Editor’s Letter

Livestreamers sell billions on e-commerce platforms while internet trolls lurk in the comment sections of microblogging sites.Business owners everywhere accept payment via the “super-app” WeChat while parents fret that their children are addicted to online video games…Three decades on from when China first connected to the internet, the country’s online landscape is as innovative as it is chaotic.

In our cover story this issue, we examine how China’s internet has changed over 30 years, and how it has changed the country’s netizens.We reflect on China’s first batch of social media websites; how they rose as forums for open discussion,and declined into obsolescence or, worse, transformed into hotbeds of misogyny.Though modern social media platforms are indispensable networking resources for many, they have also helped drive an epidemic of cellphone addiction among China’s rural children.We talk to teachers and researchers desperate to drag these often isolated youngsters away from their phone screens and back to playing together.Finally, we investigate an often overlooked segment of China’s netizens: seniors.Elderly and middle-aged people are online in increasing numbers and falling in love with Douyin (China’s version of TikTok) and influencers the same way their grandchildren have been.But these latecomers to social media face unique perils, including frequent targeting by fraudsters, and a society not always happy about them being online.

Elsewhere in this magazine, we explore what it’s like to be a female sports fan in China.Despite facing misogyny and abuse (online and offline) when they talk about sports like soccer and basketball, women are creating their own safe spaces to discuss their passion.We also talk to four translators about the impact of generative AI on their work, and whether ChatGPT will leave them unemployed.In our travel section, we journey across the grasslands of Inner Mongolia and find nomadic life adapting to changing regulations, generations, and environments.We also discover why chicken carcasses are so popular in a former industrial powerhouse city, explore the rise of movie recap videos online, and find out why there’s a consumer backlash against pre-prepared meals.

As the internet continues to penetrate almost every aspect of our lives, I hope you find a little respite from the world of vapid short videos and Weibo rants in this lovingly compiled issue of our magazine.Enjoy reading!