China's total box-office revenue for 2026 has surpassed 14 billion yuan ($2.06 billion), according to data released by ticketing platform Maoyan.

China's qualification for this year's FIFA U17 World Cup after a 21-year absence serves as a timely morale boost in the youth development of Chinese football and reaffirms that sustainable youth training demands patience and long-term commitment.

Known as "Munao Zongge," the song, paired with scenes of the Jingpo people, one of the ethnic groups in Southwest China's Yunnan Province, dancing in elaborate costumes adorned with peacock feathers, has won widespread praise from netizens.

Upon analyzing the residue found in an ancient pottery jar unearthed in Turpan, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Chinese archaeologists discovered that it was actually Pu'er tea - a type of tea unique to faraway Yunnan Province in Southwest China.

At the 79th Cannes Film Festival, on Tuesday evening local time in France, actress Gong Li delivered the opening address and announced the opening of the film festival in Chinese. This marks the first time in Cannes history that a Chinese-born performer has delivered the opening address, drawing widespread attention on Chinese social media platforms. At this year's festival, two Chinese AI-generated short dramas were also selected for the official screening section for the first time, becoming another focus for netizens.

Well-known Chinese mainland artists like Zhang Linghe and Liu Yuning, who enjoy immense popularity in the island of Taiwan, will be invited this year for performances, seminars and other activities in Taiwan to promote cross-Straits cultural exchanges, head of an artist agency association based in Taiwan said on Monday in Beijing, Chinanews.com reported.

China will mark 2026 International Museum Day with its flagship national event in Hohhot, the capital city of North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, returning the main venue to the grassland city for the first time in a decade, authorities from the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) said at a press conference on Monday.

The successful title defense by the Chinese men's team at the 2026 World Table Tennis Championships Finals in London on Sunday was a triumph of teamwork and the squad's fighting spirit in the face of adversity. However, the victory sounded the alarm bell for China to strengthen its talent pipeline and accelerate tactical and technical innovation, a sports analyst told the Global Times on Monday.

Some stories do not touch audiences with events, but with what remains after those events: a letter that never arrived in full, a name that carries weight, a promise left open. Dear You begins in these remnants, and slowly expands them into something larger than memory.

Sanxingdui Ruins Pit NO.7 yields rare ancient meteoritic iron artifact. Scientific archaeology reveals it as Southwest China's earliest Bronze Age extraterrestrial metal find.

Under the gentle ripples of a lagoon in early summer, the historic brick walls of the Arsenale di Venezia bore witness to a profound dialogue between Eastern poetics and contemporary technology. The China Pavilion at the 61st Venice International Art Biennale opened on Friday, presenting "Dream Stream" as its central theme.

Applying non-destructive technological means to research the Great Wall, an archaeological project was recently launched at a Northern Qi (550-577) Great Wall site in Beijing, marking the city's first research-led archaeological project focused on the early sections of the Great Wall.

As a prequel to an iconic Hong Kong film franchise, Cold War 1994 has attracted widespread attention since its release during the May Day holidays, not merely for its star-studded cast including Daniel Wu, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Chow Yun Fat, Aaron Kwok and Louis Koo, but more for its in-depth portrayal of a critical transitional period in Hong Kong's history.

China extended its reign over the women's team event at the World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals by defeating Japan in the final in London, the UK on Sunday, successfully defending the prestigious Corbillon Cup title.

The Pakistan finals of the "Water Cube Cup" Chinese song competition were held here on Friday to celebrate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Pakistan.

Editor's Note: Although China and the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region are geographically distant, the bond of our friendship stretches back through centuries. As the official or dominant language in most of the LAC region, Spanish serves as the primary language for more than 450 million people in the world. Recently, a slew of translated works - spanning both Chinese and Spanish literature - has emerged. Experts, diplomats, and government officials talked with Global Times reporter Dong Feng to share their observations focusing on this new wave of literary exchange. Alberto Blanco Silva, Cuban Ambassador to China, at a recent new book launch event, said that one cannot speak of the deep-seated friendship between Cuba and China without mentioning the contributions made by its architects, such as the Cuban revolutionary leader and former president Fidel Castro and Cuba's national poet Nicolás Guillén. The Embassy of the Republic of Cuba in China hosted Chinese-language edition of the book All the Flowers of April (Todas las flores de Abril), a compilation of poems by Guillén, "whose rich life and precious works transcend the era and region in which he lived," and remained relevant today.

