A rising superpower. A billion customers. The factory of the world. China is rarely out of the international spotlight, but seldom does anyone hear from the human actors that live out its incredible modern transformations. For over a decade, The World of Chinese magazine has been providing long-form, people-driven storytelling in English on the characters and communities behind the headlines. This anthology collects 20 recent features on the lives of China’s relocated villagers, the wit of its stand-up comedians, the dreams of its small-town live streamers, and more, delivered with the incisiveness and humor that will be familiar to longtime magazine readers—and will surely enchant the new.