China’s trade in services totaled 3.8 trillion yuan (US$560 billion) in the first half of 2026, up 8.3% from a year earlier.
Sixth Tone
@sixthtone.bsky.social
Fresh voices from today's China — news, features & commentary from a human perspective. Also on Facebook, Instagram, WeChat, & YouTube. Website: www.sixthtone.com
Sixth Tone is looking for a seasoned, passionate freelance editor.
On Chinese social media, Hyrox’s appeal to such high-fliers has become a running joke. Users often quip that the sport taps into a deep Chinese love for hard work and standardized tests.
China’s Elderly Embrace an Unlikely New Sport: Hyrox Races
China’s millennials have taken up the hardcore fitness activity in huge numbers. Now, they’re pushing their aging parents to join them.
sixthtone.com
A simple online flower purchase reveals the supply-chain design behind China’s low-cost e-commerce economy.
How China Delivers a 14-Yuan Bouquet Over 2,000 Kilometers
A simple online flower purchase reveals the supply-chain design behind China’s low-cost e-commerce economy.
sixthtone.com
From prestigious imports to pantomime dames, Chinese tea terms in English reveal a history of admiration, adaptation, and distortion. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018829
The Chinese Tea That Became a British Joke — and Those That Didn’t
From prestigious imports to pantomime dames, Chinese tea terms in English reveal a history of admiration, adaptation, and distortion.
sixthtone.com
China has discontinued the blue exterior lights common to its vehicles equipped with autonomous driving features. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018849
Out of the Blue: China Bans Lights Signaling Self-Driving Mode
The lights, introduced in 2022, have come to be associated with an increased accident risk due to glare as well as the unpredictable nature of other drivers’ responses toward self-driving vehicles.
sixthtone.com
Scientists say that the uptick in cicada nymph collection, popularized by livestreaming, could damage local ecosystems.
Chinese Village’s Viral Cicada Harvest Comes Under Fire
Scientists say that the uptick in cicada nymph collection, popularized by livestreaming, could damage local ecosystems.
sixthtone.com
From prestigious imports to pantomime dames, Chinese tea terms in English reveal a history of admiration, adaptation, and distortion.
The Chinese Tea That Became a British Joke — and Those That Didn’t
From prestigious imports to pantomime dames, Chinese tea terms in English reveal a history of admiration, adaptation, and distortion.
sixthtone.com
China’s millennials have taken up the hardcore fitness activity in huge numbers. Now, they’re pushing their aging parents to join them.
China’s Elderly Embrace an Unlikely New Sport: Hyrox Races
China’s millennials have taken up the hardcore fitness activity in huge numbers. Now, they’re pushing their aging parents to join them.
sixthtone.com
After George Bernard Shaw’s whistlestop wartime visit, left-wing Chinese intellectuals hailed the playwright and polemicist as a “loyal friend of the oppressed.”
Shaw in Shanghai: How the Irish Writer’s 1933 Visit Inspired China’s Literati
After George Bernard Shaw’s whistlestop wartime visit, left-wing Chinese intellectuals hailed the playwright and polemicist as a “loyal friend of the oppressed.”
sixthtone.com
From dim sum to char siu, dozens of Cantonese culinary terms have entered the global lexicon, reflecting more than a century of migration, trade, and cultural exchange. Read more: ow.ly/6mhI50ZuyrV
Most of the world’s garlic is grown in China. But this year, unusual weather conditions this past fall, winter, and spring challenged the country’s farmers.
China’s Changing Climate May Be Why Your Garlic Is Moldy
Most of the world’s garlic is grown in China. But this year, unusual weather conditions this past fall, winter, and spring challenged the country’s farmers.
sixthtone.com
Performers of traditional Chinese arts win over younger fans with fresh adaptations of global blockbusters featuring wizards, pirates, and ninjas
China’s Classic Storytellers Recapture the Magic With Harry Potter
Performers of traditional Chinese arts win over younger fans with fresh adaptations of global blockbusters featuring wizards, pirates, and ninjas.
sixthtone.com
A Tsinghua University Ph.D. student who took on a series of short-term gigs for research shines a light on the pressures and pride felt by Beijing’s day laborers. https://ow.ly/R6vy50ZtlF4
Love’s Labor’s Found: The Beijing Scholar Speaking Up for Hired Hands
A Tsinghua University Ph.D. student who took on a series of short-term gigs for research shines a light on the pressures and pride felt by Beijing’s day laborers.
ow.ly
Over two millennia after its founding, historians still wonder: Why was it the Qin — and not any of the other Warring States — that unified China?
Before China’s First Emperor: Unearthing the Long Rise of the Qin
Over two millennia after its founding, historians still wonder: Why was it the Qin — and not any of the other Warring States — that unified China?
sixthtone.com
Once known mainly for its merchants and overseas networks, Chaoshan is back in the spotlight. This series examines how the region’s past and present offer insights into modern China.