Editor's Note: Although China and the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region are geographically distant, the bond of our friendship stretches back through centuries. As the official or dominant language in most of the LAC region, Spanish serves as the primary language for more than 450 million people in the world. Recently, a slew of translated works – spanning both Chinese and Spanish literature – has emerged. Experts, diplomats, and government officials talked with Global Times reporter Dong Feng to share their observations focusing on this new wave of literary exchange. In a recent exclusive interview, Inma González Puy, director of the Cervantes Institute in Beijing, told the Global Times that Spanish literature has seen a significant surge in popularity in China, with the scale of translations and publications doubling in volume. Meanwhile, cooperation in the translation of Chinese and Spanish literature is progressing steadily.

The Russian Cultural Center (RCC) in Beijing hosted Thursday a commemoration for the 81st anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. As part of the core activity, Maria Kozhevnikova, deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the 6th convocation, transferred the Flame of Remembrance to the Russian Cultural Center in Beijing for the first time, marking the Russian people's recognition of China's contribution to the victory of World War II. Kozhevnikova told the Global Times that as the ambassador of the “Flame of Memory” initiative, she finds it crucial to let the young generation remember the justice in history of World War II.

The audience held its breath, eyes fixed on the stage in eager anticipation as centuries-old tales of scholars and beauties - stories that have moved generations of Chinese - were about to unfold once more. In the ancient town of Xitang in Jiaxing, East China's Zhejiang Province, the Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yueju Opera Troupe is presenting its acclaimed excerpt program Garden of Love. Huge crowds of people, many of them young people, have been drawn to the performances.

"Wish we could wear these beautiful costumes in daily life, they're absolutely stunning. As a foreigner, I'm totally obsessed with traditional ancient Chinese outfits - Hanfu, qipao, and all ethnic minority costumes. They're all incredibly gorgeous!" The comment came from a post on Chinese lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu, or RedNote, by an Italian girl named Lucrezia, which she edited on Thursday alongside 11 photos of herself dressed in traditional Miao ethnic clothing in the Xijiang Qianhu Miao village in Leishan county, Southwest China's Guizhou Province, the Global Times reporter noted.

In the Donggang sea area of Dalian, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, the afternoon sea breeze now carries a hint of early summer humidity. The seaside musical fountain has not yet started, but people have already gathered along the shore. Some lean on the railings waiting for nightfall, some raise their phones toward the sea to test out shots of the coming lights, while others stroll slowly along the coastline.

When Chinese printmaking artist Sha Yonghui picks up her carving knife, the characters and scenes from the books she has read rise vividly in her mind. Words gradually transform into visual images, giving greater confidence to every movement of the knife, the artist told the Global Times.

A DNA study and facial reconstruction project has shed fresh light on the genetic origins of Li Keyong, a powerful late Tang Dynasty (618-907) military leader and Shatuo Turkic leader, according to researchers from Fudan University in Shanghai.

Imagine opening your music app only to find classic poets like Li Bai and Bai Juyi from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and Su Shi from the Song Dynasty (960-1279) listed right alongside today's playlist-topping singers. Lately, this phenomenon has captured the internet's attention: Ancient Chinese poets are now appearing on major music platforms as officially certified "lyricists." For example, Su has acquired thousands of followers as a "lyricist" on music platform QQ Music with his 147 lyrical works.

Long praised for its gourmet and unique local culture, Changsha in Central China's Hunan Province has always been a favorite among holiday travelers. During the recent May Day holidays, the city once again shot to fame online. Yet this time, its fame came not from any conventional attraction, but from a "luggage wall" that reflects its urban civility.

As the rhythmic beat of the 24 Solar Term drums resounded on Tuesday morning, the Beginning of Summer according to the traditional Chinese calendar, more than 300 local residents in 17 formations, dressed in red traditional Chinese attire with paper flowers adorning their hair, took part in a grand parade to bid farewell to spring and welcome summer in Banshan, Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province.

