China’s central government has been trying to sinicize religion, and that had especially a major effect on Christianity, writes journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao. For the New York Review of Books, he reviews Jesus in Asia by R.S. Sugirtharajah, but starts with a thorough overview of Beijing’s efforts to curtail 

Sustainability might have been high on the agenda of major fashion brands, most consumers in China still not buy into the concept, says marketing expert Ashley Dudarenok at the Jing Daily. But there is hope for the future as brands focus on the young and future consumers.

China can send in heavy police or army to put down the devastating protests in Hong Kong. But that would devastate its “One Country, Two Systems” approach, and nobody – including Taiwan – would trust China again, writes veteran journalist Howard French in The Guardian.

Business analyst Shaun Rein asks Hong Kong protest leader Joshua Wong to condemn the violence at the protest. That went obvious too far for Joshua Wong, we noted at a forum of The Economist.

China not only has been doing very well over the past decades, but any systematic opposition is lacking, even not triggered off by the Hong Kong protests. Although it does not mean president Xi Jinping is having no problems, says political analyst Ian Johnson to the Sydney Morning Herald.

It is not Hong Kong protests or the trade war, China’s leaders fear most, but hogs hit by African swine fever and the rising pork prices, says political analyst Victor Shih at Phys.org. An estimated 40 percent of its pigs have been killed already and massive reserves of frozen pork released on the stretched markets.

China’s big cities are developing a new city life, including new identities, writes journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao, at the opening chapter of, Shanghai Sacred: The Religious Landscape of a Global City, by photographer and anthropologist Liz Hingley, quoted in a review of the photo exhibition in Liverpool at Creative Boom

Western media too easily assume the protests in Hong Kong are supported by many mainland Chinese. Wrong, says author Zhang Lijia. There is a wide dived between mainland Chinese and Hongkongnese, and that is not only because of the media censorship in the mainland, she adds at the South China Morning Post.

It’s the economy, stupid, says China commentator Kaiser Kuo in his masterclass for Quora. Journalist and blogger Cory Doctorow reviews his masterclass ” on contemporary Chinese politics, authoritarianism, liberalism and dissidence” for BoingBoing.

Journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao, has won the 2019 Best In-Depth Newswriting on Religion Contest, says the website of the American Academy of Religion (AAR).