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

VOICES & OPINION

BroadTones

When the Countryside Is the Art

The Nanhai Art Field wants to bring art lovers into the Guangdong countryside. Is it working?

Wang Jingsi

Getting to ‘No’: How I Negotiated My Bride Price Away

In the author’s hometown, the groom is expected to pay hundreds of thousands of yuan to the bride’s family. But she wanted nothing to do with the practice.

Zhang Minmin

What Will It Take to Save China’s Bus Companies?

Even as local governments tighten their belts, many are pouring money into unprofitable and inefficient bus lines. Sooner or later, something has to give.

Wang Yuanyuan

As They Swim, Fly, and Crawl In, China Wakes Up to Invasive Threat

While the exact number of invasive species across the country is still undetermined, scientists have only recently started to estimate the havoc they have wreaked to ecosystems.

Li Pasha

What Makes a Good ‘Three-Body’ Adaptation?

Ahead of Netflix’s version, two Chinese adaptations of “The Three-Body Problem,” one live-action, one animated, offer lessons in the importance and pitfalls of staying true to the text.

Kong Degang

How to Price a Bride

Bride prices aren’t always about money or control. Paying the right sum is crucial to cementing one’s status in rural communities.

Wang Sining

A Key Plank of China’s Planned Economy Is Making a Comeback. Why?

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

Q & A

The revival of grassroots supply and marketing cooperatives has raised fears of a backslide. But the real reason for their return has gone largely ignored.

Cai Yineng

How Streaming Went Mainstream in China

Streaming platforms have gone from marketing niche programs aimed at young Chinese to partnering with CCTV on some of the biggest releases of the year.

Wu Changchang

What’s So Scary About the 15-Minute City?

China’s early experiments show the concept makes movement easier — and control harder.

Liu Daizong

The Men Who Set the Rules in Chinese Tech

The masculine ideal in China’s tech world is no longer an entrepreneur, but an “entrepreneurial employee.”

Li Xiaotian

Young Chinese Ask: Does This Life Spark Joy?

In growing online communities devoted to minimalism, young Chinese swap tricks for scoring bargains or cutting down on unnecessary purchases. But the real motivation is regaining a sense of control in an uncertain world.

Shao Wenjun

Post-COVID, China’s Taoist Temples Are Still Finding Their Way

Taoist Temples spent the past three years moving services online. Can they bring devotees back?

Zhu Yiwen

My Three Years of the Pig

The author, a rural development expert, reflects on spending the pandemic setting up a free-range pig farm in a remote Yunnan village.

Yang Xingfeng

In a New Play, Women Take Center Stage

“When We Two Parted” retells the story of two pioneering physicists who were never allowed to forget their marginalized status.