Lessons for Life Issue

May/June, 2022

In this issue, we investigate efforts to fill three vital gaps in China’s public education: on sex, death, and aesthetics. We also enter the world of UFO hunters; find out why young Chinese are giving up sugar; ask when domestic TV will get good female characters; take to graffiti artists working with government; and more.

中国学生长于应试，但他们并不仅仅只需要学科教育。与生活息息相关的审美教育、性教育和生死教育在中国越来越受关注。教育改革要如何推进，打破禁锢？如何构建全民审美，认识亲密关系，看待生死问题？

Cover Story | 封面故事 

Lessons for Life

生命的教育

Chinese education is known for being academically rigorous, but what about learning outside the classroom? As the country pursues education reform, some voices in society also call for improving both children and adults’ knowledge about the important facts of life: sex and relationships, coming to terms with death, and developing good aesthetic tastes. In this issue’s cover story, we look at these initiatives and give China a report card from the “school of life.”

Features | 主题故事 

Close Encounters

寻找外星人

Ufology was a little-known side effect of China’s reform era, a time when foreign cultural imports started a craze for all things extraterrestrial. Today, most UFO publications have shuttered and alien-investigators are niche hobbyists, but a booming sci-fi market and space exploration means people haven’t given up their dreams of finding the third kind.

Bitter Sweets

甜蜜的负担：无糖就健康了吗？

Sugar was once a rare treat in China, but syrupy milk tea is now sold in every major city, while diabetes and obesity are on the rise. As health-conscious consumers’ tastes sour, there’s a growing market for sugar-alternatives and sugar-free products, but can this really get China un-hooked from the sweet stuff?

Pop Culture | 星闻

Industrial Youths

万能青年旅店：不万能，却封神

With just two albums released in 20 years and an inactive Weibo account, Omnipotent Youth Society sounds like the antithesis of a millennial band. Yet the group of rockers from the industrial city of Shijiazhuang has achieved unlikely success among youths for their unique sound and prescient lyrics about the disconnect of modern life.

Kaleidoscope | 镜像中国 

Most China

“最中国”摄影大赛召集令

Inspired by the work of TWOC’s longtime collaborator Huang Ruide, TWOC is announcing a photo contest based upon the theme of Huang’s photo collection, “Most China,” which we’ve republished in part in this issue. From centuries-old folk culture to modern ingenuity, Huang’s photography captures the contrasts and extremes in China’s grassroots. What do you feel most represents China?

Dragon’s Digest | 三味书屋 

Night Moves 

现代短篇武侠小说两篇 

In China’s wuxia novels, jianghu—the underworld of heroes and outlaws—is where the action takes place. In a humorous update on the archetypical martial arts novel, writer Hu Yuesheng transplants the jianghu’s quirky cast and its rigid codes of honor into two modern settings.

Gallery | 水墨丹青

Written on the Walls 

街头涂鸦，是不是亚文化？ 

Started in the early 2000s on soon-to-be demolished buildings, graffiti has grown into a lucrative cultural industry in China. As artists gain commissions from governments and brands, and attract millions of followers online, has graffiti lost its counter-cultural roots? 

Group Think | 群观

Everything Flies

风筝，不只是娱乐休闲

Invented in the fourth century BCE, kites are a cultural emblem and a beloved form of recreation around China. But kite-flying today is growing more high-stakes, attracting competitive fliers from around the world to best one another on flying skill, kite size, and ambitious kite designs.

On the Road | 在路上 

The Rough Side of Paradise  

海南摩托车环岛游

With balmy beaches and visa-free policies, Hainan is China’s best answer to a tropical paradise. But this island province also has a gritty history, hardscrabble fisheries, and shells of unfinished real estate. In this cross-island journey, our writer takes a beat-up motorcycle off the tourist trail to see another side of China’s southernmost province.

Bookmark | 好书有笺 

The Rouge Street Blues 

走向国际的“东北文艺复兴”

Chinese literature in translation tends to feature the same cast of middle-aged, established authors. But Rouge Street, a new anthology of Shuang Xuetao’s novellas, bucks trends by presenting a 1980s-born author and his distinctive “Rust Belt” literature to an English-speaking audience..

Zoetrope | 视听空间

Nü Perspectives

国产剧女性角色之困

For many years now, Chinese film and TV has been littered with flat female characters. They are foils for the male leads, objects for the audience to ogle, or “good” women motivated by pretty dresses and being a good mother, wife, or daughter. What is being done to add depth to women on screen?

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