Conversation
10.20.21
Tightening Up
In what many observers have termed a “regulatory crackdown,” a wave of new legal restrictions and bans on business, technology, and entertainment has broken across China over the past several months, with what appears to be escalating velocity and...
Photo Gallery
05.17.19
Surface Tension
“I never realized that so many Chinese people have tattoos,” says photographer Xu Song, who spent the summers of 2014, 2015, and 2016 photographing people at outdoor swimming pools in Beijing with his phone. “When the clothes come off, the secrets...
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09.28.17‘My Parents Say Hurry up and Find a Girl’: China's Millions of Lonely ‘Leftover Men’
Guardian
When Liu returned to his childhood village to celebrate Chinese New Year, his parents had arranged a familiar and depressing task for him: a series of speed dates. Over a week back in rural Jiangxi province, he met half a dozen potential wives in...
Viewpoint
09.15.17
The Unprecedented Reach of China’s Surveillance State
The Chinese Party-state is building a social credit system for collecting information about all of its citizens by police, courts, and other institutions. This enables the government to reach into society to a degree unprecedented in history...
Features
09.08.17
A Drag Queen for the Dearly Departed
In the good old days, about three thousand years ago, people really knew how to mourn the dead. That was back in the Zhou dynasty, when there was no laughing in the dead person’s house, no sighing while eating, and no singing while walking down a...
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06.26.17China’s Mistress-Dispellers
New Yorker
How the economic boom and deep gender inequality have created a new industry.
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02.28.17China Considers Baby Bonus for Couples to Have Second Child
CNN
The Chinese government may consider giving families financial incentives to have a second child in a bid to reach higher birth rate targets
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12.30.16China’s Film Fever Cools
Wall Street Journal
China’s highflying box office got a reality check in 2016, as cutbacks in discounted tickets led to a sharp decline in cinema-revenue growth
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12.28.16Chinese Prosecutors Charge Thousands of School Bullies
South China Morning Post
Nationwide crackdown includes three-year jail sentence for 15-year-old who robbed his classmates
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12.23.16In China’s Tiny Catholic Community, Hopes Rise for Beijing- Vatican Ties
NPR
Beijing and the Vatican seem to want to come to an agreement, though who has the last word in appointing bishops is still a point of contention
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12.21.16These Three Major China Themes Will Be Pivotal in 2017
South China Morning Post
China’s economic growth target, the depreciation of the yuan and a looming change in several senior Communist Party positions will be important factors
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12.19.16China’s Notorious City Management Officers in Legal Limbo Despite Expanding Role
The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has been charged with regulating the force that earlier was under the sole purview of local governments
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12.12.16Meet the Ma Family: How Millennials are Changing the Way China Thinks About Money
Reuters
China's millennials - roughly those aged between 18 and 35 - are embracing debt like never before
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12.02.16China and the Church: The “Outlaw” Do-It-Yourself Bishop
BBC
Mr. Dong is a thorn in the side of both the Vatican and the Chinese state. This 58-year-old laborer from a village in northern China calls himself a bishop
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12.02.16In China, Eugenics Determines Who Plays in School Bands
New York Times
“We’ve chosen your children according to their physical attributes,” the leader told a group of parents at a Beijing public elementary school.
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12.01.16Full-Sized Replica of the Titanic Begins Taking Shape in Landlocked Southwest China
South China Morning Post
Tourist attraction aims to recreate the thrills and horror of doomed voyage
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11.29.16China’s New Tool for Social Control: A Credit Rating for Everything
Wall Street Journal
Beijing wants to give every citizen a score based on behavior such as spending habits and filial piety, which can bar citizens from loans, jobs, air travel
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11.29.16Author’s Vision of a Future Beijing Looks to China’s Present
New York Times
Meet Hao Jingfang, author of "Folding Beijing,” the science-fiction novelette that beat out Stephen King to win a Hugo Award.
