literature

China’s Web Literature Popularity Continues to Grow Overseas

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

Industry representatives are starting to compare Chinese online literature with Hollywood films and K-dramas in terms of global reach.

Ding Rui

From Streets to Pages: Inside the Life of a Beijing Courier

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

SIXTH TONE ×

In his latest book “Beijing Courier,” Hu Anyan recounts challenges and heartwarming encounters from his days working as a courier that helped him discover the true value of life.

Hu Anyan

What Exactly Is the ‘Dongbei Renaissance’?

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

VOICES & OPINION

Four commentators on how — and why — the country’s northeastern rust belt reached the forefront of Chinese pop culture.

Wu Haiyun

Three Books (and One Band) That Explain Northeast China

Want to know more about northeast China’s cultural revival? Start here.

The Missing Link in Northeast China’s Cultural Revival 

Men and their stories have dominated northeastern China’s ongoing cultural revival. But what about the region’s women?

Bai Meijiadai

Peter Hessler’s World of Words

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

Q & A

The acclaimed author on generations, his approach to writing, and how China has changed since the 1990s.

Xue Yongle

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

As the Floods Continue, Another Casualty Emerges: Millions of Books 

Major publishers and booksellers are reeling after their warehouses in the small city of Zhuozhou, around 100 kilometers from Beijing, were hit by extreme floods. Book lovers are offering their financial support, but the losses may be too much for some to survive.

Why Climate Change Is Missing From China’s Sci-Fi Boom

Despite an uptick in climate-related disasters in recent years, Chinese sci-fi has been relatively quiet on the topic of global warming. Can a new novellette change that?

Feng Zhang

Chinese TV Show Brings Together Country’s Leading Writers to Discuss Kafka, AI

Set on a picturesque resort island in southern China, “I Read Books on an Island” is proving a hit with viewers enthralled by discussions surrounding the love of writing and reading.

Ye Zhanhang

Jiang Zuer

Tang Dynasty Poetry Comes Alive in Animated Film ‘Chang An’ 

Blending modern animation with traditional poetry, ‘Chang An’ has been a surprise hit at the box office and won praise for its celebration of traditional Chinese culture.

A Chinese Author Asks: What Makes People Great?

In an excerpt from “Pleasure of Thinking,” a collection of newly translated essays out this month from Astra House, Wang Xiaobo muses on the sources of greatness.

Wang Xiaobo

He Wrote the Book on Rural China. But First, He Wrote a Novel.

Shortly before publishing his groundbreaking 1939 study of rural China, sociologist Fei Xiaotong wrote a novel about life in his hometown. What can it tell us about his later work?

Sun Jing

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

World Book Day: A Bookstore for the Blind

Backlight 226 has become the go-to spot for visually impaired reading enthusiasts in Shanghai.

Yang Caini

How Liang Qichao Rewrote China’s Future

Although better known today as a reformer and activist, Liang also composed the first work of Chinese sci-fi.

Emily Xueni Jin

What’s Love to a Feminist?

The feminist cultural critic Dai Jinhua shares her thoughts on intersectionality, love, and the shrinking space for alternative lifestyles in contemporary China.

Friends, Real and Imagined: The Poetry of Wang Yin

The longtime poet’s new collection, “A Summer Day in the Company of Ghosts,” searches for companionship in an often lonely world.

Asian Review of Books

A Chinese Classic Gets a Lovecraftian Twist

By breaking the rules, animator Hu Rui breathed new life into China’s “tales of the strange.”

Chen Silin

After Yet Another Liu Cixin Adaptation, What’s Next for Chinese Sci-Fi?

Liu’s signature brand of “hard sci-fi” continues to dominate, but a new generation of authors is putting a more traditional spin on the genre.