A team of international researchers has discovered the slowest theropod dinosaur tracks ever recorded in the Tuchengzi Formation in Xuanhua, North China's Hebei Province, according to a press release sent to the Global Times on Wednesday.

Fog lingers along the riverbanks, softening the city's layered skyline where residential blocks rise unevenly across the hills. Inside one aging apartment building, a series of intertwined crimes gradually unfolds, not as a spectacle set in an unfamiliar world, but as part of the ordinary urban environment in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality

A recent study, jointly conducted by the Institute of Earth Environment at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and several Chinese and international research institutions, has found that soil temperature changes during the Neolithic period deeply shaped the development of millet-based agriculture on the Loess Plateau. According to a China News Service report on Tuesday, experts say these findings offer new scientific evidence to help understand the environmental factors that influenced the origins and evolution of Chinese civilization.

Be it exploring an ancient Egyptian temple or a Romanian Copper Age settlement, Wang Peng, who grew up in a small county in Northeast China's Liaoning Province, has traveled far and wide because of his job. That same job has taught him a way of seeing the world through archaeology.

Chu Qiguizi is a post-90s musician from Tianjin. She started learning sanxian, a three-stringed traditional Chinese instrument, at the age of 13, and continued to focus on it during college years under the instruction of her teacher Liu Hui.

A man takes a photo at the Dunhuang grottoes art exhibition on Wednesday, which is scheduled from May 1 to October 31 at the Guangzhou Museum of Art in South China's Guangdong Province. The exhibition will feature seven 1:1 high-precision replica caves and more than 150 newly created works. Through immersive digital interactive experiences and the revitalization of traditional craftsmanship, it brings Dunhuang art into the southern city of Guangzhou. Dunhuang is known for the Mogao Grottoes, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

China's men's and women's teams aim to defend their titles at the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London, Britain, and the men's team faces stern challenges from their contenders, an analyst told the Global Times on Wednesday.

The top 10 archaeological discoveries of 2025, overseen and chosen by the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA), were officially selected from a pool of 21 Chinese archaeological sites on Wednesday. At the announcement ceremony, Chinese experts said that Chinese archaeology is in a "golden age."

Zhang Jun, president of the Chinese Badminton Association and deputy head of the Nanjing Sport Institute, has been suspected of serious violations of discipline and law.

The Global Times "Spring Reading" event was recently held at the Guangcheng Academy in Beijing as part of China's first National Reading Week. With literature as the medium and making friends through reading, the event has built a bridge for exchanging insights on reading among guests from diverse fields.

In a public green space at the Huangshi Mountain Sculpture Park in Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, a striking artwork glows quietly. Young artist Li Zhongwei has disassembled hundreds of discarded plastic lighters, once ubiquitous symbols of Wenzhou's gritty manufacturing boom in the 1990s, and transformed their tiny flames into a new, radiant "fire" made of optical fibers. Titled Fire Seed (Huozhong in Chinese), the piece shines not only with light but with layered meaning: It rekindles the collective memory of Wenzhou as China's former "one-yuan lighter capital," while pointing toward a broader experiment in contemporary Chinese public art.

A video showing a phalanx of fans dressed in flowing Hanfu robes cheering on a football team at Guangzhou's Yuexiushan Stadium in South China's Guangdong Province during a weekend grassroots football league match has drawn widespread attention on Chinese social media.

Whenever readers open one of Pei Aimin's published collections of prose poetry or illustrated books, they can almost smell the scent of earth from the fields and hear the gentle sounds of growing plants swaying in the wind.

A viral song, a familiar melody, and a reversed narrative — for Ma Chao, the creator behind the AI-driven music project Innokids, music creation often starts from something recognizable, before turning into something unexpected.

An exhibition featuring 36 Renaissance masterpieces from Italy's Uffizi Galleries, including works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael, opened to the public at the National Art Museum of China on Tuesday, offering a rare glimpse into one of the most transformative periods in Western art history, according to a press release issued by the National Art Museum of China.

