wang-hongzhe

The Digitization of China’s Working-Class ‘Palaces’

Contributions from individuals with unique perspectives to share. Hear from everyone, from experts and commentators to those whose voices are often marginalized.

VOICES & OPINION

Workers have built new cultural spaces online, in poetry forums and on short-video apps, but the work they produce is rarely taken seriously.

The Fall of China’s Working-Class ‘Palaces’

Beginning in the 1990s, the country’s working-class cultural spaces began to disappear, to be replaced by private, for-profit entities.

The Rise of China’s Working-Class ‘Palaces’

In the 1950s, workers’ cultural palaces were established in cities across the country to better mould the country’s new “leading class.” They had the side effect of democratizing culture.