RADII

Check out more articles relating to our July editorial theme of “Music & Movement,” like the one below, here. The same people clubbing on Friday night are now lining up on rooftops to do qigong on Saturday morning. Meet the “baduanjin rave” (电音八段锦): Chinese youth’s latest wellness obsession. Unlike the coffee raves that previously swept the world, the baduanjin rave pairs traditional Chinese qigong with electronic ambient and techno music.

Check out more articles relating to our July editorial theme of “Music & Movement,” like the one below, here. Get ready to mosh!… and chill! The highly anticipated TaiChill City Festival (台秋祭) is making a massive comeback for its 5th anniversary, transforming Taiwan‘s Taichung Railway Cultural Park into a hub of music, street culture, and Gen Z energy on July 18-19, 2026. Mosh circle brewing at last year’s Taichill City Fest. Image via Facebook/台秋祭 TaiChill City.

Check out more articles relating to our July editorial theme of “Music & Movement,” like the one below, here. China is now the world’s fourth-largest music market, growing 20.1% in a single year—the fastest of any major market. The live performance sector is booming too, with total box office revenues crossing 10 billion RMB (1.39 billion USD) in 2025, attracting more than 350 overseas musicians and bands. Emerging post-pandemic, there has been a resurgence.

After much anticipation—and our initial coverage of its announcement—Stephen Chow’s highly anticipated Kung Fu Soccer is officially out in theaters across China. Marking the legendary filmmaker’s return to the director’s chair after seven years, this action-comedy spin-off of the 2001 cult classic Shaolin Soccer is already causing a stir.

The Hong Kong leg of the Volleyball Nations League, held from July 8–12, 2026, brought six international women’s teams—China, Italy, the Dominican Republic, Canada, Belgium, and Ukraine—to the Kai Tak Arena for 12 high-intensity matches. Italy came in as defending champions of both the 2025 VNL and the 2025 FIVB Women’s World Championship, underscoring the level of competition faced by China’s relatively young squad.

From the exhaustion of doing absolutely nothing to aggressively entering a “Villain Era,” we present our latest four Chinese internet buzzwords defining youth culture today. Gen Z on the Chinese internet is continually reinventing how they express the highs, lows, and hilarious absurdities of modern life.

If you’re in Shanghai and you’re partial to a pint or two of beer, there’s a good chance you’ve met this lady. While she may look like one of the millions of aunties in the city enjoying retirement by spending afternoons doing square dances in the park, this particular auntie is actually an entrepreneur and well-known throughout Shanghai’s craft beer industry. Yindi in 2015, in front of the Haifu Convenience Store. Photo via Yicai. Her name is Zhang Yindi (张银娣).

China may not have qualified for this year’s or the last World Cup, but the Chinese internet always finds a way to celebrate football—usually through the lens of viral memes and hyper-specific internet culture. The latest crossover taking over Chinese social media? Reimagining the world’s biggest football stars as romantic leads in otome (dating simulation) games.

At Hubei Engineering University’s recent graduation concert, five dorm supervisors—better known as “dorm aunties” (宿管阿姨)—took to the stage in full rock outfits. Instead of the usual sentimental oldies, they formed a rock band, tearing up the stage with an original track titled “Go Shine” (快去发光). Well, it paid off, as the Chinese internet is giving them a massive standing ovation, and for good reason. “Dorm auntie” is a uniquely Chinese campus figure.

For anyone hunting for low-key “performance art” on a chessboard, Chess Mafia in Hong Kong is not to be missed. A crowd of players in oversized jorts and baseball caps gathers around games and boards, while someone is filming a tense endgame on their phone. Maybe a random circle of onlookers is reacting louder than the bar’s playlist on the other side.