Tsinghua Singing Competition: I got 3rd Place!
Joshua Johnson of the ABCF from Tsinghua University in Beijing: “Had an amazing time at the Campus Singers Contest last weekend where I was blessed enough to come in 3rd place! This competition started in September with persons being eliminated at each round until the final ten got to compete on Sunday Oct 19th. Everyone was amazing, we were all nervous, happy and excited but super nervous. Thanking God that I made it into the second round that day. For those who missed it, here is Emmerton by The Mighty Gabby which I edited to add Chinese in the end. Thanks again to all those who supported me! It was a long and hard journey but we did it guys! We did it!
2026 Chinese Government Scholarships Ready for Applications
The Chinese embassy has issued the announcement of scholarship applications for students interested in study in China beginning in 2026. The ABCF and the Barbados-China Returned Students Association now have a resource group of current and past students who are able to assist you with the application process, and with all aspects of preparation for study in China. If you are considering study in China, we would be happy to hear from you, by email or by WhatsApp at 1 246 288 1356. You may also reach us via the Contact page on our website. The Chinese embassy’s announcement follows.
The year of 2026 Government scholarship from the People's Republic of China to Barbadian citizens for pursuing either an undergraduate or postgraduate degree in China are ready for application.
The scholarship covers tuition, accommodation, stipend and comprehensive medical insurance. The international airfare shall be covered by the students themselves. Further information can be obtained from http://www.campuschina.org.
The requirements for applications can be found in Appendix A: Chinese Government Scholarship Application.
All applicants are advised to apply for the scholarships through the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training of Barbados, and log on to the Chinese Government Scholarship Information System to complete the relevant online application procedures before January 31, 2026. (see Appendix B)
All application documents generated by the system, as well as the candidate's medical results should be provided with two (2) extra copies to the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training of Barbados. The original copy of the Foreigner Physical Examination Form (see Appendix C) should be kept by the candidates.
Appendix:
Steely Bridges of Friendship - by Ethan Knecht
PRC joins the Andean Community as an observer, BNDES-China Ex-Im investment fund, and Demerara Bridge opens in Guyana. Plus: A WTO Agreement & China's IUU fishing.
Digging for the Deeper Story in Yunnan's "Tibet Disneyland"
I’ve recently returned from an 11-day trip around northern Yunnan, flying into Lijiang and doing a big loop north to Shangri-la, north to Dêqên County, west to Nujiang’s Gongshan County, south to Fugong County, south to Lushui, east to Dali, and finally back north to Lijiang. I’ll be slowly posting essays and content from this trip and the people I met in the coming weeks, starting with Shangri-la. Please enjoy!
Zhao Hong on state overreach, women's rights, cyberviolence & more
State power, Zhao Hong warns, has swelled on the back of crises, spawning counterintuitive cases that offend common sense: protesters in Henan immobilised by sudden “red” health codes; urban “tidiness” drives that punish shop signs and flower stands; zealous crackdowns on fireworks; and the routine harvesting of facial data without explicit consent, hastening a drift from governance to a “data Leviathan”. She grounds the critique in a dense run of real-world controversies that have stirred wide public debate.
Gender, too—most starkly in the trafficking of women—along with moral overreach, cyberviolence, and rights consciousness, is also spotlighted in the interview.
Zhao’s response is lawyerly rather than hectoring. From such cases, she argues, legal professionals should excavate the deeper defects in rule-making and enforcement; probe a little further and clusters of similar cases will force their way onto official agendas, opening space for change. To students and legal professionals who feel powerless, her counsel is pragmatic: do what can be done, even indirectly. Takedowns of essays happen, yet moderating the tone still permits a voice. History moves unevenly; progress may lag, but it need not be written off.
Hong Kong dollar peg here to stay despite global shifts, currency architect Greenwood says | South China Morning Post
The Hong Kong dollar’s peg to the US dollar will not change despite recent volatility and a “mild erosion” of the US dollar’s dominance, according to John Greenwood, the economist behind the city’s currency mechanism.
Hong Kong’s currency board system acted “as designed” during a tumultuous year for the local dollar, Greenwood said on Tuesday during a briefing in the city.
Earlier this year, a rare liquidity surge from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s (HKMA) defence of the currency peg sent Hong Kong interbank rates tumbling in May, causing a divergence in Hong Kong and US interest rates. That divergence triggered carry trades, where investors borrow in low-interest currencies to invest in higher-yielding assets, which pushed the Hong Kong dollar to the weak end of its peg and triggered the HKMA to intervene 12 times between June 25 and August 13.
