Finding good English-language coverage of Chinese contemporary art used to mean digging past a handful of famous names everyone in the West already knows. That’s less true now. A small group of magazines, museum sites and databases publish serious, current coverage in English, and a few more are readable through Chrome’s built-in translation.
This list replaces our original 2018 roundup. Several platforms from that version have gone offline, been repurposed by unrelated businesses, or drifted away from art coverage entirely. What’s left here is what we’d actually recommend checking today.
News, Magazines and Critical Writing
Ran Dian 燃点
Ran Dian 燃点 launched in 2010 in Shanghai. It publishes in Chinese and English, covering exhibitions, artist profiles and market news across mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Coverage spans reviews, interviews and event listings by city, making it useful for planning a gallery visit as much as for background reading.
LEAP 艺术界
LEAP 艺术界 is the international art magazine of contemporary China, published twice a year in Chinese and English. Its long-form essays and interviews go deeper than most news sites, covering everything from individual artists to broader shifts in the regional art scene.
ArtAsiaPacific
ArtAsiaPacific has covered contemporary art from Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East since 1993. It’s not China-exclusive, but its features and reviews regularly cover Chinese artists and exhibitions in real depth, with the kind of editorial rigor you’d expect from a long-running print magazine.
Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art
Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art is the first English-language academic journal focused specifically on Chinese contemporary art and culture. Expect scholarly essays and critical commentary rather than news, useful if you want more analytical depth than a magazine piece usually offers.
Museums, Institutions and Gallery Networks
UCCA Center for Contemporary Art
UCCA Center for Contemporary Art is one of China’s leading private museums, with locations in Beijing, Shanghai and Beidaihe. Its website lists current and upcoming exhibitions in English, mixing major international names with emerging Chinese artists. It’s a reliable way to track what’s actually on view right now.
Hong Kong Art Gallery Association
Hong Kong Art Gallery Association represents around 50 established galleries across Hong Kong. Their site publishes a running list of current exhibitions by district, plus talks, tours and their annual Hong Kong Art Week each November. Useful if you’re planning a gallery-hopping trip to the city.
CAFA Art Info
CAFA Art Info [external] draws on resources from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. It covers art news, education and research, and maintains a directory of Chinese artists, galleries, exhibitions and institutions.
Databases and Research Tools
ArtLinkArt
ArtLinkArt is a bilingual online database that archives Chinese contemporary art history: artists, exhibitions and art spaces, updated daily. It’s less a magazine than a reference tool, useful when you need dates, venues or an artist’s exhibition history rather than criticism.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. All eight are free to browse. Some, like ArtLinkArt, ask contributors to register for submissions, but reading and searching don’t require an account.
No. Every platform on this list publishes in English, either fully or alongside Chinese content.
UCCA and the Hong Kong Art Gallery Association both list what’s on view right now. Ran Dian and LEAP are better for background and context once you’ve found something to see.
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