non-fiction

Enlightenment is just a short queue away – by Elijah Dove

Marriage, loss, and red tape – by Carl Setzer

I arrived at the US consulate in Shenyang at 8:15am. The handwritten sign on the window of the security office said citizen services would begin at 8:30. There didn't seem to be the threat of a line forming, so I figured I was safe to wander around a few minutes to see what the capital of Liaoning Province had to offer.

As I turned to leave, I bumped into something solid – it felt like a tree or a telephone poll, but turned out to be a person.

A supermodel is born – by Jon Rechtman

My career as a model started the way all good stories begin: I was walking down the street, minding my own business, when I was propositioned by a slim young Chinese woman with impeccable English, in a snazzy white dress and an attitude to match.

"You're perfect," she said, looking me up and down.

Climbing a mountain to beat the sunrise – by Elijah Dove

As we approach the staircase, flashlight beams sweep through the midnight mist-smog. Chanted words drift from behind them, and as we draw closer, shambling figures reveal themselves as street vendors, hawking canes, incense and assorted trinkets. No rest for the working. We walk briskly past them and begin our ascent on steps leading up between hulked, darkling shadows; shops by day are now become anonymous, shuttered spectres.

We are on our way to climb Mount Tai, the most renowned of China’s five great mountains. It carries the claim of being the most-climbed mountain not only in China, but in the world.

It was the first day of the Chinese new year in Urumqi, not that many Uighurs particularly cared. It's not their holiday (although there was a Uighur language spring festival gala). But it was also a Friday, which meant the biggest weekly public prayer at the Grand Bazaar. The Bazaar itself, the world's largest, was closed. Outside it, hundreds of Muslims laid out their mats, kneeled and prostrated themselves to the yodelling refrain of "Allah Akbar" coming from the speaker system.

Across the street, a clump of security guards watched them, looking bored.