How the TV Stole Spring Festival
First airing live in 1983, CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala didn’t just change TV—it changed the way China celebrates the Lunar New Year
How Did China End Up Celebrating Two New Years?
In the early 20th century, China tried to ban its millennia-old lunar calendar in the name of modernity—with mixed success
The Vanished Villages of Fujian and Qinling
Two villages allegedly disappeared overnight in the last century: Where did they go? Did they even exist?
The Traveling Projectionists Who Brought Entertainment to Farmers
Zhao Jishan, “the movie man,” spent years dragging a mobile cinema through rural China to bring entertainment to the villages
The Last Maoist Village in China
We take a trip to every Maoist’s favorite travel destination: Nanjie Village
How the Bikini Finally Came to China
From swimming across the Yangtze in the 60s to indecency scandals in the 80s: 30 years of swimwear history in China
30 Years of Kissing in Chinese Cinema and Society
From controversial kiss scenes in movies to stolen trysts by the riverbank, here’s how China rediscovered kissing after the Cultural Revolution
The Legendary Century-Long Life of a Leprosy Patient, Part 1
From wandering the streets to living in a leprosy colony, an ordinary 93-year-old woman recounts an extraordinary century of life
The Legendary Century-Long Life of a Leprosy Patient, Part 2
Read the second part of the story of Xu He as she leaves the leprosy village—and find out why she comes back
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