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Spotlight
Public Lecture: Christianity in China Beyond the Headlines (ChinaSource)
In this lecture, Joann Pittman will provide an introduction to the complexity of the church in China, moving beyond common headlines and narratives to look at key issues and challenges that Christians face today. This will include a historical overview of Christianity in China, as well as gospel-centered stories of what God is doing among his people despite the challenging social and political environment. Finally, we will consider lessons that Christians in the West can learn from Christians in China. (Joann Pittman is Vice President for Partnerships and China Engagement at ChinaSource)
Date: March 26, 2026
Time: 6:15 – light refreshments
7:00 – Lecture & Q&A
Location: Nazareth Hall, University of Northwestern – St. Paul
3003 Snelling Avenue North, Roseville, MN 55113
Featured Article
Why China’s OpenClaw Mania Is More Than Just a Tech Craze (March 17, 2026, The Diplomat)
China has succeeded in positioning itself at the forefront of the global artificial intelligence race, but few could have predicted what happened next. Almost overnight, millions of Chinese users became devoted “lobster farmers.” The culprit? An AI agent called OpenClaw, whose icon – a bright red crustacean – sparked one of the biggest public tech crazes in recent memory. Installing and putting it to work quickly earned a nickname that spread from state media to street-level slang: yǎng lóngxiā (养龙虾): literally, “raising lobsters.
Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs
China Approves ‘Ethnic Unity’ Law Requiring Minorities to Learn Mandarin (March 12, 2026, BBC)
In recent years, the Chinese government has intensified policies in Tibetan areas that aim to reshape Tibetan identity through language, education, and cultural control. These measures are not isolated administrative actions but part of a broader national strategy centered on what Beijing calls “forging a strong sense of the Chinese nation community.” Under this framework, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) seeks to strengthen a unified national identity by weakening ethnic identities that might compete with the political narrative of the “Chinese nation.” Increasingly, these assimilationist policies are not merely administrative practices; they are being codified into law.
China’s Difficult Choice in the Iran-Israel-US War (March 16, 2026, The Diplomat)
After the outbreak of the conflict among the United States, Israel, and Iran, China’s position and role quickly became a focal point of international attention. In some media and analytical narratives, China has been portrayed as an important partner of Iran, maintaining close political and diplomatic ties with Tehran alongside Russia. Some commentaries even suggest that China has significant influence over Iran through financial cooperation, political engagement, and technological exchanges.
Trump Asks China If Visit to Beijing Can Be Delayed a Month Due to Iran War (March 16, 2026, The Guardian)
The US president’s summit with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, was meant to take place at the end of March but Trump told reporters in the White House on Monday: “Because of the war I want to be here, I have to be here, I feel. And so we’ve requested that we delay it a month or so.” China had said it was communicating with the US about the visit, with the country’s foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian saying:“Head-of-state diplomacy plays an irreplaceable strategic guiding role in China-US relations. The two sides are maintaining communication regarding President Trump’s visit to China.”
Japan’s China Policy Begins at Home (March 17, 2026, East Asia Forum)
Amid mounting friction between Tokyo and Beijing, Japan’s approach to China is increasingly tied to its domestic social debates. As Chinese tourists, migrants and digital culture become embedded in everyday life, public perceptions of China are increasingly shaped by lived experience rather than diplomacy alone. Generational divides, misinformation and unresolved historical sensitivities complicate this shift. Japan’s future approach to China will increasingly depend on how Japanese society negotiates diversity and coexistence at home.
Religion
Chinese Christians Leaving China (January 24, 2026, Chinese Church Support Ministries)
Recent analysis of emigration suggests that Christians are overrepresented among new Chinese migrants, with some estimates placing them around 15–20% of those leaving—far higher than their share of China’s population. Urban house church believers, including pastors, elders, and ministry leaders, form a visible segment of this wave, relocating to Southeast Asia, Europe, Africa and especially North America. The reasons behind this exodus are complex and interwoven with China’s recent political environment.
Nanning: Death and Resurrection (March 12, 2026, China Partnership)
Join us this March as we pray for Nanning, capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Local pastors say the southern China city can feel like a “big village.” But they also say Nanning faces the same struggles other Chinese cities have dealt with in recent years: a bad economy, less interest in Christianity, and a struggle to reach the next generation with the gospel. Despite these struggles, church leaders say God is using this season of difficulty to refine and resurrect the church.
Scattered for the Sake of the Kingdom (March 13, 2026, ChinaSource)
Walking down the streets and alleyways of Taiwan, one can hardly miss the growing number of Indonesian, Vietnamese, and other Southeast Asian restaurants everywhere. The world has come to Taiwan! Migration is now a global phenomenon. It is estimated that 200 million people live outside their countries of origin, voluntarily or involuntarily. The following diagram will give us a glimpse of the bigger picture.
