分类： society

On March 30, a landmark inclusive sporting event brought together 150 students with special educational needs (SEN) from Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Macao, marking the first time Macao has joined this cross-regional initiative. Accompanied by 300 supporting teachers and volunteers, the participants completed a 3.5-kilometer route through the scenic green spaces of Shanghai Expo Culture Park, crossing the finish line to cheers from crowds of attendees.

The event was co-organized by three regional institutions: the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, the Federation of Hong Kong-Shanghai Association, and the Hong Kong Special Education School Heads Association, with financial support from the Hong Kong Jockey Club. Built on the foundation of Shanghai Marathon charity programs held in 2023 and 2024, the gathering was designed to advance three core goals: deepen cross-regional cooperation in special education, support the social integration of SEN students, and strengthen youth exchanges across the three regions through the shared language of sport.

Leung Wing-hung, founding chairman of the Hong Kong Special Education School Heads Association, emphasized that events like this run play a transformative role in shifting public perceptions of special needs young people. “They help people in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Macao really see the potential of our special needs children and give them opportunities for growth and development in various fields,” Leung said. Looking ahead to future collaboration, he noted that Shanghai and Hong Kong share strong complementary strengths in special education, with significant untapped potential for closer cooperation in adaptive sports development to create more engagement opportunities for SEN students. Beyond sport, he added, regions can work together to improve teaching practices and career support, connecting Hong Kong SEN students with professional opportunities at Shanghai-based businesses and organizations.

After the run concluded, participants gathered for an inclusive awards ceremony followed by a cross-regional carnival that offered a range of accessible activities. Attendees could join Special Olympics-themed games, interact with trained equine animals in a guided equestrian experience, and enjoy live performances by fellow SEN participants. A highlight of the post-race event was the world premiere of *You Make The World Shine*, an animated short film entirely created by SEN students using artificial intelligence tools. The project represents an innovative new approach to empowering special needs young people to express their own voices and build meaningful connections with the broader public through technology.

Derek Anderson, a learning support teacher at Wellington College International Shanghai who accompanied students to the event, praised the gathering’s powerful core message of inclusion. “It is very important for students coming to Shanghai today who have taken part in the run to see that everybody is all the same and we can all do things,” Anderson explained. He added that accessible, community-focused events like this run are critical to raising public awareness of the needs of disabled people, helping the general public recognize that many people require additional support, accessible infrastructure, and tailored accommodations to fully participate in community life.

For many participating students, the event offered a rare chance to build new cross-regional friendships and experience the joy of sport in a supportive environment. Kirsty Gu, an SEN student from Wellington College International Shanghai, shared that she greatly enjoyed the day, particularly the opportunity to meet new people and run alongside a new partner she connected with just before the event.

Organizers noted that the first-time inclusion of Macao participants marks an important step forward in building a connected, inclusive support network for SEN students across all three regions, with plans to expand cross-regional collaboration in the coming years.

In the coastal city of Qinhuangdao, located in China’s northern Hebei Province, a groundbreaking new initiative is offering a fresh path to healing and development for autistic children. A one-of-a-kind panda-themed therapeutic base has opened its doors at Qinhuangdao Wildlife Park, centered on the idea that gentle, close interactions with giant pandas can create a calming, supportive environment that eases anxiety and nurtures emotional growth.

The base was officially inaugurated on March 27 during a public event titled “Giant Panda Healing • Guarding the Stars”, held just days ahead of the 19th World Autism Awareness Day, marked on April 2. To mark the opening, 133 autistic children joined the event alongside their parents and trained volunteers, getting the chance to explore the park and meet its resident giant pandas firsthand.

Witnesses reported that many children arrived at the venue feeling restless and overstimulated, but gradually softened and relaxed as they moved through the park’s open, green animal zones. At the dedicated panda pavilion, the quiet, playful presence of 6-year-old giant pandas Tao Su and Ya Nan — who were celebrating 100 days of residence in Qinhuangdao — drew quiet, unforced smiles from many of the young participants.

Li Nan, deputy director of the rehabilitation center at Qinhuangdao’s Disabled Persons’ Federation, explained the core logic behind the innovative program. “Interaction with animals can effectively ease anxiety in children with autism and help them build inner security,” she said. “That is the heart of this nature-based healing initiative.”

