rural China

rural-china

Across China, an Unseen Rural Workforce Is Shaping the Future of AI

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

Data labeling jobs in rural areas are empowering women and the marginalized while also aiding poverty alleviation. But as advanced AI begins to eclipse traditional methods, the future demand for such human-driven jobs faces uncertainty.

Li Xin

With Funeral Portraits, a Photographer Gives Dignity to Rural Elderly

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

Seeing that most elderly villagers in a rural part of Shaanxi province do not have access to cameras, let alone professional photographers, to take portraits of them for their funerals, local journalist Yang Xin and her team decided to step in.

Ye Zhanhang

SIXTH TONE ×

Educator Zhao Guobin’s 13-year endeavor to foster a reading culture among elementary students has been met with both doubts and applause.

Beijing Youth Daily

China’s Rural Children Close Height, Weight Gap, but Obesity Looms

A new study published in Lancet analyzes height and weight markers, offering a window into China’s health challenges and shifting socioeconomic dynamics.

Zhu Junxi

The Villages Caught Up in China’s Massive Panda Conservation Drive

China has created a giant new national park to protect its wild pandas. There’s just one problem: Tens of thousands of people already live there.

Ni Dandan

Ex-Soldier Sleeps in Cave for 22 Years to Protect Song Treasures

Night watchman Tang Pingchang returned to his childhood home to guard ancient relics from thieves and vandals.

Yuan Rongsun

Extreme Drinking Challenges Kill Yet Another Livestreamer in China

Feeling limited with choices in life, 26-year-old Huang Zhongyuan found livestreaming his “drinking battles” with other influencers a quick way to make a living, only to find that they were toasting to their death.

The Paper

A League of Their Own: On the Ground at China’s Village Soccer Sensation 

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

MULTIMEDIA

Lü Xiao

For This Rural County, Internet Fame Is About More Than Just Money 

One of the last counties in China to be lifted from poverty, Rongjiang County in Guizhou province has been viral all summer because of its village soccer league. Though the huge tourism influx has boosted the local economy, for locals, it is not just money that drives their fervor for the sport.

Holding Out for Hope in China’s Sandstorm Capital

How a Chinese Village Defied the Odds and Became a Climbing Hub

For years, international climbers and authorities were locked in a standoff over Liming’s sandstone cliffs. Now, the sport’s popularity and China’s success on the global stage have transformed climbing into a valuable resource.

Li Pasha

Tech Addiction is Leaving China’s Rural Youth Wired for Distraction

Studying far from home and without parental supervision, millions of “left-behind” students in rural China are staring at an escalating tech addiction crisis that demands urgent attention.

Can Rural Vloggers Make China’s Countryside Cool? 

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

VOICES & OPINION

Rural vloggers are breaking out of the highly curated Li Ziqi mould to show the countryside as it really looks. Audiences are responding.

Wang Yun

Families Are Abandoning China’s Rural Schools. Here’s Why That Matters.

School closures and consolidations are pushing rural families into towns and exacerbating the rural-urban divide.

Wang Dan

Words of the Working Class: Poems From Everyday China

From fields to vegetable farms to steel mills, ordinary workers across China document everyday mundanities in extraordinary verse.

Zhu Lingyu

The Lost Art of Chrysanthemum Cultivation

Yu Jiangang’s hometown used to be a “sea of flowers.” What was lost when the sea dried up?

Yu Jiangang

The Rural Men Livestreaming for Love

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

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

Q & A

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

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

How to Price a Bride

Bride prices aren’t always about money or control. Paying the right sum is crucial to cementing one’s status in rural communities.