For a group of Ethiopian teenagers with Down syndrome, learning traditional Chinese lacquer craft has opened a window to self-expression -- through the coffee cups they create with this art.
At a school in Ethiopia for teenagers with Down syndrome, a public welfare project called Hands and Stars was launched in March 2025 by Cheng Lifang, a young Chinese jade carving artist.
Ten young teachers of the school signed up to learn traditional Chinese lacquer craft at the time, and after completing their training, they passed the art on to the children at the school. Marito is one of them.
She said that since she began learning Chinese lacquer craft, China is no longer an abstract term to her, but a brush, a can of lacquer, and a way of waiting for a piece of art work to come to life.
The lacquer craft process allows full play to imagination with little technical restriction, and blends well with the focus, patience, and creativity that children with Down syndrome often possess.
With Chinese lacquer craft, young Ethiopian teachers and children have turned ordinary coffee cups into dazzling works of art with their own hands and hearts, and in the process, found their own value and place.
"We love the program because it takes patience, it takes a lot of hard work, and it's a beautiful way of showing art and having arts. Our future plan is to have our own lacquer arts department with hundred and hundred stars. For now it's just one class, but in the future plan we want to have a whole department of the Hands and Stars program. Then we want to do more of the arts," said Beky Abadula Gemeda, the school's principal.
Chinese craft enlightens Ethiopian teens with Down syndrome
A grassroots official from Gari Village in Ya'an City of southwest China's Sichuan Province has led locals to conquer immense difficulties to build a road at an altitude of 4,000 meters, turning the once-isolated community into a thriving tourist destination, paving the way towards a prosperous life.
This is a story from a China Global Television Network (CGTN) documentary titled "4,000m Altitude: They Built a Road Straight to the Sky".
Due to its extreme altitude, Gari Village lacked a proper road more than a decade ago, forcing residents to hike in and out on foot.
Refusing to let his village remain cut off from the world, Asheng, the local Party chief, made it his mission to change their fate. Mobilizing the villagers, he led them in overcoming immense geographical and logistical hurdles to finally carve a road through the high-altitude terrain.
The road opened the gates to Dawagengzha, a stunning natural attraction whose name translates to "magic mountain" in the Tibetan language. As word of this natural wonder spread, tourists began to arrive. However, a new challenge quickly emerged: the village lacked hotels and other tourism infrastructure, meaning visitors couldn't stay overnight.
Recognizing the bottleneck, Asheng took the initiative once again, converting his own house into the village's first homestay.
Seeing the success of Asheng's venture, hesitant villagers quickly followed suit.
Today, Gari Village is home to 158 distinctive homestays, forming a thriving hospitality cluster known as "Cloud Dawagengzha". Campsites, inns, and wooden cabins now dot the mountain landscape.
In 2024, the village welcomed over one million tourist arrivals, generating a revenue of 120 million yuan (about 17.94 million U.S. dollars). The momentum has only continued to grow. During the autumn foliage season in 2025, the village recorded an average weekly tourism revenue exceeding 1.5 million yuan.
Looking ahead, Asheng said he will continue to explore ways to improve the lives of his fellow villagers.
The documentary is part of CGTN's "Breaking Through" series, which traces China's journey from the historic Long March to its modern-day achievements, highlighting the resilience, ingenuity, and determination of its people.
Building road at 4,000m, grassroots official leads locals to prosperity: documentary
