Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival, is one of the most important traditional festivals in Chinese culture. It is about family reunions and welcoming the New Year with joy. In December 2024, the successful inscription of the Spring Festival on the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list shows that it is not only a Chinese celebration but also a cultural treasure shared by all of humanity. This year, the Spring Festival falls on February 17. Ahead of the festival, the Global Times invited two renowned sinologists to write commentaries to share their own experiences in celebrating the Spring Festival, while also elaborating on their observations on why the Chinese New Year is increasingly becoming a festival celebrated across the world.

I have lived in China for more than 10 years, and I have experienced Spring Festival firsthand. It can be said that the Spring Festival is the grandest and most lively festival for the Chinese people. With a very long history, the festival carries profound significance and has become an indispensable core element of Chinese culture. Although celebration customs vary from region to region, they are all filled with joy and vitality.

The 2026 Spring Festival film season, China's most lucrative box-office window, has kicked off with a robust start. Pre-sales for the eight confirmed titles surpassed 100 million yuan ($14.4 million) by 2:55 pm on Tuesday, the second day of ticket sales, signaling strong early audience interest for the extended nine-day holiday period, according to a press release issued by Chinese ticketing platform Beacon on Tuesday.

The Chinese short track mixed relay team finished their first competition day at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics with a fourth-place finish in the final, just a place short from standing on the podium.

In the 20th installment of the "Practitioners' Insights" column, the Global Times talks with Li Dongxia, who lives in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and has helped host 12 Spring Festival galas there for Chinese and international audiences, to explore the remarkable journey of the Spring Festival being transformed from a traditional Chinese celebration into a globally shared Intangible Cultural Heritage, which embodies the core philosophies of the Chinese nation such as the harmonious coexistence of humanity and nature, the ideal of universal harmony, and the belief that family harmony brings prosperity.

Chinese authorities have revealed an action plan to promote the inheritance and development of the theatrical arts over the next three years starting from 2026.

I was born under the Chinese zodiac sign of the Horse, a sign that revisits me every 12 years in a cycle as constant as the seasons. The year 2026 is the seventh Year of the Horse that I have welcomed. Already, I hear the distinct and resonant sound of its hooves galloping closer from the far horizon.

As red lanterns light up the streets of Beijing and overseas Chinese communities gear up for festive gatherings, Xiao Fang, a renowned Chinese folklorist and professor at the School of Sociology, Beijing Normal University, sits at his desk, flipping through manuscripts recording the new changes in Spring Festival customs for the Year of the Horse.

China's short track speed skating team will start their campaign at Milan Cortina 2026 on Tuesday in the mixed team relay at the Forum di Milano in Italy. The squad embarks on a quest not just for medals, but to uphold a tradition of excellence that has transformed China from a winter sports novice into a global powerhouse.

From the dance drama The Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting and Wing Chun to The Eternal Wave, as well as directing the gala commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, Zhou Liya, a national first-class choreographer and renowned dance drama director from the China Oriental Performing Arts Group, together with her partner Han Zhen, has created a series of deeply resonant works. They have built an aesthetic bridge between traditional culture, the spirit of the country's revolutionary legacy and contemporary audiences.

Including a Tang Dynasty (618-907) official's epitaph discovered at an administrative organ established by the Central Plains government in what is today Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, new discoveries at the region's Youyi Road tomb cluster were revealed on Sunday, exemplifying the Tang Dynasty's administration of the Xinjiang region in ancient times.

In the high-stakes arena of the 2026 Winter Olympics figure skating team event, the Chinese squad fell short of advancing to the team event final, finishing ninth overall after the short programs and rhythm dance. Yet, amid the disappointment, the resilience from China's veteran athletes - pairs skaters Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, men's singles competitor Jin Boyang, and ice dancers Wang Shiyue and Liu Xinyu - won accolades on social media.

China's star snowboarder Su Yiming won a bronze medal in the men's snowboard big air final at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics on Saturday, bagging the first medal for the Chinese delegation at the Games.

Fifty-six-year-old Diao Faxing is a native of Pu'er in Southwest China's Yunnan Province. In his everyday life, tea and coffee are “as essential as breathing,” he told the Global Times. A cup of coffee in the morning keeps him energized, while in the evening, after dinner, he enjoys a pot of “Bingdao,” a type of Pu'er tea with his family or friends. “Only with that [by completing the routine] can I sleep tight.”

