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

features

China’s Next-Gen TV Anchors Hustle for a Job AI Is Already Doing

The growing use of AI in television broadcasting is forcing China’s top journalism schools to reconsider what skills still set human anchors apart.

Ding Rui

Second Life: China’s Top Resale App Now Fuels Its Wildest Gig Market

From side jobs to oddball services, millions of young Chinese are turning to Alibaba’s Xianyu app to earn cash and cut corners, a marketplace running on trust, improvisation, and few rules.

He Qitong

The Last Stop Club: The Young Chinese Giving Buses a Proper Goodbye

A niche community of bus enthusiasts is documenting final rides, recording engine sounds, and preserving memories of a transit era disappearing under a rapid shift to EVs.

Jiang Xinyi

‘Too Big a Risk’: Chinese Students Rethink the American Dream

After an abrupt visa freeze and a vague policy reversal, many Chinese students find themselves locked out, or walking away, from what had long been the default path to opportunity.

Chen Yiru

Why Chinese Fans Are Hiring Detectives for a Dead Kenyan Lion

When their favorite wild lion was killed, a tight-knit group of Chinese fans half a world away launched a global campaign for justice — via billboards in New York to private investigators in Kenya.

With Tariffs Paused, China’s Holiday Goods Hub Races to Fill Orders

Inside Yiwu’s market stalls and factory floors, the Halloween and Christmas rush is back on after weeks of uncertainty. But as long-term risks grow, many are now looking beyond the U.S.

Cold Fix: Inside China’s Audacious Effort to Save a Dying Glacier

With blankets, snow machines, and limited funding, a small team of scientists is testing a desperate plan to slow the collapse of one of China’s most vulnerable glaciers.

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.

Dot Dot Dot: What the Last Ever Telegrams From Hangzhou Say

As one of China’s last telegraph stations prepared to shut down, thousands lined up to say goodbye — in ink, by hand, one word at a time.

One Piece Puzzle: How Anime Merch Found the Perfect Fit in China

Once niche and underground, anime, comic, and game collectibles are now a $23 billion force shaping China’s next consumer wave.