Strait talking

Facing out across the ocean, the ruined hulks of huge loudspeakers dominate the eastern shore of Dadeng, a leafy island of 20,000 residents that lies off the coast of Xiamen, Fujian province.

A place out of time

First person | Ni Wen and Hong Chunji

Waiting for the mail

Hong Chunji, 60, (1971-89)

Welcome to the world's largest garbage dump

Since Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 went missing in the early hours of March 8, teams of rescue workers have been frantically searching large swaths of deep ocean to locate the Beijing-bound Boeing 777-200.

How pollution affects marine life

The latest word on books: Keep those pages coming

In recent months, social media sites have been deluged with posts bemoaning the decline of reading in China. But according to a new report, the harbingers of doom have been on the wrong page.

Reading between the lines

In the past 12 months, several major players in the Chinese book industry and researchers have conducted surveys into digital reading habits. Here are some of their conclusions.

Sound bites

"I read, but mostly I do it online. At the store, I just walk around to see what everyone else is reading."

Uygurs learn what's in a name

Snow was falling in the April noonday sun, but that didn't stop people from lining up outside Abula's shop in Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

The baker hoping to make plenty of dough

"This is the first year of my plan to expand the company. It's important to me and to all my employees," said Abulajan Mettohot, the owner of Xinjiang Abulajan Naan Chain Co, who has set up a training program in his hometown in Yecheng county and in other two counties, Shule and Yengisar in Kashgar prefecture.

Unwilling guests of the Emperor

Li Lishui, 90, from Shenyang, Liaoning province, has three possession he values more than his life: A letter written in English; an old photo of a foreign soldier; and a certificate awarded to him by the United States government in appreciation of the encouragement and help he gave Allied prisoners of the Japanese during World War II.

Illustrated history

There are many ways to record history. Because writing was prohibited in the Mukden camp, the POWs stole paper on which they drew cartoons through which they vividly recorded life in the camp and made scabrous attacks on their Japanese guards.