The Ripple Effects of China’s College Expansion on American Universities by Ruixue Jia, Gaurav Khanna, Hongbin Li, Yuli Xu :: SSRN
Jia, Ruixue and Khanna, Gaurav and Li, Hongbin and Xu, Yuli, The Ripple Effects of China’s College Expansion on American Universities (October 2025). NBER Working Paper No. w34391, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5629467 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5629467.
China’s unprecedented expansion of higher education in 1999, increased annual college enrollment from 1 million to 9.6 million by 2020. We trace the global ripple effects of that expansion by examining its impact on US graduate education and local economies surrounding college towns. Combining administrative data from China’s college admissions system and US visa data, we leverage the centralized quota system governing Chinese college admissions for identification and present three key findings. First, the expansion of Chinese undergraduate education drove graduate student flows to the US: every additional 100 college graduates in China led to 3.6 Chinese graduate students in the US. Second, Chinese master’s students generated positive spillovers, driving the birth of new master’s programs, and increasing the number of other international and American master’s students, particularly in STEM fields. And third, the influx of international students supported local economies around college towns, raising job creation rates outside the universities, as well. Our findings highlight how domestic education policy in one country can reshape the academic and economic landscape of another through student migration and its broader spillovers.
China’s Lending to Developing Countries: From Boom to Bust by Sebastian Horn, Carmen Reinhart, Christoph Trebesch :: SSRN
Horn, Sebastian and Reinhart, Carmen and Reinhart, Carmen and Reinhart, Carmen and Reinhart, Carmen and Reinhart, Carmen and Reinhart, Carmen and Reinhart, Carmen and Reinhart, Carmen and Trebesch, Christoph, China’s Lending to Developing Countries: From Boom to Bust (October 2025). NBER Working Paper No. w34359, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5597010.
This paper provides a comprehensive overview of China’s lending to developing countries—a central feature of today’s international financial system. Building on our previous research and the work of others, we document the scale, destination, and terms of China’s overseas lending boom, as well as the lending bust and defaults that have followed. We compare China’s lending boom to past boom-bust cycles and discuss the implications of China’s rise as an international creditor on recipient countries and sovereign debt markets. The evidence indicates that Chinese state banks are assertive and commercially sophisticated lenders. For recipient countries, however, the jury is still out: it remains to be seen whether the gains from China’s lending—through growth and improved infrastructure—will outweigh the more immediate burdens of debt service or the multifaceted costs of default.
Meet Cheng Li-wen, the new Chair of KMT
The election for the Chair of the Kuomintang (KMT), the opposition party in Taiwan, was concluded on October 18. Cheng Li-wen was elected as the new party chair.,,,
Cheng rode the wave of generational change, embodying the bold and combative image that many grassroots KMT members had been hoping for. The 113-year-old political party’s members have grown weary of the same old faces and now place high expectations on the younger Cheng Li-wen, hoping she will lead the KMT into a new era and inject fresh vitality into the party.
In a live interview streamed online on September 9, Cheng sat down with Chen Chih-han, known as Kuan Chang in Taiwan, or Guanzhang in the Chinese mainland.
Top biomedical scientist Hu Ye quits US for China after giving up millions in funding | South China Morning Post
A top biomedical scientist has left the United States for China after giving up millions of dollars in research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
After studying and working in the US for 22 years, Hu “Tony” Ye, who held the prestigious chair professor position at Tulane University in New Orleans, left to take on the role of founding dean at the new school of biomedical engineering at his alma mater, Tsinghua University.
Hu has long focused on the rapid detection of viruses, publishing numerous papers in top-tier journals and serving as the associate editor of ACS Nano journal.
US Nobel laureate praises Hong Kong, blames Washington for China science impasse | South China Morning Post
An American Nobel laureate has accused the US government of hindering scientific collaboration with China while praising Hong Kong and the mainland for their “tremendous respect” for science and academia.
Randy Schekman, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2013, also praised Hong Kong’s openness and “free spirit” compared with the mainland, while urging both regions to foster more creativity among youth.
He made the remarks at a press briefing ahead of his keynote address at the Future Science Prize Week’s annual conference for the Asian Young Scientist Fellowship in Hong Kong on Thursday.
This weekly newsletter is put together by DeLisle Worrell, President of the ABCF. Visit us at Association for Barbados China Friendship | (abcf-bb.com).
Thanks to everyone who sent contributions for this week’s Update. Please send items of interest to me via the contact page at ABCF-BB.com or to info@DeLisleWorrell.com
The ABCF mission is to build a deeper understanding between the Chinese people and Barbadians and Caribbean people from all walks of life. The association’s focus is on personal experiences, people-to-people contact, cultural exchanges and exchanges of ideas, and the facilitation of travel, business and study. From the outset we aim to learn from and build on the experiences of the Caribbean and China, and to develop mutual understandings and support that will be to the benefit of both sides.
