Featured Article
Flowing without Roots: The Identity Crisis of Foreigners’ Descendants in Mainland China (September 9, 2025, Made In China Journal)
In 2009, a woman named Lou Jing, born to a Chinese mother and an African American father, went on a TV show in China and declared herself a proud and patriotic Chinese person (Leung 2015). Her remarks ignited a firestorm online as people debated whether a mixed-race person could be considered truly, properly Chinese.
Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs
China’s Meeting With India and Russia Was About More than Trump (September 4, 2025, MERICS)
There is, of course, a significance to this moment. And indeed, the whiplash from the sharp turn in American foreign and economic policies under President Donald Trump has reshaped the incentives of the three leaders, Narendra Modi, Vladimir Putin and host Xi Jinping. However, a closer reading reveals that the optics of engagement have done little to alleviate the fault lines that exist between the three countries — and that there was far more to the meeting than simply a response to Trump’s diplomatic and economic provocations.
Chinese Public Is Divided Over Whether to Seek Global Dominance or Share Leadership (September 5, 2025, NPR)
A new study on Chinese citizens’ views on foreign affairs has found a majority of people do not view the United States as a friend, but also favor a nuanced approach toward Washington. The survey, released this week by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs think tank in partnership with The Carter Center, also reveals that the top two perceived threats to China both involve the United States.
PRC Conceptions of Comprehensive National Power: Part 1 (September 5, 2025, China Brief Archives – The Jamestown Foundation)
“Comprehensive national power” (综合国力; CNP) [2] is a central framework through which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) measures its progress toward key strategic objectives. The framework also guides Beijing’s approach to, and understanding of, competition with the West. The Party has assessed since at least 1992—when the term was first enshrined in the Party Charter—that CNP competition defines global systems competition, and that competition with the United States will determine the future of the international order (Party Members Net, October 22, 2022).
The China-Russia-North Korea Alliance that Needs No Name (September 8, 2025, The Interpreter, Lowy Institute)
The image of Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong-un standing together at Tiananmen Square was a masterclass in political theatre, a chilling and unambiguous declaration for many in the West of a new anti-Western axis. Yet, some observers have pointed to the conspicuous absence of a formal trilateral summit as evidence of the bloc’s limits, suggesting Beijing remains reluctant to be locked into a rigid alliance with Moscow and Pyongyang. This view, however, misdiagnoses the nature of the challenge. The truth is not that China is a reluctant partner, but that it is methodically building an alliance without a name.
Religion
Xuzhou: A Church in Transition (September 4, 2025, China Partnership)
The gospel came early to Xuzhou, and many people in the area are at least familiar with the tenets of Christianity. But the traditional house churches tend to be a bit messy in the way they are run, and many are now focusing on setting up things like formal church offices and more structured plans for shepherding.
Return with Purpose, Live by Faith: A Chinese Christian Testimony (September 5, 2025, Chinese Christian Voices)
During my second year in the UK, in 2022, I came to believe in the Lord and was baptized in 2023. I thank God that during my time studying in the UK, he continually kept me, fed me with his truth, and allowed me to grow in spiritual maturity, learning to rely more on him. I thank the Lord for giving me a deep hunger for his Word and truth, and a heart willing to follow him more closely. However, I now understand more clearly: faith that has not been tested is fragile and mere talk.
Wise Engagement with New Technology (September 8, 2025, ChinaSource)
Like every technological advancement before it, AI presents both opportunities and threats—to society at large, and to the church. Balancing those requires divine wisdom and discernment. As one of the writers in this journal notes expresses, engaging with new knowledge wisely is a timeless Christian endeavor.
Xuzhou: Ever-Tightening Rat Race (September 8, 2025, China Partnership)
Like the rest of China, the economy is bad in Xuzhou, and young and middle-aged people face enormous amounts of pressure just trying to survive. Local pastors say the work is through, but they are trying to share a biblical value system that counteracts the stress and “rat race” in which most people seem to feel trapped.
Formation of Different Players with a Unified Goal (September 9, 2025, ChinaSource)
Paul believed in teamwork. He worked with 41 itinerant workers. Ten of them partnered with him for at least fourteen years, including Titus, Timothy, Luke, Aristarchus, Aquila and Priscilla, Tychicus, Trophimus, Mark, and Erastus. Teamwork did not necessarily mean staying together in the same city. More importantly, the partners shared the same goal. Their relationship was cemented with a bonding in Christ, and they also developed good coordination so that some of the trusted fellow workers were delegated with difficult tasks in different locations.
