Books
10.08.19
The Shanghai Free Taxi
Public Affairs: China—America’s most important competitor—is at a turning point. With economic growth slowing, Chinese people face inequality and uncertainty as their leaders tighten control at home and project power abroad.NPR correspondent Frank Langfitt describes how he created a free taxi service—offering rides in exchange for illuminating conversation—to go beyond the headlines and get to know a wide range of colorful, compelling characters representative of the new China. They include folks like “Beer,” a slippery salesman who tries to sell Langfitt a used car; Rocky, a farm boy turned Shanghai lawyer; and Chen, who runs an underground Christian church and moves his family to America in search of a better, freer life.
Depth of Field
02.20.18
When You Give a Kid a Camera
from Yuanjin Photo
This dispatch of photojournalism from China cuts across a broad spectrum of society, from film screenings in Beijing for the visually impaired to an acrobatics school 200 miles south, in Puyang, Henan province, and from children in rural Sichuan to...
ChinaFile Recommends
12.18.17China Property Price Growth Slows to 21-Month Low
Financial Times
Growth in the cost of new housing in China decelerated for a twelfth straight month in November, according to official figures, marking the slowest rise since early 2016.
Depth of Field
11.20.17
Fake Girlfriends, Chengdu Rappers, and a Chow Chow Making Bank
from Yuanjin Photo
Lonely dog owners in Beijing and a rented girlfriend in Fujian; the last Oroqen hunters in Heilongjiang and homegrown hip hop in Chengdu; young Chinese in an Indian tech hub and Hong Kong apartments only slightly larger than coffins—these are some...
ChinaFile Recommends
08.30.17What’s Yours Is Mine in China but Is Sharing at a Peak?
BBC
Ok, so car sharing makes perfect sense. And we get bike sharing, too. But ball sharing?
Video
07.27.17
Where The Streets Had My Name
If you’re not dead yet and you were never very famous, can you still get a street named after you in Beijing? You can if you’re 27-year-old artist Ge Yulu. Open Google Maps, enter his name, and there you will find a 1,476-foot-long street that...
ChinaFile Recommends
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
ChinaFile Recommends
10.28.16Amazon Delivers Prime Program to China
Wall Street Journal
The U.S. e-commerce behemoth hopes to capitalize on Chinese consumers’ desire for overseas products
ChinaFile Recommends
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
ChinaFile Recommends
10.25.16What It’s Like Playing Golf in China
Fortune
As if the land of 1.4 billion people wasn’t already exerting influence on enough global markets, China is now a big part of golf’s future
ChinaFile Recommends
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.
ChinaFile Recommends
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
ChinaFile Recommends
10.13.16China Returns to Pedal Power
Bloomberg
With roads becoming less navigable by the day, citizens, entrepreneurs and the government are looking for alternatives. The solution: bring back the bike
ChinaFile Recommends
09.29.16Chengguan, Widely Despised Officers in China, Find Refuge and a Kind Ear
New York Times
China’s first Psychological Crisis Center for Chengguan opened in Nanjing this week
ChinaFile Recommends
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
ChinaFile Recommends
09.22.16Mystery of China’s ‘Ghost Uber Drivers’
Financial Times
An eruption of creepy faces on driver profiles has spooked potential passengers
ChinaFile Recommends
03.10.16Victoria's Secret, Nike Cashes in On Rising Girl Power in China
Forbes
Despite the country’s recent economic downturn, Chinese female consumers are willing to buy.
ChinaFile Recommends
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.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.29.15Crouching Trekker, Hidden Buildings: China's Urban Explorers
Guardian
Intrepid urbexers are wandering through the industrial wastelands of China.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.02.15China’s Butler Boom
New Yorker
On a recent morning at a butler-training school in Chengdu, China,;lessons began at 8 A.M.,with an exercise in “opening the villa.”
Sinica Podcast
02.02.15
Shanghai and the Future Now
from Sinica Podcast
Expats in Beijing may be partial to our rugged smogtropolis, but even the most diehard northerner will admit that Shanghai is the more romantic of the two cities, with its very name conjuring up images of 19th century opium dens, jazz bars in the...
ChinaFile Recommends
01.15.15Pictures of the Day: January 15, 2015
Telegraph
A man walks along a newly built rainbow-colored tunnel in Zhengzhou, Henan province. The 400-meter-long tunnel is the first of this kind in China, local media reported.
ChinaFile Recommends
12.19.14In China, Expectant Dads Line Up to Experience Labor Pains
Wall Street Journal
He described the treatment as creating a three-part sensation: hot steel balls dropping on his stomach and then a hook being gouged into him, followed by the ripping of his innards. “I treated her to a French dinner after,” says Mr. Li.
ChinaFile Recommends
10.27.14Pro-Democracy Movement’s Vote in Hong Kong Abruptly Called Off
New York Times
The referendum boiled down to two simple questions: Did voters endorse demanding that the Hong Kong government press Beijing to make democratic concessions on election rules, and did they agree that the changes should apply to city Legislative...