China Society

LGBT culture has often been a sensitive topic in China. But as attitudes toward diverse communities improve, members of a small but growing drag community are stepping into the spotlight.

After two years of living in Beijing, Jesse Bowens-Xu was tired, annoyed and ready to go home. The daughter of an African-American father and Chinese mother, she had gone to China to study and connect with her heritage. However, her skin color became a source of day-to-day frustration and prejudice. When applying for part-time teaching jobs to support her studies, the message she got was: “unmarketable to Chinese parents,” she said. This despite being a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and completing a master’s degree at the prestigious Peking University in Beijing. Locals running up to snap photos made her feel “like an animal in the zoo,” she said. About two years after

For 40 years, Linda He and her family had served themselves from a single communal dish, picking up food with the same chopsticks they used to eat their meal as part of a long dining tradition in Chinese communities. But that changed last month when she started something of a dining table revolution: she added a second pair of chopsticks – just for serving. “Sharing food has been a tradition, but I have always thought we should abandon it because it helps spread diseases,” said He, who lives with her parents and child in Shanghai. The terror of the Covid-19 pandemic has caused many people in China to examine their eating habits, in much the same way as it has prompted people around the worl

Dog meat lovers are returning in full force for a season of feasting in the southern Chinese city of Yulin despite pressure rising across the country to end the trade after the Covid-19 pandemic focused attention on China’s meat consumption. “The scale of the dog meat trade in Yulin is pretty much the same compared to previous years,” said animal welfare advocate Yu Dezhi. Yu surveyed the city, in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, in May. The central government has banned the wildlife trade to curb the transmission of animal diseases to humans after the new coronavirus was suspected to have originated in bats and then jumped to people through an intermediary animal. The southern cities o

A villager in China’s Anhui province uses burning charcoal to create art pieces on the walls of an abandoned primary school. The artist, Chao Ge, stopped drawing after high school, but picked it up again while on lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic. He likes to draw animals and Chinese heroes the most.

A 13-year-old Chinese basketball player with one arm captured the attention of NBA star Stephen Curry thanks to his skills and determination. Zhang Jiacheng lost his right arm in an accident when he was five, but that didn't stop him from becoming a fantastic hooper.

A draft regulation issued by Beijing’s city government that seeks to punish people for “defaming” traditional Chinese medicine has triggered fierce opposition online. The planned regulation, which was released for public consultation in May, is aimed at expanding the use of traditional Chinese medicine in the health care system, from cancer treatment to infectious disease prevention. One proposed clause bans people from “denigrating or defaming traditional Chinese medicine”. Violating the rule could result in criminal punishment. Despite the limited scientific evidence supporting its effectiveness, traditional Chinese medicine is seen by the Communist Party as a source of national pride and

Miumiu, a six-year-old girl from eastern China’s Jiangsu province, has become an internet star for her videos showcasing her singing while playing her guitar. She is also adept at other instruments, including the piano and drums.

A man from Chongqing in southwestern China has become an online sensation after sharing on social media his travels with his cat, Duoduo. They’ve visited several locations in China, enjoying sunsets, mountain scenery, and picnics together.

A four-year-old boy in China’s Henan province burst into tears on his first day back to school because he could not find his classroom at kindergarten. He couldn’t even recognize his teacher, who was standing right in front of him.