Footprints

​Bronze holds a special meaning in Chinese culture. The Bronze Age, starting around 1,700 BC, has had profound impact on the development of the Chinese civilization. Even today, artistic bronzeware still impresses many people, and one particular craftsman of bronze art named Zhu Bingren has been exploring innovative ways to bring new vitality to this ancient craft.

Footprints presents “The Wrong Train”, a radio drama which tells a story of how a young man, who coincidentally got stranded in Wuhan when the city was hit by a COVID outbreak in early 2020, ended up becoming a volunteer worker at a local hospital.The drama was composed based on a real story.

Qin Yi, a legendary actress known in nearly every household in China, passed away on May 9th, 2022 at the age of 100. As a performing artist adored by many, she shaped and brought many roles to life on stage and in films that ingrained a lasting impression on viewers. Her personal life, however, was never free of pain and suffering along with many twists and turns over the decades.

​Chen Jinyuan and Chi Zhaojiu both are veteran mold-making technicians working at the Guangxi Yuchai Machinery Group, a major manufacturing company in China. In the early 2000s, with an unyielding faith in their own ingenuity, they and their fellow workers made a key breakthrough in developing a cost-effective mold for diesel engines. In this episode of Footprints, let's follow these two master technicians to see what their work is like and how they overcame one challenge after another to help their company and the country to gain manufacturing prowess.

Twenty seven year-old Ding Xiaomei works in the urban construction sector in southwest China's Yunnan Province. On the eve of this year's National Youth Day on May 4th, we talked with Ding to find more about her role in her local community's urban development program and her thoughts about the responsibility and power of the youth.

​Reading can form and transform one's life. This is the message conveyed by two Chinese authors of children's literature Tong Xixi and Li Xixi on the eve of this year's World Book Day, which falls on April 23. They also shared with us how they created their best-selling books "Peng!Peng!Peng!" and "Wang Kaka" and recounted their endeavors to cultivate a habit of reading in a creative way among children across China.

He Jingtang is a renowned Chinese architect whose architectural designs include the iconic China Pavilion built for the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. With his career spanning more than half a century, he has developed and maintained a masterful feature in all the buildings he has designed—a combination of traditional Chinese architectural culture with modernity.

Jiang Can is a visually impaired musician of the China Disabled People's Performing Art Troupe. The 29-year-old was honored on April 8th by the central government for his outstanding contributions to the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games and the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games. Committed to creating music for the welfare of people with disabilities, Jiang boasts a wide range of music productions, including "The Beautiful Flower of the Winter Olympics", a theme song played at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Paralympic Winter Games on March 4th, 2022.

Wang Qi, who lost his sight when he was 13 years old, has beat great odds to become a professional saxophone player in the China Disabled People's Performing Art Troupe in 2007. As one of the highlights of his life and career, he participated in the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games.

​Twenty-seven year old Chinese independent musician Xu Peiru is the singer of the song “You Can See the World” played at the closing ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics to pay tribute to all the volunteers working for the games. Besides being a musician, the millennial, like many of her peers, has been leading a “slash life”, which means she pursues vastly different careers, lifestyles and hobbies all at the same time.