China Society

Beijing is a global city famous for its symbols of Chinese history, governance and culture. It is not, however, known for its connection to mother nature.  But those prejudices may not be entirely accurate, and young people across the city are discovering a fact about the city: it boasts a remarkable biodiversity, especially for birds.  Li Siqi is one of these young birding enthusiasts. The 20-year-old woman took up the hobby in 2013 after she, “took a photo of a pretty bird and then started looking online to find out what it was. That got me interested.” Li now owns an environmental education company that takes families birdwatching, and she also teaches children about nature and birds bot

2021 has already proven to be a year of serious historical events, but that does not mean it lacks whimsy.  Here are three of the quirkiest stories from China to start this year.  The tale of a celebrity pig This swine has been through everything, surviving the odds to become a national icon and a sign of Chinese resilience after being buried alive for more than a month in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Now, 12 years on, fans of ‘Zhu Jianqiang’ meaning ‘Strong Pig’ are cheering for the survival of the country’s favorite porker, at least until after the Chinese New Year celebrations in February are over. Entering old age, Zhu is struggling to pull her weight and stand without help, spending da

A Chinese baby switched at birth almost three decades ago, is now a grown man fighting for his life in hospital less than a year after being reunited with his biological parents. Mistakenly given to the wrong parents by hospital staff 28 years ago, Yao Ce has been waging a battle against advanced liver cancer after being diagnosed in February last year. The mistake may have directly led to Yao’s poor health. As a baby born with Hepatitis B, Yao should have been given a high-dosage vaccine shortly after birth because he had inherited the condition from his biological mother, Du, who is a Hepatitis B carrier.  The hospital mistakenly gave the vaccine to the healthy baby born to Xu instead, le

Traditional fruit and vegetable wholesalers are collapsing under the weight of the latest e-commerce trend to hit China. In the space of just a few months, China’s tech giants have spent billions of dollars making buying in bulk sexy to almost 700 million Chinese. While the pandemic pushed online grocery shopping to popularity levels never before seen in China, the community group buying trend has shaken up the industry. With just a few swipes on their mobile phone, consumers can order groceries and household items via internet giants such as Didi Chuxing, Meituan and Pinduoduo, who use location-based technology platforms to pool and coordinate orders.  This generates bulk volume purchases

A Chinese woman canceled her marriage and is getting divorced in a classic example of a storm in a D-cup. The woman in the southwestern Chinese province of Guizhou became enraged after her husband’s traditional wedding gift of lingerie was two sizes too small. The pair had been legally married but were holding a belated celebration for friends and family. They had been in a relationship for about three years.  The bride’s dumping of her husband for the unforgivable faux pas played out during a social media video of the wedding party host revealing details of the party’s cancellation and the family’s fury. The video has since gone viral with netizens showing overwhelming support for the brid

China built more than 2,480mi of railway in 2020, according to Chinese state media reports. The report broadcast on December 26 said that half of the new rail lines built were for high-speed trains.  

Three men from southwestern China’s Sichuan province turn abandoned tires into animal sculptures, including a dragon.

A respected doctor in China called a brutal knife attack that robbed him of his surgical career “a pleasant surprise” because it forced him to reassess his life. Tao Yong, an ophthalmologist, spoke one year after a patient, Cui Zhenguo, stabbed him in the head and arm with a vegetable knife at Beijing’s Chaoyang Hospital, where he is head of ophthalmology. Tao sustained injuries on the back of his head and the neck and stayed in ICU for two weeks. The doctor required surgery to save his hand, and the stabbing was so precise that he is unlikely ever to perform eye surgery again. Two other members of staff were wounded as they tried to stop the attack. “To summarize last year, I can think of

A Chinese man, 22, in Shandong province, picked up skills with the guzheng, a traditional Chinese instrument, by watching tutorials online and has since found fame on social media for playing it at the construction sites he works on.

A rescue team in southwestern China’s Chongqing uses a flame-throwing drone to burn wasp nests in trees.