ByShare this storyXiao Ding had her final green card interview in late September 2020. For the NGO manager, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, the interview for permanent residency would end her 10-year visa journey in America, first as an international graduate student, then as and the spouse of an American citizen. But months after the interview,  there’s one question that still lingers in her mind. “The officer asked if I have ever taken any Chinese Communist Party courses in college,” Ding recalled. It came up after he asked if she was a member of the party,...…ByShare this storyXiao Ding had her final green card interview in late September 2020. For the NGO manager, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, the interview for permanent residency would end her 10-year visa journey in America, first as an international graduate student, then as and the spouse of an American citizen. But months after the interview,  there’s one question that still lingers in her mind. “The officer asked if I have ever taken any Chinese Communist Party courses in college,” Ding recalled. It came up after he asked if she was a member of the party,...WW…

By andShare this storyLate last year, Nick Doiron spotted an article in , detailing how China had built a village along the contested border with neighboring Bhutan. Doiron is a mapping aficionado and longtime contributor to OpenStreetMap (OSM), an open-source mapping platform that relies on an army of unpaid volunteers, just as Wikipedia does. Governments, universities, humanitarian groups, and companies like all use data from OSM, making it an important tool that underpins ride-hailing apps and other technologies used by millions of people.After reading the article, Doiron went to add new...…By andShare this storyLate last year, Nick Doiron spotted an article in , detailing how China had built a village along the contested border with neighboring Bhutan. Doiron is a mapping aficionado and longtime contributor to OpenStreetMap (OSM), an open-source mapping platform that relies on an army of unpaid volunteers, just as Wikipedia does. Governments, universities, humanitarian groups, and companies like all use data from OSM, making it an important tool that underpins ride-hailing apps and other technologies used by millions of people.After reading the article, Doiron went to add new...WW…

By andShare this storyGu Zeyu’s financial situation hit rock bottom in March. Out of work and owed back pay, the 24-year-old was down to eating one meal a day and struggling to cover her utility bills. But even as she cut her spending to almost nothing, her costs were still overwhelming. Gu had started borrowing money through Huabei, a popular virtual credit card and microlending service operated by Ant Group, the Chinese financial technology giant, while she was in college. She later signed up for Jiebei and Baitiao, two similar services. Over the next four years, her credit limit...…By andShare this storyGu Zeyu’s financial situation hit rock bottom in March. Out of work and owed back pay, the 24-year-old was down to eating one meal a day and struggling to cover her utility bills. But even as she cut her spending to almost nothing, her costs were still overwhelming. Gu had started borrowing money through Huabei, a popular virtual credit card and microlending service operated by Ant Group, the Chinese financial technology giant, while she was in college. She later signed up for Jiebei and Baitiao, two similar services. Over the next four years, her credit limit...WW…

ByShare this storyust before 8 p.m. on the evening of August 17, Zara Alvarez and her two housemates stepped out of a market in a suburb of Bacolod, a city on Negros Island in the central Philippines. Alvarez, 39, wore black leggings, black basketball shoes, and a black T-shirt with the legend “From the Other Side.” In press photos taken later that night, the rain was so heavy that the streetlights diffused into the murk, each bulb looking like a swollen moon. The women hurried toward their home, a boarding house on nearby Santa Maria Street. In the dark and the downpour, they didn’t see...…ByShare this storyust before 8 p.m. on the evening of August 17, Zara Alvarez and her two housemates stepped out of a market in a suburb of Bacolod, a city on Negros Island in the central Philippines. Alvarez, 39, wore black leggings, black basketball shoes, and a black T-shirt with the legend “From the Other Side.” In press photos taken later that night, the rain was so heavy that the streetlights diffused into the murk, each bulb looking like a swollen moon. The women hurried toward their home, a boarding house on nearby Santa Maria Street. In the dark and the downpour, they didn’t see...WW…

ByShare this storyeon Woo-oak has the numb, strained aspect of someone forced to grieve in the public eye. It has been months since she recovered from Covid-19, but she is still nervous in public spaces, preferring to meet in a rented private study rather than a cafe. “I’m worried I might get it again,” Jeon says.In late May, an outbreak of the novel coronavirus swept through a warehouse owned by the e-commerce company Coupang in Bucheon, South Korea, where Jeon, 45, worked. Jeon caught the virus and brought it home to her 23-year-old daughter and husband. She asked for their names not to...…ByShare this storyeon Woo-oak has the numb, strained aspect of someone forced to grieve in the public eye. It has been months since she recovered from Covid-19, but she is still nervous in public spaces, preferring to meet in a rented private study rather than a cafe. “I’m worried I might get it again,” Jeon says.In late May, an outbreak of the novel coronavirus swept through a warehouse owned by the e-commerce company Coupang in Bucheon, South Korea, where Jeon, 45, worked. Jeon caught the virus and brought it home to her 23-year-old daughter and husband. She asked for their names not to...WW…

