Rural Chinese worker building the 'most authentic model of A320' from scratch
Zhu Yue, a 40-year-old farmer turned mechanic, has built an airplane. Even though it can't fly. Hailing from Kaiyuan, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, Zhu made a life-scale replica of an Airbus A320 measuring 37.8 meters long, 36 meters wide, and 12 meters tall.
Retiree walking across China to North Korea to respect martyrs, reflect on friendship
Wei Yongxiu has been walking for over a month, with 1,300 kilometers remaining to her destination, North Korea. This female retiree, 55, initiated a trek to North Korea in memory of the martyrs sacrificed in the Korean War.
Chinese rural woman lives on garbage picking to feed her passion of learning English
Yuan Yinghui, a rubbish picker, is happy because an English language school recently became her sponsor, providing her with a laptop and free online English lessons.
Son of legendary thinker builds his own name with charged criticism of separatists
Li Kan is known in both the Chinese mainland and Taiwan for many reasons – turning down a top Taiwan college to attend Peking University in 2010, publishing a book full of criticism against Taiwan's education system at 18 years of age, going to Cambridge for PhD studies – yet the most conspicuous label on him so far is still “the only son of Li Ao.”
Chinese businessman sees opportunity in Kazakh camel milk
If there's one animal that can best symbolize the Silk Road, it's probably the camel. Its ability to endure extreme heat and long periods of travel has made it the ideal caravan animal in central Asia.
Child prodigy becomes key architect of China's next-generation fighter jets
Many child prodigies fail to grow into adult geniuses, but Yang managed to sustain his brilliance into adulthood. In 1985, Yang graduated with a master's degree and joined the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute. For the next 30 years, he participated in and led the design of a series of Chinese fighter jets including the J-10 and FC-1, and is now the chief designer of the J-20, China's most advanced stealth fighter jet and the latest addition to the arsenal of the People's Liberation Army Air Force this year.
Starting with bedsheets, e-commerce platform by Chinese entrepreneur grows to multinational success in Africa
Four years ago, Yang Tao, a former Huawei employee, quit his job and established e-commerce platform Kilimall. He named it after Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, hoping it would be the top e-commerce website in Africa.
Visionary investor who made a fortune from Bitcoin eyes opportunities in blockchain 3.0
In 2011, a young person asked how to invest his 6,000 yuan ($909 at 2011's rate) on Zhihu, China's Quora-like question-and-answer website.
Semiconductor pioneer hopes to push China to the cutting edge with massive new project
After being hit by US sanctions on ZTE Corp, China is seeking to bring its own semiconductor industry to the cutting edge to prevent dependence on foreign technology.
Top electrical engineer says China's catapult-assisted take-off tech not inferior to US
As the winner of the People's Liberation Army's top military award in 2017, Rear Admiral Ma Weiming is a familiar name to Chinese. The specialist in electrical engineering is the inventor of the electromagnetic catapult that some media said China might use aboard its latest aircraft carrier to launch and land fighter jets.
Black lung disease patient struggles to support family at cost of own health
Zhang Haichao, 37, works for his lungs. Every day Zhang, now a bus driver in Xinmi, Central China's Henan Province, gets up at 6 am to start his shift. He usually works more than 12 hours, which brings him about 200 yuan ($29) per day. The money is used for maintaining the normal functioning of his lungs, which were transplanted five years ago.
Impoverished girl who embraces life's good and bad admitted to top university
The girl was accepted by Peking University because of her high score in the extremely competitive Chinese National College Entrance Examination. However, Wang hit the headlines recently, not because of her excellent performance in the test, but because she "thanked poverty" in a recent article published online, which caused debate across China's social media.
Feng Shanshan, who inspired a generation to take up golf in China, aims for another Olympic medal in Tokyo
Her success has inspired many young Chinese to pursue a dream in golf over the past few years. According to the Five-Year Development Plans of Junior Golf in China (2018-22) released by the China Golf Association, the number of registered young golfers has increased from 400 in 2013 to 34,572 in 2017.
Rural designer, misunderstood by fellow villagers, learns acceptance while clinging to her vision
Wang was popular on Chinese TV shows and social media in 2013 and 2014, which encouraged her to dream big. But since then, Wang said she has made little progress in her design career and is meanwhile "falling behind" rural girls of her age in entering a marriage and having children.
Fireflies are disappearing all over China, but Fu Xinhua is doing his best to save them
Fu Xinhua is on a mission to save fireflies.
'Uncle Bear' founded a group that aids children of prisoners
"Evaluations show that inmates who went through our programs perform 15 percent better in jail" in terms of staying out of trouble, work production and having their sentences reduced, Lin said.
LGBT advocate uses art to promote gay rights and gender equality in China
What is heterosexuality? What is its origin? How to distinguish heterosexuals? Wu Kangyang, a 28-year-old artist, raised these ironic questions for visitors last month at an exhibition in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province.
Beijing man indulges in protecting leopards pushed to near extinction by humans
Living in Beijing but engaged in protecting leopards in the distant Taihang Mountains of Shanxi Province, Song Dazhao travels to and fro frequently. Over the past 10 years, the man has been devoted to the protection of the North China leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), an endangered wild cat native to northern China.