Featured Article
The Human Faces of China’s Belt and Road Strategy, Through Liu Heung-shing’s Lens (July 16, 2026, South China Morning Post)
“There are so many ways to tell a story. Sometimes, the most difficult decision is when not to press the shutter, rather than when to press the shutter,” he says, while cooking and sipping a glass of Chablis. He has invited me to his home for dinner and to discuss his most recent book, “Old Road New Connections: China Builds a Different World,” for which his shutter charted a global odyssey following the tentacles of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. If the initiative sounds abstract in policy papers—six economic corridors, hundreds of billions in cumulative investment, more than 150 participating countries and 230 cooperation agreements—Liu’s book is an attempt to humanize that scale.
Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs
Technological Progress in ‘Time War’ with the West (July 24, 2026, Jamestown Foundation – China Brief Archives)
In the spring of 1996, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) launched missiles into the sea around Taiwan to intimidate the island before its first free and direct presidential election. Then, by accounts that have since hardened into legend inside the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), two of the missiles lost their way after the US severed connection to the American satellite signal guiding them (Sina Military, December 31, 2012). From that humiliation, Beijing drew an enduring lesson: to achieve absolute security in its capabilities, it would have to control the technologies that enabled them. In this case, achieving control meant exerting power over the measurement of time itself.
Beijing Fires New Salvo at Tokyo with Documentary on Disputed Diaoyu Islands (July 27, 2026, South China Morning Post)
Beijing is stepping up its global messaging campaign over East China Sea islets that Tokyo also claims by rolling out a five-part documentary to tell its version of history. The state broadcaster’s English-language channel, China Global Television Network (CGTN), released the first part of Diaoyu Dao: Small Islands, Big Stakes on Monday to “examine the history, legal debates and contemporary realities” surrounding the group of small, uninhabited islands, which Japan administers as the Senkakus.
Religion
Cultivating Peace (July 8, 2026, ChinaSource Journal)
Using the “Cultivating Peace” project as an example, this article explores whether a “public theology of peace” based on Christian narrative is a theologically sound attempt in the current public context of Hong Kong. It also explains why we should position ourselves as a “public theology project,” and it introduces how narrative practice helps us develop and formulate this project.
From “Set Apart as Holy” to a “Community of Virtue” (July 8, 2026, ChinaSource Journal)
If we briefly summarize how the Chinese house church has thought about public affairs over the past fifty years, we can broadly identify two basic approaches. I tentatively call these the “set apart as holy” approach and the “city on a hill” approach. This article attempts to trace the historical background of these two approaches, along with their respective significance and deficiencies, and proposes the “community of virtue” based on Anabaptist public theology as a third approach worthy of consideration by the Chinese house church.
Metanoia Moments (July 22, 2026, ChinaSource)
Jesus opened his very first public message with this phrase: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; ‘metanoia’ (repent) and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). The Greek word used here, “metanoia,” literally means to “change one’s mind.” In ancient times the words “mind” and “heart” were used interchangeably. In this context, the word signifies a transformational shift in heart and mind toward Jesus Christ, moving far beyond the sorrow and contrition represented by the English word “repent.”
Japan: Praying for the Chinese Diaspora (July 23, 2026, China Partnership)
This July, we are praying for the Chinese diaspora throughout Asia. This week, Ruth, a Chinese missionary in Japan, introduces us to the many Chinese living in Japan. She and her family hope that, as they minister to Chinese, they will also be able to share the hope of the gospel with the Japanese. Today, she tells us about the struggles Chinese face as they seek to establish themselves in Japan.
Bringing Incarnational Faith into Public Life (July 24, 2026, ChinaSource)
At a disaster-relief site, the first question before us is usually not, “Is this person a Christian?” but, “Is this a person who is suffering?” If someone is hungry, we give that person food. If someone has lost a home, we help rebuild it. If disaster has left someone in despair, we stay alongside that person. The “neighbor” Jesus spoke of has never been limited by religion, ethnicity, or nationality.
A Tale of Two Chinas (2) (July 27, 2026, ChinaSource)
The bus turned the corner and headed down the main street into Chuimatan, the Jishishan county seat, which still managed to maintain a traditional small town feel despite the smart new high-rise complexes rising all around. Most of my journey was now complete: two hours southeast from Lanzhou to Linxia, the prefectural capital and “China’s Little Mecca,” then only a further hour or more, as the journey through the mountains had now been drastically cut through a recently constructed tunnel.