ByShare this storyBryan was on the way to a recording studio with his friends last year when the police stopped them, asked to see their IDs, and threw them into the back of a van. “They took my phone, asked what I do for a living, and why I was dressed the way I was,” said the 22-year-old musician, who requested that his last name be withheld out of concern for his safety. “They asked why I was using an iPhone — we were all using iPhones — and searched my pockets and fanny pack for money. Unfortunately, I had a bundle of cash to pay for the recording session and the Uber back home....…ByShare this storyBryan was on the way to a recording studio with his friends last year when the police stopped them, asked to see their IDs, and threw them into the back of a van. “They took my phone, asked what I do for a living, and why I was dressed the way I was,” said the 22-year-old musician, who requested that his last name be withheld out of concern for his safety. “They asked why I was using an iPhone — we were all using iPhones — and searched my pockets and fanny pack for money. Unfortunately, I had a bundle of cash to pay for the recording session and the Uber back home....WW…

ByShare this storyast December, Hollywood actor Armie Hammer arrived in Saudi Arabia for a music festival in Riyadh, the gulf kingdom’s capital. A day after the event, in a breathless Instagram post, he compared the festival to “ in the 1960’s,” his desert surroundings notwithstanding.Joining him were a mix of A–C-list celebrities like model Sofia Richie and actor Ryan Phillippe, along with a large group of Western travel bloggers. They had been flown out and, in some instances, paid to attend the festival, called . The event, put on by the country’s General Entertainment Authority, a body...…ByShare this storyast December, Hollywood actor Armie Hammer arrived in Saudi Arabia for a music festival in Riyadh, the gulf kingdom’s capital. A day after the event, in a breathless Instagram post, he compared the festival to “ in the 1960’s,” his desert surroundings notwithstanding.Joining him were a mix of A–C-list celebrities like model Sofia Richie and actor Ryan Phillippe, along with a large group of Western travel bloggers. They had been flown out and, in some instances, paid to attend the festival, called . The event, put on by the country’s General Entertainment Authority, a body...WW…

ByShare this storyn 2003, Praveen Kumar bought his first mobile phone, as several of his friends already had. But for the 29-year-old schoolteacher from the eastern state of Bihar, one of India’s poorest, to use the device to talk to his friends was inadvisable. “It was very costly,” Kumar says. Each outgoing minute was charged about eight cents, so a 10-minute call cost about as much as the average daily wage at the time. “We didn’t have enough money to say everything on the phone.”So Kumar’s friends and family members began ringing each other but hanging up before being charged for a...…ByShare this storyn 2003, Praveen Kumar bought his first mobile phone, as several of his friends already had. But for the 29-year-old schoolteacher from the eastern state of Bihar, one of India’s poorest, to use the device to talk to his friends was inadvisable. “It was very costly,” Kumar says. Each outgoing minute was charged about eight cents, so a 10-minute call cost about as much as the average daily wage at the time. “We didn’t have enough money to say everything on the phone.”So Kumar’s friends and family members began ringing each other but hanging up before being charged for a...WW…

ByShare this storyChina’s online shopping holiday Singles Day usually represents something of a victory lap for Alibaba, Tencent, and Meituan, three of the biggest e-commerce, payment, and entertainment companies in the country. But this year, the holiday spirit dampened when regulators announced a draft set of antitrust rules aimed specifically at internet platforms: On the back of the announcement, stock prices for Alibaba, Tencent, Meituan, and other companies tanked, in market value in just two days.For years, China’s tech platforms have experienced relatively unfettered growth. Success...…ByShare this storyChina’s online shopping holiday Singles Day usually represents something of a victory lap for Alibaba, Tencent, and Meituan, three of the biggest e-commerce, payment, and entertainment companies in the country. But this year, the holiday spirit dampened when regulators announced a draft set of antitrust rules aimed specifically at internet platforms: On the back of the announcement, stock prices for Alibaba, Tencent, Meituan, and other companies tanked, in market value in just two days.For years, China’s tech platforms have experienced relatively unfettered growth. Success...WW…

ByShare this storyFerkat Jawdat is used to intimidation from the Chinese state. A Uyghur living in Washington D.C., he was one of the first in the exile community to start speaking out about something that everyone knew, but no one dared mention — that their families in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region were disappearing one by one into internment camps. Among them was Jawdat’s mother, who was detained first in 2017 and then again in February 2018. When other family members were arrested a few months later, he sounded the alarm. His activism led to appearances in the U.S. media and a...…ByShare this storyFerkat Jawdat is used to intimidation from the Chinese state. A Uyghur living in Washington D.C., he was one of the first in the exile community to start speaking out about something that everyone knew, but no one dared mention — that their families in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region were disappearing one by one into internment camps. Among them was Jawdat’s mother, who was detained first in 2017 and then again in February 2018. When other family members were arrested a few months later, he sounded the alarm. His activism led to appearances in the U.S. media and a...WW…