Hundreds of years ago, women in China weren’t allowed an education and spent their days locked in rooms, embroidering and making crafts. They came up with a new language that men couldn’t understand — Nüshu — and wrote it onto handmade fans to communicate with each other. A filmmaker is now trying to raise awareness to preserve it before it is lost.
A more prosperous China is getting more interested in wellness — and Daoist temples are offering courses on nutrition, health, meditation and tai chi. Government money is pouring into temples as Beijing has said nice things about Daoism, says journalist and author Ian Johnson.
Known as Chunwan, the New Year’s variety show typically draws hundreds of millions of viewers. But when it aired on January 30, 2014, it seemed long on propaganda and short on entertainment, disappointing nearly 60% of Chinese, according to a survey.