New Game

As the world’s second-largest video game market, China is home to 674 million gamers. Our cover story examines the growing importance of gaming literacy as a new generation of gamers and parents challenges China’s traditional view of gaming as a vice. We also explore the experiences of China’s female gamers and developers, who continue to face gender discrimination in the industry. Inspired by the buzz around Black Myth: Wukong, our travel column traces the ancient temples and sculptures featured in the game to Jincheng—a city navigating the delicate balance between tourism and preservation. Elsewhere in this issue, we speak with textile workers in Guangzhou’s “garment kingdom” about how a lengthy urban renewal project has disrupted their livelihoods; investigate how Chaoshan, once a vegetarian region, became a global hub for beef hotpot…and much more.