Salt and Light: Rethinking Chinese Public Theology in Kuala Lumpur (July 28, 2026, ChinaSource)
I am not a scholar of public theology. I attended primarily as a practitioner who has spent many years involved in cross-cultural Chinese ministry, hoping to listen to what Chinese churches in different settings are now trying to understand and address. When I looked back through my notes afterwards, I did not find a definition becoming steadily clearer. Instead, I found a series of questions growing larger. Perhaps that was the conference’s greatest value for me.
Society / Life
Birds of a Feather: Why China’s New Birding Generation Is Looking Up (July 22, 2026, The World of Chinese)
The Pokémon-like experience of birding, which sees watchers discover and collect new species on daily adventures while memorizing a raft of Latin names, has rapidly attracted a vibrant community of young participants in China. A 2025 trend report on Xiaohongshu (RedNote) showed that birding-related searches had surged 19-fold year-on-year over the past month, while birding posts in the past year exceeded the total from the previous decade combined.
What a Stray Dog’s Murder Tells us About Chinese Civil Society (July 25, 2026, The Diplomat)
In New York’s Times Square, a giant electronic billboard recently carried five words: “Never forget. Never give up.” Similar displays appeared near the Duomo in Milan, by the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and around Taipei 101, in a wave of memorials that hit more than 200 screens worldwide. Ordinary Chinese people paid for these displays, one small donation at a time—all to mourn a stray dog.
Love’s Labor’s Found: The Beijing Scholar Speaking Up for Hired Hands (July 27, 2026, Sixth Tone)
Over eight years, Cong Rui’an, a doctoral student in political science at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, regularly sought work as a day laborer in Majuqiao Town, one of the capital’s largest informal labor markets. In May, he published the book “Majuqiao Time: My Days as a Day Laborer,” offering his insights into the lives of these often-stigmatized workers. Here, Cong talks with The Paper about his experiences.
History / Culture
Before China’s First Emperor: Unearthing the Long Rise of the Qin (July 27, 2026, Sixth Tone)Wang Hui still remembers everything about the sensational tomb-robbing scandal that launched his career. It was the early 1990s, barely a decade into China’s transition from planned to market economy, and grave robbing had become a lucrative cottage industry in the Chinese countryside—a rare way for villagers to get rich. So when a local farmer in northwestern China’s Gansu province uncovered bronzes while digging for oracle bones, it kicked off a feeding frenzy.
Health / Environment
Typhoon Noul Forces More than 715,000 from Homes and Cancels Hundreds of Flights in China and Hong Kong (July 26, 2026, The Guardian)
Typhoon Noul made landfall early Sunday bringing strong winds and heavy rain to southern China, including Hong Kong, over the weekend. It prompted the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people in Guangdong province with the region on high alert and hundreds of flights cancelled. The typhoon – the strongest to make landfall in China so far this year–will dump heavy to torrential rains across much of southern China for two days, authorities said, after sweeping the province of Guangdong and neighboring Hong Kong with gale-force winds.
China’s Mightiest River Is Coming Back from the Brink (subscription required) (July 27, 2026, The Economist)
The mighty Yangtze, running 6,300km from the Tibetan plateau to Shanghai, is sometimes known as China’s “mother river”. Yet it was not always treated with much respect. Sewage and industrial waste were poured into its waters. Millions of tonnes of fish were dragged out. Mega-dams clogged up its channels. It was all too much for some of the Yangtze’s most wondrous inhabitants. The baiji, a white-bellied, nearly sightless dolphin, is probably extinct; so is the gigantic, sword-nosed paddlefish. But not all the damage is permanent. Asia’s longest river is now making a remarkable comeback.
Science / Technology
What’s Horned, Fluffy, and Ethically Dubious? Yak Clones (July 24, 2026, CNN)
On the high-altitude plains of Tibet, ringed by snowy mountains and buffeted by harsh winds, scientists are hard at work creating horned, fluffy clones. These are Tibetan yaks, designed and cloned in secretive labs more than 4,000 meters above sea level, where researchers hope to create an “elite” herd of super-yaks, healthier and more fertile than their predecessors.