Unlike traditional indoor rehabilitation training, the new base combines regular open-air visits with structured themed activities, designed to leverage giant pandas’ naturally calm, non-threatening demeanor to create a low-pressure therapeutic space. Ma Zhiguo, president of the Disabled Persons’ Federation of Haigang District, noted that pandas’ steady, nonaggressive behavior perfectly matches the need autistic children have for predictable, safe social interactions. “They can reduce social anxiety and become icebreakers for emotional connection,” Ma added.

For families raising autistic children, the new base fills a critical gap in accessible, supportive care. Song Liping, the mother of 31-year-old autistic adult Li Ruxian, has spent decades navigating the challenges of caring for her son, who did not speak until he turned 4. “Raising a child with autism requires far more patience and energy than most people can imagine,” Song explained, referencing the dual strain of financial pressure and emotional exhaustion that many families face. Since beginning intensive professional rehabilitation for her son in 2014, Song has dedicated herself to autism support work, becoming a volunteer and developing community music therapy programs. Today, her son has progressed from requiring constant full-time care to working as her teaching assistant — a transformation that speaks to the impact of consistent, targeted support.

Liu Demin, Party branch secretary of the Qinhuangdao Psychological Health Association, which provides training and counseling for professionals working with special needs children, outlined the unique benefits of animal and nature-based therapy compared to conventional indoor interventions. “Animals are open and nonjudgmental. Being with them creates a low-pressure social environment and encourages children to initiate interaction,” Liu said. She added that outdoor, multisensory experiences in natural spaces promote healthy sensory development, while open environments inherently help reduce feelings of overwhelm and anxiety. “Observing panda behavior can also extend attention spans, providing strong support for daily rehabilitation,” she noted.

To make the healing program accessible to as many families as possible, Qinhuangdao Wildlife Park has introduced a new preferential access policy: any visitor with a severe disability certificate can bring one family member as a companion for free, eliminating unnecessary financial barriers for participating families. Looking ahead, the base plans to roll out specialized tailored therapy sessions for autistic visitors and expand training for all personnel working with program participants to ensure safe, effective support.

As the opening event drew to a close with a festive animal parade, children wandered freely under the warm spring sun. For these young participants, often referred to as “children of the stars” in China, the quiet encounter with the gentle giant pandas offered moments of uncomplicated, genuine joy — a powerful reminder that every life carries immeasurable value, and that inclusive, innovative support can open new doors for growth and connection.

An ongoing judge-led independent investigation into Hong Kong’s deadliest November residential blaze has uncovered a critical failure: all eight fire water tanks serving Tai Po district’s Wang Fuk Court were completely drained when the fire broke out, a consequence of unorthodox maintenance tiling works that dragged on for months. The tragedy, which claimed 168 lives, prompted Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu to convene the independent inquiry committee, which has held six weeks of public evidential hearings starting March 19, with testimony already heard from 20 residents of the affected public housing estate.

One resident’s firsthand account, delivered to the committee Monday, laid bare the immediate danger created by the empty tanks. When he attempted to deploy a building fire hose to contain the spreading flames on November 26, he turned the valve to find no water emerged at all, leaving him unable to slow the blaze before emergency services arrived.

Testimony from the industry professionals responsible for the estate’s fire safety inspections continued during Tuesday’s sixth hearing. Chung Kit-man, director of Victory Fire Engineering Ltd, the registered contractor that completed a mandatory fire safety inspection of Wang Fuk Court in March 2025, told the committee he was aware the tanks had been drained one month ahead of the blaze to accommodate the maintenance works.

Chung explained that his team received reports from on-site workers that no water tank leaks were detected during the March 2025 inspection. However, official inspection forms bearing Chung’s signature explicitly flagged issues with the water tanks. Chung admitted that his employees likely made an error when completing the documentation, and that he had failed to catch the mistake before signing off.

Li Chunyin, a frontline worker with Victory Fire who carried out the inspection, backed up that account, telling the committee he had directly inspected the interior of the concrete water tanks and confirmed no tiles were installed on their inner surfaces at the time of the check. He added that none of the eight blocks’ tanks showed any signs of leakage, so no repairs were recommended by his team.

Committee counsel Lee Shu-wun presented a pricing document from the estate’s maintenance consultant, Will Power Architects Co, that confirmed the scope of works included applying white ceramic tiling to the interior of the fire water tanks — a practice Chung described as highly unusual for non-potable water storage used exclusively for firefighting.

