education

China’s Study Abroad Boom Finds a New Generation: Retirees

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

After decades of work and family responsibilities, older Chinese are pursuing overseas education for themselves, but many are finding classrooms designed for younger students.

Yang Yang

Jiang Xinyi

China’s AI Summer Camps Tap Into Parents’ Worries

As parents push to equip their children with AI skills, companies seeking to exploit their anxieties around the new technology are exaggerating claims about what they can teach their children.

Fan Yiying

Xiao Chuhan

Shanghai Boy Defies Fatal Diagnosis to Become a Star Student

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

SIXTH TONE ×

A 12-year-old primary school student with a rare muscle-wasting disease gives his peers and teachers a lesson in resilience.

The Paper

Beyond Dubai’s Bling, Chinese Students See a Future

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

VOICES & OPINION

Drawn by affordable international schooling rather than glitz, Chinese students in the UAE are quietly rethinking how they see education, work, and future opportunities.

Xu Man

Gaokao Results Trigger Wave of College Admissions Scams

Worried that their children may not apply to the right schools, parents are enlisting application consultants for help — and getting scammed.

Li Rongxuan

Instead of Theses, Chinese Students Submit Fertilizers, Novels

Over the last year, at least 59 top Chinese universities have revised degree requirements to let students submit practical or creative projects.

Chen Yiru

Deep-Sea Water to Microchips, China Curbs Flashy Admission Packages

Universities spent years competing with increasingly elaborate welcome packets featuring everything from microchips to deep-sea water. Now regulators are urging schools to return to a simple one-page letter.

He Qitong

Marrying at This Chinese University Comes With a Diamond Ring

The Harbin Institute of Technology has put on an annual wedding for doctoral students and their partner for over a decade. In recent years, participants have received lab-grown diamond rings.

Boy in the Frame: The Chinese Filmmaker Who Captured Luigi Mangione

A documentary director who set out to explore the lives of Chinese and American teens revisits unreleased footage of the murder suspect when he was 16.

Fir  Record

Should Optimus Prime Be Insured? Ask China’s ‘Bottom Journals’

China’s parody journals are turning failed experiments, revision fatigue, and academic anxiety into comedy — and finding an audience.

Girls Help Girls: Top Students Can Lift Peers, Chinese Study Finds

A new study shows that female top-ranked students can serve as significant role models in narrowing gender-based education gaps.

China’s Tech Giants Are Recruiting High Schoolers

Citing insufficient talent in universities, tech companies are increasingly seeking out high schoolers to fulfill research and internship roles.

The Chinese Deep-Sea Explorer Unlocking Science in Short Dramas

Hard science has taken Tang Limei to the coldest parts of the planet. Pop science is taking her to the hot list.

Jiefang Daily

Are China’s 8-Person University Dorm Rooms on Their Way Out?

Heilongjiang is the latest province to begin phasing out the living quarters, as the nation seeks to upgrade its student housing and eliminate crowding and dormitory shortages.

The Quiet Pressure of School Guard Duty in China

China’s school gate has become the front line of a quiet war over where the school’s responsibilities end and the family’s begin.

Chinese Regions Ease Weight of Biology and Geography on Zhongkao

As China seeks to curb student pressure, multiple regions have announced that the two subjects will no longer count toward students’ total scores on the notoriously competitive high school entrance exam.

China’s First ‘Barbecue University’ Opens for Enrollment

The college’s establishment comes amid a greater national emphasis on vocational education and alternative career routes.

Chinese University Cuts Arts Majors, Citing an AI-Driven Future

An explanation from the university’s top official led to debate on social media. But students say they’re not surprised by the cancellation.

China Mandates 15-minute Breaks Between School Classes

The new policy comes amid concerns that existing breaks were not long enough for students’ health.

In National First, China Founds ‘School of Space Exploration’

The institution, envisioned roughly 70 years ago, will bring together scientists from multiple fields to advise the country’s next generation of aerospace scientists.