Feature

One Chinese Town’s Fight Against the Desert Attracts Thousands

Timely reports on issues and events from across China. Drawing on a vast range of sources, these succinct articles provide insights into the significance of each issue in a wider context.

NEWS

Launched by a local man, an anti-desertification initiative in the country’s arid northwest went viral after being featured on a popular show.

Li Xin

China’s Wu Yize Wins World Snooker Title, Second-Youngest Ever

The 22-year-old is the second Chinese player to win the championship, and the first born after 2000 to do so.

Why Jay Chou’s Viral Lookalike Is Sticking With Pancakes

Translations, cross-publications, and collaborative projects from Sixth Tone’s external partners. 

SIXTH TONE ×

Street food vendor Bai Xianying’s resemblance to the “King of Mandopop” made him an overnight hit — but he prefers flipping pancakes to chasing fame.

The Paper

When Big Tech Needed Mothers in Rural China to Train AI

Contributions from individuals with unique perspectives to share. Hear from everyone, from experts and commentators to those whose voices are often marginalized.

VOICES & OPINION

China’s rural data-labeling centers relied on mothers who could work, care for children and hold households in place all at once. Now many of those same women are being judged unfit for the future of AI.

Wu Tongyu

Walk in the Park

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Children interact with a content creator dressed as the Japanese superhero Ultraman at a popular park in Shanghai, May 1, 2026. Wu Huiyuan/Sixth Tone

May Flying

DAILY TONES

DAILYTONE

Chinese Tourists Leave Textbooks at Monuments for Others to Find

Travelers first began posting online pictures of the textbooks, whose covers feature famous sites from around the world, before leaving the books there for others to discover and sign.

Jiang Xinyi

China Sees Record Domestic Travel This May Day Holiday

Tourists are choosing to primarily take domestic road trips this year, with music and cultural events driving tourism.

Fan Yiying

Nine Months After Cloning Its First Yak, China Has 10 More

The yaks were delivered naturally and without assistance using technology that cuts breeding cycles from 20 years to under five.

Flex Appeal: A Shy Influencer’s Abs Leave China Thirsty for More

Articles that cut to the core of contemporary China. In-depth, informed, and carefully crafted, every piece is carried by the voices of the story’s participants.

FEATURES

As rural content booms online, Lin Yangduo has gone viral promoting village tourism and local products with a formula that makes him deeply uncomfortable.

He Qitong

As Stability Fades, Young Chinese Women Rethink What Money Can Buy

For a generation losing faith in any single career path, money has become a tool for managing risk, claiming autonomy, and building a life on their own terms.

Cai Yineng

The Long Hunt for China’s Vanishing Elephant Slides

Visual stories that get up close and personal with contemporary China. A mix of short videos, documentaries, photography, and data visualization.

MULTIMEDIA

A photographer travels across the country documenting a little-noticed relic of mid-20th-century public space as it slowly vanishes.

Qi Ya

Wu Huiyuan 

How ‘Blood-Sweating Horses’ Became Auspicious Symbols in China

Rumors of an exotic steed that sweats blood first spread thousands of years ago, persisting in ancient writings and metamorphosing into various mythical horses.

Sheng Wenqiang

Collage: The Year of the Horse

Public art and festive displays welcome the Year of the Horse across China.

Sixth Tone

Behind China’s AI Boom Are Computer Rooms Full of Rural Workers

In the country’s less-developed hinterlands, labeling data to train AI models has become a poverty-alleviation tool.

A Decade of Overwatch in China

In the 10 years since the game launched in 2016, there have been highs, lows, and everything in between. It is no exaggeration to say that Overwatch would not be what it is in China without the fans.

Chen Menghan

How Viral Fame Strained a Noodle Seller Almost to Breaking Point

For 15 years, Chinese farmer Cheng Yunfu had sold cheap hand-pulled noodles at a local fair — then a trending video sent his life spinning out of control.

Instant Karma: No Regrets for ‘Coffee Gran’ Who Stirred Media Frenzy

Han Suzhen’s tiny alleyway store was overrun with customers after a post about her “hand-brewed coffee” went viral — and it almost cost her health.

Shanghai Sessions: Four Notes From a City in Swing

SPECIAL PROJECTS

A brief history of the misfits, migrants, and mavericks who improvised a musical revolution.

The Lost Art of Chinese Purple

The nearly 3,000-year-old synthetic pigment’s invention has long been a mystery. Now, archaeologists think they’ve finally cracked the code.

Wu Haiyun

The Big Switch

China is producing EVs at an unprecedented scale, reshaping industries, economies, and daily life. Sixth Tone unpacks what’s working, what’s breaking down, and what’s next in a race that’s upending the global auto market.

The Secrets of the Shang

Sometimes called the “holy land” of Chinese archaeology, Yinxu remains a mystery even today.

Laos

6 Lives, 3 Years, and a Long Look at China’s Short-Video Era

Your questions, answered. In-depth interviews with the minds and makers shaping today’s China.

Q & A

Filmed over three years, “Nobody, But Somebody” follows young Chinese living outside the spotlight, capturing what it means to keep going in the face of uncertainty.

Our Water: Shanghai, London Exchange Cultural Currency

The latest news about Sixth Tone and announcements about its events, projects, and other initiatives.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

A coin exhibition, forum, and night of culinary fusion in London kick off the second season of Our Water, Shanghai’s river-themed cultural exchange program.

Our Water

In China, MBTI’s Unhinged Twin Asks About Constipation and Diarrhea

SBTI, or “Silly Big” Type Indicator, borrows the MBTI format but replaces introspection with absurd questions and irreverent personality types.

The Pagoda Puzzle: What Can Save China’s Oldest Wooden Tower?

As rumors swirl around the restoration of an ailing national treasure, a conservation expert explains why some want to take it apart.

Pushed Out as Demand Falls, China’s Obstetricians Start Over

A decade of declining births is shrinking maternity wards, reshaping hospitals, and forcing obstetricians to adapt, retrain, or leave the profession altogether.

1 in 2,000: The Long Odds of Becoming a Pro Gamer in China

China became the world’s largest esports market in less than a decade. Now, as clubs cut back and the old pipeline tightens, breaking through is harder than ever.

Ten Lives in China’s Age of AI

AI has spread across China with startling speed. Ten people describe what it now allows them to do, what makes them uneasy about it, and what life might look like without it.