Taobao Rules the Country, Indie Movies Muddle Though, Grads in the Job Market, and a Nanjing Night Market

The rise of online shopping, selling, and logistics has perhaps been one of the most important changes to modern life in China, and while we here in the TWOC offices are more than happy to receive daily packages of garbage we can’t afford, the effect of e-commerce entrepreneurship in China’s rural areas has been transformative. Villages that once farmed now make, package, and ship their goods all around the country. We visit one of China’s official “Taobao villages” to learn more about how modern shopping has changed the countryside—for better or worse (see page 26).

One sector that hasn’t been booming in China is the indie film scene. There’s no denying that China has the talent, cash, and drive to build on its independent film industry, so what’s stopping it?“Indie Way of Life” takes a look at the myriad problems faced by the modern indie film industry—from regulations on content to funding and festivals—and how today’s batch of filmmakers are taking an advantageous approach to production (see page 34).

Much like their counterparts in the film industry, fresh graduates face an uncertain future; boring jobs like civil service positions, once the very definition a noble profession, have lost all allure, and these young upstarts are looking at entrepreneurship and live streaming as viable trades. This new generation of grads are giving career fairs a miss and taking a gap year, hoping for careers that will fill their wallets and fulfill their souls (see page 40).

If you find yourself in a night market in Nanjing (or anywhere else for that matter) you might notice that the accents are a little different, the atmosphere a little tense. You might be feeling the tenuous, and at times dangerous, politics and sociology of life in a migrant community. Liang Chen spent 11 months working and observing life at a night market in Nanjing, where he encountered broken bottle fi ghts and gangs of youths with fruit knives, but also kindness, complexity, and brotherhood among migrants (see page 46).

We here at TWOC are particularly pleased to present you with this new issue. As you may have noticed from the cover, we made some changes. You’ll also find new columns, such as Art Attack (see page 52) and our new science and technology section, Tech Support (see page 60). Counterpoint has been resurrected (see page 92), and Frontier profiles businesses on the cutting edge (see page 84). This issue marked our 10th anniversary, and as such we were in the mood to shake things up, editorially speaking.

We invite you to cuddle up with a copy of TWOC next to the fire (note: fireplace recommended) for a few moments of quiet contemplation. Also, don’t forget to check out our newly revamped website and hit up our digital version in the App Store for a very special literary supplement.

From all of us here at TWOC, we wish you a merry Spring Festival and good fortune in 2017.

Managing Editor

Tyler Roney