Internationally acclaimed sculptor Wu Weishan launched his latest sculpture exhibition on Friday in Beijing, bringing together sculptures of historical figures and offering a systematic overview of the modern freehand sculptural system he pioneered.

With the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics unfolding at Milan's iconic San Siro Stadium on Friday, the Chinese team has arrived with its largest-ever overseas delegation, one brimming with a mix of seasoned champions and youthful talent.

"Together, peace is in our hands; Together, there is no ALICE line… Go East, life is peaceful here; Go East, no more drugs or fear…" Scroll through any social media platform these days, and chances are you'll stumble upon this catchy tune from the song "Go East," a reimagined cover by Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) band Innokids that has taken the internet by storm.

An exhibition exploring the profound role of silk in shaping the cultural and political ties between the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau and the Central Plains over more than 1,000 years will open at the Xizang Museum in Lhasa, Southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region on Friday.

In an age of information overload, reading remains a necessary channel to invigorate the mind, provide inspiration and cultivate virtue. Whether it is childhood enlightenment or the pursuits of adulthood, everyone's reading journey carries unique emotions and life experiences. The Global Times has specially launched the “100 Avid Readers” series, inviting guests from various fields to share their connections with books, stories of growth and sparks of thought. In this second installment, we meet grassroots migrant worker turned reading icon Liu Shili. With his passion for books, Liu became an internet sensation in 2025. Yet going beyond the fame, Liu shows us that reading can be a virtue for all that surpasses social boundaries.

When the name of singer-songwriter Gloria Tang Sze-wing, widely known by her stage name G.E.M., appeared on the voting list for the Best Original Book Award category at the 37th Galaxy Awards, both China's sci-fi and music communities were abuzz. Her full-length science fiction novel, The Path of Revelation, extends the creative core of her 2022 concept album Revelation, constructing a 200,000-word universe that interweaves three worlds – Reality, Afterland, and Brokenland. The novel explores themes such as the awakening of AI, love, and redemption. G.E.M. admitted that she first learned of her nomination after seeing a screenshot from a fan on social media, a surprise that left her both thrilled and grateful.

Against the backdrop of Australia hosting the 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup from March 1 to 21, with China's women's national football team, the defending champions, set to compete, Football Australia plans to launch more football-related visits to China in 2026, a representative ­announced at a press conference in Shanghai on Wednesday.

Vendors display tofu cubes covered in dense white mold, placing them into stainless steel bowls. They then mix in ingredients such as Chinese baijiu liquor, salt, chili powder, and Sichuan peppercorn. The videos show vendors selling mildewed tofu (mei doufu), a traditional Chinese condiment eaten for centuries. The trend has quickly spread beyond the streets. On China's social media platforms, videos about the dish have gone viral. Meanwhile, food bloggers and home cooks have begun fermenting fresh tofu at home. Some proudly displayed finished products, while others shared images showing patches of red, green, or dark mold, raising food safety concerns among viewers.

The news that 21-year-old defensive midfielder Xu Bin joined the Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers last week took many Chinese fans by surprise. This makes Xu, who captained the China U23 side throughout the U23 Asian Cup, where the Chinese team made history by finishing as runners-up, one of the few Chinese footballers to play in Europe. While Xu's current capability may not yet secure him a spot on the Wolves' first team, the club has arranged for him to be loaned for the remainder of the 2025-26 season, ­providing him with valuable exposure to English football's competitive intensity.

After being sidelined for over a month due to an injury, star female paddler Sun Yingsha returned to competition on Wednesday at the ITTF-ATTU Asian Cup with an impressive 3-0 win over Chinese Taipei's Yeh Yi-Tian in her opening match.

As the hit historical drama Swords into Plowshares continues to dominate screens across China, it is also quietly reshaping how audiences engage with history. Set during the turbulent Five Dynasties and Ten States period (907–979), one of the most complex eras in Chinese history, the series centers on the historic moment of “peaceful submission to the Song Dynasty (960-1279),” a pivotal event that embodies Chinese civilization's enduring values of peace and unity. The drama abandons formulaic, fast-food-style storytelling in favor of carefully crafted dialogue written in a blend of classical and vernacular Chinese, and offers a richly layered portrayal of the era's historical upheavals, economic life, and cultural textures.

Featuring ancient ruins spanning from the Paleolithic Age to the Tang Dynasty (618-907), six sites were revealed by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on Wednesday as notable archaeological achievements in China for 2025.