The Chinese delegation continued its commanding run at the sixth Asian Beach Games in Sanya, South China's Hainan Province, on Tuesday, maintaining a firm grip on both the gold medal table and overall medal standings as the competition enters its later stages.

On April 30, the 6th Asian Beach Games in Sanya, South China's Hainan Province, will come to a close. Over the past nine competition days, athletes from 45 countries and regions have gone through fierce competitions. Finally, once the Games is over, it can unwind. But for Zhang Dongxin and Huang Peiling, their moment of tension is just starting to build. As the chief directors of the closing ceremony, they are the ones tasked with putting the final touch on the Games.

As digital technology reshapes how people access information, the value and future of traditional reading face growing scrutiny, said Professor Zhou Xuanlong of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Tsinghua University while attending the Global Times "Spring Reading" event at the Guangcheng Academy in Beijing on April 20. He offered a thoughtful defense of reading's enduring importance.

In the deep folds of the Daliangshan mountains in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, where emerald peaks rise against a spring sky, a rare moment of global literary recognition unfolded on April 20. At the "International Poets' Home" in Bute county's Daji Shalu village, 61-year-old Chinese poet Jidi Majia, a leading voice of contemporary Chinese poetry and a proud son of the Yi ethnic group, accepted the Nicolás Guillén International Award from Cuba.

The spring breeze flips the pages, and reading changes lives. The Global Times "Spring Reading" event was recently held at the Guangcheng Academy in Beijing. With literature as the medium and making friends through reading the theme, the event built a bridge for exchanging insights on reading and promoting the National Reading Initiative.

By day, Zhang Sai weaves through the congested streets of Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province, on his delivery scooter. By night, he slips into a different world - one of books and words - a gentle cadence that has ordered his life for more than 20 years.

In a heartfelt address at the Global Times "Reading Spring" sharing event, Chinese actress Yao Chen, speaking in her role as a reading promotion ambassador, reflected on the profound role literature has played in her life.

With pre-sales and advanced screenings surpassing 28 million yuan ($4.09 million) on Monday, four days before the May Day holidays officially kick off, the May Day box office has now entered its final warm-up phase. Featuring productions including comedy, crime, and more, "genre diversity" is one of the biggest highlights of the 2026 holiday period, Shi Wenxue, a veteran film critic, told the Global Times.

During China's first National Reading Week, the topic of graded reading for children drew widespread discussion. Initiatives such as China's National Library's children's division promoting reading based on different ages, cognition, and psychological needs have brought a new round of attention to how reading should be structured for children. Experts emphasized that graded reading is not about restricting choices, but about providing a supportive framework so reading stays centered on the needs of each child, helping develop skills that benefit them for life.

During the closing ceremony of the 16th Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF), British film Dragonfly took home the night's greatest honors, nabbing three Tiantan Awards: Best Feature Film, Best Screenplay, and Best Actress. In a rare twist, the Best Actress trophy was split between the film's two leads, Andrea Riseborough and Brenda Blethyn, a surprise that left audiences buzzing and asking the question: What made this UK film stand out to the BJIFF jury?

Over the decades as a research curator at the Shanghai Museum, Zhang has restored more than 1,000 bronze artifacts from across the country. His tools include fine steel needles and engraving knives.

Not a single book defines a life, but a wide range of works can shape a person's worldview, He Hui, dean of the School of Chinese Language and Literature at Beijing Foreign Studies University, made the remarks at the "Spring Reading" event hosted by the Global Times at Guangcheng Academy in Beijing on April 20.

“The power of reading may not immediately change our circumstances, but it slowly nourishes our inner world. It helps us stay clear-minded and fulfilled amid life's hustle and toil, and preserve a sense of poetry and passion within daily life," said Liu Yi, board member of the China Taofen Foundation.

Chinese director and screenwriter Yu Baimei has built a distinguished career combining humor, emotion and social insight. A graduate of Xidian University with a degree in computer science, he later turned to filmmaking, directing hits like The Breakup Guru, Devil and Looking Up. His latest work, the martial arts film Blades of the Guardians, that has hit Chinese cinemas this Spring Festival, has drawn widespread attention. In an exclusive interview with the Global Times, Yu reflects on how reading has shaped his journey and why reading, especially deep reading, is so vital in the age of artificial intelligence (AI).