Podcast: The House Church in China (China Partnership)
The House Church in China Podcast tells the stories of the modern Chinese house church. In this season, we’ll hear the true stories of Chinese Christians who are showing Christ’s mercy to hurting and overlooked people in their cities…even though they are marginalized themselves. Despite being “underground,” they remain faithful in bringing Jesus’s hope to orphans, widows, the sick, and the poor. This is the story of Christ’s mercy in a broken world.
Society / Life
A ‘Loser’s Nation’ and the Abandoned Chinese Dream (September 4, 2025, The Diplomat)
For decades, Chinese society was built around an almost unrelenting pursuit of success. Since the early days of the Reform and Opening up era, “time is money, efficiency is life” was not just a slogan but a guiding ethos. The economy delivered double digit growth year after year, and success became both a promise and a requirement. To succeed meant to live with dignity; to fail meant to be cast out.
Why Urban Residential Buildings in China Are Prone to Grow “Old” and Hard to Renovate? (September 5, 2025, The World of Chinese)
Opened in 2005, Gu’s apartment compound was advertised as a “garden villa” community boasting tree-lined sidewalks and a pond. But since the family moved in, a decade after the construction, it has more often resembled a construction site, dotted with protective nets, scaffolds, and building materials rather than flowers. Nearly 10 years of renovations have not resolved basic safety issues. Since 2018, loose tiles have been falling from exterior walls of the apartment buildings, posing a deadly danger every windy day for the compound’s approximately 1,200 households (plus vehicles and passersby).
Being Chinese | Young Chinese Are Trying Out the Simple Life. Am I Missing Out? (September 6, 2025, South China Morning Post)
This is an entirely new experience for young Chinese. We’ve never been through an economic slump lasting a number of years. We’ve never seen legions of university graduates struggling to find jobs. Once upon a time in China, in the 1990s, millions of factory workers and state-owned enterprise employees were laid off amid economic reforms, ending the era of the “iron rice bowl”. Some had to sell blood. But those are distant memories for my generation.
Flowing without Roots: The Identity Crisis of Foreigners’ Descendants in Mainland China (September 9, 2025, Made In China Journal)
In 2009, a woman named Lou Jing, born to a Chinese mother and an African American father, went on a TV show in China and declared herself a proud and patriotic Chinese person (Leung 2015). Her remarks ignited a firestorm online as people debated whether a mixed-race person could be considered truly, properly Chinese.
From Blind Boxes to AI Friends, Young Chinese Buy to Feel Better (September 9, 2025, Sixth Tone)
China’s Gen Z is increasingly turning to retail therapy, blind boxes, and even AI companions to boost their mood, according to a new report highlighting the rise of “emotional value” in spending habits.
Economics / Trade / Business
China’s Labubus Are the Must-Have Toy of the Year. So Are the Fakes (September 4, 2024, CNN)
At a busy market in a small town of China’s Hebei province, Labubu is no longer the coveted collectible displayed in glass cases. Here, they’re treated like sweet potatoes or cabbages, dumped by the dozen into large plastic bags, or piled into car trunks waiting for sale. These aren’t genuine Labubu – the Pop Mart dolls that have gained cult status in recent months – but “Lafufu,” a tongue-in-cheek nickname for a wave of knockoffs. Collectors have even coined playful variants like “Lagogo,” “Lababa,” and “Lapoopoo.”
Is China Still “The World’s Factory”? (September 5, 2025, National Committee on U.S.-China Relations)
China’s GDP is projected to reach $25.83 trillion USD in 2030, as it continues to grow at a faster rate than the United States’. China’s role in the global economy has shifted from “The World’s Factory” to a technological and economic powerhouse. Yet, China’s economy operates differently than Western ones – raising questions of how these divergent economic models will either coexist or clash. How is China protecting and promoting its position in the global economy, and how is the United States responding to its economic rival?
China-Russia Pipeline Would Be ‘Shock’ to Global LNG Trade: Analysts (September 8, 2025, South China Morning Post)
“The Power of Siberia 2 would represent a structural shock,” said Sebastian Contin Trillo-Figueroa, a geopolitical analyst based in Hong Kong. He added the pipeline, which would send 50 billion cubic metres into northern China each year, would “lock in Russian gas at scale” and reduce the use of LNG cargo shipments that are costlier and exposed to more risk.
How China’s Malls Are Rewriting Themselves (September 8, 2025, The World of Chinese)
When Guo Yunqi steps into a mall, shopping is usually the last thing on her mind. Typically, the 28-year-old heads straight for the food court to meet friends. “If I really need something, I can just buy it online,” she explains. As China’s economy slows down and online shopping booms, malls across the country are losing their old appeal and struggling to retain customers like Guo Yunqi. Instead of just being a place to shop, malls are trying to reinvent themselves as destinations for socializing and leisure.
