Louisa Lim

Australia's Prime Minister Is Ousted By His Own Party

Louisa Lim

Malcolm Turnbull was booted from his seat by conservatives in his party. It's the 4th time in the past decade that the country has removed its prime minister. Scott Morrison is the new prime minister.

Daryl James was just 15-years-old when he arrived at the Army Apprentice School in the 1970s. He says he was repeatedly abused, as were many others. Now he returns every year just to confirm that the school is still gone. "The ghosts have gone now, " he told NPR.

In Australia, Decades Of Abuse Against Military Recruits Comes To Light

Louisa Lim

A commission is investigating complaints by military academy students who say systematic sexual abuse was inflicted on new recruits dating back to the 1970s.

25 Years On, Mothers Of Tiananmen Square Dead Seek Answers

Louisa Lim

A bullet to the head killed Zhang Xianling's son near Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. Since then, she has led a group demanding the truth and accountability for those deaths.

Civilians hold rocks as they stand on a government armored vehicle near Chang'an Boulevard in Beijing, early June 4, 1989, before the army began a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in and around Tiananmen Square.

June 4: The Day That Defines, And Still Haunts China

Louisa Lim

Suppressing its own people with tanks and guns 25 years ago was a pivotal act of modern China. Beijing hoped economic prosperity would make people forget. But the legacy of Tiananmen remains potent.

Artist and former soldier Chen Guang stands with one of his paintings last year that depicts the scene when he helped clear Tiananmen Square as a soldier.

For One Soldier At Tiananmen, A Day 'Never Forgotten'

Louisa Lim

Chen Guang is now an artist, and since early May, he has been held in police detention after staging a performance that was a comment on attempts to expunge the Tiananmen Square massacre from history.

A Chinese man who became known as "Tank Man" stands alone to block a line of tanks heading east on Beijing's Changan Avenue just outside Tiananmen Square on June 5, 1989. It's an iconic image known around the world -- except in China.

For Many Of China's Youth, June 4 May As Well Be Just Another Day

Louisa Lim

Students were the driving force behind the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Beijing. China's youth now have other worries, the events of 25 years ago forgotten and buried by time and the government.

After People's Armed Police were deployed to clear the square on June 4, pitched battles broke out between police and angry crowds throwing stones.

After 25 Years Of Amnesia, Remembering A Forgotten Tiananmen

Louisa Lim

The bloody 1989 crackdown in Beijing changed China, NPR's Louisa Lim explains in a new book. She also chronicles the brutal repression that took place in another city — and remained hidden until now.

A woman wears a mask while walking in a park near the China Central Television Tower, background, on a hazy day in Beijing. The elderly, children and those suffering from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases are being advised to stay indoors to reduce exposure to polluted air.

Beijing's 'Airpocalypse' Spurs Pollution Controls, Public Pressure

Louisa Lim

The air in China's capital has been classified as hazardous to human health for a fifth consecutive day. Environmentalists say it's the worst pollution since monitoring began last year.

A small, child-like creature in a cone hat peers into a toy shop, happy at the sight of a snow globe, in a vignette called "Tininess" in <em>Darkness Outside the Night</em>, a graphic novel illustrated by Xie Peng. Find out what happens in the <a href="http://www.npr.org/books/titles/187048382/darkness-outside-the-night?tab=excerpt#excerpt">excerpt below</a>.

For China's Youth, A Life Of 'Darkness Outside The Night'

Louisa Lim

In his haunting new graphic novel, cartoonist Xie Peng, 36, captures a psychological journey into the world of young Chinese. He worked for six years on the book, which renders a landscape of competition, anxiety and stress, and where everything, including dignity, is a commodity.

Hu Xinglian is a professional mourner in the southwestern city of Chongqing, China. Known professionally as Dingding Mao, she is paid for her talents at singing the funeral dirge, a tradition that began in the Han dynasty 2,000 years ago. As she sings during a recent funeral, another member of her troupe joins her for a duet.

Belly Dancing For The Dead: A Day With China's Top Mourner

Louisa Lim

Banned during the Cultural Revolution, China's ancient funeral practices are re-emerging — but with new twists. One of China's most famous professional mourners creates modern funerals with Chinese characteristics — burning paper money, wailing and prostrating, karaoke eulogies and strobe lights.