Cave Homes of Rural China

Cave Homes of Rural China

The slanting afternoon sun cast sharp shadows as An Wei, the host of a rural Chinese teaching project I had joined, showed us the caves where An Shang villagers lived 20 years before.  “This is where I visited my uncle’s family in their cave,” he said, leading us into...
Opera in Rural China?

Opera in Rural China?

I am not an opera lover, but weeks saturated in it in the poor Chinese village of An Shang captured my emotions and helped me to appreciate it a bit more. One night, villagers gathered in a courtyard to welcome visitors. At the urging of those around her, one woman...
A Blockchain Chicken Farm in China … and Much More

A Blockchain Chicken Farm in China … and Much More

Xiaowei Wang—artist, writer and coder—has written an engrossing set of stories about the creative and ever growing use of technology in the villages and towns of China. Rural people come to life in Blockchain Chicken Farm And Other Stories of Tech in China’s...
The New Normal (in China)

The New Normal (in China)

Demolition and change. The new normal in China. In over 25 years of traveling to China I have become used to demolition. For the first several years I loved walking to Xinjiekou, the center of Nanjing, weaving through packed sidewalks of dark blue and grey clad...
The Human Scale of China

The Human Scale of China

I began packing for a morning flight from Nanjing. I’d spent the day sitting, talking with colleagues, writing reports, then a banquet—all enjoyable, all productive, but distressingly sedentary. I needed to get out. I pulled on my jacket and headed for the packed...