Feature

Through the Eyes of Shop Cats

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

MULTIMEDIA

For a decade, Dutch photographer Marcel Heijnen has documented China’s shop cats — and the neighborhoods fading alongside them.

Wu Huiyuan 

Dettol Ad Backfires in China Over Sexist Setup

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

The ad attempted to highlight a man’s toxic behavior as the reason for his girlfriend breaking up with him. Many viewers say they just felt offended.

He Qitong

134 Days, 68 Places, Zero Internet: One Man’s Journey Through Digital China

Is it possible to travel across modern China without a smartphone? Yang Hao spent 134 days answering that question — awkwardly, slowly, and on purpose.

Wang Juyi

A Yunnan Lake, Three Generations, and the Director in Between

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

Q & A

Sixth Tone sits down with the director for an interview about how his life, and in particular, his relationship with his grandfather, helped shape the internationally acclaimed film.

Chen Yiru

Lotus Express

20260623

Tourists ride a park train through blooming lotus ponds in Hefei, Anhui province, June 21, 2026. VCG

Track Record

DAILY TONES

DAILYTONE

Can a Library Read Your Mood? Wuhan Wants to Find Out

Readers can now receive personalized book recommendations based on their emotional state, as well as explore themed displays and soothing audio experiences.

China’s ‘Magic Mike’ Show Tests the Line Between Dance, Spectacle

A viral all-male dance production has packed theaters and flooded Chinese social media, while critics question its flirtatious choreography.

Jiang Xinyi

Famed Chinese Sci-Fi Writer Sparks Debate Over AI-Written Books

Hao Jingfang admitted that she had used AI to produce her children’s science fiction series.

Flying Solo: The Rise of China’s One-Person Companies

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

Thanks to AI, a new form of solo entrepreneurship has taken root, granting individuals the ability to perform tasks that once required many workers.

Li Xin

Before WeChat, There Were Qiaopi Writers

For decades, families relied on letter writers like Jiang Mingdian to stay connected with relatives abroad. At 77, he may be one of the last still working.

The Life Project: Documenting the Chinese Woman Who Gave Birth at 60

Photographer Wu Fang reflects on 15 years and 20,000 photos capturing the life of a bereaved mother who gave birth to twins at 60.

The Dog, the Drivers, and the Decision to Save Her

A stray dog has gone viral on Chinese social media after a group of local taxi drivers raised money for her surgery.

Lü Xiao

The Long Hunt for China’s Vanishing Elephant Slides

A photographer travels across the country documenting a little-noticed relic of mid-20th-century public space as it slowly vanishes.

Qi Ya

Deep in the Mountains of Yunnan, China’s Best Ham Stays Hidden

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 artisanal process behind Nuodeng ham, which depends on brine wells that have long been a source of salt far from the sea, resists marketization.

Wang Huimin

In the Age of AI, Is Chinese Opera Being Revived or Reduced?

As AI tools turn Chinese opera into data, the art form is finding new audiences while risking the loss of what made it unique.

Gong Yan

A Privet Matter: Why a Farmer Hacked Down China’s ‘Lonely’ Tree

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

SIXTH TONE ×

When a social media trend ruined her crops, one villager grabbed an axe and decided to do something about it.

The  Beijing News

Fatal Crossing: China’s Villagers Risking Their Lives for Seasonal Work

Flooded roads, surging rivers, overcrowded vehicles — the drowning of 10 casual laborers in southern China reveals dangerous work practices.

The Paper

Ten Years in Transition

SPECIAL PROJECTS

To mark its 10th anniversary, Sixth Tone looks back on the past decade through 10 stories documenting how people across China adapted to change.

Sixth Tone

Shanghai Sessions: Four Notes From a City in Swing

A brief history of the misfits, migrants, and mavericks who improvised a musical revolution.

The Lost Art of Chinese Purple

The nearly 3,000-year-old synthetic pigment’s invention has long been a mystery. Now, archaeologists think they’ve finally cracked the code.

Wu Haiyun

The Big Switch

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.

The Secrets of the Shang

Sometimes called the “holy land” of Chinese archaeology, Yinxu remains a mystery even today.

6 Lives, 3 Years, and a Long Look at China’s Short-Video Era

Filmed over three years, “Nobody, But Somebody” follows young Chinese living outside the spotlight, capturing what it means to keep going in the face of uncertainty.

Our Water: Shanghai, London Exchange Cultural Currency

The latest news about Sixth Tone and announcements about its events, projects, and other initiatives.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

A coin exhibition, forum, and night of culinary fusion in London kick off the second season of Our Water, Shanghai’s river-themed cultural exchange program.

Our Water

Boy in the Frame: The Chinese Filmmaker Who Captured Luigi Mangione

A documentary director who set out to explore the lives of Chinese and American teens revisits unreleased footage of the murder suspect when he was 16.

Fir  Record

He Quit Baidu. But First He Had to Build an AI Version of Himself.

As Chinese firms expand internal AI systems, some employees are being asked to build digital versions of themselves before leaving their jobs.

The Dream of the ’90s Is Alive on the Chinese Internet

Chinese dreamcore plays on millennial nostalgia. Why is it so effective?

Pan Zhixin

What Young Shanghainese Imagine Marriage Will Cost Them

Interviews found that fears of inequality, loneliness, sacrifice, and disappointment shape attitudes toward marriage as much as economic pressures do.