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China society

China society
Latest news, features and opinion on all aspects of society in China, including crime, education, health, culture, technology and tourism, and the impact of the one-child policy, an ageing population and mass internal migration on the country and its people.
An elderly couple practice tai chi at a park in Beijing. Photo: AP
China's population

China’s population ageing seen as ‘inevitable’ by 2050. Why push more births?

Raising the fertility rate above 1.3 still remains crucial to preventing a far worse scenario later in the century, analysts say.

China economy

Opinion | How domestic tourism is driving Chinese consumption and growth

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Trending in China

Video | Chinese woman finds biological family after 35 years

Diplomacy

Opinion | Slowly but surely, China’s soft power is making itself felt

With trusted businesses, more openness, creative culture and inspiring sporting successes, China is building a foundation for influence.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
China technology

How AI is changing the way China’s students select a university degree

This summer, millions of families turned to AI for advice on selecting a degree programme – a role once played by teachers, relatives and consultants.

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China economy

As I see it | How the New Left won the battle of ideas for 21st-century China

Their revisionism challenges the neoliberal perspective which treats Maoist command economics and Deng-era capitalist reforms as diametrically opposed.

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Mainland China

Video | How a Chinese indie film conquered the box office

Lan Hongchun’s story about love, loyalty and immigrant struggles has struck a chord with the overseas Chinese diaspora, topping the box office with US$290 million.

Lan Hongchun’s story about love, loyalty and immigrant struggles has struck a chord with the overseas Chinese diaspora, topping the box office with US$290 million
Science

Why China’s technical schools offer both hope and despair for jobless college grads

Young Chinese ‘return to the furnace’ for practical skills but Chinese media reports some students are disappointed by education on offer.

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Mainland China

Opinion | China’s ethnic unity law aims to rejuvenate and defend, not repress

China’s extraterritorial clause reaches only acts that endanger national security, unlike the US’ overreaching Global Magnitsky Act.

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Social media

Opinion | Why middle-class life in China is drawing young Westerners’ gaze

China appears to offer something that many young people in the West struggle to find: a functioning middle-class lifestyle.

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Tourists pose for a group photo at Shanghai Disneyland on June 16. Photo: Xinhua
Mainland China

Chinese farmer’s forest of cameras fails to bear fruit in compensation bid

Man in Hubei province raised eyebrows after covering a hillside with surveillance cameras in the hope of increasing a land purchase payout.

Images of the cameras set tounges wagging online. Photo: Handout
Artificial intelligence

Opinion | Young Americans feel more threatened by AI than young Chinese. Why?

It starts with the fundamentally different economic outlooks and job prospects for young people in China and the US.

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The Future of Marketing in Asia

Sports marketing ditches billboards for culture

From NBA x K-pop collaborations to interactive experiences, brands are moving past simple sponsorships to embed themselves in sports culture.

China economy

Opinion | The gaokao scramble and how China engineers its political economy

Individuals choose the university and course but the state sets the collective outcome, steering human capital towards development goals.

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In this long exposure photo, students arrive at a school on the first day of China’s National Higher Education Entrance Examination, known as gaokao, in Huaian, Jiangsu province on June 7. Photo: AFP
China travel

A phone away from home: China urged to provide rental handsets to aid tourists

A think tank says low-end handsets, rentable at border checkpoints and pre-installed with local apps, could narrow ‘digital divide’ for visitors.

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Russian visitors in Shanghai. A think tank is urging authorities to provide inbound visitors with app-loaded local phones to make easier payments in China as their own overseas devices often lack those tools. Photo: Xinhua
China jobs

China’s youth unemployment rate edges down in May as economic strains persist

Those aged 16 to 24 are still struggling to catch a break in the job hunt, a trend worsened by external wars and geopolitical strife.

China consumption

Why are cash-strapped Chinese cities spending millions to host TV shows?

Jiangshan spent heavily to host the Chinese version of ‘Running Man’, but the project has provoked backlash amid China’s economic slowdown.

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Communist Party politics

How ‘lying flat’ went from a niche subculture to mainstream phenomenon

Spy agency says foreign forces are ‘brainwashing’ people, but critics call lying flat a rational response to a broken system.

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Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen
TV shows and streaming video

Who is Zhang Linghe, the Pursuit of Jade star and Gucci ambassador?

A recent public appearance sparked riots while his Netflix drama trends around the world – but why did this superstar almost choose a career in STEM?

Trending in China

China Gen Z male midwife goes viral for skills, looks, ‘powerful tenderness’

25-year-old overcomes ‘shameful’ taunts from relatives about career choice, says witnessing births makes him respect ‘strength’ of women.

Tourism

Opinion | China’s ‘check-in culture’ tourists need a reality check

Superficial ‘check-in tourism’ focused on garnering likes on social media is adversely affecting the lives of locals and the facilities they use.

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Tourists take photos at the Mong Kok MTR Station on October 6, 2025. Photo: Sun Yeung
Food delivery apps

China proposes ban on ‘irrational’ food-delivery subsidies to end price wars

Regulators target predatory pricing and merchant coercion, with new rules requiring that tech giants disclose subsidy data and not disrupt the market.

Food-delivery riders for Meituan sit on scooters while waiting for orders at a street intersection in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. Photo: Getty Images
China jobs

China’s universities cut 12,000 ‘obsolete’ degrees amid race to embrace AI era

The sweeping overhaul has affected over 30 per cent of China’s degree programmes, with arts and languages ditched in favour of tech-focused fields.

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China economy

Opinion | How China can curb neijuan before the next generation burns out

Driven by structural forces, neijuan is experienced as market crowding and a narrowing of everyday life. The costs aren’t only economic.

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China education

Video | Students and families celebrate end of China’s gaokao exam

Many parents waited with flowers, gifts and even cash prizes as students rushed out of exam centres.

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Mainland China

Video | Man in China buys 34th-floor flat in 32-storey building

Despite no legal protections on illegally developed housing compounds, some Chinese internet users say it is the only way they can afford to own property.

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China jobs

China’s gig economy is an employment reservoir – but is the well drying up?

More than 200 million people in China are flexibly employed, but AI adoption, unstable income and poor social security make positions precarious.

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China jobs

As millions graduate, China urges SOEs, internet firms to offer more jobs

A record cohort of university graduates is entering a relatively weak Chinese job market.

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