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11.18.16China’s Trump Prepares for His Close-up
New York Times
Spray tans and hair dye: the transformation of a retired music professor into China's Trump impersonator
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11.15.16New Wave of Chinese Restaurants Challenge “Cheap” Stereotype
NPR
A new generation of immigrant restaurateurs is aiming to offer an updated spin on the Chinese restaurant, with prices to match
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11.14.16China Mourns First Female J-10 Pilot After Death in Training
BBC
China is mourning the death of Yu Xu, the country's first female J-10 jet pilot who was killed during an aerobatic training session on Saturday
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11.14.16China Revives “Comrade” in Drive for Communist Party Discipline
Financial Times
Anti-corruption watchdog orders return of outmoded greeting now embraced by gay men
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11.03.16The 80-Year-Old Runway Model Reshaping China’s Views on Aging
New York Times
Last year, at 79, Mr. Wang walked the runway for the first time, his physique at his age causing a national sensation
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10.31.16Seeking Lower Rent, Chinese Artists Cut Path for Themselves Outside Beijing
New York Times
A small and decidedly nondescript city called Yanjiao, about an hour’s drive from Beijing, has been experiencing an influx of artists
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10.28.16China’s Other Car Problem
Economist
A lack of parking spots worries Chinese car-owners--and fixing it will be hard
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10.26.16It’s So Dangerous Being a Bridesmaid in China that Some Bride are Hiring Professionals Instead
Quartz
From commoners to renowned celebrities, Chinese bridesmaids are vulnerable to verbal harassment as well as physical and sexual abuse
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10.25.16Smiling Panda, Weeping Dragon: China’s Banksy Brings Life to City Sprawl
Guardian
Qi Xinghua, famous as a 3-D painter, says he wants to ‘add some fun to our lives’ by brightening up drab cityscapes
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10.20.16I Broadcast Myself on the Chinese Web for Two Weeks
In the process, I learned why Chinese millennials can't seem to unplug from the live-streaming craze.
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10.19.16Breakfast Cereal Prices Surge in China Following Appearance on Soap Opera
CNBC
A shrewd product placement on a popular soap opera has propelled a Western breakfast cereal to frenzied popularity in China, sending prices up almost ten times in the gray market
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10.17.16China Drops One-Child Policy, but ‘Exhausted’ Tiger Moms Say One is Plenty
Washington Post
“No fines, no arrests. Go ahead and have a second child if you want one!” The problem is that many people don’t want a second child any more.
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10.14.16Teenager is Convicted of Murder in 2014 Beating Death of USC Grad Student from China
Los Angeles Times
The defendants told detectives they’d targeted Xinran Ji because he was Chinese and they suspected he had money
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10.12.16Poignant Portraits Show What it is Like Being LGBT in China
Washington Post
Despite being decriminalized in 1997, homosexuality is still heavily stigmatized in China.
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10.12.16Is China's Gaokao The World's Toughest School Exam?
Guardian
Chinese children must endure years of stress and impossible expectations preparing for their final school exam
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10.10.16An Open Letter to the Woman Who Told My Family to Go Back to China
New York Times
To the well-dressed woman on the Upper East Side, annoyed by our stroller, that yelled "Go back to China...Go back to your f---ing country"
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10.05.16America’s Best Idea May Now Be China’s Too, as It Expands It’s National Park System
Los Angeles Times
With U.S. guidance, China is launching a pilot project that spans nine provinces
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10.04.16Forget Those 18 Olympic Medals, Most Chinese Can’t Swim
USA Today
Drowning is now the #1 killer of Chinese children under the age of 14, topping traffic accidents and infectious disease
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10.03.16Fate Catches Up to a Cultural Revolution Museum in China
New York Times
The museum was covered up and shut down in the spring, a few weeks before the 50th anniversary of the start of the Cultural Revolution.
