tradition

When China’s Family Heirlooms Need More Than Tape, Glue, or Luck

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

Independent restorers are using social media to make an obscure craft more accessible to families hoping to salvage damaged books, paintings, and records.

Li Xin

A Dying Tradition? The Haunting Beauty of China’s ‘Day of the Dead’

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

VOICES & OPINION

As summer fades, China honors its “wandering ghosts” with a vibrant mix of rituals, offerings, and a mass food fight.

Wu Haiyun

China’s Classic Storytellers Recapture the Magic With Harry Potter

Performers of traditional Chinese arts win over younger fans with fresh adaptations of global blockbusters featuring wizards, pirates, and ninjas.

Liu Haowen

In the Age of AI, Is Chinese Opera Being Revived or Reduced?

As AI tools turn Chinese opera into data, the art form is finding new audiences while risking the loss of what made it unique.

Gong Yan

Before WeChat, There Were Qiaopi Writers

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

For decades, families relied on letter writers like Jiang Mingdian to stay connected with relatives abroad. At 77, he may be one of the last still working.

Chen Yiru

A Viral Video Has China Debating the Rising Cost of Lucky Money

As red envelope amounts soar, local governments are calling for more modest giving.

Fan Yiying

Collage: The Year of the Horse

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

MULTIMEDIA

Public art and festive displays welcome the Year of the Horse across China.

Sixth Tone

Ancient Chinese Incense, Rekindled

Despite being a cornerstone of ancient Chinese culture, the art of incense fell out of everyday use as mass production and industry took hold. Now, the ancient art is seeing renewed interest as young Chinese seek more refined experiences.

Muscle, Memory: Inside China’s Last Bull Wrestling School 

In eastern China, a 71-year-old Hui Muslim master works to keep the 700-year-old tradition of bull wrestling from fading into history.

Will Wain-Williams

Towering History: A Photographer’s Fresh Take on China’s Pagodas

Photographer Lin Shu seeks the quiet magic within China’s humble pagodas, capturing their enduring spirit across a changing landscape.

Qian Yi  

Wu Huiyuan

Second Act: How a 500-Year-Old Chinese Opera Returned to Modern Life

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

Q & A

Long dismissed as too slow for modern tastes, Kunqu opera is quietly being reinvented — with one performer bringing it into therapy sessions, elderly care, and daily life.

Despite Rain, Dragon Boat Festival Drives Travel Across China

Millions joined holiday races and cultural events, as tourism platforms tracked rising demand for heritage experiences and short-haul getaways.

Can This Ancient Chinese Craft Make a Modern Comeback?

Xuan paper is recognized by UNESCO and prized among Chinese artists. Now its largest manufacturer is trying to sell it overseas.

As Below, So Above: Gen Z Updates China’s ‘Ghost Money’ Ritual

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

SIXTH TONE ×

Smartphones, games consoles, sports cars — a papercraft master reveals the modern ways his young clients are honoring dead friends and family.

White Night Workshop

Before the Dawn: Young Chinese Reimagine the Last Goodbye

A growing number of young Chinese are challenging long-held taboos around death, turning farewells into personal, creative acts of remembrance.

China’s Latest Health Trend? TCM Cocktails.

Bars are adding ingredients from traditional Chinese medicine to their drinks. But not all of their creations are safe — or legal.

Bow Down: Times Change for China’s Kowtow Ritual

Kowtowing to elderly relatives at Chinese New Year has long been a rite in the countryside, but can the custom endure in the modern era?

The  Beijing News

Backstage With a Cantonese Opera Troupe

Spring in Guangdong means one thing: opera.

Wu Huiyuan 

Of Gourds and Gods: The Art of an Ancient Chinese Board Game

Once a traditional Spring Festival pastime, this 2,000-year-old game integrates elements of fantasy and imperial culture.

Sheng Wenqiang

‘It’s the Moon’s Fault’: China to Skip New Year’s Eve for Next 5 Years

A quirk of China’s lunisolar calendar means the traditional day of Chinese New Year’s Eve — danian sanshi — will disappear until 2030.