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Can China’s ‘Positive Dramas’ Take a Joke?

The genre’s recent revival has won over audiences, but their message may not be getting through.

He Can’t Find Work Due to Prior COVID Infection. He’s Not Alone.

Though authorities have warned against discriminatory hiring practices for people who have recovered from COVID, job seekers are skeptical.

On the Reality of Married Couple Dynamics in China

Chinese Men Still Get a Pass on Domestic Labor. Even From Their Wives.

China’s ‘Four Furnaces’ Heat Up

A man sits in an ice bucket and eats watermelon in a park in Chongqing, July 13, 2022. The country is in the midst of a deadly heat wave. Chen Chao/CNS/IC

Dynamic Mortgage Payments

Homebuyers in Multiple Cities Go on Mortgage Strike Over Delayed Projects

As growing numbers of housing projects across China sit unfinished, buyers are threatening to stop making mortgage payments. Online, some jokingly refer to the plan, not as a mortgage strike, but as “dynamic mortgage payments” — a play on buzzwords like the country’s “dynamic zero” approach to COVID-19. If the developer stops construction, buyers will stop paying off their loans. Payments will resume only if work on the buildings continues.