Jiang Haoshu told the Global Times that reading helped her venture out into the wider world.

Acclaimed Chinese author Bi Shumin's literary journey did not commence in a well-stocked library, but rather in a place where books were scarcely found — the high-altitude, snow-covere Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. While attending the Global Times "Spring Reading" event at the Guangcheng Academy in Beijing on April 20, she shared how a deep thirst for knowledge, first kindled in her youth, forged her lifelong relationship with reading and writing.

Amassing over 2 billion views, the "Me-ism" trend has taken Chinese lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu, or RedNote, by storm. "Me-ism," originally called "shiwo zhuyi" in Chinese, means that people are no longer blindly chasing fads but instead placing greater value on self-expression. Today, this trend is even more closely tied to youth culture - especially interior design.

Recently, over 100 varieties of peonies have come into full bloom at the Old Summer Palace, or Yuanmingyuan, in Beijing. The Han Jing Hall ruins, the area with the highest concentration of peonies, have just reopened to the public after renovation and upgrades. One of the key changes is the installation of four perspective display boards at the site. These visual boards help visitors understand the original structure of the Han Jing Hall by providing clear illustrations, according to CCTV News.

A joint Chinese-Greek archaeological project has been officially launched on Friday in Athens, marking the first collaborative excavation between the two countries.

The table tennis is set to celebrate its historic milestone at the upcoming World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London, the UK. This centenary edition of the tournament offers not only a chance to look back at a century of competition, but also to reflect on the forces that have shaped modern table tennis.

Kenya's Sabastian Sawe clocked a winning time of one hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds in the 2026 London Marathon on Sunday, becoming the first man to run a marathon in under two hours.

Arranging colorful plastic beads into patterns and fusing them with heat to create pixel-style trinkets such as keychains and fridge magnets, pindou, or perler beads, have become the latest craze among young people in China. In 2026, the craft has been gaining traction for its simplicity, affordability, and the oddly soothing, almost "mechanical" sense of calm it provides.

Inspired by Wu's efforts, a strong reading culture has taken root in the community. More and more people with disabilities are stepping out of their homes and embracing reading, while an increasing number of residents are moved to take part in volunteer work, supporting people with disabilities and reading alongside them.

The Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in China on Wednesday hosted a press conference in Beijing. Ambassador of Kazakhstan to China Shakhrat Nuryshev updated the media on Kazakhstan's constitutional reforms, the Year of Kazakhstan-China Cultural Exchange, and the achievements of bilateral cooperation between the two sides.

The Embassy of the Republic of Türkiye in China hosted a celebration on the occasion of April 23 National Sovereignty and Children's Day in Beijing on Thursday. Selçuk Ünal, Ambassador of Türkiye to China, said he hopes that April 23 National Sovereignty and Children's Day will bring peace and happiness to all the children in the world. On April 23, 1920, the Turkish parliament was founded and the day was dedicated to children seen as the nation's future by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Turkish Republic.

As part of the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Pakistan and China, the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in China staged the photo exhibition Shadows of Belonging in Beijing on April 18, featuring photographs taken by Pakistani artist Nazia Akram at Beijing Peace Garden Museum.

In a restoration studio at the Shanxi Museum, North China's Shanxi Province, Xu Kai moves through a familiar sequence of tasks: cleaning, bonding fragments, grinding surfaces, retouching color and polishing finishes. The work is methodical and repetitive, but each step requires precision. A broken porcelain vessel slowly comes back to life under his hands.

Spring breeze flips the pages, and reading changes life. On Monday, the first day of China's first National Reading Week, the Global Times "Spring Reading" event was held at the Guangcheng Academy in Beijing. Taking literature as its theme and making friends through reading, the event built a bridge for exchanging insights on reading and promoting a book-loving society. During the event, professor in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at ­Tsinghua University and former chief editor of the Zhonghua Book Company Zhou Xuanlong, director and screenwriter Yu Baimei, actress Yao Chen, board member of the China Taofen Foundation Liu Yi and renowned writer Bi Shumin drew upon their personal life experiences to offer incisive insights into the significance of reading, interpret the power of reading, and share their personal gains and reflections from reading. This article is based on their speeches at the event.

