Sixth Tone

A study of Chinese students in the UK reveals how disappointing encounters and uncertain futures are changing what they seek on dating apps, even as their hopes for lasting love persist. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1019145

From Ming dynasty props to Amazon best-sellers, Xuchang has built a $1.7 billion hair industry — but can it hold on amid razor-thin margins and a talent shortage? https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1019070

Elderly farmers doing headstands turned a once-impoverished village in northern China into a national sensation. Now, organizers have left, livestream sales of produce have fallen, and fewer residents practice. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1019112

A study of Chinese students in the UK reveals how disappointing encounters and uncertain futures are changing what they seek on dating apps, even as their hopes for lasting love persist. https://ow.ly/fqLQ5100KTS

After twice being rescued and released deep into the Yellow Sea, spotted seal Nana has headed for a tourist island in northeastern China. Experts fear he may be risking his life. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1019142

Young Chinese are buying clothes tailored to destinations from sunny beaches to snowy peaks and designed to be worn once or twice for as little as a few yuan. Read more: https://ow.ly/cMEJ5100KTB

As AI and funding cuts reduce live-action shoots, tourist packages provide work for crews and give visitors a finished two-minute ultrashort drama of their own. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1019127

Domestic tourists in China made 6.5 billion trips and spent 6.3 trillion yuan (US$930 billion) in 2025, both record highs.

Researchers found that levels of a gene expression regulator rose in the spleens of middle-aged female mice, contributing to cellular demise and potentially explaining why men and women age differently. https://ow.ly/vO9150ZQULj

From life on the streets at 15 to smashing the record for racing 330 kilometers through the Alps, champion runner Zhao Jiaju reflects on his long road to greatness. https://ow.ly/92V950ZQskX

China’s men’s basketball team has suffered its second-worst defeat in its history at the Asian Games, calling into question the coach’s abilities and the team’s training methods. https://ow.ly/zHmq50ZQ4Q4

After slashing prices to survive, a small-town business attracts strugglers from far and wide seeking a low-to-no-cost lifestyle. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018854

After a mushroom grew from an apple, researchers turned online curiosity into a two-year breeding project with help from samples sent in from across China. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018995

China’s immersive productions have grown ever larger and more spectacular. Their next challenge is turning audience participation into genuine understanding. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018941

After once leaving rural China behind, two filmmakers returned to document the farmers and workers whose stories are fading from view as the countryside changes. https://ow.ly/Tcjl50ZPoYa

For China’s army of part-time couriers, retirement remains an abstract concept — surviving today is the priority. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1019030

Chinese academics, writers, and journalists are expected to do everything. As the Zhuge Yiyang controversy shows, many wind up with nothing. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018996

As opportunities to get ahead seem increasingly limited, Chinese audiences are finding more to relate to in culture’s supporting characters. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018999

An incident at a Shanghai stand-up show in which customers who bought tickets through unofficial channels were denied entry because of the venue’s ticket identity-verification requirements has sparked public debate over China’s ticket scalping market. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1019041

U.S. startup founder Ken Chester entered China’s first rural hackathon in a remote village in Fujian province. Then, he took the idea back to Michigan. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1019015

China aims to grow its innovative drug market by more than 20% a year through 2030, under a plan that also calls for listed pharmaceutical companies to spend more than 10% of their revenue on research and development.

The new municipal government program uses AI token consumption to help assess tech companies seeking loans, offering another route to financing for companies that struggle to secure conventional credit. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1019029

China’s surveyed urban unemployment rate averaged 5.2% in the first eight months of 2026, unchanged from a year earlier.

As opportunities to get ahead seem increasingly limited, Chinese audiences are finding more to relate to in culture’s supporting characters. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018999

China has approved the weight-loss drug Wegovy, a brand name for the medication semaglutide, to treat a severe form of fatty liver disease, making it the country’s first and only glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drug approved for the condition. https://ow.ly/PLA450ZNbSP

China’s annual AI token consumption is projected to rise from 100 quadrillion tokens in 2026 to more than 35 quintillion by 2030.

A growing number of Chinese students studying abroad are turning cooking videos into viral hits across Chinese social media. On Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, the hashtag “international students hunong cooking” — using the term “to do something halfheartedly” — has amassed 2.1 billion views.

The mobile game, popular since 2018, features a frog who holidays across China. Users say they can’t bear to delete it. https://ow.ly/lU4E50ZMuC7

A literature undergrad’s AI tool made a near-perfect Mandarin version of Haruki Murakami’s new novel in just four hours. What might this mean for translators and copyright holders? https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018966

At Dunhuang, new technologies are opening up the Mogao Grottoes while helping protect the fragile art that has survived there for more than a thousand years. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018985

A proposed amendment to the nation’s national traffic law distinguishes between autonomous driving vehicles and driver assistance functions, as well as allocates responsibility in the event of traffic violations. https://ow.ly/j5lq50ZKl2L

A literature undergrad’s AI tool made a near-perfect Mandarin version of Haruki Murakami’s new novel in just four hours. What might this mean for translators and copyright holders?

One of China’s hottest idols is a 1,700-year-old emperor. Another is his dad. China’s “history fangirls” are chasing celebrities through bookstores and tomb complexes nationwide. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018940

In the remote mountains of China’s Sichuan province, viral online soccer star Jifu Lama is spreading his love of the game to help ‘left behind’ Yi ethnic children find a sense of purpose. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018881

At Dunhuang, new technologies are opening up the Mogao Grottoes while helping protect the fragile art that has survived there for more than a thousand years. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018985

Former animators, cinematographers, and VFX artists are helping build AI systems that can script, storyboard, generate, and revise short dramas with unprecedented speed. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018935

After a central government policy that banned AI services “that lead to emotional dependence” went into effect in July, some users say they feel an “emotional void.” https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018959

As summer heat waves send global orders for cooling solutions soaring, one Suzhou plant shows how China’s SMEs are absorbing the pressure. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018916

“Once Upon a Time in the Middle East” is something new in China: a film about the outside world that treats its location as more than just a backdrop. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018970

At Dunhuang, new technologies are opening up the Mogao Grottoes while helping protect the fragile art that has survived there for more than a thousand years. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018985

After once leaving rural China behind, two filmmakers returned to document the farmers and workers whose stories are fading from view as the countryside changes.

China’s National Social Security Fund earned 390.7 billion yuan ($58 billion) from investments in 2025, posting a 13.22% return. Its assets totaled 3.8 trillion yuan at year-end.

“Once Upon a Time in the Middle East” is something new in China: a film about the outside world that treats its location as more than just a backdrop.

After a central government policy that banned AI services “that lead to emotional dependence” went into effect in July, some users say they feel an “emotional void.” https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018959

Why do we need immersion? China’s immersive productions have grown ever larger and more spectacular. Their next challenge is turning audience participation into genuine understanding. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018941

Chinese robot Tiangong Ultra won the 100-meter race at the World Humanoid Robot Games in 8.64 seconds, nearly a second faster than Usain Bolt’s 9.58-second world record.

One of China’s hottest idols is a 1,700-year-old emperor. Another is his dad. China’s “history fangirls” are chasing celebrities through bookstores and tomb complexes nationwide. https://ow.ly/ETJV50ZFGEn

A growing number of Chinese universities are allowing student pets both on campus and in university dormitories, drawing online support and sparking sharp debate over the safety, equity, and cost of campus pet ownership. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018948

After slashing prices to survive, a small-town business attracts strugglers from far and wide seeking a low-to-no-cost lifestyle. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018854