Xi Addresses China and the World in Rare Public Speech on AI (July 27, 2026, MERICS)
Xi Jinping chose his in-person debut at the World AI Conference (WAIC) to deliver a rare speech on AI, representing one of his most significant public interventions on AI to date. Previously, Xi’s richest speeches on AI had come from Politburo Study Sessions, and outsiders only got to see summaries. Here, he was addressing both the nation and the world.
China’s Rare Earth Reserves Could Be Much Larger than Reported: Leading Geologist (July 28, 2026, South China Morning Post)
The world’s largest known rare earth deposit in northern China could contain far more resources underground than currently reported, according to a leading Chinese geologist. Containing 100 million tonnes of rare earth reserves, the Bayan Obo mine in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region has served as the backbone of China’s rare earth industry for decades. According to Yang Li, a Peking University geologist, “Bayan Obo’s rare earth resources have been the dominant source of global rare earth production since the 1990’s
Arts / Entertainment / Media
A Movie Review of “Dear You” (給阿嬤的情書) (July 22, 2026, US-China Catholic Association)
給阿嬤的情書Dear You (literally translated Love Letters to My Grandmother) emerged as a remarkable dark horse in China’s 2026 film market. It opened with 3.77 million RMB in box office receipts and held the top spot for five consecutive weeks, resonating strongly across Malaysia, Singapore, and other markets, where it set new records for Chinese-language cinema.
Language / Language Learning
The Chinese Iceberg: Why Speaking More Isn’t Enought to Speak Better (July 26, 2026, Hacking Chinese)
Your ability to speak Chinese is visible. Everybody can hear your tones, which words you choose and the way you string them together into sentences. It’s therefore natural to think that the best way to improve speaking is to speak more. If the visible part is weak, focus on the visible part. If your pronunciation is wobbly, speak more. If your sentences come out wrong, speak more. If people don’t understand what you say in conversations, speak more. This can be good advice, but it’s usually not the best advice, and it’s certainly not the whole story.
Economics / Trade / Business
How Adidas Turned a Translation Blunder into a China Marketing Win (July 22, 2026, ChinaSkinny)
Foreign brands’ early years in China produced plenty of translation mishaps, along with a few stories that have been repeated so often that fact and marketing folklore have become hard to separate.
Travel / Food
Peak Convenience: The Rise of Painless Hiking (July 24, 2026, The World of Chinese)
In recent years, the concept of “painless hiking (无痛爬山)” has become popular among young Chinese like Yue. The trend, which sees wannabe mountaineers take advantage of modern facilities and infrastructure to navigate the country’s outdoor sites, is perhaps best encapsulated by a witty aphorism that has become popular online: “Didn’t climb a single step but didn’t miss a single sight.”
Events
Online Book Club Discussion (ERRChina)
Join us for a discussion of the book Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future, by Dan Wang. Now would be a great time to purchase the book and start reading it in order to be ready for a lively and vibrant discussion.
Date: August 5, 2026:
Time: 5pm PST / 6pm MST / 7pm CST / 8pm EST (US)
Platform: Zoom
Register here
Pray for China
July 31 (Pray For China: A Walk Through History)
On July 31, 1861, George W. Hunter (胡进洁) was born in Scotland. Hunter arrived in China in 1889 and spent 57 years there ministering primarily to Muslims. After his first and only furlough, he moved to Xinjiang in 1906 and traveled widely, preaching in Kazakh, Uyghur, Manchu, Mongolian, Nogai, Arabic, and Chinese. He was tortured during his thirteen months in a Soviet prison in Ürümqi and then deported to Gansu where he died in 1946. Pray for Muslims in Xinjiang and Gansu to see the Lord Jesus as the complete and final revelation of the One True Triune God. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ…2 Corinthians 10:5
From Deep Thinking to Deep Prayer (July 21, 2026, ChinaSource)
Prayer 2026: Off the Beaten Path (January 1, 2026, China Partnership)
Operation World (April 21, 2025, ChinaSource)
Pray for China (prayforchina.us)
Prayer Walking as a Rhythm of Life (May 30, 2025, ChinaSource)