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

VOICES & OPINION

voices-&-opinion

For ‘Duobaowen’ Web Novels, the Absurdity Is the Point

Sometimes scorned as “sow literature,” the duobaowen trope in web novels paints a profound picture of new readerships, class divides, and the power of the consumer.

Gan Lin

The Promise and Pitfalls of China’s AI Sign Language Interpreters

Broadcasters have embraced the tech in the name of boosting accessibility. But few bother to stop and ask what China’s Deaf community thinks about the interpreters.

Zheng Xuan

Can China’s Unused Data Centers Get a Second Life?

A brief but explosive boom in data center construction just before the arrival of DeepSeek has left investors high and dry. But the centers aren’t necessarily a sunk cost.

Evan Freidin

How AI Is Becoming the Perfect Partner for Historians

What happens when historians use AI to create conversations discussing their own work? According to historical researcher Zhang Guangwei – insights, and plenty of them.

Zhang Guangwei

A Chinese Professor’s Lonely Fight Against AI

Universities are trying to tamp down on students’ LLM use — but that’s easier said than done.

Suzi Lin

What’s the Right Way to Translate Chinese Dish Names?

Finding the right way to render a dish like “husband and wife slices” into English isn’t easy.

Hugo Tseng

Remembering a Titan of Early Chinese Cinema

Yuan Muzhi was one of the country’s top leftist filmmakers in the 1930s. Now the Shanghai International Film Festival is running a retrospective of his work.

Wang  Peilei

How to Win an Argument in Eight Characters

Internet discourse is increasingly reductive, perhaps nowhere more so than in China.

Kong Degang

What’s in a Garden?

A new exhibition explores the meaning of gardens, from ancient China to Renaissance Italy.

Guo Xinyue

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.