The Historian Rewriting China’s Understanding of the World

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

Q & A

Qian Chengdan is one of China’s best-known historians. In a new book, he and his team attempt to produce a comprehensive Marxist history of the world.

Wu Haiyun

Witches and ‘Poisonous Cats’: A Scholar’s Search for Society’s Scapegoats

Wang Mingke has spent his life studying marginalized communities in China’s far west. That work has helped him better understand everything from anti-Asian hate to social media polarization.

Peter Hessler’s World of Words

The acclaimed author on generations, his approach to writing, and how China has changed since the 1990s.

Xue Yongle

The Making of Yunnan

Historian Yang Bin shares his thoughts on Yunnanese history, his unique approach to the region, and how border areas shape a state.

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

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

A Woman of No Significance

When historian Luo Xin began experimenting with “microhistory,” his colleagues were dismissive. Then his biography of a fifth century palace maid became one of the biggest books of 2022.

Digging Into the Shang Dynasty’s Empire of Bones

For centuries, the rulers of China’s first dynasty practiced a brutal form of human sacrifice. What did it mean? And more importantly, why did they stop?

China’s Dejected Youth Find a New Anti-Hero: a ‘Trashy’ Wannabe Rapper

Aspiring hip-hop star Big Sponge has few fans, fewer friends, and so little money that he has to collect recycling waste to make some extra cash. But his story — captured in the award-winning film “Trashy Boy” — has resonated with disaffected young Chinese.

Yuan Ye

Is Confucius Really Dead?

Sociologist Zhao Dingxin, author of “The Confucian-Legalist State,” on the demise of Confucianism, the resilience of Legalism, and the structural sources of individual power.

‘Seeing the Yellow River as a Whole’: A Conversation With Ruth Mostern

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

SIXTH TONE ×

The historian discusses her book on China’s imperial water management and how its insights relate to the present.

China Dialogue

Recovering the Forgotten History of China’s Constitution

For legal scholar Tian Lei, the past is preamble.

Documenting Life Inside a ‘China-Africa Factory’

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

VOICES & OPINION

Director Zhang Yong on his documentary “Bobby’s Factory” and challenging stereotypes about Chinese-African relations.

Flair Donglai Shi

How the Lockdown Is Remaking Shanghai Neighborhoods

Sociologist Sun Zhe has studied Shanghai community organizations for over a decade. He believes the ramifications of the current lockdown will be felt far into the future.

How the Cold War Challenged Sino-African American Solidarity 

Facing a rising tide of reaction, the links between Black intellectuals and nationalist and left Chinese took on new importance.

Liu Zifeng

The Alliance That Shook the World

Beginning in the 1930s, African American intellectuals and nationalist Chinese, bound by a shared oppression, forged a bond that would last decades.

From Soundbites to Deep Dives: The Rise of Chinese Nonfiction

Dutch researcher Tabitha Speelman shares her observations on China’s nonfiction boom.

Sixth Tone

How to Make Snow for a Winter Olympics in a Dry City

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

When China was awarded the 2022 Winter Olympics, the country went on a crash course for making its own snow.

Ye Ruolin

Chinese Rover Finds the Far Side of the Moon Has Sticky Soil

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

Sixth Tone speaks with a planetary geologist about the recent discovery and more.

From China to Gaza and Back

Director and former war correspondent Zhou Yijun shares her thoughts on the theme of this year’s China Writing Contest.

Through the Glass Ceiling, and Beyond

When astronomer Ye Shuhua fought for a men-only job in 1951, it turned out to be the first of many barriers she broke through.