east asia

October 23, 2011

A look behind China’s prosperity

A short but insightful look at the realities and ghost towns on the ground in China.

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October 18, 2011

China’s Princes Grow Up

Children of the elite are gaining power and voice: do they know Christians?

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September 22, 2011

From Prosperity to Uighur Militancy

“Catch-22 of Xinjiang as a gateway,” AsiaTimes.com. For those who follow news about the unreached Uighurs, here’s a good reference article to the challenges in this region.

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August 30, 2011

Pornification: China

Ed Stetzer has been doing a series on the “pornification of America”—but of course America is not the only place suffering from this trend. A number of recent articles look at the pornification of China. People’s Pornography – An interview with Katrien Jacobs, Danwei. Examines research papers and a new book, “People’s Pornography: Sex and Surveillance on the Chinese Internet.” Linked papers look at usage patterns of people detected using porn sites. China and US smash child porn sites examines a case in which the two governments work together to close a network of Chinese child pornography sites. A brief [...]

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August 17, 2011

On China and “naked marriages”

Rahul Jacob, “China encourages ‘naked marriages’,” in a Financial Times blog. Discusses the obsession of China’s people with property. A new Supreme Court ruling in China says that if a couple divorces, the wife would not get a share of the apartment if it is bought by the husband’s parents. The idea is to “nudge young people’s desire to marry back to an assessment of the virtues their prospective partner has, rather than their net worth.” What is a “naked marriage”? Marriage without owning a flat. But is this ruling a benefit to the bride, or the parents of the groom [...]

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August 16, 2011

Cross-cultural generational collision

What happens when an American Generational pattern collides with a Chinese one.

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August 12, 2011

Is the world economy about to change?

Graeme Codrington, “Why the entire world economy is about to change.” Another post, from August 5. Interesting statistical comparison. Thought 1: China is going big into Africa–why isn’t it making an equally big splash into other places? Thought 2: The center of Christianity now is Africa. What are the possible future scenarios when China and Africa become tightly interrelated? What happens if/when Africans are heading to China rather than to Europe?

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August 8, 2011

Richest women: The great wealth of China

Richest women: The great wealth of China | The Economist. A short graph of wealthy females (each of whom are worth more than $1 billion), of whom over half in the top 20 are Chinese.

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August 8, 2011

Microblogs and Politics: Can they change China’s rulers?

Michael Bristow, “Can microblogs change China’s rulers?” BBC. Microblogs have become wildly popular in China. This is about homegrown Chinese services (like Baidu), not Twitter. They are used by tens of millions. Now, when major things happen, even more dissent is possible–because it is wrapped in the conversation of normal daily discourse, and there are too many people using it to try to censor everyone. The microblog response to the high-speed train crash in Wenzhou is a popular citation of this phenomena. Bristow’s article examines how the government is urging members of the Party to get involved in microblogging and [...]

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August 1, 2011

The rise of China: laden with promise, or fraught with difficulty?

Anne-Marie Slaughter, “Notes on the rise of China,” Atlantic. How Singapore treats Singaporeans living abroad (very well), how the number of patent filings in China deny the idea of China as an innovation giant (not sure I agree here, how do granted US patents tell anything about innovation inside China), a very interesting note on significant water shortages in China (coal power accounts for 40% of China’s water consumption, and China will need even more power in the future), some notes on how the Chinese political system works (think “internal pluralism”, not autocracy), the impact of microblogging in China, the [...]

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July 22, 2011

Future Chinese leader vows hard line on Tibet

BBC News – Xi Jinping: China will ‘smash’ Tibet separatism. Xu Jinping is reportedly to succeed Pres. Hu Jintao in 2013. China still doesn’t like it when the US (or anyone) meets with the Dalai Lama. The last two paragraphs are perhaps the most interesting in this BBC article. “Harmonious society” is also a code word used for “we have the right to watch you and arrest you if you’re causing problems.”

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July 19, 2011

Will India and China be competitors in Africa?