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10.03.16589 Million Chinese Tourists Will Spend $72 Billion in Just 7 Days Celebrating “Golden Week”
Quartz
Unexpectedly, the new hot destination is Morocco
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09.29.16How China’s Progress is Killing the Instant Noodle
Sydney Morning Herald
As China's economy has slowed, so too has its appetite for instant noodles
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09.27.16Long Absent in China, Tipping Makes a Comeback at a Few Trendy Restaurants
NPR
Scan your server's QR code if you like your service
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09.22.16Meet Pizza, the World’s Saddest Polar Bear
Quartz
Pizza is just one of thousands of “wild” animals languishing in China's malls
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05.24.16China’s Middle Class Vents Over Growing List of Grievances
Wall Street Journal
A father’s death in custody is the latest incident to fuel urbanites’ sense of unease.
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12.11.15Polluted Skies Heighten Challenge for Chinese Government
New York Times
Red has been considered the color of prosperity and good fortune in China for centuries, and it is also the color of the Communist Party.
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12.10.15Amid China’s Smog Worries, One More: Counterfeit Masks
New York Times
The customs authorities in Shanghai have seized nearly 120,000 counterfeit surgical masks.
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12.07.15One Is the Loneliest Number: China’s Single Population Nears 200 Million
WSJ: China Real Time Report
China is quickly becoming a nation of singles.
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12.04.15Bribery Confession in China Calls Into Question Integrity of College Admissions
New York Times
In a country where cash and connections rule, one bastion of meritocracy, it was thought, remained: admission to a university.
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12.03.15Why China's Millennials Are Happy to Own Nothing
Bloomberg
Two decades ago, Tyler Xiong and his parents had to live in a commune guided by the strict socialist teachings of Mao Zedong.
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12.03.15Chinese Ministry Says China Has 17M Road Rage Case In 2015, As Viral Videos Attest
CNBC
China is the world's largest vehicle market, and possibly one of the world's most dangerous, if the latest figures are any indication.
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12.02.15It’s Complicated: Mark Zuckerberg’s Donation Spurs Philanthropy Debate in China
WSJ: China Real Time Report
Some Chinese Internet users are asking: is it a kind-hearted gift or a tax dodge?
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12.01.15Photo Of Breastfeeding Mom In Public Ignites Online Storm In China
CNN
Some criticized the woman for exposing her "sexual organs" in public.
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11.24.15China's Obesity Epidemic: Teaching Children to 'Eat a Rainbow'
Guardian
The rise in diabetes in China could bankrupt the country’s healthcare system, says a medical expert.
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11.24.15Chinese Student Protesting Books’ Stance on Homosexuality Meets With Officials
New York Times
Gay activists in China brought their demands for public acceptance to a court.
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11.23.15Hong Kong May Be A Little Insecure, But It's No 'Slave'
South China Morning Post
I don't much care to weigh in on the subject of Hong Kong remaining a place where non-Asians are able to prosper.
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11.23.15Q. and A.: Jindong Cai on ‘Beethoven in China’
New York Times
Jindong Cai, 59, is an orchestra conductor and a professor at Stanford University.
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11.19.15Dream of The Bed Chamber
Economist
It is not just China’s economy that has loosened up since 1979. The country is in the midst of a sexual revolution.
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11.19.15China's Middle Class Isn't What We Thought It Was
Business Insider
For years, multinational companies have been rubbing their hands together in anticipation of the growth of the Chinese middle class.
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11.17.15China Bends Vow, Using Prisoners’ Organs for Transplants
New York Times
A senior Chinese health official said last year that China would stop using prisoners’ organs for transplants as of Jan. 1, 2015.
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11.17.15Hong Kong-China: A Growing Football Rivalry or Just Politics?
BBC
Around the world, there are legendary, dynastic rivalries in football.
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11.16.15China's Napoleon Complex
Foreign Affairs
With Deng’s political reforms in the 1980s and 1990s came increased discrimination based on appearance.
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11.16.15China Tired of the Boiler Suit
Guardian
“Why can people who glory in color and fun and variety wear a uniform of boiler suits that brings drabness and dreariness to every gathering?”