her job involved matching domestic workers with clients, and she spent most of her days sitting side by side with other agents in front of a row of computers, waiting for the phone to ring.
Economics / Trade / Business
Food Fight: China’s Food Delivery Platforms Go Toe to Toe (May 19, 2025, The World of Chinese)
Involving three powerful players, the conflict was soon likened to a modern-day “Three Kingdoms Rivalry (三国鼎立 sānguó dǐnglì),” drawing comparisons to the power struggle that once embroiled this land in the 3rd century. But rather than armies, it was food delivery platforms that waged this battle: its soldiers the country’s millions of delivery drivers, and its potential spoils the mouths of the people.
China’s First Law to Promote Private Enterprise: What Does It Mean? (May 19, 2025, The Diplomat)
China’s new private enterprise law promotes fair competition and equal treatment, yet also signals that private enterprise is welcome only as long as it serves the Communist Party’s broader political objectives.
China Isn’t Getting Rid of Its Controls Over Rare Earths, Despite Trade Truce with US (May 20, 2025, CNN)
Despite a 90-day truce in its trade war with the United States, China appears to be maintaining tight control over its rare earth exports – preserving a key source of leverage in future negotiations amid intensifying strategic rivalry with Washington. As part of last week’s trade agreement in Geneva to temporarily roll back tariffs, China pledged to suspend or remove the “non-tariff” countermeasures it imposed on the US since April 2.
Science / Technology
China Launches Satellites to Start Building the World’s First Supercomputer in Orbit (May 15, 2025, South China Morning Post)
China has launched the first batch of satellites for its space computing constellation, a system that could rival the most powerful ground-based supercomputers once fully deployed. Twelve satellites, each equipped with intelligent computing systems and inter-satellite communication links, were sent into orbit aboard a Long March 2D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre around noon on Wednesday, according to state-owned Guangming Daily.
Travel / Food
Foreigners Flock to China’s Shenzhen as Visa-Free Entries Surge 160% (May 14, 2025, South China Morning Post)
Shenzhen, China’s southern tech hub, has reported a swell of overseas visitors this year, an influx attributed to the country’s expansion of visa-free entry and its integration of the Greater Bay Area, a region that incorporates Guangdong province, Hong Kong and Macau. In addition to visitors from China’s two special administrative regions, many travellers to Shenzhen have come from farther afield, with Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam and Singapore ranking among the top sources of overseas tourists, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Wednesday.
Fun Factory: Why China’s Tourists Are Queuing Up at Assembly Lines (May 14 2025, Sixth Tone)
After first emerging as a concept in Europe around the mid-20th century, industrial tourism — which involves visiting factories, vineyards, and other sites of industrial heritage — began taking root in China in the late ’90s. Over the years, it has flourished into a lucrative sector, thanks to growing investment and government support.
6 Weird and Wonderful Museums to Visit in China (and the Virtual Realm) (May 15, 2025, World of Chinese)
China’s museums just had their busiest Labor Day holiday ever, attracting over 60 million visitors in just five days. Major institutions like Beijing’s Palace Museum and National Museum, along with the Shaanxi History Museum in Xi’an, were fully booked a week in advance. Some even kept their doors open late to handle the crowds. While affordable or free admission certainly helped, this surge is part of a larger “museum boom” in China: Of the country’s more than 6,000 museums, roughly 80 percent were opened after 2000. However, not all of these museums are serious historical institutions. Many explore less conventional but equally fascinating subjects, from mental health and contemporary culture to spaces designed purely for fun.
History / Culture
Podcast: From Mao to Xi Jin-ping | A Conversation with Orville Shell (April 24, 2025, The U.S. vs. China Face-off)
In a special bonus episode recorded live at the Asia Society, host Jane Perlez speaks with journalist and scholar Orville Schell about his 50 years covering Chinese leaders and their American counterparts. They attempt to answer the question: how did we get here?
Podcast – Wade and Giles (May 14 2025, The China History Podcast)
Here’s a nice little standalone episode on the life and work of Thomas Wade and Herbert Giles. And you can’t mention Herbert Giles without mentioning his son, Lionel Giles. And of course, Robert Morrison must be mentioned as well as all the earliest Western scholars of Sinology going back to Michele Ruggieri. And it wouldn’t be fair to only talk about Wade and the two Giles’s without giving a nod to their contemporaries elsewhere on the continent and in Asia. So this is a slightly meandering survey of some of the great old sinologists from the 19th century (and early 20th).
Books
Book Review – Restoring Our True Face: From Cultural Survival to Christlike Peacemaking (May 20, 2025, ChinaSource)
When tensions arise in your home, church, work contexts, is the tendency to embrace or evade honest talk? Have you tried reconciling with someone, only to be left disappointed? Have you been serving among the Chinese but feel heartbroken about relationships that appear mended yet remain distant and broken? Are you, at present, yearning for a breakthrough? In Changing Normal, Dr. Jolene Kinser is like an empathetic friend who knows the lonely, helpless pain of unresolved conflict.
Arts / Entertainment / Media
Henan Develops Its Own Regional Great Firewall, Adding Layers to China’s Censorship (May 19, 2025, China Digital Times)
Researchers from the censorship monitoring platform Great Firewall Report (GFW Report) published an investigation last week that “sounds the alarm” about the emergence of regional online censorship in China. They noted that in August 2023, netizens in Henan began reporting an uptick in inaccessible websites that were accessible elsewhere in the country.
Pray for China
May 20 (Pray For China: A Walk Through History)
On May 20, 1916, British missionary Timothy Richard (李提摩太) left China for the last time. Richard first came to China in 1870 and served in Shandong, Shanxi, Shanghai, Beijing, and Tianjin. He was a strong advocate for reform through outreach to the elite, especially through education. In 2010, Shanxi University placed a bust of Richard and his Chinese co-chancellor at the university gate. Pray for staff and students at universities in Shanxi emulate Richard in seeing Christ as Lord of every aspect of life. “But in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…” Hebrews 1:2-3
Operation World (April 21, 2025, ChinaSource)
Praying for China | Prayercast (January, 2025, ChinaSource)
Pray for China (prayforchina.us)
Pray for China (China Partnership)