China Stories

The emperor, as “son of heaven,” was meant to mediate between the natural and the supernatural. When dragons were becoming visible to regular folk, as...

“With you in charge, I am at ease,” Mao Zedong wrote in a note to his successor, Hua Guofeng. Mao’s trust was misplaced. Click here...

Only twice has a Nobel peace laureate died in state custody. The first time was in 1938, when German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky died in...

Yellow River flooding has killed and displaced millions over the centuries. But in June 1938, the river’s levees were intentionally breached, leaving half a million...

After years of strict management on cinematic imports and a pandemic-induced disruption, China’s film sector is reopening to the world again. But while the regulatory...

The Battle of Luding Bridge is part of the founding lore of the Chinese Communist Party. People outside China first learned of the incident through...

From exploring personal subjects to reimagining ancient stories in a contemporary context, a new generation of Chinese creatives are elevating the world of animation beyond...

Xu Xiake was China’s first, most popular, and most prolific travel writer. He visited 16 modern provinces over more than three decades, and the observations...

Last week, Ya Ya the panda returned to Shanghai after spending 20 years in Memphis. Her arrival marked the end of a drawn-out saga that...

“I don’t think the Center crossed a line, but rather the line crossed them.” Click here to read the article by Zhao Yuanyuan. Narrated by...

A Life magazine cover in 1938 sought to rally American public support for the war in the Pacific. The images inside that front cover were...

An age-old story of diplomatic misunderstanding and technology transference. Click here to read the article by James Carter. Narrated by Kaiser Kuo. China Stories is...

China’s greatest train hijacking, by a band of outlaws calling themselves the Autonomous Army, changed the Republic of China. Click here to read the article...

Celebrating one of Taiwan’s greatest writers. Click here to read the article by Neocha. Narrated by Cliff Larsen. China Stories is published twice weekly, on...

The Yellow Flower Mound Uprising, also known as the Second Guangzhou Uprising, may have failed, but its legacy is now celebrated in mainstream Chinese culture...

In 1942, a band of American pilots conducted a daring bombing run over Japan, with the plan to land in airfields set up in China...

Eight Chinese passengers boarded the Titanic in Southampton, six survived. Their story — largely untold until Steven Schwarkert came across it during his research on Chinese...

China and Japan are talking again, but relations will probably deteriorate over Beijing’s growing military presence in disputed territories, Tokyo’s crackdown on advanced chipmaking gear...

When a million people converged on Tiananmen Square on April 4 to 5 in 1976 to mourn Zhōu Ēnlái 周恩来, authorities used violence to disperse...

New proposed legislation in the U.S. Congress could stop foreign tech companies from operating in the U.S. Everyone’s talking about TikTok — but the implications...

As many as 100,000 laborers died in the construction of the Kunming–Haiphong railway, which opened on April 1, 1910. The cost was not worth it...

In the spring of 1926, Nationalists and Communists in China were in a tenuous alliance. While this “First United Front” technically endured until a year...

The first meeting of a new House committee on China on February 28 signaled that Washington is serious about figuring out the future of the...

All the great European powers (plus the U.S.) got a slice of China in the late-19th century. All but Italy, that is. Click here to...

Within his country, “the last emperor” of China was one of the most hated figures of his time. But for most of his life, Puyi...