As the 16th Beijing International Film Festival (BIFF) unfolds in the Chinese capital, the air is thick with more than just the buzz of screenings. Besides the red-carpet glamour, filmmakers from both China and abroad gathered at the film feast to exchange ideas on how Chinese films can embrace global opportunities through overseas expansion and IP building.

As the 31st World Book and Copyright Day fell on Thursday, coinciding with China's first national reading week, the People's Daily invited two of China's most celebrated authors, Mo Yan and Yu Hua, to discuss reading and literary creation in the age of artificial intelligence (AI) as well as youth development.

Nearly two decades after the original film became a global fashion-culture phenomenon, the upcoming sequel The Devil Wears Prada 2 has raised controversy in China over the name and the portrayal of an Asian character.

The capital's vibrant art scene is set to bloom this May as the city is set to embrace the Beijing Art Season, a major cultural initiative featuring over 400 distinctive events that blend professional exhibitions, market activities and public engagement.

Chinese classics serve not only as a vehicle for learning the Chinese language, but also as a window into Chinese civilization. On April 23, World Book and Copyright Day, the People's Daily Overseas Edition invited more than 10 sinologists from around the world to share their stories of encountering Chinese classics. Each scholar recommended a passage from a classic and offered their own interpretation of its cultural meaning.

On the commencement of China's inaugural National Reading Week on Monday, the Global Times hosted the Spring Reading event at the Guangcheng Academy in Beijing. Resonating with the National Reading initiative and themed "Reading Changes Life," the event aimed to contribute to the building of a book-loving society.

The establishment of the Guangcheng Academy aims to carry forward China's outstanding traditional culture. Since its founding in October last year, the academy has focused on three main initiatives.

"A river of misty grass, willow catkins fill the city, rain fall in the season of ripening plums." This is a quote from a poem by Song Dynasty (960-1279) poet He Zhu. As a student, video blogger Xiyue never truly grasped the lingering sorrow embedded into the verses of this Song Dynasty poet. Years later, however, to the south of the Yangtze River, she ventured out in the rain, watching the dense curtain of rainfall blur distant buildings and mountains, and captured on camera the very scenes evoked in He Zhu's poem.

An international research team led by Chinese scientists has discovered the oldest known body fossils of annelids, extending the evolutionary record of a major animal group by more than 10 million years to 535 million years ago, according to the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Six hundred and sixty years ago, under the order of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), an ancient city wall began rising brick by brick in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province. Each brick was engraved with the names of the craftsman and the supervising official, forming China's largest existing "open-air library of brick inscriptions."

The sixth Asian Beach Games officially opened on Wednesday evening in Sanya, South China's Hainan Province, marking the return of the continental beach sports event after a decade-long hiatus.

Darren Wang, an actor from the island of Taiwan, was sentenced to six months in prison by a court in New Taipei City on the island of Taiwan on Wednesday for illegally obtaining others' personal data, according to multiple Taiwan media reports.

The biographical film Wan Tongshu premiered in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Monday, with a nationwide release scheduled for April 30. Directed by Xirzat Yahup, the movie tells the true story of musicologist Wan Tongshu and his wife Lian Xiaomei, who dedicated their lives to rescuing the endangered Muqam art form alongside folk artist Turdi Ahong ever since the 1950s. The film pays homage to Wan, an ordinary hero who devoted his life to preserving Muqam, a traditional art of the Uygur ethnic group in Xinjiang, integrating songs, dances, and folk and classical music.

On April 13, the French National Assembly approved a draft law to simplify the restitution of foreign artifacts acquired illegally between 1815 and 1972, with 170 votes in favor and 0 against.

Book fairs, reading salons, recitation of classic works... Diverse reading-related events are being held across China as communities welcome the country's first National Reading Week, set for the fourth week of April every year.

