Weekend Long Read: this week’s best in-depth long-form stories

Jul 25, 2026 09:00 AM

Weekend Long Read: The Micro-Nursing Homes Saving China’s Exhausted Families
Crushed by the relentless physical demands of at-home eldercare and wary of massive institutions, desperate children are outsourcing their parents’ twilight years to entrepreneurs in residential apartment blocks
Jul 18, 2026 09:00 AM

Weekend Long Read: Putting Down Roots in Europe’s Migrant Stopover
In Albania, where a third of the country’s own people have left, Chinese transplants speak of going home as if it’s just over the horizon — even as their lives there take shape
Jul 11, 2026 09:00 AM

Weekend Long Read: Breaking Ground for a Soccer Dream in the Clouds
In the remote mountains of Sichuan province, viral online soccer star Jifu Lama is spreading his love of the game to help ’left behind’ Yi ethnic children find a sense of purpose
Jul 03, 2026 19:49 PM

Weekend Long Read: The Smart Farm Built by Two Digits
Struck down by Duchenne muscular dystrophy, farmer Li Xia refuses to accept defeat. From a makeshift ward in a shipping container, he uses a customized mouse to direct his mother through the grueling tasks of a high-tech harvest
Jun 20, 2026 09:00 AM

Weekend Long Read: How a Free Lunch Helps With a Quiet Crisis in Aging Rural China
As young people migrate to cities, one hollowed out village is fighting elderly isolation and malnutrition by turning an abandoned elementary school into a free dining hall for its oldest residents
Jun 13, 2026 09:00 AM

Weekend Long Read: The People Powering China’s Garlic Capital
In Jinxiang county, a month-long harvest sets in motion a vast supply chain stretching from village fields to global markets. As machines transform traditional jobs, younger generations seek new opportunities tied to the pungent crop
Apr 25, 2026 09:00 AM

Weekend Long Read: A Chinese Startup’s Moonshot Cancer Cure
If CAR-T therapy is like deploying a specialized strike team trained to recognize a single target, Likang Life Sciences’ approach is like distributing a wanted list across the immune system, founder Chen Li says
Apr 18, 2026 10:00 AM

Weekend Long Read: Faded Mining Town Draws Migrants Seeking Fresh Air, Slower Living
Once China’s ‘tin capital,’ the city of Gejiu has become a haven for those opting out of the grind. But while the climate is ideal, the opportunities are not
Mar 28, 2026 09:00 AM

Weekend Long Read: As Jobs Dry Up, Personal Trainers Are Going Door-to-Door
A new ‘sports takeout’ trend is catering to busy parents while offering much-needed employment in a bruising labor market
Mar 14, 2026 09:00 AM

Weekend Long Read: Pershing’s Chinese ― a Covenant of Life and Death
Long before he conquered Europe, Gen. John J. Pershing fought a different battle in El Paso — risking his reputation to protect the Chinese laborers who kept his troops on their feet
Mar 07, 2026 09:00 AM

Weekend Long Read: In a Tumultuous Madagascar, Chinese Expats Find Opportunity in Vanilla
From harvesting to trading, a growing diaspora is reshaping the African nation’s economy despite coups, poverty and dearth of infrastructure
Feb 07, 2026 09:00 AM

Weekend Long Read: Why Climate Change Is Making Your Chocolate More Expensive
From the Amazon to West Africa, heat and drought are shrinking cocoa pods and altering flavors, forcing manufacturers to rewrite recipes
Jan 31, 2026 10:00 AM

Weekend Long Read: China’s Disappearing Nomads
For more than a decade, the long traditions of the Buryat people in Inner Mongolia have faded as modernity has encroached on their traditional way of life, bringing with it metal yurts, mechanized herding and the inexorable pull of urban life
Jan 17, 2026 09:00 AM

Weekend Long Read: China’s Dance Halls Offer Lonely Seniors a Last Chance to Swing
With an average age of nearly 70, patrons flock to dimly lit halls for community and connection, a vibrant scene that masks a deeper story of battling loneliness, illness and the inevitable passage of time in an aging nation
Dec 27, 2025 09:00 AM

Weekend Long Read: When China Speed Meets Brazil Rhythm
As Chinese firms expand into Latin America’s largest economy, their demanding work culture is clashing with strict labor laws and the relaxed local lifestyle
Dec 20, 2025 09:00 AM

Weekend Long Read: Helping China’s Homeless Find Their Way Home
Social worker Zhu Cong’s small shelter in the southern city of Changsha goes beyond providing beds and meals, seeking to restore identities and reconnect the homeless with the families they left behind
Dec 06, 2025 09:00 AM

Weekend Long Read: The Celestial Con Man Who Created a Multimillion Dollar Pyramid Scheme in China
Zheng Feng promised cosmic energy, eternal youth and cures for cancer to his hundreds of followers. Instead, they got a sophisticated pyramid scheme built on psychological abuse, sexual exploitation and fake miracles
Nov 29, 2025 09:00 AM

Weekend Long Read: How Bear Attacks Became a National Crisis in Japan
A record number of fatal encounters has a surprising list of causes, including a successful conservation campaign, the collapse of the domestic timber industry and the hallowing out of the country’s rural areas
Nov 15, 2025 09:00 AM

Weekend Long Read: Two Takes on China’s $14 Billion Micro-Drama Machine
From tourist sites in Xi’an to algorithm-driven studios in Zhengzhou, the boom has turned short-form storytelling into a full-scale industry in both cities
Nov 08, 2025 09:00 AM

Weekend Long Read: How China Should Tackle Complex Challenges in Its 15th Five-Year Plan
Xu Lin, a former senior official at the national economic planning agency, offers pragmatic advice about the country’s roadmap for the next five years