literature

The Poet Changing China’s View of Disability — Through Dance

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

Yu Xiuhua became a sensation with her raunchy poetry that redefined Chinese perceptions of disability. Now, she’s taking her art a step further.

Jiang Xinyi

Hope in Hardship: How an Illiterate Woman ‘Wrote’ Her Memoir

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

SIXTH TONE ×

A survivor of human trafficking from southwestern China shares how she became an “authentic voice” in literature using her phone’s voice-to-text function.

The Paper

Hu Anyan and the Beauty of ‘Ordinary Things’ as a Refuge From Reality

Reflecting on his journey from odd jobs to literary success, author Hu Anyan emphasizes the value of the everyday and banal in his new book “Living in Low Places.”

Hu Anyan

As Shanghai Book Fair Turns 20, Tech and Tradition Converge

The weeklong event attracted nearly 400,000 visitors to the Shanghai Exhibition Center, showcasing over 160,000 titles from 360 publishers.

Fan Yiying

Literati Labor: Life Among the Working-Class Writers of Picun

In his new book, writer and former journalist Yuan Ling recounts his immersion into the culture and conversations of a vibrant literary community for migrant workers in Beijing.

Yuan Ling

Pema Tseden’s Other Legacy

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 Tibetan filmmaker was also a prolific writer of short stories.

Cai Xin

Steering Through Shanghai: A Taxi Driver’s Perspective

​​An outsider’s perspective reveals the hidden facets of Shanghai’s taxi culture.

Li Enjie

The ‘Santi’ Aren’t Real

Netflix’s “3 Body Problem” translated Liu Cixin’s epic to the small screen — with one notable exception.

Emily Xueni Jin

Big City Dreams, Small-Town Realities for China’s Rural Youth

As more rural youth return to their hometowns due to employment, family, or big city life pressure, small cities are serving as a buffer zone between their dreams and reality.

Wang Defu

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.

Cai Yiwen

High Spirits: The American Pondering Baijiu’s Place in the World

To prepare Western palates, Derek Sandhaus, author of “Drunk in China: Baijiu and the World’s Oldest Drinking Culture” and founder of Ming River Sichuan Baijiu, offers a detailed primer on the spirit’s past, present, and future.

Derek Sandhaus

Aesthetic Evolution: Tracing Female Beauty in Ancient Chinese Art

A museum curator’s new book, “Images of Her in Ancient China,” explores the various ways women have been depicted in art throughout Chinese history.

Cai Qin

In China’s Array of Dialects, Emerging Writers Find a New Voice

While novels in regional dialects aren’t new in China, they have surged in popularity among young writers in recent years, particularly amid increased social media exposure.

Yang Caini

Lin Pingxiu

How ‘Farming Literature’ Became China’s Hottest Genre

Originally a male-dominated genre about territorial consolidation and conquest, farming lit is offering China’s women a fantasy world in which they don’t have to be perfect to succeed.

Zhou Min

Shanghai Confidential: An Expat’s Journey From Sous Chef to Food Writer

First arriving as a chef in Shanghai in the mid-2000s, Christopher St. Cavish would eventually find his calling detailing the intricacies of Chinese food to foreigners. He looks back on his journey in his new book, “Outsider.”

Christopher St. Cavish

Dreaming of Food in the Red Chamber

Food is practically a character unto itself in the classic novel “Dream of the Red Chamber.”

Thomas DuBois

My Mom the Janitor: How ‘Invisible’ Workers Keep Our Cities Clean

By sharing her mother’s experiences as a cleaner, a Shenzhen writer shines a light on the lives of China’s janitors and custodians.

Zhang Xiaoman

How to Adapt a Classic

What four recent productions say about China’s changing approach to literary adaptations.

Kong Degang

China’s Literary Giants Have Become Darlings of Online Youth Culture

Discussions of Yu Hua and Mo Yan are ubiquitous on the Chinese internet, often in the language of memes and in-jokes.

He Qitong

‘Princess Iron Fan’: The Height of Modern Chinese Animation

Inspired by Disney’s “Snow White” in 1937, the Wan brothers created the first Chinese animated feature film — still a timeless classic today — during the hardship of World War II.