The Accessibility Issue

November/December, 2021

We hear from people with disabilities about the challenges of access in China and what real inclusion means; investigate abuses in the pet industry; hear the harrowing story of a miner-turned-poet; tour an abandoned nuclear facility; and more.

中国残疾人近亿，为什么人们却很少在公共空间见到他们？“身残志坚”的励志故事背后，残障人士要付出怎样的努力？让他们像其他人一样出行、接受教育和享受其他公共服务的残障友好型社会，离我们还有多远？

Cover Story | 封面故事 

Access Wanted

残障友好型社会，还有多远？

China has vowed to make life simpler for millions of people living with disabilities, but this is usually easier said than done. From illogical wheelchair-access facilities to lagging education in braille, people with mobile, visual, or audio impairments are used to being afterthoughts in society. Inclusion activists and people with disabilities share with TWOC their day-to-day challenges and how they hope to see more inclusion of their voices in policies meant to address their needs.

Features | 主题故事 

Class Struggles

职业教育之困

Chinese education is known for rigor, but 50 percent of teens never get to enter high school, much less college. Many so-called “low-achievers” are shunted into struggling vocational schools, where crumbling facilities and indifferent teaching challenge the myth of equal education for all.

The Cost of Cute

宠物保护进行时

Pet ownership is growing rapidly in China, while social media and “pet cafes” make it easy for urbanites to get their fix of cuteness anytime—even from exotic pets. Yet regulations and society’s awareness for animal welfare have not caught up with these trends, leading to widespread abuses.

Field Notes | 乡音

16 Years in the Mines

“矿工诗人”陈年喜的爆破生涯

From the age of 17 until his forced retirement from injury, miner and poet Chen Nianxi labored in mines all around China. Through the deaths of comrades, the indifference of mine bosses, and his diagnosis of “black lung” in 2020, writing has been an outlet and motivator for Chen to overcome hardships.

Kaleidoscope | 镜像中国 

Gimme Sugar

古法制红糖：甜蜜的传承

Every November, when the sugarcane harvest comes to the Zhuotian riverplains, the locals practice a sweet tradition: making brown sugar with methods handed down from the Tang dynasty (618 – 907). Pressing sticky juice into vats boiled at high temperature, sugar-makers perform backbreaking work, but there are few jobs that produce happier results—as shown by the smiles of children when they sample the first sweet treat of winter.

Dragon’s Digest | 三味书屋 

Balcony

短篇小说《在阳台上》

If a pair of ex-lovers were to meet again after 30 years, how would their expectation compare with reality? Writer Sun Pin’s short story explores the foibles of romanticism in the modern day, with a surprising and wistful twist that makes readers want to go back and rethink the whole premise.

Gallery | 水墨丹青

Life, Entangled

艺术家梁绍基与蚕

Artist Liang Shaoji has worked with silkworms since the 1990s, calling them his “mentor” and “partner.” His new exhibition “A Silky Entanglement” is an eclectic play on materials, using contrasting textures and the symbolism of silk to lay bare Earth’s evolution—as well as his own creative process.

Time Machine | 时光机

The Butterfly Effect

鸳鸯蝴蝶，梦一回？

In the early 1900s, the romantic “Mandarin Duck and Butterfly” movement took China’s nascent literary scene by storm, but proved as short-lived as its namesake. Rejected by intellectuals for being sentimental and outdated, Butterfly literature still made an undeniable impact on making reading fun for the masses.

On the Road | 在路上 

The Nuclear Option

重庆816核工程解密之旅

Under the hills of Chongqing’s Fuling district, a 50-year-old nuclear secret is being revealed to the outside world. Declassified in 2002, the unfinished 816 Nuclear Plant is now a tourist site finally bringing to light the memories and (partial) truths of China’s “Third Front” defense project in the 1960s.

Bookmark | 好书有笺 

Myth and Mecha

《铁寡妇》：当武则天化身科幻大女主

Feminism, giant robots, and historical mashups: Iron Widow tries to do it all. With a protagonist named after real-life female emperor Wu Zetian, Xiran Jay Zhao’s debut novel eviscerates patriarchy and makes clever historical allusions, but gets lost in the scope of its own imagination.

Zoetrope | 视听空间

A Spy in Shanghai

《兰心大剧院》：美，但不好看？

Hitting Chinese screens two years after screening at film festivals abroad, the black-and-white Saturday Fiction, set in 1940s Shanghai, signals a commercial turn for arthouse director Lou Ye, but isn’t always successful in marrying its polarizing aesthetics and quasi-feminist themes with a spy-thriller plot.

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