💬 Quoted: “They say they’re in favor of reconnecting our two populations, but they’re taking dramatic steps to make it impossible,”

• Last November, President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to boost engagement between ordinary Chinese and Americans as part of an effort to repair fraying ties between the two nations. But according to a new Wall Street Journal interview with Nicholas Burns, the US ambassador to Beijing, China has instead worked to actively undermine those ties by interrogating and intimidating citizens who attend US-organized events in China, restricting the US embassy’s social-media posts, and stirring up anti-American sentiment within China. Burns described 61 public events since November involving American diplomats in which China’s government pressured its citizens not to go, or attempted to intimidate those who attended. He also voiced concerns about the recent stabbing of four Iowa college instructors in northeastern China, as well as recent regulations making it harder for Chinese students to attend US universities.

📈 Stat of the Day: After youth mental health took a beating during the pandemic, the kids are slowly becoming alright, according to new CDC data collected by Axios. Of the nine states which have published youth mental health figures for 2023, seven of them recorded lower rates of sadness and hopelessness compared to 2021 – a sign that efforts to dedicate more resources to student well-being during the pandemic are starting to pay off, CDC officials say.

🤔 Did You Know? No Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup since 1993, despite the country containing ~20% of all NHL franchises.

📰 Worth a Read: How amputation transformed the human body during the Renaissance → (The Conversation)