Footprints
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What can best represent today's China? Its people. From movers and shakers to the grassroots, we invite you to trace the footprints of the Chinese people from every walk of life, including modern farmers, traditional craftspeople or tech tycoons. With Footprints, you’ll feel the pulse of the 1.4 billion Chinese people and find inspiration in their incredible life stories. Updated weekly.
278 Episodes
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In Beijing's Shunyi District, a nonprofit organization called HOPE (Horses Offering People Enrichment) is bringing children with special needs together with horses, and changing lives in the process. Founded in 2009 by American physical therapist Priscilla Lightsey, HOPE began as a personal mission and has grown into a community of dedicated staff members and hundreds of volunteers. This episode explores the power of healing on horseback.
For archaeologist Dong Ningning, horse bones are historical archives. Through scientific analysis, she interprets their clues to reconstruct the animal's profound impact on ancient Chinese transportation, language, social hierarchy and other aspects of lives and culture.
Dong Lina is the first visually impaired person in China to earn a master's degree in broadcasting. With quiet perseverance, she has charted an unconventional path, opening new possibilities for others like her to pursue their life goals.
Nestled in the mountains of southwest China's Guizhou Province, Zheng'an County has become the world's guitar capital – producing one out of every seven guitars around the globe. Amid the hum of factories and the rhythm of craftsmanship, a 25-year-old South Korean named Kim Jung-hun has found his place. As a sales manager for a South Korean guitar accessories company, Kim is embracing new opportunities in this guitar town.
Have you ever dreamed of cycling around the world? For most of us, that seems too challenging, too expensive, and too risky. But for Luo Mingning, aka Mowgli, dreams are meant to be chased. A bike mechanic originally from a small village in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, southwest China, Mowgli set off on a bamboo bicycle he had built himself. From April 2022 to November 2025, he spent four years cycling across the Americas, Africa, and Europe. Besides his own tenacity, he also was showered with kindness from friends and strangers along the way, solved many problems and discovered a world that was bigger, warmer, and more surprising than he had ever imagined.
Against all odds, researcher Zhao Zhihai pioneered the world's first hybrid foxtail millet, achieving a major agricultural breakthrough. His "Zhangzagu" varieties broke yield records and introduced herbicide resistance, transforming a subsistence crop into a high-yield, drought-tolerant solution for China and Africa.
When Shanghai police officer Jiang Jingwei was mistaken for a long-lost son, he made a decision that would change the life of a family 1,000 miles away. In 2003, in north China's Shanxi Province, an accident claimed Liang Qiaoying's eldest child and left her paralyzed, with the cognitive level of a young child. To protect her from the devastating truth, her husband, Xia Zhanhai, told her their son was away working in a city. Years later, Xia saw a man on TV who looked exactly like his lost son – Jiang – and reached out in desperation. Jiang agreed to step into that role, and that promise has lasted for 12 years, bringing hope and comfort to a family he had never met.
This July, Thomas Rabe, Chairman of the John Rabe Communication Center, was granted the Friendship Envoy Award at the second Orchid Awards in Beijing for promoting cultural understanding and friendship between China and Germany. Eighty-eight years ago, his grandfather John Rabe, a German businessman stationed in Nanjing in 1937, managed to shelter and save 250,000 Chinese civilians from atrocities committed by Japanese invading forces during one of the darkest moments in human history, known as the Nanjing Massacre. In this podcast, Thomas Rabe shares with us the Rabe family's special bonds with China which spans over a century and four generations.
Women hold up half the sky. This is a well-known saying in China.
It's been three decades since China declared gender equality a basic national policy. So, what is the progress in social status of Chinese women today?
In this podcast, we will find the answer from Guo Ye, Director of the Women’s Studies Institute of China, who has been actively involved in the promotion of gender equality and women empowerment.
For more than a decade, Hu Zijing has championed Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in South Africa against all odds. His contributions have been both foundational and far-reaching: he played an instrumental role in launching South Africa’s first accredited university degree program in acupuncture and drafted the national regulations governing the dispensing of TCM medicines.
When Louis Koen first came to China in 2002, it wasn't part of a grand plan. As a teenager, he and his sister followed their mother from South Africa to Yinchuan in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, where she had taken a job teaching English. That move kick-started a journey of connection, discovery, and belonging that has lasted more than two decades. Today, Louis teaches English at Lanzhou University in Gansu Province and has built a life in northwest China with his Chinese wife and their two lovely daughters.
The ancient city of Kashi boasts a history of more than 2,000 years. Its rich history, distinctive architectural style and vibrant ethnic culture are trademarks of its charm. Sitting in the earthquake zone in China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the ancient city, whose old buildings were mainly adobe-structured, have undergone a major renovation in recent years, to improve its tremor resistance.
Leading the effort was Wang Xiaodong, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. In this podcast, he shares with us the story behind the ancient city’s remarkable rebirth.
For over three decades, Jing Laihong has shaped China's water conservancy through innovative work on projects like the sediment-challenged Xiaolangdi Water Conservancy Project on the Yellow River. His engineering innovations in flood and sediment control prove that a lasting harmony between humanity and the power of nature can be achieved.
Nestled in the mountains of southwest China's Guizhou Province, Zheng'an County has become the world's guitar capital – producing one out of every seven guitars around the globe. Amid the hum of factories and the rhythm of craftsmanship, a 25-year-old South Korean named Kim Jung-hun has found his place. As a sales manager for a South Korean guitar accessories company, Kim is embracing new opportunities in this guitar town.
Join us for an insightful conversation with Dato' Abdul Majid Ahmad Khan, a veteran Malaysian diplomat who spent 12 years in China. From serving as Malaysian Ambassador to China (1998-2005) to his current role leading the Malaysia-China Friendship Association, Dato' Majid has dedicated decades to fostering mutual understanding and collaboration between the two nations.
Joshua Dominick, affectionately known as "Lao Tan" in Chinese, has spent more than two decades in Beijing. Originally from the U.S., Josh speaks fluent Chinese and has become a familiar face in the local community. In 2013, he founded Krankin' Thru China, an organization dedicated to empowering individuals with disabilities to engage in outdoor sports across the country.
For Luo Dingjun, traveling between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland has become second nature. Born and raised in Taipei, the 37-year-old has built a life in Shenyang, a vibrant city in northeast China's Liaoning Province. As the founder of the WeChat Official Account "Cross-Strait Youths," Luo has spent over a decade fostering connections and understanding between people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Known as the world's capital of small commodities, Yiwu in eastern China attracts hundreds of thousands of sellers and buyers from home and abroad every day. Harold Mori, a young Peruvian man, is one of them. In this podcast, Mori shares his story of how he started his trading business from scratch right here in Yiwu.
She came to China to study but ended up building a home, a thriving career and so much more. Meet Nguyen Thi Lan, a Vietnamese entrepreneur who has spent over a decade in Chongqing, southwest China. From navigating student life to launching two successful businesses, she has embraced the energy of this dynamic "Mountain City." Now, as the leader of the Vietnamese Association in Chongqing-Sichuan, she's helping fellow Vietnamese expats find their place in this vibrant community.
A healer by day, a warrior by night – can these two worlds coexist? For Shi Ming, they don't just coexist – they collide. The 30-year-old is both a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioner and an MMA fighter. In November 2024, she stunned the world with a crushing head kick at the Road to UFC finals, sending the crowd into a frenzy. What drives her to both heal and conquer? How does she balance these two lives?
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