Shen Congwen was an author of the people, writing about everyday life in rural villages and peppering his stories with regional flavor. He was denounced during the Cultural Revolution and then forgotten, but rediscovered in the 1980s — and would have become China’s first recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature if only he’d lived a few more months.
For some, Wu Zetian is a brilliant statesman slandered by Confucian misogyny; for others, she’s a blood-soaked usurper who schemed her way to power. China's only empress left behind quite the legacy — and a lot of bodies.
Wang Yibo is a 23-year-old from Henan whose raging popularity means everyone wants a piece of him, from multinational corporations to the state, all hoping he'll shill a product or promote core socialist values. His fans won't leave him alone, either.
The Hurun China Rich List annually recognizes China’s wealthiest. This year’s Top 10 includes familiar faces, mostly self-made billionaires who came of age when the country was poor. Who are they?
Xu Beihong was a modernizer, believing that artists needed to have ideas and stop relying on imitation. But was Xu as guilty of imitation — of conservative Western art, in his case — as the Chinese artists he criticized?
What are the ingredients of a bad emperor? This week, a special edition of Chinese Lives takes a look at the characteristics of three particularly bad rulers.
China's Kitchen God is that of the hearth in Daoism and Chinese folk culture, smiling benevolently down from his place above the kitchen stove. But his appearance belies his true power.
Classic femme fatale, or a figure of doomed love? A decadent diva who sowed the seeds of the Tang’s downfall, or a woman whose tragic death deserves celebration?
Lang Ping is China’s Michael Jordan, the most famous, celebrated, and accomplished Chinese athlete of her generation.