"The spring rain heralds spring's clear and bright days, summer's fullness arrives with the heat in waves..." This folk rhyme serves as a key to unlocking the spiritual world of the Chinese people. In 2016, "The Twenty-Four Solar Terms, knowledge in China of time and practices developed through observation of the sun's annual motion" was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The ancient Chinese divided the sun's annual circular motion into 24 segments. Each segment was called a specific Solar Term, starting from the Beginning of Spring and ending with Greater Cold. From the rhythm of labor aligned with nature to the wisdom of seasonal dishes, the 24 Solar Terms have shaped a philosophy of "harmony between humans and nature" and a way of life unique to Chinese culture. The Global Times presents the series The Markings of Time, which follows cultural inheritors across China to explore local traditions and humanistic sentiments tied to each solar term. Here is the first in the series, the Beginning of Spring.

Ancient communities living in Lüliang, North China's Shanxi Province relied primarily on millet farming and experienced significant population movement and cultural mixing during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770BC-256BC), according to new scientific archaeology research.

Six major archaeological discoveries made in 2025 in Central China's Hubei Province were unveiled on Tuesday. The findings contribute an indispensable "Yangtze chapter" to China's vast and profound civilization, according to the Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.

In modern society, with a growing focus on health management, many people are going out of their way to choose less processed, nutritious meals made from raw ingredients. On food delivery platforms, a diverse range of restaurants now offer nutritious meal options. Recently, a distinctive new player has emerged: Some top-tier public hospitals have joined the online marketplace, launching nutritious meals prepared in their own cafeterias.

Wu Fei, deputy chair of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Umpires and Referee Committee (URC), told the Global Times that the end of 2025 marked one of the most important moments in her professional career. During a workshop organized by Wu in November 2025 in Beijing's Peking University, she was promoted to an ITTF Advanced Referee, the top level of ITTF referee, meaning that she is qualified to serve as head referee at three top-tier international table tennis events, the Olympic Games, the World Table Tennis Championships, and the World Cup. There are only 11 Advanced Referees worldwide and three of them are from China.

New research analyzing ancient pottery from the Xueshan archaeological site in Beijing offers fresh insights into how the region functioned as a "cultural corridor" during the late Neolithic period.

As the Spring Festival approaches, museums across China have opened exhibitions featuring everything from ancient relics to cutting-edge digital installations to celebrate the Year of the Horse.

The lineup for the 2026 Chinese New Year movie-going frenzy, one of the country's most lucrative box-office windows, is taking shape as seven major Chinese titles have officially set dates for the holiday period, Chinese ticketing platform Beacon showed on Monday.

Renowned singer and music producer Yuan Wei-jen has passed away at his home in Taitung county on the island of Taiwan at the age of 57, according to local media outlets including TVBS and CTI News on Monday.

A reader of people.com.cn recently asked: February 1 marked the official implementation of the Regulations on Promoting National Reading. Reading books and newspapers is largely a matter of personal interest, so why does the country need to enact a dedicated law on the issue?

Villagers enjoy Spring Festival gala in Shenshan Village, China's Jiangxi

Despite suffering a 3-1 defeat on Sunday during the Australian Open men's singles final, Serbian tennis veteran Novak Djokovic was hailed for his tenacity and persistence in the sport.

For Lin, a 62-year-old retired Chinese language teacher who worked at a middle school in Beijing, a visit to the National Library of China (NLC) on Sunday carried meaning far beyond his usual routine. For years, Lin has been a regular reader at the library, but this particular visit coincided with the official implementation of China's newly released Regulations on the Promotion of Nationwide Reading, giving the day a symbolic weight.

The "Global Dialogue - Toward the Future" youth cultural exchange event was held in Paris, France, on Friday. Guests and youth representatives in the fields of culture, education, film and television from China and France gathered together to conduct in-depth discussions on cross-cultural communication and people-to-people exchanges.

In the women's doubles final at the 2026 Australian Open, 37-year-old Zhang Shuai of China and her partner Elise Mertens of Belgium shared an emotional embrace at the Rod Laver Arena, marking a powerful milestone for Chinese tennis. Wrapped in Chinese national flag, the veteran - who playfully calls herself a "tennis junior" - proved once again that age is no barrier to dreams. Passion, perseverance, and an unyielding pursuit for victory remain the ultimate weapons against time.