Science / Technology
The Technopolitics of China’s Yarlung Tsangpo Dam Project and the Paradox of Hydropower (September 4, Made in China Journal)
Technopolitics involves the design and use of technology to advance political objectives. However, despite this expressed intentionality, technopolitical implementation produces social and material effects that are often unintended by proponents (Hecht 2011: 3). These technologies, once implemented, can acquire their own agency and power, thus requiring political actors to implement additional technological solutions to ensure their success.
DeepSeek and the Digital Battleground: China’s AI Influence Abroad (September 5, 2025, Global Voices)
Since its roll-out in January 2025, Chinese generative artificial intelligence (AI), DeepSeek R1, has challenged existing assumptions about AI development, cost efficiency, and global competition, with some even going so far as to claim that it has leveled the playing field of AI development. As the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) promotes DeepSeek abroad, making cutting-edge AI technology accessible to the Global South, this comes with hidden risks and human-rights-related consequences.
Health / Environment
‘There Is Only One Player’: Why China Is Becoming a World Leader in Green Energy (September 7, 2024, The Guardian)
Chinese power took on an old-fashioned hue in the past week with a huge military parade, a gathering of former allies—Russia and North Korea, and President Xi Jinping’s defiant vow not to be intimidated by bullies. That display reminded many of the cold war, but it captured only a fraction of China’s far greater modern influence, primarily built on a formidable economy, dramatic advancements in renewable energy, and a willingness to engage globally with the greatest crisis facing humanity: climate breakdown.
Arts / Entertainment / Media
Script Change: The Writers Trading Movie Dreams for Bite-Size Dramas (September 4, 2025, Sixth Tone)
Since 2022, Chinese ultrashort dramas — vertical episodic content designed for consumption on mobile devices — have been gaining momentum in overseas markets, notably in the United States, where studios are now producing localized versions. This has led to a surge in demand for bilingual screenwriters, many of whom transfer from traditional film and television only to find themselves having to swap cinematic storytelling for cheap, viral tropes.
Hard Times for the Face of the “Wolf Warrior” (September 5, China Media Project)
Wu Jing’s career has wilted slightly since his glory days. Earlier this month, a film he produced was a box office flop, pulled from theaters after just six days. It’s a far cry from the wolf warrior heyday, which some pin as starting the same year as Wolf Warrior 2 in 2017. That film, and then The Battle at Lake Changjin, were the highest-grossing Chinese films of all time until very recently.
Language / Language Learning
The Many Myths about the Chinese Typewriter (September 7, 20205, Language Log)
In less than 20 minutes, Julesy gives us a more accurate and complete introduction to the history, nature, and workings of the Chinese typewriter than a couple of recent authors specializing on the Chinese typewriter do in hundreds of pages.
History / Culture
Exploring Four Iconic Qipao Styles (September 9, 2025, Beijinger Blog)
The qipao (旗袍, qípáo), also known in English as the cheongsam, is a traditional Chinese dress that has become one of the most iconic symbols of Chinese femininity and elegance. Over the years, a range of different qipao styles has emerged, and in this post we’ll be taking a look at four distinct variations.
The Underground WWII Effort to Save China’s Books (September 9, 2025, Sixth Tone)
When Japan fully invaded China in 1937, the country was thrown into chaos for the next eight years. Throughout it all, a group of Shanghai intellectuals fought to keep China’s historic tomes from disappearing.
Photos of Peak Tram (1888–) (Gwulo)
Books
“China’s Vulnerability Paradox” – A Q&A with Pascale Massot about China’s Commodity Markets (September 3, 2025, China File)
A new book by political economist Pascale Massot, China’s Vulnerability Paradox: How the World’s Largest Consumer Transformed Global Commodity Markets, examines this paradox, and is the subject of this Q&A by author Paul French.
Pray for China
September 5 (Pray For China: A Walk Through History)
In September 1853, 17-year-old high school student Young J. Allen (林乐知) gave his life to Christ. The year after he married Mary Allen Houston, they sailed for China. For 39 years he edited the monthly A Review of the Times(万国公报)—a paper said “to have done more for reform than any other single agency in China.” Allen passed away in Shanghai in 1907, just four years before the end of the Empire. Pray for Christians to become mighty warriors for the Lord by sharpening one another with the Word. Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17
Praying Through ZGBriefs (August 29, 2025, ChinaSource)
Prayer Walking as a Rhythm of Life (May 30, 2025, ChinaSource)
Operation World (April 21, 2025, ChinaSource)
Pray for China (prayforchina.us)
Pray for China (China Partnership)