ANCIENT HISTORY

Written in the Stars: Astrological Signs in Ancient China

China’s adherence to the 12-year zodiac cycle is known around the world. What might be more surprising is that the West’s astrological signs have also existed in the country, possibly from the very beginning.

TRADITIONAL CULTURE

China’s Forgotten Tulou Buildings and Their Last Residents

Life in Guangdong’s ancient, neglected, and crumbling “Earth Buildings”

TRADITIONAL CULTURE

Flames of Fortune: A Chinese Village’s Fiery Leap into the Lunar New Year

The people of Zhengpan celebrate the Lunar New Year by charging into flames for good fortune

TRADITIONAL CULTURE

How One Village Sows the Seeds of Wealth at Lunar New Year

The people of Fengxi village celebrate the Lunar New Year with a unique folk ritual involving sugarcane, deities, and fire

TRADITIONAL CULTURE

Celebrating Chinese Little New Year

China’s Lunar New Year celebrations begin with rituals and offerings to the kitchen god

HISTORY

Mid-Autumn Festival Celebrations Through the Ages

Mid-Autumn Festival was only made an official holiday in 2008, but people have celebrated it for centuries

GALLERY

Sculpting Divinity: The Artist Creating Gods from Ancient Folklore

How a mural artist invents and builds deities inspired by the spiritual customs of Quanzhou

TRAVEL

Closer to Heaven

Clouds swirl permanently over Yunnan’s remote Nujiang region, where old Christian communities meet an abandoned government outpost and one of Asia’s wildest rivers

TRADITIONAL CULTURE

Digital Technologies are Changing Funerals and Remembrance in China

Digital tombstones, QR code epitaphs, livestreamed rituals: This Qingming Festival, Chinese are turning to digital technologies to remember their ancestors

HISTORICAL FIGURES

Who’s Afraid of the Chinese Ghostbuster?

Scare away spooks with Zhong Kui, a Chinese folk deity renowned for his frightening looks