tradition

At China’s ‘Hogwarts,’ Traditional Taoism Trumps Magic

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

Amid a social media surge, a Taoism college is drawing record applications this year. But getting in and sticking it out requires more than just passion.

Yang Caini

The Hungry Dead and the Envoys of Hell: China’s Ghost Festival

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

MULTIMEDIA

Costumed parades in the street, spectral drawings, and religious ceremonies illustrate how the Chinese celebrate Ghost Festival.

Sheng Wenqiang

Chinese Creepy Crawlies: Keeping the Pests of May at Bay

In Chinese folklore, scorpions, snakes, toads, geckos, and centipedes come out in May to harm humans, who have been trying to keep them at bay with herbs, clothing, and paper charms for centuries.

Villagers Detained for Unauthorized Dragon Boat Racing, Sparks Debate

Local governments have clamped down on privately organized dragon boat racing over safety concerns, but some experts are calling for more space to be given to the celebration of folk traditions.

Li Xin

Heaven’s ATM: How Chinese People Have Been Sending Money to the Afterlife For Centuries

Believing money can solve anything — even in the afterlife — Chinese people are continuing the centuries-old practice of innovating new types of “ghost money” for the deceased.

Death in the Modern City

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

VOICES & OPINION

Urbanization has changed Chinese funerary practices, but some traditions live on.

Tang Shenqi

Medicine and Meridians: A Chinese Artist’s View of Body and Spirit 

Self-taught artist Guo Fengyi drew inspiration from traditional Chinese medicine and Taoist cosmology and left behind art that remains intriguing to many, even to this day.

Meng Xianhui

Getting to ‘No’: How I Negotiated My Bride Price Away

In the author’s hometown, the groom is expected to pay hundreds of thousands of yuan to the bride’s family. But she wanted nothing to do with the practice.

Zhang Minmin

China’s Maternity Hotels Offer New Moms a Break — From Their In-Laws

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

Maternity hotels have found success by tapping into the Chinese tradition for mothers to “sit the month” after giving birth. But they also offer young moms another benefit: an escape from unwanted parenting advice.

Wang Lianzhang

My Three Years of the Pig

The author, a rural development expert, reflects on spending the pandemic setting up a free-range pig farm in a remote Yunnan village.

Yang Xingfeng

Who’s Profiting Off China’s Bride Prices?

Li Yongping

Spirited Away: A Peek into the World of China’s Door Gods 

While the superstition isn’t widespread, the age-old tradition of hanging up door gods still endures during Lunar New Year.

Photos: China’s Mid-Autumn Festival, Under the Shadow of Zero-COVID

Renewed pandemic-control measures have muted celebrations in many parts of the country, as authorities double down on lockdown policies.

Qi Ya

Looking for Tradition in a Modern Chinese Wedding

What happens when modern sensibilities conflict with longstanding customs?

Zhan Beibei

China to Hunt Down ‘Incorrect and Non-Standard’ Fonts

Publishers, packaging designers, and others will be asked to self-regulate in an effort to eliminate “weird” and “ugly” writing.

Wu Peiyue

Remembering the Dead, Without Going Outside

As China passes its third Tomb-Sweeping Day of the pandemic, millions of locked-down people are looking for digital alternatives to traditional rituals.

Zhang Wanqing

When We Die, What Becomes of Our Digital Lives?

As grief, mourning, and death become a part of our digital lives, societies need clearer rules for the data we leave behind.

Chen Jing

The Sudden Prosecution of Hunan’s ‘Hand Cannon Performers’

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

SIXTH TONE ×

An old Chinese folk custom, incompatible with state laws, lands elderly villagers in trouble.