A Generational Shift in Chinese Church Leadership (March 16, 2026, ChinaSource)
If you regularly read ChinaSource’s publications, you will surely note the Chinese Church is currently undergoing one of the most pivotal transformations in its entire history. The signs are many: a new social reality with its pressures and opportunities, new patterns and dynamics in church life in the mainland, the rapidly growing diaspora communities, and global outreach of Chinese Christians.
Subway Theology: Where the Lines Meet (March 17, 2026, ChinaSource)
When I have visited China, at some point I end up riding the subway (地铁, dìtiě). This is no doubt because I tend to visit big cities and because riding the subway is so inexpensive and convenient (方便, fāngbiàn). In my occasional travels to big cities in other countries, I often ride the subway too. I actually enjoy it. There’s something about riding the subway that makes me feel less like a visitor and more like a local.
Society / Life
Shanghai Announces 2026 Tobacco Control Plan (March 12, 2026, Sixth Tone)
Shanghai has unveiled its 2026 tobacco control plan, increasing enforcement of indoor smoking bans, discouraging smoking in outdoor public spaces, and guiding smokers to designated smoking areas. The plan, reported March 10 by domestic media, expands the number of smoke-free spaces in the city and seeks to reduce smoking violations as well as the city’s overall smoking rate.
Educating Over 100,000 Girls in Rural China (March 16, 2026, National Committee on U.S.-China Relations)
For over three decades, the Zigen Fund has worked with partners in the United States and China to improve the living, social, and environmental conditions for rural communities in China. From providing educational opportunities for over 100,000 girls to promoting sustainable development in dozens of villages, Zigen has adapted to address the new challenges that China’s economic development has brought to its rural communities. Pat Yang, Zigen Fund president and co-founder, joined us on February 11, 2026 to shares the US-China story behind Zigen’s creation and advice for how foreign NGOs should engage with local communities to best foster sustainable development and people-to-people exchange.
Beyond Zouxian: The Making of Chinese Asylum-Seeking Workers in the US Platform Economy (March 16, 2026, Made In China Journal)
This essay is a preliminary attempt to document the complexity of Chinese asylum-seeking workers’ interactions with the US labour regime and racial capitalism. We are particularly concerned with how labour regimes, urban infrastructure, and fear of deportation shape workers’ strategies for survival and constrain the possibilities for collective organizing. At the same time, we aim to highlight how the platform economy is embedded differently across local labor markets, continuing to fragment an already segmented workforce while offering uneven forms of mobility and risk management.
China’s First ‘Barbecue University’ Opens for Enrollment (March 17, 2026, Sixth Tone)
China has opened enrollment at its first university dedicated to barbecue, or shaokao, a ubiquitous street food nationwide, complete with degree offerings, course textbooks, and a talent pathway to jobs at famous local barbecue restaurants. The university—Yueyang Barbecue College in the central Hunan province—began accepting student applications on March 9. Jointly founded by the Yueyang city government, Yueyang Open University, and the city’s barbecue association, the college was inaugurated last July.
Economics / Trade / Business
China’s Critical Mineral Strategy Beyond Geopolitics (March 3, 2026, East Asia Forum)
China’s critical mineral strategy is often viewed through a geopolitical lens that overstates the risks it poses to global supply chains. While China is a dominant processor, it remains heavily import dependent and has pursued a dual approach that balances supply security with environmental reform, industrial upgrading and technological advancement. Misreading these policies as primarily coercive risks fragmented supply chains and higher vulnerabilities. More resilient critical mineral supply chains will depend on inclusive cooperation rather than treating China itself as the central risk.
Chinese Bubble Tea Chain Mixue Straps In for Theme Park Project (March 15, 2026, South China Morning Post)
A budget bubble tea chain from China best known for its cheap ice creams and drinks may soon be adding roller coasters and immersive shows to its menu. Mixue, boasting more stores than McDonald’s and growing rapidly outside China, is planning to build a theme park at its headquarters in Zhengzhou, the capital of central China’s Henan province. The park will be based on its Snow King mascot, a singing snowman that has become one of Chinese retailing’s most recognizable intellectual properties.
Arts / Entertainment / Media
Some Gen Z Americans Can’t Stop ‘Chinamaxxing’ (March 13, 2026, NPR)
As relations between the world’s two largest economies grow more tense, many young Americans are increasingly adopting what they consider to be Chinese cultural habits. The most enthusiastic among them have come up with a name for this trend: “Chinamaxxing.” In this installment of Word of the Week, we examine the internet phenomenon and the geopolitical and social media forces behind it.
The Great Broadcasting Retreat (March 12, 2026, China Media Project)
Sometimes “streamlining” is just another name for deep and painful attrition. Over the past two years, this and other euphemisms—like “optimization” and “transformation”—have swept like a wildfire across China’s local broadcast sector. Taken together, they tell a simple story about the rapid contraction of local television and radio under a barrage of cost-cutting directives from the central government. The goal is two-fold: cutting costs, and shifting resources toward newer forms of digital production — part of a broader rebuilding of China’s media infrastructure that the China Media Project has called “Centralization.”