For Chengdu local Yin Hongrun, picking up a paddle to play pickleball on weekends has become a new hobby, as the sport's low barrier to entry, lightweight equipment and friendly atmosphere make it easy for her to meet new people and enjoy a relaxed social experience.

In the course of my own artistic growth, there is one book that left an unforgettable impact on me: Home Letters by Fu Lei. It can be said to have influenced my entire life. In doing anything, one must be rigorous - whether in academic work, in art, in performing a piece, or in interpreting it ourselves, even in the smallest matters. I have always believed that rigor and discipline are extremely ­important. Reading has given us a lifelong pursuit, one that we continue to uphold.

Spring breeze flips the pages, and reading changes life. On April 20, the first day of China's first National Reading Week, the Global Times "Spring Reading" event was held at the Guangcheng Academy in Beijing. Taking literature as the medium and making friends through reading, the event has built a bridge for exchanging insights on reading and promoting the National Reading initiative. This marks the sixth session of the Global Times' reading-themed events since their launch in 2023.

With silver hair, and a lifetime spent never leaving the world of childhood, 80-year-old Cai Gao, China's first illustrator to win the Hans Christian Andersen Award, has a memory and imagination that refuse to age.

On the occasion of China's first national reading week, the Global Times launched its 2026 Spring Reading event on Monday in Beijing, kicking off a journey of literary dialogue and exchange of civilizations.

In a move that has sent ripples through cultural circles, Deutsche Grammophon (DG) China recently announced the signing of China's young guzheng virtuoso Yang Yang (Hu Xuyuan). For the iconic "Yellow Label" - long regarded as the gold standard of classical music - to embrace a traditional Chinese instrument is far more than a routine commercial contract. It signals that Chinese folk music has stepped beyond viral short-video moments and entered the very heart of the global classical music industry. This move marks a qualitative leap: from occasional "cultural showcases" to genuine artistic dialogue on an equal footing.

China's chess grandmaster Wei Yi finished fourth in his debut at the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament, an achievement that reflects China's steady presence among the world's elite.

Standing atop of the Gubeikou Great Wall in Beijing's Miyun district, where the wind howls through broken battlements and the earth still bears the faint scars of artillery fire, Chinese author Huang Liangbin closes his eyes and envisions the chaos of 1933.

China has completed the first round of audio and video recording for its first cross-dialect database of The Epic of King Gesar, covering multiple versions and artistic forms, according to a report by the China News Service on Sunday.

The 2026 Beijing Spring Book Fair officially opened on Saturday, launching a citywide reading celebration that will run for a full month through May 17. Timed ahead of China's national reading week, the fourth week of April each year, the annual event has expanded beyond its traditional format this year, extending reading spaces and weaving in cinematic elements.

The 2026 Beijing Book Fair is set to kick off on Saturday and will run till May 17. For the first time, the annual event has been extended to a full month, offering residents and visitors a citywide spring cultural feast infused with the fragrance of books, one of the organizers of the book fair told the Global Times on Friday. The book fair will open simultaneously on Saturday at four venues located in the east, south, west, and north of the capital, namely Chaoyang Park, Nanyuan Forest and Wetland Park, Shougang Park, and Yuanmingyuan Ruins Park, according to Capital Culture Technology Group Co (CCTG), one of the organizers of the event.

To anyone curious about him, Nyima Wangdu sends a profile of self-introduction packed with such achievements. Even with a quick glance, it is easy to see that he is a person committed to exploring life's possibilities.

A newly restored 4K version of the 1991 Hong Kong action film Once a Thief is scheduled to be released in the Chinese mainland on May 3, marking its first theatrical run in the mainland.

University leaders, scholars and education professionals from China, Greece and other countries gathered Thursday in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality to discuss the future of higher education in the age of artificial intelligence (AI), concluding with the release of a proposal known as the "Chongqing Initiative."

At the ongoing China Internet Audio & Video Convention 2026 held in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, a report focusing on the sector's development specified that, as of December 2025, the average daily time spent per consumer on micro-drama apps had reached 129 minutes, surpassing that of long-form videos.

Ye Mei, a well-known ecological writer, has spent decades traveling and writing, leaving behind heartfelt records of China's rivers and mountains.