Footprints

Spring Festival, arguably the single most important festival in China. Millions of people take the opportunity to travel back to their hometowns, reuniting with their parents, children and old friends. In China, this travel boom is called the Spring Festival travel rush, also known as the largest annual human migration on earth. This homebound journey isn’t always easy for everyone. But luckily, there’re always kind strangers who’re willing to help.

Doctors Cao Hehuai and Ke Dongfeng are a couple working at a village clinic in central China’s Jiangxi Province. In recent weeks, they and their small clinic, which is only staffed by them, have become a lifeline for about 3,000 villagers amid a surge of COVID-19 cases. With their three decades of experience working as village doctors, the pair have been doing well in their battle against the pandemic, and thanks to them, the villagers have weathered an initial wave of infections well. While bracing for a new wave of cases during the upcoming Spring Festival holiday at the end of January, Dr. Cao says rural China “will soon see the light at the end of the tunnel” in the fight against COVID-19.

Twenty-three year-old Chen Han, wearing a pair of glasses, is an intern technician who has been working on an inter-city metro project in eastern China since July 2022. In late December, the young graduate was infected with the coronavirus amid a surge of COVID-19 cases in China. Wasting no time to improve himself and build infrastructure for the country’s future, he returned to work soon after his recovery just as many other fearless and resilient Chinese did.

The term “bespoke suits” usually evokes an image of sophistication and elegance overlying its renowned expensiveness. Here in China, 37-year-old business owner Cao Peng started his own custom-tailoring suit brand dedicated to bringing customized suits to the ordinary man in the street. After 7 years of unwavering efforts, he has weaved up a bespoke suit chain across the country. As China went through its Covid-19 prevention and control measures in the past three years, he led his company to achieve business growth and has remained positive for a bright post-pandemic future.

Chen Jialing and Wang Mingming both are renowned Chinese artists who have won wide acclaim through their ink and wash paintings. The former shot to fame for his ability to break through traditional norms to create master-pieces of scenic beauty while the latter has revived the elusive charm of classic Chinese literature with his ink and wash painting.

In this podcast, we meet the Guo family – presented by London-based vlogger Guo Toto, who describes himself as “a child of two heritages.” His father is a Chinese musician and his mother is British and a garden designer. As Toto says, his family has been on a self-imposed mission to bridge the gaps between Chinese and British cultures.

Fifty-five year-old Fang Chun is a ranger and bird protector working in a wetland reserve situated in the northwest suburb of Beijing. Over the past two decades, his faithful daily patrol and monitoring work for the birds, however tedious it may seem, has contributed to a significant improvement of the local ecology and biodiversity.

Michael Wood has been a TV historian for 40 years and is well-known for his knowledge and understanding of China’s fascinating heritage and culture. His Story of China films and documentary on Chinese poet Du Fu have charmed both Chinese and international audiences alike.

Frances Wood is a British linguist who has surrounded herself with ancient Chinese manuscripts and books for most of her life. In this podcast, she tells about what inspired her interest in Chinese culture and what it was like to restore the Diamond Sutra – an incredible scroll described as the world’s earliest-dated printed book.

Alex Hua Tian, the first ever Chinese eventing rider in Olympic history, says every competitive rider is in search of that elusive "perfect moment of harmony" with his or her horse. In addition to having his sights set on the Paris Olympics in 2024, he has other aspirations too. For example, he wants to ensure that more children in China have access to ponies and horses and he wants to further increase the profile of the equestrian industry.