The Many Lives of Chaoshan
Once known mainly for its merchants and overseas networks, Chaoshan is back in the spotlight. This series examines how the region’s past and present offer insights into modern China.
sixthtone.com
China’s southern island province of Hainan will become the country’s first to ban the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles by 2030, domestic media reported this week.
Hainan to Ban Sales of Gas-Powered Vehicles From 2030
The province is China’s first to implement such a ban, bolstering its status as a leader in EV adoption.
sixthtone.com
For years, scenic spots and historical sites have capitalized on online trends and “check-in” culture, leading to what tourists describe as “tacky” aesthetics. After the backlash, sites are changing their tune. Read more: ow.ly/QzqU50ZoabO
Once pushed to the margins, Chaoshan culture has become a symbol of China’s changing relationship with regional identity, tradition, and belonging.
The Chinese Story Behind Chaoshan’s Big Screen Moment
Once pushed to the margins, Chaoshan culture has become a symbol of China’s changing relationship with regional identity, tradition, and belonging.
sixthtone.com
AI has made Shen Anyu’s voice cheap to copy and nearly impossible to control, drawing him and his wife into a widening fight over income, identity and ownership.
The Chinese Voice Actor Forced to Prove He’s Human
AI has made Shen Anyu’s voice cheap to copy and nearly impossible to control, drawing him and his wife into a widening fight over income, identity and ownership.
sixthtone.com
When a product manager at Alibaba’s workplace communication app DingTalk complained about relentless “involutionary” competition, Chinese workers across the country recognized her frustrations.
The Chinese Resignation Letter That Caused a CEO-Toppling Storm
When a product manager at Alibaba’s workplace communication app DingTalk complained about relentless “involutionary” competition, Chinese workers across the country recognized her frustrations.
sixthtone.com
Is it possible to travel across modern China without a smartphone? Yang Hao spent 134 days answering that question — awkwardly, slowly, and on purpose. Read more: ow.ly/EtfZ50ZhwwU
A retired oncologist opened a garment workshop above his Guangzhou dialysis clinic to employ kidney patients who had struggled to find work elsewhere. The factory provides income, routine, and community, but its future remains tied to the treatment that keeps its workers alive.
Between Two Needles
A retired oncologist opened a garment workshop above his Guangzhou dialysis clinic to employ kidney patients who had struggled to find work elsewhere. The factory provides income, routine, and communi...
sixthtone.com
The artisanal process behind Nuodeng ham, which depends on brine wells that have long been a source of salt far from the sea, resists marketization.
Deep in the Mountains of Yunnan, China’s Best Ham Stays Hidden
The artisanal process behind Nuodeng ham, which depends on brine wells that have long been a source of salt far from the sea, resists marketization.
sixthtone.com
China has issued new guidelines on TV and online drama credits, defining for the first time the requirements for the order of actors’ names. The move comes in response to rising conflicts among fans over rankings associated with credit order.
Title Fight: China’s New TV Credit Rules Target Toxic Fandoms
To ease fandom and legal disputes, names will now be listed according to the number of brushstrokes in actors’ surnames.
sixthtone.com
Erling Haaland, the Norway and Manchester City striker has become an online obsession in China, with fans creating memes and remixes exaggerating his size, expressions, and on-field feats. 🔗https://ow.ly/E3hf50Zc8Tk
In China, home organizing is a rapidly emerging profession — between 2020 and 2023, the number of such companies increased 87-fold. In 2022, the Chinese government added “organizer” to its official list of occupations.
In China, the Middle-Class Home Aesthetic Is for Hire
A burgeoning industry sends professional organizers to clients’ homes to rearrange and declutter, all to achieve the perfect look.
sixthtone.com
With new graduates facing a crowded job market, AI bootcamps are offering three-month courses designed to turn newcomers into junior AI workers.
Locked Out of China’s AI Boom, Graduates Turn to Bootcamps
With new graduates facing a crowded job market, AI bootcamps are offering three-month courses designed to turn newcomers into junior AI workers.
sixthtone.com
Ever since emojis became part of everyday lexicon, the Chinese internet has been rife with wordplay and absurdist substitution. But are they bringing people together, or pushing them further apart?
How Emojis Have Become a Language Within a Language in China
Ever since emojis became part of everyday lexicon, the Chinese internet has been rife with wordplay and absurdist substitution. But are they bringing people together, or pushing them further apart?
sixthtone.com
Chinese robotics company UBTech has begun presales for what it calls the world’s “first full-size, ultra-bionic” humanoid robot designed for emotional companionship. Around 3,000 units have been sold so far.
China’s Lifelike Emotional Companion Bots Go on Sale
The life-size robot is billed as an emotional companion, employing both affective AI and encrypted memory storage.
sixthtone.com