Ever felt guilty about tossing out old-but-still-good threads? April Nigh, Chair of the Rotaract Clothing Drive, tells us how much they want our pants.

Is this Beijing’s first used clothing drive?

As far as I know, other than ad hoc drives in response to the 2008 earthquake, there has ... Read more »

For some Beijing pets, it's a cold and lonely winter. Animal abandoments spike during the holidays in the capital. Xie Zheng, of Don't Eat Friends gives us the lowdown on how to help furry friends in need.

Why do animal abandonments spike during the holidays?

During summer or ... Read more »

We sat down with Michael Jackson China fan club president Zhang Rui to discuss the star's legacy in the Middle Kingdom.

How many people are in the Michael Jackson fan club in China?

Over 81,000. The number has doubled since his passing.

What kinds of things does the ... Read more »

Beijing-based organization Hua Dan uses elements of drama and dance to teach migrant women and children life skills in Beijing and Sichuan. How do dance and drama improve the lives of working class Chinese women and children? Read on to find out more from Hua Dan rep Peta Khan.

How ... Read more »

Wilbur W. Hsu is a volunteer teacher with CAI - a charity that organizes extra-curricular classes for kids in migrant schools in Beijing. CW sat down with Hsu to find out more about his basketball classes.

Can you tell us a bit about CAI?

CAI is an internationally-based non-profit organization in ... Read more »

CW recently sat down with Philippine Charity Ball organizer Jaime FlorCruz to get the lowdown on philanthropy, Filipino style.

Tell us a bit about the charity ball.

This is the second charity ball organized by the Filipino community in Beijing. We organizers are mostly a group of Beijing-based professionals who ... Read more »

Wokai is an NGO implementing microfinance programs in rural China. Can you give us a snapshot of what microfinance is all about?

Wokai’s platform connects contributors around the world directly with individual farmers and microentrepreneurs in rural China who are in need of small loans. Since its official launch ... Read more »

You were guest editor of the quarterly online literary journal Cha. What was that like?

A huge eye-opener into the range and diversity of writing in Asia. When you are a “guest,” not born in Asia, and are on a truly international team, the process of selecting work feels heightened ... Read more »

Can you tell us a bit about Beijing United’s PINK campaign?

Beijing United Family Hospitals are aiming to help raise awareness and educate the women of China about the importance of breast cancer prevention.

Is breast cancer a major concern in China?

Breast cancer is on the rise in ... Read more »

VIVA is an organization for businesswomen in China. Are there any specific challenges or benefits for women doing business here?

Overall, I feel that a lot of the challenges that women face are universal and not necessarily specific to China. Many of the issues our members talk about are the ... Read more »

VIVA is an organization for businesswomen in China. Are there any specific challenges or benefits for women doing business here?

Overall, I feel that a lot of the challenges that women face are universal and not necessarily specific to China. Many of the issues our members talk about are the ... Read more »

USA Today compared you to Indiana Jones in a feature last year for discovering almost 30 new dinosaur species. Is this a hard rep to live up to?

I don’t know. It’s great to have that paper recognize you, but it’s very rare in China that scientists ... Read more »

Electric Shadows is a multi-media platform with a focus on film. What can we expect at an Electric Shadows event?

In a city where the majority of inhabitants watch films on DVD in their homes, we create events where people can come together for a shared experience. When attending an ... Read more »

Whenever I meet expats in other Chinese cities, I am struck by a uniformity that I do not encounter in Beijing. Shanghai is full of corporates. Chengdu is full of laid-back English teachers and students. Shenyang is full of English teachers and students who couldn’t find jobs or programs ... Read more »

Your new book Repeat After Me is also your first fiction novel. After Foreign Babes, how does it feel to make the jump from writing reality to writing fiction?

The two projects were similar in a craft sense. In both cases, I had endless amounts of material. For Foreign Babes ... Read more »

Community Alliance is building a counseling center for the elderly in Shifang, one the cities worst hit during the Sichuan earthquake. Is there a strong need for counseling services for the elderly earthquake survivors? For these farmers, most of them depended on their land for work and money. Now that ... Read more »

In theater, silence is never golden. The shining exception is Mummenschanz, the critically acclaimed theater group that has achieved over 30 years of success by saying nothing at all.

Loosely translated as “masquerade,” the Swiss mime-quad is criss-crossing the globe for its retrospective performance 3x11, a reflection on 33 years ... Read more »

The China Charity Challenge is a bicycle rally from Lijiang to Chengdu with proceeds going to Roots & Shoots. How did you set this up and why Sichuan and Yunnan? First, Roots & Shoots has a new office in Chengdu, and is reaching out to southern Sichuan and northern Yunnan. These areas ... Read more »

Wokai is one of the few microfinance groups in China. Can you explain how Wokai works? You log on to the site and browse [loan] recipient profiles from all over China. These are usually women wanting to start small enterprises. Donors give 10 dollars or above, and a field partner ... Read more »

You’re one of the only Mandarin-speaking Indian journalists in China and you talk about seeing China through Indian eyes. So what does an Indian see when they first get to China?

The one thing that Indians have is road envy. When I first came to China in 2001, I ... Read more »

How important is it for expats to get involved in HIV/AIDS education efforts? We aim to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS as well as reduce the stigma of discussing sexual health, and the expat population in Beijing can definitely play an important role. We work with volunteers who get ... Read more »

You two cowrote Think Like Chinese, which is about the cultural understanding needed to do business in China. What inspired the book? Zhang Haihua: A French businessman once told me he felt happy working with me because I wasn’t like most Chinese. That made me want to write this ... Read more »

You’re the Senior Representative for Special Olympics in China. What’s Special Olympics’ mission in China? Special Olympics was founded with the aim of providing sport training and competition for people with intellectual disabilities, people that often aren’t given the same access [to sports]. I think that expanding ... Read more »