As the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games are drawing near, the spotlight turns once again to China's evolving role in winter sports. The echoes of Beijing 2022 still resonate with China's historic haul of nine gold medals, four silvers and two bronzes. This best-ever Winter Olympic performance propelled the nation to the third place in the medal table.

China's U23 national football team captain Xu Bin has joined English Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers in a permanent move, the club announced on Friday.

Around 1 pm, the surface of Beijing's Shichahai Lake carries a bite of cold. The wooden boardwalk along the shore feels damp and chilly, as several middle-aged and elderly swimmers adjust their caps and loosen up their shoulders and necks. Some set their thermos flasks in familiar spots, others fasten safety ropes around their waists.

Editor's Note: In an age of information overload, reading remains a necessary channel to invigorate the mind, provide inspiration and cultivate virtue. Whether it is childhood enlightenment or the pursuits of adulthood, everyone's reading journey carries unique emotions and life experiences. The Global Times has specially launched the "100 Avid Readers" series, inviting guests from various fields to share their connections with books, stories of growth and sparks of thought. In this first installment, we meet renowned Hong Kong singer G.E.M. (Gloria Tang Sze-wing), who shares how reading and creativity intertwine, and how curiosity has fueled her personal growth - opening a conversation between books and life.

Editor's Note: Reading is an important avenue for humans to acquire knowledge, expand wisdom and cultivate virtue. It enlightens us and helps us aim high and stand upright. As China's first national regulations to promote public reading are set to take effect on February 1, the country is entering a new phase for its national reading initiative. The regulations explicitly call for improving reading services for different groups and advancing reading equity through institutional guarantees. The Global Times has launched a special series to show how reading is changing people's lives. This installment looks inside China's newsstands, which have witnessed the bond between people and communities through reading.

With China's newly released Regulation on the Promotion of Nationwide Reading ready to take effect on February 1, the National Library of China (NLC) and Beijing MTR unveiled a new cultural exhibition inside the city's subway system on Thursday, turning daily commutes into opportunities for public reading and cultural immersion.

As the Chinese New Year is drawing near, markets across China are coming alive with festive buzz. Early mornings see shuttle buses from cities to suburban markets filled with young faces clutching cameras and gimbals, while tens of thousands tune in to livestream online, starting their days to the steam of breakfast stalls and the din of vendors' calls.

A post on Xiaohongshu (also known as RedNote app), China's lifestyle platform, showing an animal protection group rescuing two cats living on the Great Wall, drew public attention. The images reignited discussions around a long-observed presence on the Wall: Cats that have made the ancient structure their home. For years, visitors have shared videos of cats weaving through stone battlements or basking on watchtowers, especially along the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall near Beijing. On both Chinese and overseas platforms, the so-called "Great Wall cats" have become unexpected internet celebrities - symbols of warmth amid weathered stone, and of life persisting in a place shaped by history.

At Shanghai's Fuxing Park Chinese New Year flower market, flower enthusiast Wang Jinxiu paused in front of a bed of tulips. While outside, the winter air was cold, inside the greenhouse it was comfortably warm, and the pleasant scent of soil and flowers filled the air. Standing behind a group of young visitors, scissors in hand, Wang carefully selected a few stems. Here, tulips can be cut on the spot, wrapped, and taken home immediately. After making her choice, she wandered along the park's paths and came upon another floral display designed for visitors to step into and take photos. Some lifted their phones, adjusting angles, others crouched down to capture close-up details of the blooms.

Chinese Super League (CSL) clubs Shanghai Shenhua and Tianjin Jinmen Tiger have each been docked 10 points for the new season and fined 1 million yuan ($143,789), while 13 Chinese clubs were penalized in total, with none being relegated, according to a press conference jointly held by China's Ministry of Public Security, the General Administration of Sport and CFA in Beijing on Thursday, CCTV News reported.

Reading is an important avenue for humans to acquire knowledge, expand wisdom and cultivate virtue. It enlightens us and helps us aim high and stand upright. As China's first national regulations to promote public reading are set to take effect on February 1, the country is entering a new phase for its national reading initiative. The regulations explicitly call for improving reading services for different groups and advancing reading equity through institutional guarantees. The Global Times has launched a special series to show how reading is changing people's lives. This installment looks inside China's libraries, which build vibrant bridges between readers and books.

