rural China

rural-china

Want Kids to Stay in School? Let Them Keep Their Phones.

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

VOICES & OPINION

Phone confiscations are playing a surprisingly big role in rural China’s drop-out problem.

Shen Hui

Taste Test: China’s Herders Chew on ‘Fake’ Meat Dilemma

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

SIXTH TONE ×

With the influx of cheap imported meat, nomadic herders are having to tighten their belts. Some can’t even afford to eat their own livestock.

Wei  Yiran

Phagpa Sherab

Cold Reality: Tragedy Exposes Perils of Extreme Livestreaming

The death of an outdoor lifestyle influencer in the frozen wilds of North China has cast light onto the risks facing some livestreamers.

The Paper

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

Street Market Writer Rewrites the Working Woman’s Narrative

With her new book on nomadic beekeeping, grassroots author Chen Hui continues to cause a literary buzz.

You Shengnan

A Walk Through China’s New Model Countryside

The eastern province of Zhejiang has invested heavily in rural areas — part of a national rural revitalization push. But what does that mean in practice?

Harry den Hartog

Donkey Burgers to Farm Tales: The Podcasts Giving Rural China a Voice

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

Big-city creators have long dominated China’s podcast charts. Now, voices from smaller cities and remote regions are beginning to make themselves heard.

Fan Yiying

Li  Yanshu

After the Storm: Influencer Reflects on Pregnancy Backlash

An online influencer from the Chinese countryside who was criticized for delaying her graduate studies to have a child shares the reality behind the media storm.

Jiemian News

Hope in Hardship: How an Illiterate Woman ‘Wrote’ Her Memoir

A survivor of human trafficking from southwestern China shares how she became an “authentic voice” in literature using her phone’s voice-to-text function.

Finding Meaning in a Chinese Mushroom

Matsutake are an important part of rural Yunnan’s economy. But their value has never been fixed.

Li Ruijun

Growing Wild: Why Young China Can’t Get Enough of Mushroom Hunts

Driven by viral social media posts, mushroom foraging has become an adventure craze among young Chinese. Yet as more flock to the forests, concerns over safety and the risks of wild fungi are rising.

Gen Z Interns Answering Call of the Countryside

Chinese university students are increasingly taking summer jobs in agriculture and other rural sectors as they look to broaden their horizons.

Shanghai Observer

A School Bus, a Knife Attack, and an Unexpected Hero’s Last Stand

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

From a small village in eastern China, Hu Youping moved to the city seeking a better life. Her journey tragically ended during a school bus attack, where she sacrificed her life to protect the children in her care.

Ding Rui

Change of Art: Bringing a 1,000-Year-Old Pottery Village Back to Life

After decades of decline due to migration, Yaoli Village is being revitalized by a project blending preservation with innovation, drawing on its rich pottery heritage to attract visitors and boost the local economy.

Rural Kids Capture Their Stories in 40,000 Photos

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

MULTIMEDIA

China’s ‘Small-Town Literature’ Trend Turns Rural Into Retro

An increasing number of travelers are visiting smaller cities and counties across China, hiring photographers to document their experiences. Critics, however, argue that it reinforces negative stereotypes, portraying small towns as stagnant.

Ding Xiaoyan

Li Xin

Labor Day Holiday: Surge in Travel to Lower-Tier Cities, Counties

According to the Ministry of Transport, daily holiday travel is expected to exceed 270 million trips, surpassing levels from both 2019 and 2023.

Lotteries to Cowshed Cafés: How China’s Small Coffee Shops Survive

With space for independent and small-scale cafés shrinking in China’s competitive coffee shop market, many are carving out niches to challenge big brand chains.

Li Dongxu

Do China’s ‘Left-Behind’ Children Have a Delinquency Problem?

A number of high-profile incidents have shined a spotlight on minor misbehavior in China’s countryside. But a closer look at the data suggests that kids aren’t the problem.

Huang Wan

Bachelor Boom: What’s Keeping Rural Chinese Men Single?

Despite government efforts, rural single men are still grappling with a persistent gender imbalance, expensive marriage customs, and rapid urbanization, complicating their search for a spouse.