Jun 23, 2025

At The New York Times on Monday, columnist Li Yuan describes how, as "wages stagnate and jobs disappear, the promise of upward social mobility is eroding, especially for those from modest backgrounds. For many […], the...

Jan 20, 2025

In late 2020, CDT acquired and verified a collection of propaganda directives issued by central Party authorities to state media at the beginning of that year. These directives were issued on an almost daily basis in early 2020...

Jan 10, 2025

In late 2020, CDT acquired and verified a collection of propaganda directives issued by central Party authorities to state media at the beginning of that year. These directives were issued on an almost daily basis in early 2020...

Apr 18, 2024

On March 16, China’s National Bureau of Statistics announced that the Chinese economy was off to a good start in 2024, with reported 5.3% year-on-year GDP growth in the first quarter of the year. The better-than-expected...

Apr 17, 2024

A recent WeChat post from oft-controversial entrepreneur, publicity hound, and philanthropist Chen Guangbiao urging the Chinese government to keep its hands off people’s pocketbooks has attracted many supportive comments from...

Feb 1, 2023

Even before the lifting of China’s long-standing “zero-COVID” policy in early December of last year, there were signs of a surge in Omicron cases nationwide. Since then, China has experienced a tsunami of infections—first in...

Apr 8, 2022

After conducting nucleic acid testing on its 26 million residents this week, Shanghai remains under lockdown. The metropolis has reported over 120,000 cases of COVID-19 thus far, most of them asymptomatic. Nationwide, an...

Sep 15, 2021

Evergrande offices across China have been beset by protesting retail investors and homeowners concerned that the real estate giant is on the verge of bankruptcy. The company is facing a liquidity crisis and may default on its...

Jul 21, 2021

Anyone who has boarded an airplane in the last 20 years knows what stands between arrival at the terminal and waiting at the gate: shoes off, laptops out, water bottles emptied …. In China, similar checkpoints also await railway...

Jun 11, 2021

This spring, while nationalist fervor to “support Xinjiang cotton” swelled online, voices in China calling to “support Xinjiang people”—fellow Chinese citizens targeted by China’s...

Jan 26, 2021

In early December, President Xi Jinping declared that China had eliminated absolute poverty. His announcement was the culmination of a years-long campaign that sought to raise the annual income of every person in China’s...

Jan 21, 2021

During a January 20 press conference, China’s National Health Commission stated that all hoping to return to countryside homes for next month’s Spring Festival must first get tested for COVID. The following day, Xinhua News...

Jan 12, 2021

A Pinduoduo employee’s suicide, the second work-related death at the company in as many weeks, and an Ele.me courier’s self-immolation have set the Chinese internet ablaze with discussion on labor conditions in the tech sector....

Dec 23, 2020

The following essay was written by Huang Deng, an educated 46-year-old woman who married into a poor rural family. A PhD and currently the Deputy Director of Finance and Media at Guangdong University of Finance, Huang is also...

Dec 3, 2020

Several recent reports have exposed the extreme hardships imposed on Chinese delivery drivers by unforgiving algorithms, merciless delivery companies, and expectant consumers. At NPR this week, Emily Feng shadowed a young...

Dec 1, 2020

On Monday, November 23 in Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province, local officials quietly announced an extraordinary accomplishment: the end of extreme poverty in China. At The Wall Street Journal, James T. Areddy reported on...

Nov 19, 2020

China has declared it will eliminate absolute poverty—defined as making under 4,000 yuan ($600) annually—by the end of this year. Towards that goal, China is enacting a new policy with a familiar ring: sending workers down to...

Oct 1, 2020

CDT has recently acquired and verified a collection of propaganda directives issued by central Party authorities to state media at the beginning of this year. These directives were issued on an almost daily basis in early 2020,...