The Wilderness Issue

July/August, 2021

China heeds the call of the wild by pursuing outdoor sports and conservation through national parks. Corporate money and disillusioned fans threaten China’s “football dream.” Disappearing artist communes testify to 30 tumultuous years in contemporary art. A Muslim Chinese community thrives in Central Asia; and more.

徒步、登山、山地越野……越来越多的都市人奔向野外，挥洒汗水，拥抱自然。值得警惕的是，户外运动事故并不少见，过多的人类活动也增加了环境的负担。建设中的国家公园为珍稀的生态资源提供了保障，但平衡当地居民的利益也不容忽视。旷野在召唤，我们该如何更好地回应？

Cover Story | 封面故事 

Call of the Wild

旷野的召唤：户外运动风潮在崛起

Outdoor sports, seen as a cheap and flexible form of recreation, are rapidly gaining fans among China’s middle class. Deadly hiking and trail-running incidents, though, have pitted regulators and the public in a debate over the limits of outdoor fun. Meanwhile, China’s fledgling national park system struggles to balance ecological aims with the livelihoods of locals in protected areas, and villagers are getting fed up with mountains of trash from urban outdoor-lovers.

Features | 主题故事 

Foul Play

中国职业足球怎么了？

With billion-dollar TV streaming rights and packed stadiums at matches, China’s love of football is at fever pitch. But with corporate funding and foreign players pouring into clubs, and the lower leagues struggling with financial strain, athletes and fans ask—who is the sport really for?

Battle for Bohemia

艺术人的都市“波西米亚”之战

Chinese contemporary art was born in the experimental spirit of the 1980s and 90s, but its space is quickly shrinking—physically, in the eviction and gentrification of suburban “artist communes,” as well as politically and socially. Artists and gallerists weigh in on these changes.

Diaspora | 四海一家 

Wedded to Tradition

一场中亚东干族传统婚礼

With a population of 120,000, the Dungan of Central Asia are descendants of Hui Muslims who fled China in the 1800s. Following Islam, cooking Chinese recipes, and speaking a Mandarin dialect written in Cyrillic, they have held on to their unique heritage despite the forces of modernization.

Kaleidoscope | 镜像中国 

Live and Let Dye

一间植物染工坊的山中四季

Plant-based textile dyeing has a 5,000-year history in China, but the skill has all but disappeared in today’s industrialized society. Standing against this trend is the Rustic Indigo Dyehouse, a workshop in the bamboo forests of Sichuan that continues to painstakingly hand-print cloths with colors and patterns from nature—while promoting an idyllic, slow rural lifestyle to a growing body of fans.

Dragon’s Digest | 三味书屋 

Revenge Rocks 

短篇小说《库克岩石》 

Written in 1997 after the launch of NASA’s Mars probe, this short story by well-known sci-fi writer Yang Ping gains new relevance in light of China’s recent missions to the Red Planet. Set in a future human colony on Mars, it explores a darker side of humanity’s space ambitions.

Gallery | 水墨丹青

Savage Country 

王拓：空手走入历史 

Welcome to a sinister and confusing China presented by multimedia artist Wang Tuo, who uses the philosophy of “pan-shamanism” to engage in a dialogue with history. Video, architecture, and home furnishings together form a labyrinth of riddles for the audience to unravel. 

Chi Le Ma | 吃了吗

Keeping Cool

清补凉,许你清凉一夏

Coconut milk, ice, and everything nice: Qing bu liang, a customizable dessert from the tropical Hainan province, lives up to its name—“refreshing, nourishing, cool.” Throw in fruits, cereals, and any other delicacy in the kitchen to make a summer treat that will suit anyone’s taste.

On the Road | 在路上 

Drawing Out the Song  

麦田里的千年守望：宋陵墓群之旅

Sandwiched between the ancient capitals of Luoyang and Kaifeng, Gongyi in central Henan is decidedly off the beaten path. Hidden in its wheat fields are ruined imperial tombs of the Northern Song dynasty, which offer a window into a lost empire—and the pitfalls of reconstructing history. 

Bookmark | 好书有笺 

Burst Your Bubble 

《膜》：一桩关于身份与回忆的罗生门

Recently translated into English, The Membranes by Chi Ta-Wei, Taiwan’s premier queer sci-fi author, is an imaginative look at identity and memory in a glitzy future. The 1995 novella’s fluid definition of queerness makes for an important read in today’s political clime.

Zoetrope | 视听空间

Singing the Changes

唱不尽的“白蛇传”

After 1,400 years with hundreds of operas, plays, movies, TV dramas, novels, and comic book adaptations, the legend of White Snake returns to the screen (again) with a film version based on Cantonese opera, banking on sumptuous visual effects and a dynamic cast to draw in younger fans.

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