14 things to know before traveling to China in 2025
American couple Mike and Ashley—who have over 70,000 subscribers on YouTube—recently shared 14 insights from their two-month journey across China. This was their second visit to the country: the first time, they spent just a few days on a 144-hour transit visa, but the experience left such a strong impression that they returned with a 10-year multiple-entry visa and explored a wide range of Chinese cities.
In addition, I’ve invited Yifei, who belongs to China’s Gen Z generation, to reflect on some of the couple’s observations and share her thoughts from a local perspective.
A father’s heist for hope against medical bills ends in prison—and tragedy (pekingnology.com)
Desperate father stole to fund his son's leukaemia treatment, but a four-year sentence meant he missed the child’s final breath.
Gansu Travelogue 1: Tracing Back the Vicious Yellow River (feelingthestones.com)
This is a repost of an essay first shared to Twitter on September 15, 2024, detailing my 2024 travels through southern Gansu and into northern Sichuan. Along the way, we visited Lanzhou, Linxia, Gannan, and Jiuzhaigou, before driving down to Chengdu. This first post is more like a traditional travel blog than my usual social ethnography content, because I didn’t get a chance to interview anyone while on the reservoir tour, but I’ll go on to have some amazing conversations on this trip, especially after arriving in the Tibetan regions of Gansu and Sichuan.
Introduction and key findings of CCG report: Global Talent Flow: Trends and Prospects 2025 (ccgupdate.org)
1. The United States continues to be the leader in talent competition; nevertheless, the locus of talent is transitioning from Europe and North America to Asia.
2. China exhibits significant strengths in talent scale and talent environment while demonstrating relatively potential for enhancement in other areas.
3. Regional talent flows are increasing in magnitude and diversity in trajectory, influenced by geopolitical factors and economic progress.
4. The growth of the global digital economy is elevating the need for digital expertise.
A Japanese student’s “social experiment” across China (beijingscroll.com)
Today’s story is one of my favorites so far this year. It’s about a Japanese student studying in China who spent 21 days hitchhiking from Nanjing—the capital of Jiangsu Province in eastern China, and also my hometown—all the way to Urumqi, the capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, more than 3,000 kilometers away. Along the way, he was picked up by 16 different drivers.
China’s ‘green great wall’ in Inner Mongolia traps 3 more deserts | South China Morning Post
China has completed a sand control belt spanning three deserts in Inner Mongolia, marking yet another milestone in the creation of a “green great wall” across the arid northern region.
The last piece of straw checkerboard, a widely used method in China to stabilise sand, was placed at the southern edge of the Badain Jaran Desert on Sunday, according to state news agency Xinhua.
The move completed a 1,856km (1,153-mile) green belt that also runs across the Tengger and Ulan Buh deserts, the agency reported on Monday.
Great_Green_Wall_of_China_Topography.jpg (5214×1780)
Great Green Wall (China) - Wikipedia
The Great Green Wall, officially known as the Three-North Shelter Forest Program (simplified Chinese: 三北防护林; traditional Chinese: 三北防護林; pinyin: Sānběi Fánghùlín), is a series of human-planted windbreaking forest strips (shelterbelts) in China, designed to hold back the expansion of the Gobi Desert and provide timber to the local population. The program started in 1978 and is planned to complete around 2050, at which point it will be expected to have created a vast green barrier spanning approximately 4,828 kilometres (3,000 mi) long and up to 1,448 kilometres (900 mi) wide in certain regions, and will encompass around 88 million acres of forests.
Cheng Ying, Jilin Cancer Hospital director and AstraZeneca-funded scientist, dies suddenly | South China Morning Post
A top Chinese oncologist and physician-scientist, Cheng Ying, has died suddenly aged 62, according to multiple sources.
There has been no official statement about the doctor’s death, and the cause of death is not known.
Cheng was director of the Jilin Cancer Hospital and according to their outpatient records, she last appeared at the specialist team clinic she led on the morning of July 2. Subsequently, her appointment schedule was removed from the hospital’s outpatient information sheet, and news about her from the past year has been removed from the hospital’s website.
Stories of the Chinese diaspora
The Chinese diaspora has left a significant mark across the globe, forming vibrant communities in their adopted homes. Once marginalised, these communities adapted to local customs and thrived, contributing to their new societies in meaningful ways.
Various Chinese hybrid dishes emerged and became cultural icons, such as General Tso’s chicken in America and jjambbong in Korea. In the UK, many Chinese immigrants built a legacy through takeaway restaurants, giving rise to a generation of “takeaway kids” who carry forward unique stories of resilience and identity.
Today, Chinese communities face new challenges amid the growing US-China rivalry. Impacts from events such as the China Initiative and Covid-19 pandemic have left many feeling unfairly scrutinised and targeted.
China becomes bright spot at uncertain time: SCMP’s ‘Summer Davos’ highlights | South China Morning Post
The World Economic Forum event was held in an atmosphere of global tension, but attendees did see some hope in China’s tech advancements.
For those attending the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions this week, “uncertainty” was the inescapable word. It could be found on the lips of almost everyone; senior Chinese officials, global executives, foreign academics and thought leaders from all fields.
This should not come as a surprise. Simmering regional tensions, unpredictable policy pivots from Washington and a foggy picture for global trade were all top of mind as speakers and panelists gathered in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin for the forum, also known as “Summer Davos”.
There, they discussed whether the world will continue to lurch from one crisis to another and how to build consensus in a fraught moment for globalisation. Cross-border investment, structural shifts in China’s economy and supply chain security amid the Israel-Iran conflict were also topics of interest.
This weekly newsletter is put together by DeLisle Worrell, President of the ABCF. Visit us at Association for Barbados China Friendship | (abcf-bb.com).
Thanks to everyone who sent contributions for this week’s Update. Please send items of interest to me via the contact page at ABCF-BB.com or to info@DeLisleWorrell.com
The ABCF mission is to build a deeper understanding between the Chinese people and Barbadians and Caribbean people from all walks of life. The association’s focus is on personal experiences, people-to-people contact, cultural exchanges and exchanges of ideas, and the facilitation of travel, business and study. From the outset we aim to learn from and build on the experiences of the Caribbean and China, and to develop mutual understandings and support that will be to the benefit of both sides.