“To my knowledge, fire water tanks only exist to store water for emergency firefighting, so there is no requirement for the water to meet drinking water standards,” Chung told the inquiry. “I cannot understand why this tiling maintenance took three full months to complete.”

To execute the tiling works, main contractor Prestige Construction and Engineering Co subcontracted the coordination of system shutdowns to another fire service installation firm, China Status Development and Engineering Co. This subcontractor was responsible for submitting applications to the Hong Kong Fire Services Department to approve temporary shutdowns of the building’s fire hydrant and hose network.

Earlier hearings revealed a staggering procedural failure: China Status never sent any of its own personnel to inspect the system or verify whether a prolonged full-system shutdown was actually necessary for the works. Despite this, the firm submitted 16 separate shutdown applications, resulting in the entire firefighting water system being disabled for more than six months starting in April 2025.

During that extended shutdown, Victory Fire workers conducting routine checks discovered the rooftop water tanks of three blocks were empty on October 16, 2025, and soon confirmed all eight blocks’ tanks had been drained for the ongoing tiling repairs. A week before the blaze, on November 19, inspection teams also found that the main power switch controlling the fire booster pump for all eight blocks had been switched off.

When questioned about his firm’s response, Chung said he and his workers requested an official shutdown notice from the Wang Fuk Court building management team but never received one. He admitted that his team never issued a formal warning or formal safety advice to management about the risks of a prolonged shutdown, citing a long-unspoken norm across Hong Kong’s fire safety industry: “the mindset of not telling other industry players how to do their jobs.”

Nine years after China announced the establishment of Xiong’an New Area, this purpose-built city in Hebei province has emerged as a magnet for young professionals, luring talent away from overcrowded megacities with its enviable work-life balance, affordable housing and well-developed public services.

On a mild March morning, 25-year-old Liu Suying wakes to sunlight spilling through the window of her 70-square-meter rented apartment in Xiongdong District, her pet cat curling against her hand to rouse her. After whipping up a quick breakfast of fried eggs and fresh coffee in her compact kitchen, she climbs into her car for the short commute to her role as a production planning engineer at a local commercial satellite firm. Just seven minutes after leaving home, she arrives at her desk, ready to start the workday.

A 2024 graduate of Beijing Jiaotong University, Liu is far from alone in choosing to build her career and life in Xiong’an. Her current living arrangement would be out of reach for many young people working in nearby Beijing: she pays just 10,000 yuan ($1,450) annually for a spacious two-bedroom apartment, and receives an additional 1,000 yuan monthly living subsidy from the Xiong’an local government. When Liu told a friend working at a leading tech firm in Beijing about her housing, the friend – who pays 3,000 yuan a month just to share an apartment with others for a single small room – immediately expressed jealousy.

That such a comfortable, convenient lifestyle is available in Xiong’an marks a dramatic transformation from the area’s origins. When China first unveiled plans for the new area in April 2017, the 100-square-kilometer planned development zone was little more than sprawling farmland and scattered rural villages. Built with a core mission to ease overcrowding in Beijing by relocating non-capital functions outside the city, Xiong’an was designed from the ground up to prioritize quality of life for residents, not just economic growth.

That deliberate planning has paid substantial dividends. According to local government data, Xiong’an’s permanent resident population hit approximately 1.4 million by the end of 2025, growing by 200,000 over the previous five years as more workers and families moved in. To date, more than 400 branches of China’s central state-owned enterprises have set up operations in the new area, bringing thousands of skilled employees with them and cementing Xiong’an’s reputation as an up-and-coming hub for innovation and career opportunity that doesn’t force residents to sacrifice personal well-being.

On the rugged, untamed West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island, a dramatic story of community kindness and canine resilience has come to a heartwarming close, nearly a week after a hiking accident left an injured hiker separated from her beloved pet.

The incident unfolded on March 24, when 34-year-old hiker Jessica Johnston slipped and fell 180 feet (55 meters) from a rocky waterfall along the Arahura River, while trekking through remote native bush with her 4-year-old border collie, Molly. Emergency rescuers were quickly dispatched to the hard-to-reach location, where they found Johnston alive but suffering extensive bruising and deep lacerations across her body. With the hiker’s condition requiring urgent medical care, crews airlifted her to a nearby hospital, but a frantic initial search for Molly turned up no trace of the dog, forcing rescuers to leave the missing canine behind in the unforgiving wilderness.

