Featured Article
Before WeChat, There Were Qiaopi Writers (May 20, 2026, Sixth Tone)
The last family letter Jiang Mingdian wrote crossed the Pacific Ocean. Last June, an elderly woman arrived at his stall in Shishi, a coastal city in eastern China’s Fujian province, hoping to write to her two granddaughters in the US after her son died overseas in his 40s. Unable to type or use a smartphone herself, the woman sat beside Jiang and dictated the letter sentence by sentence while he wrote each line down by hand. When she finished, the letter was printed and sent digitally.
Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs
The Aftermath of Trump-Xi Summit: Comparing US and China Announcements (May 22, 2026, NPR)
After the summit, the readouts reflected the ways the US and China stake out their positions and project their power, with Trump portraying himself as “a master negotiator” and Chinese leader Xi Jinping wanting to project China as an equal partner to the U.S., according to Gabriel Wildau, a China analyst with the Teneo advisory group. Wildau said a comparison of the readouts reveals “minor inconsistencies” on issues such as agriculture, tariffs and rare earths. But, he says, those differences are not significant.
China’s Diplomatic Successes Are Broad but Shallow (subscription required) (May 25, 2026, The Economist)
The last time that Xi Jinping left China was in late October. Since then the world has come to him: a dozen heads of state have visited China. The foreign ministry’s protocol department has handled it flawlessly, setting up grand receptions for its visitors, lining up soldiers and schoolchildren to greet them and flying their national flags beside China’s on important boulevards.
China Says Engineer Jailed for 15 Years Was Lured into Sending Aerospace Secrets Overseas (May 26, 2026, South China Morning Post)
A Chinese aerospace engineer has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for espionage, according to state media, with the report underscoring official warnings that the aerospace industry is a cornerstone of national technological strength and defense security. The engineer, surnamed Zhu, graduated from a top university with a PhD in 2018, state broadcaster CCTV said on Monday.
Religion
China Is Throwing Christians in Jail, but This Pastor Refuses to Back Down (subscription required) (May 18, 2026, The Wall Street Journal)
Pastor Ezra Jin was just finishing dinner with his elderly mother-in-law in the Chinese city of Beihai last October when more than a dozen police appeared at the door. They stormed the apartment, confiscated his phones and computer, and hauled him off to jail.
China’s Youth Are Facing a Mental Health Crisis. These Christians Want to Help. (May 20, 2026, Christianity Today)
Applause and cheers engulfed a 16-year-old girl after her guitar solo of “Habanera” from Georges Bizet’s Carmen. She looked out into the audience at a Shanghai coffee shop last December and saw her friends on the verge of tears as they knew how far she’d come to reach this point.
Zhengzhou: Challenges (May 21, 2026, China Partnership)
Just like others in their city, Christians in Zhengzhou struggle to balance work, family, children’s education, and struggles between traditional mindsets and the modern world. Believers face another challenge, too: continuing to follow Jesus in a society that alienates or even persecutes them for their faith.
If Revival Comes III (May 22, 2026, ChinaSource)
I firmly believe that the Chinese church will certainly experience a fifth stage of revival and achieve a new stability. If the Chinese church revives again, Chinese pastors in the current stage of shock and reorganization are facing, or will inevitably face, multiple challenges brought about by this revival.
Providence and Vision (May 25, 2026, ChinaSource)
This article is part three of the series In Thanksgiving I Cry Out, a three-part series chronicling Zha Changping’s spiritual journey. In the previous article, the author reflected on his calling into ministry, experiences in shepherding, and growth in spiritual discernment. Here, he shares how God’s providence sustained him through scholarship, vocation, and hardship while shaping in him a deeper vision centered on Christ.
No Longer Alone (May 26, 2026, ChinaSource)
Chinese has never been a simple word. It is not only a language, nor only a culture. Whether we like it or not, it often arrives with some sort of imagination attached to it. It reaches far beyond landscape, food, memory, or sentiment. I realized this most clearly after I had worked through an English reflection on this conference and then began trying to write about it in Chinese. Something shifted. What had felt analyzable in English became much harder to name in Chinese. More emotion surfaced. More unease. More attachment. Perhaps that itself says something.
