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Grandpa Zhou, an independent manager under contract with the city government of Chengdu discusses his work and life. He has handled human waste for almost all his life starting from an employee of the state in charge of cleaning public toilets.

An essay about the Tiananmen Square massacre in China on June 4, 1989, adapted from the book" Bullets and Opium," is presented. Topics discussed include the country's communist regime, the author's interview with the survivors of the massacre, including Wu Wenjian, and the life of the author in prison and after his prison release.

Presents a personal narrative in which the author recounts his experiences of being a dissident journalist in China from June 4, 1989 when the Tiananmen Square massacre took place, and each anniversary of that day through June 4, 2009. This article was translated from the Chinese by Wen Huang.

Presents an interview with Yang Wenchang which describes the author's experience of being in the Suchuan Province of China during an earthquake. Wenchang describes the terror of the earthquake and at the same time explains how he is not saddened by the loss of his house or personal belongings. He told how his house fell into the earth and was living in a tent, thankful that he had his family with him. The interview shows how some people can see the good in even the most horrific of times. This interview was translated from the Chinese by Wen Huang.

This article is about Zeng Yinglong, a Chinese prison inmate who believes himself to be an emperor. When asked how he came to believe he was emperor, Zeng describes an incident involving the people of his village and a giant talking salamander. Zeng also comments on China's one child policy and on reincarnation. This article was translated from the Chinese by Wen Huang.

This article presents two encounters the author recounts. In the first encounter (The Leper), the author recounts his having met a leper in rural China. In interviewing the man and his wife, the writer discovers that the leper believes that the disease was visited on him in retribution for having inadvertently killed a sacred snake. He describes the impact of the disease on his life, including the death by ritual burning of his first wife. The leper describes his conversion to Christianity. In the second encounter (The Corpse Walkers), the author travels to Sichuan Province in China to ask a master of feng shui of his acquaintance to ask about the Chinese ritual of "corpse walking." The feng shui master recounts a story from his youth wherein specially trained individuals "walked" a corpse from his place of death to his native area and his burial place. The folkloric beliefs attendant in corpse walking are described. These encounters were translated from the Chinese by Wen Huang.

Presents an interview with Qian Guibao, a Chinese bumpkin who dealt with the business of domestic human trafficking. Within the interview there are reasons given by Guibao for entering into the business of human trafficking as well as describing Guibao's first experience in this field. He explains the management techniques that were adopted by Qian to expand his business, giving the explanation of the wedding of the victims of human smuggling. This interview was translated from the Chinese by Wen Huang.

Presents an interview with Li Changgeng, a professional mourner of Jiangyou County which is in the southwestern province of Sichuan. Giving the reasons for the beginning of this profession and the responsibility of a mourner both as a participant and an observer, it shows the competition between Changgeng's father's group and the Red Flag Five. He also explains the impact of the economic reforms of China during 1970s on Changgeng. This interview was translated from the Chinese by Wen Huang.

An excerpt from the book "For a Song and a Hundred Songs: A Poet's Journey Through a Chinese Prison," by Liao Yiwu is presented.

Presents the poem 'To Mother,' translated by Shao Wei and Marilyn Chin.