Nearly three decades from when China officially connected to the internet, our cover story this issue investigates the development and changing nature of the country’s online landscape. We trace the rise and demise of China’s first social media platforms, investigate the impact of the internet on cellphone-addicted rural children, and find out how seniors are becoming obsessed with influencers. Elsewhere in this magazine, we discover how female sports fans fight against misogyny to create safe spaces for their passion, ask translators what ChatGPT means for their careers, find out why there’s a consumer backlash against pre-prepared meals, ask whether Chinese comic strips will ever be as interesting as they were in the 1990s, and spend time with local herders on the Inner Mongolian grassland.

For our 100th magazine issue, we once again explore an under-reported part of Chinese society—life in its small cities and towns. We find rich stories to uncover outside of Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen when we shine the spotlight on “lower-tier” cities like Hefei, Zhengzhou, Qingdao, and Zhaoqing. Elsewhere, we investigate a deadly craze for extreme weight loss methods, report on China’s public sleepers struggling to find accommodation night after night, travel to a Christian community in the Yunnan mountains, discover how an imported noodle dish became the pride of a Hunan city, and enter the debate on ethics among China’s documentary-makers.

Forty years ago, migrants from China’s countryside transformed its economy. But today, the labor market is markedly different. We look at where aging migrant workers go when they reach retirement age, and why the assembly line no longer attract youths. We also explore depressed teens’ search for understanding, take a ride on China’s disappearing rural buses, assess renowned author’s quest to shed his sexist reputation, and remember the glory days of wangba—China’s smokey, wild internet cafes.

Ahead of the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, we investigate the development of sports for people with disabilities and those in the countryside; venture with yak herders onto the Tibetan Plateau; make predictions for China’s independent documentary scene; talk to coffee connoisseurs in Yunnan; and more.

We look at the uncertain fate of hundreds of small-scale regional opera types around China; speak with HIV/AIDS patients living in the shadows; go speed-dating with Shanghai’s elites; and dance with the Tujia ethnic group...at a funeral; and more.

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.