Sixth Tone

In June 2024, Hu Youping, a school bus chaperone in Suzhou, threw herself in front of a knife-wielding attacker to protect a Japanese student and his mother. She was stabbed multiple times and later died in the hospital. This week, Hu Youping was posthumously awarded the title…

Can you still eat instant noodles on China’s high-speed trains? The question boiled over on social media this weekend, as users clashed over the pungent but nostalgic snack. While official guidelines advise against strong-smelling foods, there’s no rule explicitly banning…

The Yi Torch Festival opens at Torch Square in Butuo County, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province, July 22, 2025. VCG

Deep in landlocked Anhui province, eastern China, a 60-something farmer called Zhang Shengwu has drawn attention by launching himself into the water — and history. Zhang, the inventor of Big Blackfish, a homemade submarine weighing over five tons and capable of diving to depths…

In the first half of 2025, China’s lottery sales surged to a record 318 billion yuan ($44 billion).

In China, BBQ Gets Its Degree An open university in China’s Hunan province has teamed up with the local Barbecue Association to train the next generation of grillmasters, part of a push to formalize an industry worth over 2 billion yuan a year. Known for bold flavors and…

When China’s men’s national football team lost to Indonesia on June 5 at the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, it spelled the end of the team’s World Cup dreams. On a normal day, this would have dominated the sports pages. Instead, it barely made headlines. That’s because the national…

Underwater performers nationwide are risking life and limb as aquariums and other tourist attractions cut back on safety protocols to boost profits. sixthtone.com/news/1017335

One of the latest products to go viral in China isn’t an ugly-cute doll or a controversial video game — it’s a can of mostly nothing at all. Priced at 59.9 yuan ($8), cans of “Wanlü Lake Good Air” were briefly available online before selling out on July 16. Read more:…

Chinese scholars have long agreed that the classic novel is a tragic love story. So why are others convinced it’s actually a metaphor for dynastic transition? ow.ly/2ZJF50Wteuz

A Shenzhen-based robotics company claimed to have the world’s first hot-swappable autonomous battery system for humanoid robots, allowing battery replacement in just three minutes without shutdown or human intervention.

Visitors take in a fiery sunset over Yuandang Lake in Shanghai, July 19, 2025. VCG

The boom and bust of big-money football teams left Chinese football fans disappointed. A wildly popular new grassroots competition might be the start of something more sustainable. sixthtone.com/news/1017375

Fans pack Caoyunmen Square in Huai’an, Jiangsu province, to watch a live screening of the Jiangsu Provincial City Football League match between Huai’an and Wuxi, July 20, 2025. VCG Related read: ow.ly/fx1x50Wsp5m

Authorities say over 240 children were poisoned by lead-tainted food at Peixin Kindergarten, with school leaders, hospital staff, and regulators all implicated in a widening investigation. sixthtone.com/news/1017379

A nationwide reskilling push aims to prepare industrial workers for automation, but the pace of change is testing both people and institutions. sixthtone.com/news/1017376

As of June 2025, China had 1.123 billion internet users, bringing national internet penetration to 79.7%.

Pub HandyCup was founded by Xia Yujie, a lawyer-turned-entrepreneur who lost the function of his left hand due to a medical accident while in middle school. When Xia noticed how few disabled people frequented Shanghai’s public social spheres, he decided it was time to act.

“At present, AI has already demonstrated a high degree of accuracy in automatically recognizing Tangut characters, and can even reliably identify the direct Chinese equivalents for individual characters. These abilities, while impressive, led me to think of AI as more of a…

China’s cities have long struggled with the challenge of being overwhelmed by trash. In early 2020, the country’s largest landfill site — Jiangcungou Landfill in Xi’an, capital of the northwestern Shaanxi province, which is almost the size of 100 soccer fields — had to be…