Results tagged “reuters”

This time last year, many people were prevented from going home to celebrate Chinese New Year with their loved ones because of the deadly winter storms. This year, it's the global economic crisis that threatens to dampen the holiday spirit for China's 200 million migrant workers, many of whom are now jobless as factories are shut down and jobs are cut. Kimberly Lim of Reuters speaks to a Shanghai-based couple who are unable to fork out enough money to return home to neighbouring Anhui province. (On a totally unrelated note, we found it interesting to see a cross adorning the wall of their small, bare room.)

Chinese farmer Wu Yulu came from an impoverished village outside of Beijing and did not have the chance to attain secondary education, but this did not stop him from teaching himself to build robots. This video features Wu's "30 second son" (as he affectionately calls it), a walking, talking, rickshaw-pulling robot which he says is now dearer to him than his own son. Having accidentally burnt down his own house and plunged his family into debt in the process of experimenting with robots, Wu has been hailed by the media as "China's cleverest farmer-inventor" and now works with universities and robotics companies, travelling around China to exhibit his creations.

Reuters has of late been collecting "video postcards" from people around the world sending their wishes and advice to US President-Elect Barack Obama. Here's what they filed from people on the streets of Beijing.

The dragon economy is booming: