TRAVEL
Pigs and Party Games: Celebrating Chinese New Year, Dongbei Style
Folk customs and culture of Northeast China during the Lunar New Year
Dongbei
FILM
How New China’s Movie Industry Began in the Northeast
Changchun Film Studio went from puppet-state propaganda to the beating heart of Chinese film
FOOD
Bones of Industry: Discover Shenyang’s Favorite Street Snack
A simple Dongbei dish symbolizes the rise, fall, and reinvention of a once-flourishing industrial heartland
ARTS
Rustbelt Renaissance: China’s Post-Industrial Northeast Rises Again in Film
Why is China’s Northeast such a fertile setting for film, music, and literature?
TRAVEL
Where Empires Meet: Lüshun’s Complex Colonial Legacies
Lüshun’s history of colonial entanglement attracts visitors looking for stunning photo backdrops, but its story is difficult to tell
FOOD
“Fire Spoon”: A Lesser-Known Dongbei Treat
These bite-sized beef pastries come with a heroic origin story
TRADITIONAL CULTURE
The Bathing Cultures Dividing North and South China
Northern bathhouses are famous for their vigorous scrubbing, while gentle massages in the South lull bathers to sleep
BOOKS
Anxiety and Opportunism on the Russia-China Border | Book Review
Franck Billé and Caroline Humphrey’s “On the Edge” portrays how China’s rise reshaped the reality of the people living just across the river
TRAVEL
The Japanese Temple Left to Rot in Northeast China
In Changchun, Jilin province, a cultural relic remains in disrepair despite decades of attempts at restoration