Society / Life
Smokers In China Are Being Chided by Anti-Smoking Women (May 21, 2026, NPR)
Hilda Wang scolds smokers and posts videos of the encounters. She says she’s a natural introvert—but she gets so upset about smoking that her personality has changed. In a widely shared clip, she’s lecturing a man with a cigarette in hand. He says she has no right to put him on video. She tells the man he’s an embarrassment, and he walks away.
China Mine Death Toll at Least 82 After Gas Blast (May 23, 2026, The Guardian)
At least 82 people have been killed in a gas explosion at a coalmine in northern China’s Shanxi province, in the country’s worst mining disaster in 17 years. The explosion happened on Friday at 7:29pm (12:29 BST) while 247 workers were underground at the Liushenyu coalmine in Qinyuan county, the state media agency Xinhua reported. The cause of the accident is yet to be confirmed, but according to Xinhua, local authorities were initially alerted after an underground carbon monoxide sensor in the mine—operated by the Tongzhou Group—was triggered.
In a City of High Rises, ‘Cardboard Grannies’ Collect Waste for Cash (May 24, 2026, CNN)
Zigzagging through bustling streets, trolleys piled high with sheets of discarded cardboard, these elderly scavengers are hard to miss in Hong Kong. Many are in their 70s or older, hauling tens of kilograms of cardboard for a pittance in order to scrape by in one of Asia’s richest cities. They navigate steep hills and narrow streets, baking sunshine and torrential downpours. They have no official job title, leaving them at risk of having their trolleys or hauls confiscated by municipal officials.
What Young Shanghainese Imagine Marriage Will Cost Them (May 25, 2026, Sixth Tone)
In recent years, the attitude of Chinese youth toward marriage has undergone notable changes. A growing number of young people have shifted their view of marriage from a “required course” in life to an “elective.” The truth is that many young people today are clearly taking a beat and weighing their options before entering marriage. Behind this collective hesitation lies a fascinating mix of hope, pragmatism, and deeply personal soul‑searching.
Economics / Trade / Business
China’s “Small-Town Socialites” Are Keeping Luxury Hotels Alive (May 17, 2026, Chinaskinny)
China’s international hotel expansion story once centred around Shanghai skylines, Beijing business districts and tropical resorts in Hainan. But increasingly, global hotel chains are pushing deep into China’s lower-tier cities and counties. Despite the promise of new frontier markets, many are discovering their survival depends less on traveling executives or government banquets, and more on local women hosting afternoon teas, birthday parties and school celebration dinners.
With China Poised for Record Trade Surplus, Former Chongqing Mayor Calls for Action (May 20, 2026, South China Morning Post)
China needs a coordinated policy package of currency appreciation, tariff cuts and elevated labor benefits to rebalance its massive trade surplus, outspoken former Chongqing mayor Huang Qifan said on Tuesday. Speaking at this year’s Tsinghua PBCSF Global Finance Forum in Chengdu, the capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan, Huang described China’s 2025 record-breaking US$1.2 trillion merchandise trade surplus as “shocking”.
Travel / Food
Summer Boating at Xioaqikong in Guizhou’s Picturesque Landscape (May 26, 2026, Our China Story)
Dubbed an “emerald on the Earth’s belt”, Xiaoqikong Scenic Area in Libo, Guizhou, is famed for its stunning mix of mountains, forests, lakes, caves and waterfalls. Add the rich cultural flavor of the Buyi, Miao and Yao ethnic groups, and it is easy to see why the area draws visitors from around the world each year. Enough of the hype—let us take a virtual trip and discover some of Xiaoqikong’s most popular sights.
Arts / Entertainment / Media
The Rise of China’s Mini-Game Industry (May 15, 2026, The World of Chinese)
Lin’s habit reflects a broader shift in China’s gaming industry. Seamless access through major social media and lifestyle platforms such as WeChat, Douyin (China’s version of TikTok), and even Alipay has made mini-games, or “xiao youxi (小游戏),” a fixture of everyday digital life. Built for quick play and light competition, mini-games are catnip for fragmented attention spans.
