The Year in Cheer: 144 ways the world got better in 2024 (January 2, 2025, Reason to be Cheerful)
Here’s an annual look back at the boldest, most surprising ways the world has changed for the better. This epic list is a treasure trove of hopeful facts of stories from 2024. We hope it brings you joy and inspiration for the year ahead.
Migrants in Libya: "Your destiny can change at any moment" (February 18, 2025, Doctors Without Borders)
In Libya, migrants and refugees live in precarious conditions and are subjected to a range of violence and abuse, both inside and outside the country's detention centers. While some of them have come to Libya in search of work, others aim to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean Sea from its coast. In addition to abductions, sexual assault, and other abuses, they face extortion and trafficking practices, with severely limited access to health care at a time when they desperately need it.
Half of workers in Singapore are unhappy with their salary – here’s why (February 21, 2025, People Matters Global)
The 2025 Hays Asia Salary Guide reveals that salary increments in the past year were largely driven by individual performance rather than promotions or job changes. This highlights a shift in how companies reward talent. Yet, economic uncertainty looms, with 35% of respondents expressing a pessimistic outlook on Singapore’s growth trajectory over the next two to five years.
Dispatch: Children reduced to skin and bones in war-torn Sudan’s forgotten famine (February 14, 2025, The Telegraph)
Real hunger makes people desperate. On a dirt runway in Sudan’s Nuba mountains, women sift through sand searching for small nuggets of grain. Every scrap of food counts for the millions on the brink of starvation in this remote area. Locals say the worst is yet to come.
How a tiny village became India's YouTube capital (February 18, 2025, BBC)
Tulsi is like any other Indian village. The small outpost in the central state of Chhattisgarh is home to one-storey houses and partially paved roads. A water storage tank peers out above the buildings, overseeing the town. Banyan trees with concrete bases serve as gathering spots. But what sets Tulsi apart is its distinction as India's "YouTube Village".
Freeze to US aid hits Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar hard (January 29, 2025, Radio Free Asia)
The U.S. is one of Southeast Asia’s largest providers of aid, and its withdrawal will be felt most in the region’s poorest nations: Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. With hundreds of millions of dollars paused, healthcare, food and education programs are already feeling a pinch.
Why does everyone want a mid white boy? (February 11, 2025, The Varsity: The University of Toronto’s Student Paper)
The ‘Oxford study’ is in reference to a supposed study that claimed that interracial couples are commonly composed of an East Asian woman and a white man. In fact, it is so prevalent that the shorthand WMAF — white male Asian female — has also been coined to refer to this type of relationship.
Hong Kong revives abandoned Kuk Po border village in alternative tourism push (March 1, 2025, Hong Kong Free Press)
The seaside village of Kuk Po was once home to Hakka people from southern China but was mostly abandoned in recent decades, even as gleaming high-rises sprang up in nearby Shenzhen across the Chinese border.
Integration of tech with social life drives Chinese people’s enthusiasm for AI (February 27, 2025, Global Times)
For Chinese society, the progress of AI represents turning the impossible into the possible, replacing inefficiencies with enhanced productivity, and transforming high-cost efforts into cost-effective solutions.
Mass Killings in China Are Testing the Limits of Control (February 4, 2025, Foreign Policy) (Subscription required)
In 2024, a wave of violent rampages disrupted China’s carefully cultivated image of stability, exposing underlying tensions often obscured by the country’s tightly controlled narrative. Dubbed “Xianzhong-ology” by netizens—these “revenge on society” attacks unsettled a nation unaccustomed to such public displays of disorder.
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Joann Pittman
Joann Pittman is Vice President of Partnership and China Engagement and editor of ZGBriefs. Prior to joining ChinaSource, Joann spent 28 years working in China, as an English teacher, language student, program director, and cross-cultural trainer for organizations and businesses engaged in China. She has also taught Chinese at the University …View Full Bio
Blessing Asia
In October-2022 more than 500 Christian leaders from across Asia gathered in Thailand for the Asia 2022 Congress, sponsored by the Lausanne Movement and various partnering organizations. I had the opportunity to participate in the Congress virtually and was mightily blessed. From Bible exposition to K-pop worship, and through seminars and workshops, the participants were encouraged by the stories of what God is doing in countries all over Asia. Clearly, God is on the move.
A beautiful vision was portrayed in a video of the popular worship song The Blessing, featuring singers from all over Asia. Here it is:
Many of the sessions have already been posted on their website and to their YouTube channel.
One that I found particularly helpful considering all that is going on in China was a presentation titled Church and State Relationship in Asia Today. You can see the video here.
I encourage you to spend some time on their website; there are fantastic resources for understanding God’s work in Asia today.
Original link: https://www.chinasource.org/resource-library/blog-entries/blessing-asia/
Image credit: Andrea Brucker, via Unsplash
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