The Changing World of Social Work

WEARING a ponytail, 29-year-old Wang Qi has an infectious smile and a bright, capable look about her. In spite of her youth, she is director of the Donggaodi Community service station in Beijing’s Fengtai District. In the three years that she has dedicated herself to community-based social work, Wang admits that she has had to learn a lot on the job. The residents in the community highly appreciate her efforts.     

The World’s Largest Healthcare Umbrella

EARLIER last summer, 65-year-old farmer Song Guicai of Xinwan Village, Punan Town, Lianyungang City in coastal Jiangsu Province, made the 10-kilometer journey from her village to the town’s central hospital. At the end of diagnosis and checkup in the air-conditioned facility she headed toward the counter with a bill showing RMB 119.37.     

The Road Home

The haunting dreams of home finally come true four decades after these war veterans crossed the Straits.     

Hu Jintao Marks the 90th Anniversary of the Communist Party of China

ON July 1,Hu Jintao,general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee,delivered a keynote speech at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing,marking the 90th anniversary of the CPC. Hu traced,illustrated,and expounded on the CPC’s accumulated experience,its current challenges and coping strategies,and its     

Reviving Residents’ Committees

TO urbanites on China’s mainland, residents’ committees are the closest basic social unit to families and their danwei, or work unit-traditionally a tightly knit community. The first residents’ committee in the PRC was established in Hangzhou’s Shangcheng District, Zhejiang Province, on October 23,1949.     

Ruijin Rides Red Nostalgia

BEIJING became the capital of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, but Ruijin was the original heart of communist rule in China. This city of Jiangxi Province,     

Top Four Inkstones

IINKSTONE,along with ink,writing brush and rice paper,are known as the Four Treasures of Study in China. For calligraphers and painters,a good inkstone is as important as the inkstick itself.An inkstone is a slate to grind the solid inkstick in water,and as such may     

Beichuan: Three Years After the Quake

"You will see grief within ten paces,see sorrow at a dinner table," someone described Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County like this after the devastating earthquake on May 12,2008. The county is also depicted in stark statistics: 20,000 people dead or missing,27,000 injured or disabled and 142,000 homeless with direct losses estimated at RMB 60 billion. Three years have passed and the question we sought to answer was whether Beichuan people still walk in grief and eat in sorrow. What is their life like now? "My wife and son died. I won’t forget them until the day I die myself," said Lei Shunyong,"but we survivors have to live our lives,come to terms with what happened,and move on."     

Helping Hands to Love Banks

INNOVATIVE community services are making aging in China less daunting. Services for the elderly top the public agenda of     

Behind the Recurring Food Safety Incidents

Measures have been taken to fight against recurring food safety problems,but there is still a long way to go before China can rid itself of these issues.