podcast

Meet the Editor Pushing to Turn the Page on Women’s Literature

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

For Ren Fei, publishing books about, for, and by women is more an instinctive act rather than a deliberate one.

Yang Caini

After Yet Another Liu Cixin Adaptation, What’s Next for Chinese Sci-Fi?

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

VOICES & OPINION

Liu’s signature brand of “hard sci-fi” continues to dominate, but a new generation of authors is putting a more traditional spin on the genre.

Emily Xueni Jin

The Grown-Up Lives of China’s ‘Bad Kids’

Excluded and stigmatized, some young migrants look for fun and recognition off campus.

Xiang Xin

China’s Booming New Toy Market: Hyperrealistic ‘Military Lego’

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

Lego has found huge success in recent years by tapping into popular movie franchises like “Star Wars.” Its Chinese rivals are turning to a very different source of inspiration: the People’s Liberation Army.

Wu Peiyue

Zhang Liting

Looking for Love in China? Get Into Esports.

China has seen a steep decline in the number of young people willing to get married in recent years. But one surprising group bucks the trend: esports fans.

Fan Yiying

Fan Shuying

The Hunt for China’s Ugliest Building

For 13 years, the “China’s Ugliest Buildings” poll has documented the misfires and gambles that defined the country’s urban building spree. What can the results teach us about taste in architecture?

You Xudong

China’s Downturn Fuels a Worrying New Trend: a Surge in Foreclosures

Home repossessions have more than tripled in China since 2019, leaving families in dire situations.

Chang Minxiao

The All-Too Complicated History of Simplified Chinese

Often portrayed as the result of a revolutionary pro-literacy movement, many “simplified” characters have existed for hundreds of years.

Liu Yuli

Young Chinese Are Still Seeking Serenity — Now Through Digital Fish

Visual stories that get up close and personal with contemporary China. A mix of short videos, documentaries, photography, and data visualization.

MULTIMEDIA

The country’s latest viral app is a wooden fish simulator.

In China, a New Generation of Climate Activists Suddenly Emerges

Young Chinese are increasingly moving into environmental campaigning — a reaction to the growing impact of global warming on China, but also the shrinking space for feminist and labor rights groups.

Yuan Ye

Love, Death, and Ghosts in the Chinese Underworld

Can a ghost fall in love? For China’s greatest spinners of scary tales, they might have been the only ones who truly could.

Fu Mengxing

Shanghai’s Forgotten Children

When a deadly famine struck China in the early 1960s, the city evacuated thousands of children to remote herding communities in Inner Mongolia. Six decades later, they’re still there.

Li Yijuan

Ni Dandan

‘Consumption Downgrade’: Buffets in China Enjoy a Revival 

Diners are ready for all-you-can-eat deals as they seek more for their money.

Luo Meihan

What Happens When Women Are the Breadwinners?

Better educated and professionally successful, rising numbers of middle-class women are flipping the script on traditional gender and marital norms.

Pei Yuxin

On China’s Job Platforms, a Furious Struggle Over Sexual Harassment

China’s women are waging a determined campaign to get sexual predators blacklisted from major job sites. But the growing restrictions on feminist discourse present enormous obstacles.

Lars Hamer

In a Rural Chinese County, Progress Is Measured by the Worm

China’s upcoming National Party Congress will be dominated by talk of grand narratives, strategies, and slogans. But in Wubu County, locals are focused on more down-to-earth matters.

In China, Social Media Is Fueling Dangerous Beauty Trends — for Babies

Many Chinese parents believe it’s their duty to ensure their children conform to traditional beauty standards. That’s driving the rise of troubling — and, in some cases, potentially life-threatening — infant beauty products.

Jiang Xinyi

Writer, Inventor, Brother: A Requiem for a Farmer

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

SIXTH TONE ×

Despite many hardships, Fan Yun always had lofty ambitions.

Fan Yusu

What If China Misdiagnosed Its Rural Malaise?

Led by outspoken activist-scholars, the combative “central China school of rural studies” believes it knows the source of rural society’s problems. Not everyone in the field agrees, however.

Liao Yue

In 2022, China’s Students Are Struggling to Cope. So Are Their Teachers.

China is growing increasingly concerned about a spike in mental health problems among students. But “zero-COVID” is taking a shocking toll on teachers, too.