labor

How Boutique Workers Curate Lives in a Gilded Loop

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

VOICES & OPINION

For years, fashion-forward Chinese have worked to perfect their brands and curate personal experiences for thoughtful shoppers. Yet their projected images of glamor mask the pain of trapped ambition.

Li Xueshi

Writing Factory: Notes From a Life on China’s Assembly Lines

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

SIXTH TONE ×

After almost two decades on the line, Zhang Sai is turning factory life into literature and documenting the people and pressures of China’s vast factory workforce.

Southern People  Weekly

Guarded Looks: China’s Gatekeepers Bring Status and Suspicion

A crime writer explores why “young, tall, handsome” neighborhood security guards are hot property, and the distrust that can exist between residents and their protectors.

The Paper

Summer, Stolen: How Fake Factory Jobs Scammed China’s Students

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

Lured by middlemen promising high pay and free housing, thousands of students traveled to the country’s south this summer. They only found shrinking wages, overcrowded dorms, and agents who vanished with their money.

Chen Yiru

‘It was a Trap’: In China, Non-Competes Leave Workers in Limbo

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

Though intended to protect trade secrets, non-compete agreements are being forced on even low-level employees, stifling job mobility and career growth, experts say.

Li Xin

Skip Social Insurance, Pay Severance: China’s Top Court Tells Employers

The Supreme People’s Court ruling aims to strengthen labor rights, with workers entitled to compensation if insurance isn’t paid.

Jiang Xinyi

China’s Drone Training Boom Takes Off

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

MULTIMEDIA

Lü Xiao

In China’s Factory Belt, Workers Race to Survive the Robot Era

A nationwide reskilling push aims to prepare industrial workers for automation, but the pace of change is testing both people and institutions.

Fan Yiying

Chen Yongyi

Sting in the Tail: Life’s No Fairy Tale for Mermaid Dancers

Underwater performers nationwide are risking life and limb as aquariums and other tourist attractions cut back on safety protocols to boost profits.

White Night Workshop

A Rough Ride: ‘Dirty’ Workers Stand Up to Subway Stares

Construction laborers in dusty outfits are shying away from seats on city transit systems over fears of getting into arguments with other passengers.

Squid Game: A Novice Sailor Voyages Into the Unknown

A newly qualified Chinese seafarer finds beauty, boredom, and bust-ups on a squid trawler in the Pacific.

The Small-Town Women Still Dreaming of a Big Payday

For workers, optimism can be its own kind of cruelty.

Su Yihui

In China’s Tea Heartland, Workers Pick Through Climate Whiplash

Across the country’s premier tea region, a punishing chain of drought, frost, hail, heat, and snow wiped out crops, leaving workers and growers struggling to salvage what little the season had left to give.

Sweeping Change? Call to Protect Janitors’ Right to Rest

Students and office workers across China urge employers to give cleaning staff a break by providing designated rest areas.

Will Market Shake Up Smooth the Road for Takeout Couriers?

Platforms have pledged to provide food delivery riders with social insurance, but many of them appear not to want it.

Amid Push Against Involution, Xiaohongshu Ends Overtime Grind 

Facing high employee turnover, the company says the changes aim to build longer-term relationships with staff.

He Qitong

Wu Yufei

Tidy Profit: Camera Captures the Cleaners Changing Lives

A retired researcher’s photoshoots with domestic workers across China are helping bust stereotypical narratives of hardship and low status.

Jiemian News

Stairway Porters Rise to the ‘1,000-Yuan Man’ Challenge

As laborers flock to become “kanglou” porters in southern China, industry insiders share what it takes to shoulder the physical and mental strain.

The Big Switch

SPECIAL PROJECTS

China is producing EVs at an unprecedented scale, reshaping industries, economies, and daily life. Sixth Tone unpacks what’s working, what’s breaking down, and what’s next in a race that’s upending the global auto market.

Who’s the Boss? China’s Top Court Spells Out Gig Worker Rights

A series of court rulings in China addresses labor rights in the country’s fast-growing platform economy.