China has ways of populating their new cities.
More Recent Stories

What Will Become of China’s New Air Pollution Consciousness?
By Wade Shepard
A major shift has occurred in China, as blissful ignorance has been replaced by outrage of the country’s air quality.

Tea Time in the Sahara: A Journey Into the Depths of Mauritania
A journey into the desert of Mauritania goes far beyond travel.

A Wake Up Call from the New Chinese Counterculture
By Wade Shepard
I leaned back in my seat, closed my eyes, and fell asleep. The slight vibrations sent up from the tracks below sort of rocked me. There are few things more comfortable than sleeping on a train. Perfect. Three or so hours slip by, then suddenly I’m jolted awake. I shake to a start and peered […]

While China Destroys its Historic Buildings Taiwan Saves Them
By Wade Shepard
We’re told that China has a 5,000 year old civilization, but from walking down the streets of most cities the country appears to have been founded somewhere in the vicinity of late 1970s. To put it simply, beyond select tourist attractions and random structures scattered around historically kinetic places like Shanghai, it’s an oddity to […]

Batam: Portrait of a Free Trade Zone
By Wade Shepard
Batam is a free trade zone, and all free trade zones are the same. They are artificial places, created through bi-lateral governmental decrees drawn up by drape jowled, be-suited old men in board rooms. They are intentionally drawn on maps, sectioned off with gates, and abstractly induced with special economic policies that instantly turn them […]

5 Chinese Ghost Cities that Came Alive
By Wade Shepard
As China’s ghost cities fill up they are forgotten by an international media that is hungry for sensationalism, not information on the most expansive urbanization movement in human history.

What the Irish Water Protests Are All About, or How I Got Beat Up While Reporting on #Right2Water
An on the ground description of the recent Right2Water protest in Ireland, describing how serious this issue actually is.

Stampede on the Bund: An Eyewitness Account of Shanghai’s New Year’s Tragedy
A firsthand account of the events that occurred this New Year’s celebration on the Bund in Shanghai.

What South Koreans Say About “The Interview”
By Arthur Fern
There has been much controversy over Sony’s “The Interview,” with Seth Rogen and James Franco, but what do South Korean people really think about the film?

Jeepneys in the Philippines
By Wade Shepard
If you had to choose one thing to represent the Philippines there is a good chance it would be the jeepney. I set out to learn more about the tradition and history of this iconic vehicle, and this is what I found.