China Scene: Central

Bus conductor with gift for Chinese graphology

Chen Yan, a bus conductor in Wuhan, Hubei province, can calculate at a glance the number of strokes in a Chinese character. The 39-year-old also knows after one reading how many strokes make up a 100-character poem.

Although Chen left education after graduating from junior high school, her sensitivity to the Chinese written language is such that she never miswrites or mispronounces it, and others' mistakes make her feel nauseous.