Xie Wanying (October 5, 1900-Febrary 28.1999), better known by her pen name Bing Xin, was one of the most well-known Chinese writers of the 20^th century. Many of her works were written for young readers. Her pen name Bing Xin carries the meaning of a pure heart, and is taken from a line in a Tang Dynasty poem by Wang Changling.

    Bing Xin was born in Fuzhou, Fujian, but moved to Shanghai with her family when she was seven months old, and later moved yet again to the coastal port city of Yantai, Shandong, when she was four. Such a move had a key influence on Bing Xin's personality and philosophy (哲学) of love and beauty, as the hugeness and beauty of the sea greatly opened young Bing Xin's mind and heart. It was also in Yantai, Bing Xin first began to read the classics of Chinese literature, such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin, when she was just seven.

    In 1913, Bing Xin moved to Beijing. She started her writing career as she wrote for a school newspaper at Yanjing University where she was a student and published her first novel. Bing Xin graduated from Yanjing University in 1923 with a bachelor's degree, and went to the United States to study at Wellesley College, earning a master's degree at Wellesley in literature in 1926. She then returned to Yanjing University to teach until 1936.

    In 1929, she married Wu Wenzao, her good friend when they were studying in the United States. In literature, Bing Xin founded the "Bing Xin Style" as a new literary style. She contributed a lot to children's literature in China such as A Myriad of Stars (1923), Spring Water (1923), Six-one sister (1924), To Young Readers (1926), Homeward South (1931), The Collected Works of Bing Xin (1932-1933). Bing Xin's literary career was productive. She wrote a lot of works — prose, poetry, novels, reflections and so on. There is a Bing Xin Literature Museum in Changle in Fujian Province. The Bing Xin Children's Literature Award is named in her honour.

Dancing is popular all over the world. People dance in theaters, in parks or in their own living room. But Yang Liu, a woman in Guizhou, dances in an unusual place. Her stage is a single bamboo pole. 

Yang is a performer of bamboo drifting (独竹漂). It is a traditional skill in the girl's hometown. In ancient times, the local people crossed the rivers by riding on a bamboo pole. Now, bamboo drifting has developed into a folk sport.

Yang started to learn bamboo drifting at the age of seven. The bamboo pole is very slippery and it never completely stops moving. Yang fell into the water again and again. But the girl didn't want to give up. She always got back up on the pole and tried again. She practiced hard every day for three years. Finally, she was able to keep her balance on the pole. 

But Yang didn't just stop there. She wanted to live out her dream of becoming a dancer on a bamboo pole. The girl practiced many difficult movements on the pole. She failed countless times, but she never stopped trying. 

Her hard work finally paid off. Now 26, Yang has made a name for herself as a dancer on a bamboo pole. People can't believe their eyes whenever they watch her performances. Through Yang's dances, many people now know about bamboo drifting. They have discovered the beauty of this traditional skill.