Science / Technology
Censorship Is Not Deterring Global Adoption of Chinese AI (March 6, 2026, ChinaFile)
In 2023, Chinese tech giant Baidu debuted a large language model called Ernie Bot. It was a flop. Baidu began as a search engine company. It now provides a long list of services and is a leader in self-driving technology. It has also “aggressively” invested in AI since 2012, making it an early player, one which also boasts decades of data from its many online services it can use to train its models.
China’s 5-Year Plan Has Moved Beyond the Chip War. Washington Hasn’t Noticed. (March 10, 2026, The Diplomat)
The word for lithography machine does not appear once in the draft outline of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan. Neither does wafer fab, extreme ultraviolet, or chip manufacturing. In the 141-page planning document submitted to the National People’s Congress on March 5, the entire vocabulary of the “chip war” as debated in Washington is absent. What appears instead is a different strategic vocabulary. Artificial intelligence outnumbers references to integrated circuits by roughly 13 to 1.
Language / Language Learning
Remembering Is a Skill You Can Learn: Mnemonics for Chinese Learners (March 16, 2026, Hacking Chinese)
Remembering is not a fixed, innate ability; it’s a skill you can learn. In fact, there are many proven and easy ways to improve your memory! Forgetting is the nemesis of language learners. You hear a new word in a podcast and look it up, but when you encounter it again later, you’ve already forgotten what it means. Learning Chinese characters feels like trying to hold water in your hands. You scoop it up and hold on for a moment, but if you do nothing, it slips away through your fingers. What if we could forget less and remember more?
Travel / Food
Here Are 5 Ways to Enter China Without a Visa—By Land, Sea or Air (March 14, 2026, South China Morning Post)
China announced visa-free entry for Canadian and British nationals on February 17, allowing citizens of the two countries to cross the border and stay for up to 30 days with no more than a passport. The move was just the latest expansion of China’s visa-free policies, which have eased entry rules for citizens of dozens of nations over the past few years as part of an effort to boost tourism.
Getting Sour: How Guizhou’s Sour Soup Went National (March 16, 2026, The World of Chinese)
Sandwiched in a row of old gray one-story houses, the Guizhou Sour Soup Fish Hotpot is hardly distinguishable from other casual neighborhood eateries and grocery stores. Even the name sounds unremarkable, yet this 10-table Guizhou-native-run restaurant in Beijing’s southwestern Fengtai district has been attracting residents from around the city since opening last March for its “authentic” sour soup hotpot, featuring the province’s signature tangy broth.
Events
Free Lecture – Clash of Civilizations: China, the United States, and Religion (Catholicism) (US-China Catholic Association)
Retired US Government China specialist Gregory J. Nedved will provide his perspective on the clash of civilizations between China and the West, in particular the United States. He will focus on differences between China and the United States in a number of areas. This will include a discussion as to how each approaches religion (in this case, Catholicism).
Date: March 20, 2026
Time: 7:00 PM EDT
Location: ZOOM
Go here to register.
East Asian Christianity Conference: Christian Witness and Presence Among East Asian Religions (Gordon-Conwell Seminary)
As an annual gathering, this event brings scholars and practitioners together to engage comparative research on Christianity’s development and significance in East Asia, with implications for church ministry and mission today. The theme of this year’s conference is Christian witness and presence among East Asian religions. Church leaders from Asia and the West will come together to foster creative Christian discourse on outreach and leadership, drawing on current academic research and the lived experience of those in frontline ministry.
April 9-11, 2026
Hamilton, MA
Online Book Club (ERRC)
The next book for ERRC’s online book club discussion will be Other Rivers: A Chinese Education, by Peter Hessler. The discussion, led by Joann Pittman, will be held on Wednesday, May 13, at 5:00 PM PDT / 6:00 PM MDT / 7:00 PM CDT / 8:00 PM EDT. Grab the book and start reading! And watch this space and the ERRC website for more details and a registration link.
Conference: Nourishing Trust and Friendship: Following the Way of Christ (United States – China Catholic Association)
The 30th Biennial Conference of the US-China Catholic Association
July 31–August 2, 2026
University of St. Thomas
Houston, TX
Pray for China
March 22 (Pray For China: A Walk Through History)
The Terra Cotta Warriors, created to guard the tomb of China’s first emperor Qin Shihuang (秦始皇帝), were discovered on March 29, 1974 by Shaanxi peasants digging for a well. Faith of Our Fathers is an acclaimed work by Chan Kei Thong documenting Emperor Qin’s legacy of turning China away from traditions that had honored Shangdi (上帝), the God Most High revealed in the Bible. Most tourists who visit Qin’s tomb also fail to realize that his depraved reign included having all those who constructed the tomb and all his childless concubines buried alive with his corpse. Pray for God’s Word to light the paths of Christians in Shaanxi. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119:105
Activating Prayer for China (February 23, 2026, ChinaSource)
Prayer 2026: Off the Beaten Path (January 1, 2026, China Partnership)
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)