class

In China, Millions of Women Never Learned to Read. Can TikTok Help?

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

Decades of inequality have left millions of Chinese women unable to read — and shut out of society in myriad ways as a result. Now, many of them are turning to social media to get the education they were denied.

Fan Yiying

Chen Jiangyi

Boast About Big Bucks Busts Brokers’ Bankrolls

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

Some people get canceled online. This newlywed got a whole industry’s base pay canceled.

Li Xin

China Tried to Ban Private Tutoring. It Created a Huge Black Market.

Last year, China outlawed private academic tutoring in a bid to promote social equality. The result: a thriving network of underground study centers, serving the children of wealthy, well-connected families.

Sixth Tone

A Star is Born, If You Don’t Mind the Silver Spoon

The National Theater said it was looking for fresh talent. Instead, it hired nationally recognized, if young, stars.

Ye Zhanhang

China’s Lockdowns Are Fueling Record Growth — in Inequality

In China’s cities, middle-class consumers are feeling anxious and making painful cuts to their household budgets. The wealthy, not so much.

Luo Meihan

Thinker, Toiler, Scholar on the Fly: Hegel and the Factory Worker

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

SIXTH TONE ×

While working on an assembly line, Chen Zhi taught himself philosophy. He hopes it will get him into university.

Li Xiaofang

How to Live for Free in Beijing: An Artist’s Guide

Could you survive for three weeks in the Chinese capital on a zero-yuan budget? Zou Yaqi tried it, and discovered it was surprisingly easy — if you’re dressed like a member of China’s social elite.

China Plans to Expand Property Tax

The most expensive cities are likely to be included in a pilot tax scheme, experts say.

Ni Dandan

China’s ‘Drifting’ Migrant Mothers Tell Their Stories

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

VOICES & OPINION

The author, an artist and editor of several previous compilations of essays on motherhood, wanted to help migrant women record their experiences. But how to begin?

Jing Yuan

For Gay Migrants, Cruising Spots Aren’t Just Shadows and Shame

Largely abandoned by middle-class gays, urban parks remain an important refuge for gay migrants in an otherwise hostile city.

Billy Gong

Viral Video of Posh High School Sparks Heated Debate on Privilege

After an alumnus of an elite Beijing high school made a video showing off its pristine facilities and supposedly laid-back pace, many online demanded that she and her ilk stop rubbing their privilege in others’ faces.

Liu Mengqiu

Du Xinyu

Forget ‘Leftover Women.’ Let’s Talk About the Women Being Left Out.

With media outlets and policymakers focused on unmarried, highly educated women, the challenges faced by those who marry early often go overlooked.

Cai Manlin

The Fall of China’s Working-Class ‘Palaces’

Beginning in the 1990s, the country’s working-class cultural spaces began to disappear, to be replaced by private, for-profit entities.

Wang Hongzhe

The Rise of China’s Working-Class ‘Palaces’

In the 1950s, workers’ cultural palaces were established in cities across the country to better mould the country’s new “leading class.” They had the side effect of democratizing culture.

COVID-19 Test Rule Gets Cold Reception Among Migrant Workers

Authorities say new rules for holiday travel have been introduced to lower the risk of coronavirus outbreaks in rural areas where public health infrastructure is less developed, but not everyone is convinced they’re fair.

Zhang Wanqing

How Agents Keep China’s Housekeepers Grateful — and Dependent

Agencies are more concerned with keeping clients happy than protecting their vulnerable workers.

Liu Yuting

‘Jiang Ziya’ and the Unbearable Lightness of Bourgeois Humanism

The real-life Jiang Ziya was a bold strategist who overthrew a tyrant. His cinematic counterpart mostly mopes — and audiences seem to like it that way.

Wu Changchang

High-Horse Vlogger Bashed for Talking Down to Construction Workers

A wealthy online celebrity who spent a day doing manual labor is being accused of mocking the working class.

Wang Xuandi

After the Pandemic, China’s Middle Class Re-Imagines the World

Unable to travel and consume abroad, some wealthy Chinese are “domesticating” their purchasing habits — and rethinking their place in the global community.

Tu Siqi

Checking In on China’s Post-Pandemic Middle Class

Can middle-class Chinese withstand the aftershocks of COVID-19?