For Matt Newton, owner and lead pilot of Hokitika-based Precision Helicopters Ltd — whose operating base sits just a short distance from the Arahura River — the story didn’t end there. After reaching out to Johnston while she recovered in hospital to offer his support, Newton committed to launching his own sustained search for Molly. He made multiple initial flights over the search area, but dense vegetation and tricky terrain blocked all efforts to locate the dog.

Refusing to abandon the mission, Newton and his family launched a public fundraiser to cover the cost of additional flight time and specialized thermal imaging equipment required for a more thorough search. The appeal resonated deeply with the public, and within days, hundreds of strangers from across New Zealand and beyond contributed more than NZ$11,000 (US$6,300), far exceeding the fundraising goal.

With funding secured, Newton launched a renewed search on March 31, bringing on board a veterinary nurse, trained volunteer searchers, and a tracking dog named Bingo to assist in the operation. Just an hour after the helicopter took to the skies, the team hit a breakthrough: thermal imaging picked up a heat signature matching a dog near the base of the waterfall, just meters from the spot where Johnston had fallen a week prior.

The helicopter descended to a narrow ledge near the riverbank, allowing a volunteer and tracking dog Bingo to disembark and coax the scared, hungry Molly out of hiding. Rescuers described the border collie as thin, bedraggled, and hungry, but surprisingly steady; she did not run from the team, and allowed them to approach and secure her safely. Newton later shared that he believes Molly survived her seven days alone in the wild by preying on small feral animals that inhabit the river valley.

After the successful extraction, Molly was brought back to the Precision Helicopters base, where waiting volunteers had planned to rotate into search crews. Instead, they scrapped the scheduled flight rotations, gathered for an impromptu celebratory barbecue, and took turns greeting and cuddling the rescued dog. Just hours later, Johnston — still recovering from her injuries — was able to travel to the base for an emotional, tearful reunion with her long-lost companion.

Newton noted that the joy of being reunited with Molly is already giving Johnston a major emotional boost as she recovers. “Having your dog back, that’s for sure… that’ll speed up her healing process a whole lot,” he said. Images released by Precision Helicopters captured the tender reunion, as well as the moments of Molly’s extraction from the remote river edge.

The story has captured hearts across New Zealand, a testament to the power of collective community goodwill to bring about a happy ending that no one expected after the original hiking accident.

On Wednesday, a historic shift in family law took hold across Japan, as a revision to the country’s Civil Code legalizing joint child custody for divorced couples went into force. Prior to this change, Japan stood out as the only G7 nation that did not formally recognize joint legal custody, a policy position that drew growing criticism from both domestic and international observers for years.

Under the old framework that dated back decades, Japanese family courts almost exclusively awarded sole custody to one parent when separating couples could not reach a private agreement. In the vast majority of cases, that parent was the mother – and the sole custody ruling granted full power to cut off all contact between the non-custodial parent and their children. While couples were permitted to work out informal visitation or co-parenting arrangements on their own, the court system offered no path to formal joint custody if negotiations broke down, leaving many non-custodial parents permanently estranged from their kids after divorce.

The new regulation fundamentally rewrites this process: family courts now retain the authority to grant either sole or joint custody based on the specific circumstances of each case. Critically, the policy change is also retroactive: couples who divorced under the previous, restrictive system can now petition a family court to revisit and revise their existing custody arrangements. The revised code also adds a new mandate for formal child support payments, enshrining a right for the custodial parent to claim a baseline of 20,000 Japanese yen (equivalent to roughly £95 or $125) per month from their former spouse.

Proponents of the reform have pinned long-held hopes on this policy shift as a solution to the high-profile issue of international parental abduction that has put Japan under global scrutiny in recent years. High-profile cases have drawn widespread attention to the harms of the old sole custody system: in 2023, retired Japanese table tennis legend Ai Fukuhara was accused by her Taiwanese ex-husband of abducting their young son, cutting off all contact and refusing to return the child to his home in Taiwan, a case that was eventually resolved through a private settlement. Two years prior, during the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, a French father living in Japan staged a public hunger strike to draw attention to his own case, where he claimed his ex-wife had taken their children and cut off all access under the protection of the old sole custody rules.