As several historical sites along Beijing's Central Axis have been brought back to life and set to open to the public soon, the capital will advance the opening of the Zhengyangmen Gate Tower in 2026, demonstrating its latest efforts in promoting the creative reuse of cultural relics and historical architecture, and allowing heritage to live and breathe within the rhythm of the modern city.

A museum built directly atop the ruins of an ancient city at the heart of what once was the Wuyue Kingdom opened to the public on Wednesday, offering visitors a rare, close-up look at urban life in the ancient kingdom more than a millennium ago.

Beijing's archaeological site Liulihe moved closer to attaining World Heritage status after several representatives at the "two sessions" of Beijing detailed pre-application plans related to the site. The fourth session of the 16th Beijing Municipal People's Congress and the fourth session of the 14th Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference will conclude on Thursday.

The 16 Chinese Super League (CSL) clubs have unveiled their new home jerseys on Wednesday, quickly sparking widespread backlash from fans, who dubbed the designs an "aesthetic catastrophe" riddled with poor execution and homogenization.

Chinese films generated $142 million in overseas box-office revenue in 2025, according to box office tracker Dengta. This figure more than doubled from the previous year, reaching the highest point since 2016.

Just as spicy hotpot is to Sichuan and hulatang (spicy soup) is to Henan, zao cha (morning tea) is the culinary soul of Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province.

The iconic Yuyuan Lantern Festival has opened in Shanghai, celebrating the upcoming Year of the Horse by blending centuries-old intangible cultural heritage (ICH) with cutting-edge digital technology and expanding beyond its traditional boundaries, according to organizers.

Editor's Note: Reading is an important avenue for humans to acquire knowledge, expand wisdom and cultivate virtues. It enlightens us and helps us aim high and stand upright. As China's first national regulations to promote public reading are set to take effect on February 1, the country is entering a new phase for its national reading initiative. The regulations explicitly call for improving reading services for different groups and advancing reading equity through institutional guarantees. The Global Times is launching a special series to show how reading is changing people's lives. This installment looks inside the publishing house, where editors build bridges between authors and readers.

China will send a 286-member delegation to the upcoming Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, with a mobilization meeting held in Beijing on Tuesday marking the launch of the country's largest winter Olympic team ever to compete overseas.

Inside a greenhouse at the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences (YAAS), a newly bred Chinese rose once known only as No.4815-27 blooms quietly among thousands of new varieties. The pink flower has recently been renamed "Jiaolong" in honor of a late official. Since the academy first invited the public to name newly bred Chinese rose varieties, the initiative has sparked enthusiastic responses.

Reading is an important avenue for humans to acquire knowledge, expand wisdom and cultivate virtues. It enlightens us and helps us aim high and stand upright. As China's first national regulations to promote public reading are set to take effect on February 1, the country is entering a new phase for its national reading initiative. The regulations explicitly call for improving reading services for different groups and advancing reading equity through institutional guarantees. The Global Times is launching a special series to show how reading is changing people's lives. This first installment will focus on how the regulations are breaking down barriers to reading for everyone.

The Great Journey, an art exhibition commemorating the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March and themed on the Long March ­National Cultural Park, opened at the Beijing Working People's Cultural Palace on Monday.

The Chinese national under-23 football team received enthusiastic applause on arrival at the Beijing Daxing International Airport on Monday afternoon, after the team finished their U23 Asian Cup campaign with a sensational second place finish, a historic record in the team's history.

On the edge of a grassy patch in an old Shanghai residential compound around 10 pm, a raccoon dog pokes its head out from a hole at the base of a wall, skirts past a row of trash bins, and then slips, clearly well-practiced, into the depths of a greenbelt. "It comes out at about this time nearly every day," Li Qi, a Shanghai resident, told the Global Times.

China's figure skating team wrapped up the 2026 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships on Sunday at the Beijing National Indoor Stadium, delivering performances that doubled as both competitive efforts and key rehearsals for the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in February.

When the awards ceremony concluded after the U23 Asian Cup final and the Chinese team stepped forward to receive their silver medals, the young players, eyes filled with tears, were surely thinking back to the beginning of the tournament.

At the recent forum "Going East: Points of Entry for Overseas Artists in China" held in Beijing, industry leaders expressed strong optimism about China's performance market. They emphasized that the trend of integrating concerts with tourism, which gained momentum in 2025, is set to continue into 2026. While traditional hubs like Shanghai and Beijing remain key destinations, cities such as Hangzhou and Chengdu are attracting increasingly diverse concerts with their unique urban characteristics and proactive strategies.

