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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.
Illustration: Craig Stephens
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

China economy

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

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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.

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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China travel

China, South Korea agree to more flights per week as tourism to Japan dwindles

The additional flights are the first increase between the two countries since before the Covid pandemic.

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A Korean Air plane at Shanghai Pudong International Airport. Photo: Shutterstock
China jobs

China’s gaokao exam gets less competitive as more teens opt to skip university

The number of students sitting China’s university entrance exams is on the decline, as teens decide not to pursue a degree amid a graduate job crunch.

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China economy

‘Distorted views’: why China is clamping down on ‘lowbrow’ micro dramas

China has launched a two-month campaign to clean up its massive micro drama industry, targeting violent, sexual and ‘wealth-flaunting’ content.

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Chinese culture

How China’s ‘Excalibur of the East’ souvenir swords sparked airport warning

Tourists with replicas of the ancient Sword of Goujian, from the Hubei Provincial Museum, were told not to hand-carry them onto planes.

Visitors take photos of the ancient Sword of Goujian at the Hubei Provincial Museum in Wuhan, in central China’s Hubei Province, on May 17, 2026. An airport notice at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport warning not to hand-carry replicas of the sword on board planes has gone viral on Chinese social media. Photo: Xinhua
History

As I see it | How adversity has guided the path of Chinese civilisation through the ages

Recent findings by archaeologists suggest the push for innovative solutions is often borne out of the struggle to overcome severe challenges.

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Descendants of Chinese railroad workers gather during a ceremony for 12,000 Chinese immigrant labourers who worked on the Central Pacific Railroad between 1865 and 1869 being inducted into the Labor Hall of Honor, at the Department of Labor, in Washington DC, on May 9, 2014. Photo: Xinhua
Shenzhen

Being Chinese | Once, I was proud of the Shenzhen miracle. Now I’m not so sure

The Taiwanese-influenced accent my voice carries is a relic of the 2000s and hints at how differently my generation understands modernity.

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China's economic recovery

China expands migrant workers’ access to public services

SCMP Plus annotates the State Council’s 13-point guidelines for easing restrictions under the nation’s hukou household registration system.

China’s private sector

A new battlefront for KFC and its Chinese rivals: the lighter meal

Big-name fast-food chains are seeking to capitalise on a surge in demand in China for lighter meals.

A drink and several meals from KPRO’s menu. Photo: Handout
China’s Communist Party

Video | How a rural French town became the cradle of Chinese communism

Late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping was among the many Chinese students who studied in Montargis in the early 20th century.

Late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping was among the many Chinese students who studied in Montargis in the early 20th century
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Britain

My Take | Chinese orchids bring a message of hope to Chelsea Flower Show

Exhibits carried a deeper meaning about conservation and the ability to bring people from around the world together.

China consumption

HSBC cuts China retail sales forecast by nearly half on property, job pressures

Consumption is facing renewed pressure as a weak labour market and diminishing returns from subsidies cloud outlook, the bank says.

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