Record giant gives up the business

Who buys CDs when digital music is only a click away? This question has challenged the music industry for many years. Now the effects of digital downloading are taking their toll on a number of domestic record labels.

Living on trash – Recyclers scour the capital’s garbage on make a living

That old lady whose hands grasp at the empty plastic bottles of passersby isn’t trying to save the planet: she’s trying to survive.

The challenge of unwed motherhood

Unwed mothers in China have it tough. Their children often fall into a legal gray area, and their income is rarely high enough to support a family. Most spend their days unhappy and desperate.

Donor flight leaves leukemia patients to die

His experience was a rollercoaster of hope and despair as his only hemopoietic stem cell donor waffled in her commitment, eventually fleeing mid-procedure and leaving Lin to face death.

Robotics contest reshapes poor children’s dreams

Migrant workers are the muscle of the city. They work hard and live poor in hopes that their children can have better employment opportunities than they did.

Artist finds audience for shadow puppets abroad

Cui Yongping and his wife Wang Shuqin, the curators of Chinese Shadow-Play Art Museum, have been recently invited by the World Children’s Museum of Indianapolis to display their pieces.

Returning to Beijing

Only two years after they left the big city to find work in second- and third-tier boom towns, many people are returning to Beijing.

Animal activists tirelessly work to save the city’s strays

For years, animal activists have fought an uphill battle for the rights of strays. Despite all odds – even in the face of family opposition – they persist, finding strength in their love for animals and support from one another.

Staging for profit? – Think twice before shelling out for big shows

A large-scale play called Kangxi Ceremony began running in June in Chengde, Hebei Province. This month, movie director Chen Kaige launched a stage play in Dali, Yunnan Province. Other similar plays are in various stages of planning.

Marathon’s long road in China

It is fabled that some 2,500 years ago, Greek messenger Pheidippides ran from Marathon to Athens without stopping to deliver news of a battlefield victory. He collapsed immediately and died, and to this day, the marathon – a 42.192 kilometer race – has been run in his honor.