Including a newly discovered "sacred lake," several archaeological developments have recently been made by a China-Egypt joint team around the Montu Temple site in the Karnak Temple Complex in Luxor, Egypt.

More than 1,000 pieces of Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) celadon pottery unearthed at the Zhanggongxiang kiln site in Ruzhou, Central China's Henan Province, confirm the site's imperial status.

The Chinese men's national under-23 football team suffered a 4-0 defeat to Japan in the U23 Asian Cup final. But the runners-up finish marked China's best-ever result in the tournament.

The Chinese national under-23 football team will take on Japan in the U23 Asian Cup final at 11:00 pm Beijing time on Saturday, chasing Chinese men's football's first continental title in 22 years.

Snow whips across the tourists' faces as a horse-drawn sleigh tears through a snow-covered forest, adrenaline surging with every jolt. This is not a scene of historical hardship, but a deliberately chosen, and paid-for modern adventure. On Chinese social media it has a name: "being exiled to Ningguta." As bitter cold sweeps down from northern China, most people retreat indoors. Yet a growing number of visitors, particularly southerners wanting to experience real winter, are doing the opposite. They travel north, chasing the cold and heading straight into ice and snow. Their unofficial slogan captures the spirit: "My fate is mine to command."

In the afternoon, a narrow alley near Shichahai, a scenic spot in Beijing has already drawn a crowd of people. At the center sits 65-year-old Hu Maoying, head lowered, steadying a block of wood with his left hand while guiding a carving knife with his right. Fine wood shavings fall softly with each stroke. Freshly finished, larger carvings are snapped up almost as soon as they are placed on display. "I've been lining up for days," someone blurts out. The crowd includes visitors who have traveled from other provinces, as well as young people in Beijing who have shown up at the same time for several afternoons in a row, hoping to "get lucky."

International football stars took to social media to voice support for the Chinese U23 national football team by interacting with the players who made history by reaching the U23 Asian Cup final for the first time.

Head coach of the Chinese national U23 football team Antonio Vicente told reporters at a pre-match press conference on Friday that the team will try to “make extraordinary things happen” in the U23 Asian Cup final against Japan on Saturday.

Olympic champion Gu Ailing and short track speed skater Lin Xiaojun are among the 124 Chinese athletes set to compete at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Italy, according to a notice released Friday by China'sthe Winter Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sport.

Inspired by the Chinese classic Tao Te Ching, a 34-year-old mother in Chengdu named Cheng Mengyue chose a name for her 3-and-a-half-year-old daughter that carries a philosophical touch: "Liao Chirou."

As blockbuster movies and animated hits continue to dominate screens in China, they are also reshaping travel patterns and driving tourism growth, with local authorities across the country actively preparing cultural and tourism services to meet the surge in demand during the Spring Festival holidays.

Instead of paying a compulsory financial penalty for rescue costs, rescued hikers involved in a recent case in rural Beijing offered to donate 280 life jackets - worth a total of 30,000 yuan ($4,300) - to nearby villages for flood control efforts and river patrols. The move marks a new model of refined social governance that deserves nationwide adoption.

Chinese female tennis player Wang Xinyu became the only surviving player from the Chinese Tennis Association at the Australian Open after she qualified for the third round by defeating 24th seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday.

Lying on her back between jagged slabs of ice, Wang Yanze felt an unexpected warmth envelop her body. Beneath her, icy water pressed against the surface of her suit. Above her, the winter sky stretched, endlessly blue. From the air, the scene was eye-catching: several red figures scattered across a frozen lake, floating silently like tiny crimson crayfish trapped in ice. This is ice floating, a once niche winter activity that has quietly surged into China's social media spotlight, becoming one of the country's hottest cold-weather experiences this winter.

With the Spring Festival approaching, discussions about what to wear have once again come to the fore. Recently, hashtags such as "light Chinese-style outfits go viral" and "Guangdong markets predict this year's spring-summer fashion trends" have trended on China's social media platform Weibo, attracting tens of millions of views. "Around this time of the year, many young people start looking for something that feels festive without being overly formal," Zhang Luyin, a fashion blogger and model, told the Global Times. "They might want a hint of Chinese style, but worry that the clothes will only be wearable for a few days before being pushed to the back of the wardrobe."