Science / Technology
China Launches Three-Crew Spaceflight as Part of Lunar Ambitons (May 24, 2026, The Guardian)
China has launched its Shenzhou-23 mission in which an astronaut will spend a full year in orbit for the first time, a crucial step in Beijing’s ambition to send humans to the moon by 2030. The Long March 2-F rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan launch centre in north-western China on Sunday, carrying three astronauts to the Tiangong space station.
‘New Form of War’: An Insider View of China’s AI Strategy in Electronic Warfare (May 25, 2026, South China Morning Post)
China is rapidly advancing an “AI Plus” revolution in electronic warfare to redefine how militaries communicate, jam, and dominate the electromagnetic spectrum, according to industrial experts. In a paper published last month, they argued that by fusing artificial intelligence (AI) with the very physics of radio wave propagation, China could win a “new form of war” where communications and radars are faster, smarter and far more resilient than anything fielded today.
Language / Language Learning
Learn Chinese by Playing Chinese Chess (象棋, xiàngqí) (May 24, 2026, Hacking Chinese)
Chinese chess is more than a classic strategy game. It’s also a fun, practical way to learn Chinese through repeated, meaningful use of basic words and phrases. Chinese chess, 象棋 (xiàngqí), can also be a window onto the culture behind the language. The pieces, the board, and the way people talk about the game all tell you something.
History / Culture
Before WeChat, There Were Qiaopi Writers (May 20, 2026, Sixth Tone)
The last family letter Jiang Mingdian wrote crossed the Pacific Ocean. Last June, an elderly woman arrived at his stall in Shishi, a coastal city in eastern China’s Fujian province, hoping to write to her two granddaughters in the US after her son died overseas in his 40s. Unable to type or use a smartphone herself, the woman sat beside Jiang and dictated the letter sentence by sentence while he wrote each line down by hand. When she finished, the letter was printed and sent digitally.
The “Little Girl” Who Revealed an Empire (May 20, 2026, The World of Chinese)
In 1957, at a construction site in Liangjiazhuang, west of Xi’an, a Sui dynasty tomb was unexpectedly discovered. Inside lay a stone sarcophagus carved in the shape of a miniature palace, complete with a traditional Chinese hip-and-gable roof. The front of the sarcophagus had three bays and a closed gate, with each side decorated with carvings of a female attendant. On its cover, four characters were engraved: “开者即死,” or “Whoever opens this shall die immediately.” Despite this chilling curse, over 230 burial objects were unearthed, each a masterpiece of its time.
Events
Conference: Nourishing Trust and Friendship: Following the Way of Christ (United States – China Catholic Association)
Join us for the 30th Biennial Conference of the US-China Catholic Association.
Dates: July 31–August 2, 2026
Location: University of St. Thomas, Houston, TX
Pray for China
May 28 (Pray For China: A Walk Through History)
On May 28, 1938, John Kuhn (杨志英) and his wife Isobel Miller Kuhn (宓贵灵) opened their first Rainy Season Bible School for Lisu Christians in Oak Flat Village (麻栗坪村), Yunnan. Over 50% of the 200,000 Lisu in China are now Christians, but legalism has infected many. Pray for Lisu Christians to be free from legalism and live as grace-filled lovers of Christ. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace. (1 Peter 4:10)
As Trump and Xi Meet (May 13, 2026, ChinaSource)
Pastor Ezra Jin is the leader of Zion Church, a large network of unregistered churches in China. Zion has long operated independently of the state-sanctioned religious system, and its size, public presence, and online ministry have brought ongoing pressure from Chinese authorities. As a result, Jin and several other members of the church were arrested in October of last year. They have been detained ever since, while their attorneys have reportedly faced pressure from the authorities. In the days leading up to the meetings, lawmakers, advocates, and Pastor Jin’s family urged President Trump to raise his case with President Xi. With that in mind, here are several ways we can pray as these meetings take place.
Activating Prayer for China (February 23, 2025, 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)