cai-yiwen

The Ups and Downs of Shanghai’s ‘Saint of Songs’

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

VOICES & OPINION

The Filipino conductor who made Shanghai dance and shaped Hong Kong’s Cantopop sound.

Street Angels: Meet the Women Who Became China’s First Pop Stars

Originally dismissed as lightweights, the women of Shanghai’s jazz age remade both the sound and the image of modern China.

Ticket to Shanghai: How an American Trumpeter Rocked China’s Jazz Scene

Before Count Basie and Harlem fame, Buck Clayton found respect, freedom, and a glimpse of jazz without borders in Shanghai.

The Music Teacher Who Rewrote the Rules of Chinese Pop

Reviled by elites, adored by the masses, Li Jinhui turned Shanghai’s din into China’s first pop music.

For Better and For Worse: How Love Lost Its Hold on China

Why pine for true love when the perfect partner is at your fingertips?

Remembering China’s ‘Godfather of Jazz’

Liu Yuan, who died of cancer in December, helped reintroduce jazz to the Chinese mainland.

Does China Still Need Libraries? 

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

Q & A

To stay relevant in contemporary China, libraries must do more than provide the same staid services and instead be spaces for genuine learning and community-building, says professor Yang Suqiu.

How to Taste Tea Like an Expert

What do Chinese mean when they talk about things like a tea’s “qi” and “yun.”

How China’s People With Disabilities Are Confronting the Future of Work

Can a social enterprise dedicated to employing people with disabilities point the way to a better future for all workers?

Inside the Battle to Become China’s ‘King of Teas’

Wuyishan County makes some of the most expensive teas in the world. But who decides their value?

Fuchsia Dunlop on the Past, Present, and Future of Chinese Food

The cookbook author and food writer’s new book, “Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food” looks back at the long arc of Chinese cuisine — and ahead at what the future might hold.

How Climate Change Is Upending China’s Tea Industry

Extreme and unpredictable weather are killing trees and causing havoc on tea plantations. Can farmers adapt in time?

How China’s Favorite Fantasy Realm Faded Into the Background

From “Water Margin” to “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” it was the setting of some of China’s best-loved works of fiction and fantasy. But does anyone still care about the “jianghu”?

Five Solutions to China’s Energy Woes

Can China decarbonize without threatening grid stability? Five experts share their views on China’s energy dilemma.

On a Fin and a Prayer: China’s Disappearing White Dolphins

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

As pods along the country’s coast continue to lose members, their chances of survival get ever dimmer.

The New-Style Family Values Underpinning the ‘China Dream’

Anthropologist Yan Yunxiang on why it’s time to look past filial piety and engage with China’s rapidly shifting intergenerational dynamics.

Can the Internet Cure China’s Addiction to Overprescription?

The country is moving to open the prescription drug market to e-commerce platforms, but hospitals and doctors aren’t quite ready to give up a key source of income.

China’s Anti-Domestic Violence Law at the Five-Year Mark

It’s been half a decade since the landmark legislation came into effect, but in some ways, 2016 remains the high point for anti-domestic violence campaigning in the country.

Born in 1920: The Writer Who Chronicled a Grand Era’s ‘Small Histories’

The literary tradition Eileen Chang represented was essentially broken off on the Chinese mainland for 40 years. By the time she was rediscovered in the 1980s, that legacy couldn’t be recovered, but it could be rewritten.

The Systemic Problems Behind China’s Kindergarten Abuse Scandals

Abused students dominate the headlines, but after nearly a decade of unrestrained growth, the real problems with China’s early education sector go much deeper.