The U23 Men's Asian Cup final is set to kick off on January 24 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. With China's team reaching the final, enthusiasm among Chinese fans at home and abroad continues to surge, with multiple social media platforms showing that many have already planned — or are in the process of traveling — to Saudi Arabia to cheer their team on site.

The Qiandongjiazi No.1 ancient mountain fortress on the Sanjiang Plain in the suburbs of Jiamusi, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, has been recently confirmed through systematic archaeological surveys to contain a total of 252 relics, including 246 semi-subterranean dwellings arranged in rows, city walls, moats, gates, and roads, with a core area covering 34,000 square meters.

Including calls to reject "vulgar performances" and the "worship of materialism" in micro-short dramas, the China Netcasting Services Association (CNSA) has released an industry initiative aimed at promoting professional ethics among micro-short drama actors.

As the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships is scheduled to kick off in Beijing on Thursday, Chinese figure skaters are treating the annual tournament as a final competitive test before the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics in February.

The news of the Chinese national under-23 football team qualifying for the U23 Asian Cup final dominated discussions on Chinese social media Wednesday, after their decisive 3-0 victory over Vietnam in the semifinals.

From Huawei's Kirin and Kunpeng to HarmonyOS (Hongmeng), ancient myths now power global tech, revealing a shift from “catch-up” to cultural confidence and “leading the way.” These ancient-inspired names serve as bridges between historical legacy and futuristic ambition.

Over the past decades, China has built a coherent and culturally rich naming system for its space endeavors. These names stem from a rigorous, systematic and deeply meaningful naming mechanism, most of which follow a process similar to that used for the Mars rover, while others are designated directly by the project's leadership through discussion.

Including an oracle bone bearing an inscription related to King Wen of Zhou, several new discoveries made at the Zhouyuan site in Baoji, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, have recently been revealed. New finds made at the site include the ruins of a palace gate, and other ancient architectural remains.

The year 2026 marks the 10th anniversary of the successful inscription of the 24 Solar Terms, knowledge in China of time and practices developed through observation of the sun's annual motion, as a UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

As the Year of the Horse approaches, a new hiking trend is galloping across China: using one's feet as a brush, the landscape as a canvas and a GPS device to "draw" a horse on a digital map. From group treks on Longquan Mountain in Southwest China's Sichuan Province to viral "galloping horse" routes in Beijing's Western Hills, this creative blend of traditional zodiac culture and outdoor adventure has quickly taken off on social media. Participants, often covering 10 to 20 kilometers on foot, infuse their journeys with New Year wishes, turning a symbol of tradition into a lively, interactive ritual.

For decades, debates about Chinese football have revolved around a familiar axis: the fortunes of the national team, the rise and fall of professional clubs, and the recurring cycle of reform and disappointment. Yet the most meaningful shift in domestic football in 2025 is unfolding far from the spotlights of top-tier stadiums.

Two famed Italian productions, Don Quixote and The Blake Works, are set to be staged at the China National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in mid-January, the Italian Institute of Culture announced at an event on Monday. The Italian Institute of Culture on Monday hosted "From Milan to Beijing," an introduction to the upcoming performances of Don Quixote and The Blake Works by Milan's famed La Scala Ballet, which is the world-renowned Ballet Company of Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy. Massimo Ambrosetti, Italian Ambassador to China, told the Global Times that as one of Italy's top arts institutions, the Ballet Company of Teatro alla Scala symbolizes the country's artistic identity.

The Chinese national under-23 football team will take on Vietnam on Tuesday in the semifinals of the U23 Asian Cup, a matchup that has been framed as a clash of contrasting tactical philosophies. The Chinese team has advanced further than any of its predecessors at this level. A success story built on defensive discipline and competitive pragmatism.

Around 2,400 years ago, people in China had already written systematic "guides for evaluating horses," "manuals for horse driving," and even "handbooks for diagnosing and treating horse diseases," according to the latest research released on Monday by scholars from China's Tsinghua University who studied bamboo slips from the Warring State Period (475 BC-221 BC).

"Four seasons in a day. Walk 10 miles and see 10 different types of weather." Hikers often use this saying to describe the wildly unpredictable weather along the Aotai Trail deep in the Qinling Mountains in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province. But the warnings are rarely about the changing scenery - what really captures people's attention is the trail's extreme risks.

A new multi-agency policy has been jointly issued by seven national-level departments, including the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, to promote the inheritance of the Chinese language and traditional culture and enhance public literacy in these fields.