China and India both see the need for resources, manpower and energy, and both seem to see Africa as crucial to this future.  Indian Prime Minister Singh has offered a $5 billion credit line to African countries over the next three years to help them achieve development goals. The goal is to attract students from Africa to study in India.

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July 15, 2011

China Increasing Regulation Trendline: 9 indicators

Christianity in China is growing exponentially—but that doesn’t mean that China is ready to open up religiously, or that it will be a Christian society any time soon. Indeed, it appears as as Christianity flows past the 10% line, believers and the government are entering a very tenuous period in which they eye one another warily and struggle over issues of influence, power, control and freedom. And not just China and Christians. China is entering a period of significant fear over anyone with the power to act in a way that destabilizes the control of the government. Here are 8 [...]

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July 14, 2011

Religious Regulation in China: helping Nepal develop Buddha’s birthplace

Reuters reports a Chinese-backed foundation and Nepal’s government plan to transform Buddha’s birthplace in south Nepal into a pilgrimage/tourist destination. One might be tempted to ask “why”? This seems to be part of China’s ongoing trend toward increasing control. By doing this, they “hope to bring together three schools of Buddhism.” The most important quotes: China does not seek to stifle religion. Rather, it seeks to control it, using faith to curb rising social unrest and fill an ideological vacuum. The government has no tolerance for groups that challenge its control (as demonstrated by its reaction to Shouwang earlier). Buddhism is [...]

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July 14, 2011

Americans setting up shop in China

Given our recent posts Scenarios on the short-term future of ministry in China Nightmare surveillance scenario for Chongqing Living as though you are watched–because you are you might be tempted to despair. But don’t be. Check out this USA Today article: The Americans living the American dream–in China: “A new breed of young Americans, China-savvy and Chinese-speaking, who share the pluck, patience and grit necessary to pursue their diverse dreams there.” There are over 600,000 foreigners living on the Chinese mainland, and among them are about 70,000 Americans. Maybe Plan B, the Celtic/Moravian model, isn’t so far fetched after all?

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July 14, 2011

First, China Came for the Lawyers

“It’s open season on lawyers in China today. To be sure, not on most of the almost 200,000 who foster economic development and international business, but on those unwise enough to become involved in human rights, criminal justice, and controversial public-interest cases.” via First, They Came for the Lawyers – By Jerome A. Cohen | Foreign Policy. This is a critical piece of the ongoing trend in China toward locking things down. China claims to be ruled by law–but it is shutting down those who can argue what the law says, and how it should be changed.

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July 13, 2011

People who send aid to North Korea

Due to the sensitive nature of work in North Korea, there are many things being done which cannot be talked about. However, there is some more public humanitarian aid work being done which deserves mention. Surely, if nothing else can be done, bringing “a cup of cold water” as the bare minimum is something worthy of being involved in. One such group is the Lighthouse Foundation. See this article, “The people behind the aid trickle to the North.” (H/T to the UK Council of World Mission, who you can follow on Twitter.)

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July 8, 2011

Scenarios on the short-term future of ministry in China

Once, China was fairly open. No longer. If we are watched, how shall we then minister?

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July 8, 2011

Nightmare Scenario: Chongqing: a surveillance society powered by HP

This is likely to make things very “interesting” in China. Engadget is reporting that Cisco and HP have provided over a half million surveillance cameras for the Public Chongqing project, which will “give the government unprecedented views of its citizens.” One might think a half million cameras are far too much to keep up with – will Chongqing hire 500,000 people to watch them? It wouldn’t be the first time when China has tried that kind of manual labor. However, China is not all that far behind the world in technological know-how (or the ability to buy it) – and [...]

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July 2, 2011

North Korean girls defecting, looking for Chinese husbands

ipsnews.net writes about the plight of North Korean women who defect to China. Women outnumber men in North Korea, and of the Koreans defecting into China, about 70% are women. North Korean men don’t make it long-term in China because they don’t have local connections in China and are more easily found and deported back. North Korean women have a connection: younger ones are “sold as brides to Chinese farmers in northern border villages” and olders take “menial jobs” in restaurants and karaoke rooms. One estimate: 80% of N. Korean women who defect are sold as brides. The challenges are [...]

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