parts 1 and 2 of a three part series from the Sixth Tone The Rise of China’s Working-Class ‘Palaces’ In the 1950s, workers’ cultural palaces were established in cities across the country to better mould the country’s new “leading class.” They had the side effect of democratizing culture. The Fall of China’s Working-Class ‘Palaces’ Beginning in the 1990s, the country’s working-class cultural spaces began to disappear, to be replaced by private, for-profit entities. Photos sh