In the small town lived quite some craftsmen, each having their own masterstroke.

At first look, the white, oil-paper umbrellas in the shop caught Wu Dongxu's eyes. Though they were expensive, he pointed at one and said, without a second thought: "That's one!"

He carefully pulled open the unlocked, light grey security door and saw an outdated, pale yellow plywood door.

It was a small town where there were many Diaojiao houses, i.e. stilt houses, built along the stream. Formerly known as Ganlan houses, this kind of folk residence was said to have been designed to keep out vermin.

After swallowing the pills, Liu turned his wheelchair around and moved slowly over to the balcony. The sun was bright out there, and so was Liu's mood.

Nowadays, are there any city dwellers wearing patched clothes? No! Now, people have enough food and clothing.

The lobby of the Maple City Cultural Center was crowded with people on the afternoon of January 1. A Canadian Youth Paper Cutting Competition was being held here.

In an ancient town in the southern reaches of the Yangtze River there lived in a small compound of nine average households sharing an ancient well.

Dr. Su Jinsan ran a clinic in the British concession in Tianjin during the early 1910s. He was believed to be the best orthopedic surgeon of the city. Even foreign horse racers whose limbs were broken would come to see him.

At 6:30 in the morning, Spring got up. At 7 a.m., he left home and walked 10 minutes to the metro station. The metro system of this city resembled the spider webs of his hometown. In fact, it was denser than spider webs, covering every corner of this city.

A gust of cold wind blasted through the cracks in the half-open door, making me involuntarily shudder. But it bothered me none as I stormed out against the headwinds in a rage, slamming the door shut to give vent to the frustration in my heart.

After sweeping several roads and returning to her rented bungalow, Wang Hao was in need of some rest. She had been up since dawn. As she closed her eyes, the crying of the neighbor’s child pierced through the thin walls and shattered her moment of peace. Lying in bed, she thought about how it was time to visit her husband Li Bing again, and found it even more difficult to sleep. Li had been hospitalized for several months, without any sign of improvemnet. Wang was so worried that she sat up, staring at the gray window for a while. Then she remembered Li’s wish of having the furniture rearranged. She got up slowly, tears streaming down her face, and began to move the furniture about.

When did the sparrows settle in the Liu family yard? Nobody can tell for sure. Maybe the day the family moved in, when Mrs. Liu moved a nest from inside the house to a tree in the yard. Maybe it was the day when she spanked her son and denied him dinner for shooting the birds with a sling. Or maybe it was the day when the Liu family planted the first seedling – the family planted hundreds of them every year. As the trees grew into a forest, the number of sparrows in it also increased exponentially.

After the Qingming Festival, Old Geng from Dongzhuang Village went from alley to alley with his bicycle. He was a chicken vendor.