Despite the widespread acclaim for the reform as a step toward more equitable family law, the change has not received universal support. Critics, including many domestic gender advocacy groups, raised concerns ahead of the bill’s passage that joint custody mandates could put vulnerable women at risk, forcing them to maintain ongoing contact with abusive former partners in cases involving domestic violence. Lawmakers have addressed these concerns directly in the text of the revised code: the law explicitly requires courts to award sole custody to one parent if evidence of domestic violence or child abuse is confirmed during proceedings.

This revision marks one of the most significant changes to Japanese family law in modern history, closing a policy gap that separated Japan from other major developed economies and responding to years of pressure to reform a system that critics argued harmed children and non-custodial parents alike.

Once celebrated for its misty mountain vistas, crisp cool air and lush tropical landscapes, Chiang Mai in northern Thailand has now become a city gripped by a recurring public health crisis. Decades of unaddressed seasonal air pollution have pushed long-time residents to the breaking point, with many families weighing permanent departure to protect their children’s health.

Tirayut Wongsantisuk, a 41-year-old father, never imagined he would leave the city he and his wife chose for its idyllic natural setting when they relocated in the 2010s. Today, that dream has turned into a daily nightmare: two of his young daughters suffer from frequent nosebleeds, and his six-year-old eldest has developed painful skin rashes and swollen, allergy-ridden eyelids. The persistent poor air quality has left Tirayut with no good options. “I’ve been thinking, maybe we really should move during this season… because if something irreversible happens to our child, we’ll feel terrible forever,” he told the BBC in an on-the-ground interview.

Tirayut’s fear is shared by dozens of other Chiang Mai families caught in this year’s particularly severe fire season. Over the past week, smoke from hundreds of raging blazes has choked the entire northern region, pushing Chiang Mai to the top of IQAir’s global ranking of the world’s most polluted major cities. When a BBC reporting team visited the area last week, a thick, acrid blanket of haze erased the iconic mountain views that draw millions of tourists each year, and a constant smell of burning hung in the air.

Official satellite data underscores the scale of the crisis: on April 1 alone, the system detected 4,750 active fire hotspots across Thailand, a new record, with the vast majority concentrated in the forested and agricultural lands of the north. By the following morning, Chiang Mai’s average PM2.5 concentration — the tiny toxic particles that penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream — was rated “very unhealthy” by global public health standards.

The annual crisis runs from November to March, a window that aligns with common agricultural practice: many smallholder farmers burn residual crop stubble to clear fields ahead of planting new season seeds. Dry seasonal conditions also fan the spread of spontaneous wildfires across parched forest and grassland areas. Local media has shared dramatic imagery of mountain slopes entirely engulfed in flames, with some residents comparing the blazing lines of fire to erupting volcanoes.

To curb the spread of blazes, Thai authorities have already implemented emergency measures: all high-fire-risk national parks have been closed to the public, and officials have announced that anyone caught intentionally starting fires in restricted zones will be arrested on site. Under current Thai law, those convicted of illegal forest burning face maximum penalties of 20 years in prison and fines of up to 2 million baht, equivalent to roughly $61,100. Even so, the strict penalties have failed to deter the annual burning that drives the haze crisis.

Public health experts warn that long-term exposure to PM2.5 haze causes a cascade of health complications, ranging from mild issues like itchy eyes and frequent nosebleeds to life-threatening conditions such as respiratory failure and heart attacks. For Benjamas Jaiparkan, a 35-year-old public school teacher in Chiang Mai, the risk is too great to ignore. She has already sent her two children to stay with relatives in neighboring Phayao province, where air quality remains far better than in Chiang Mai, and is now planning a permanent move. Her four-year-old son began experiencing regular nosebleeds last year, and she fears permanent damage to his developing lungs. “I feel so sorry for him because I don’t know how much more his lungs can take,” she said.

Frustration with government inaction has been building for years among Chiang Mai residents. Activists and affected communities have repeatedly filed legal action to force systemic change. In July 2023, more than 1,700 Chiang Mai residents brought a lawsuit against former Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and two leading state agencies, arguing that the government’s failure to curb northern air pollution had cut an average of five years off each resident’s life expectancy. In January 2024, a Chiang Mai court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, ordering the national government to draft a binding emergency action plan to improve air quality within 90 days.

The crisis is not isolated to Thailand: hazardous seasonal haze has become a regional public health emergency across Southeast Asia. This year, Malaysia and Indonesia have both recorded their highest number of fire hotspots in seven years, spreading poor air quality across borders and affecting millions of people across the region.