As the marriage rate in China fell to 7.3 per 1,000 in 2018, more affluent single women are seeking to become mothers without husbands. They are turning to overseas options, because unmarried women in the country are largely barred from accessing sperm banks and in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment, where an egg is fertilised by sperm outside the body.

In New Delhi, India, Vinod Kumar Sharma spends four hours every day on the city’s crowded trains and often unpaved roads. The 44-year-old finds it difficult to navigate the city because of its heavy traffic and poorly repaired streets. But to earn a living after losing his job as a factory worker, the father of three started to retrain as a massage therapist in January.

Cen Xiaolin smashed his own world record for rope skipping in November 2019, by managing to jump over the line 228 times in just half a minute. The 18-year-old pupil from a middle school in the southern province of Guangdong previously set a Guinness World Record in 2016 by skipping 208 times in 30 seconds.

Luo Xiangjian lost his right leg when he stepped on a bomb left over from the Sino-Vietnam war when he was five. But that did not stop him from chasing his dream of playing basketball.

In South Korea, income disparity has widened since President Moon Jae-in took office in 2017. 

Protests broke out in a town in China’s southern province of Guangdong on November 28. Residents were demonstrating against a plan to build an industrial park, that includes a crematorium, in a forest farm. Residents said people suffered multiple injuries when police fired tear gas and hit them with batons.

In Malaysia, Abdul Karim is building a mosque using fallen tree branches collected from the nearby woods. After more than a year of effort in his spare time, the poet who writes under the name “Arif Karimia” was nearing completion of the project in November 2019.

Taiwanese-Canadian actor Godfrey Gao died early Wednesday, November 27, 2019, after collapsing during the filming of a reality television show in eastern China. He was 35.

Nine days after the police siege of Hong Kong’s Polytechnic University started, management entered the campus on November 26 to persuade remaining protesters to leave.

Pope Francis has left Thailand for Japan for the first papal visit there in almost 40 years. This is part of his 32nd Apostolic Journey that includes a family reunion in Bangkok and takes his anti-nuclear message to Japan.

A 70-year-old cleaner died on November 15, a day after he was hit on the head with a brick thrown during a clash between anti-government protesters and their opponents in Sheung Shui, a northern Hong Kong border town.

E-cigarettes will be outlawed in the Philippines and anyone caught vaping in public may be arrested, according to the nation’s president. 

Hong Kong’s District Council elections are scheduled for Sunday, November 24, 2019. District councillors handle community-level affairs in the city’s 18 districts and are democratically elected every four years.

At least 350 koalas are feared killed as bush fires continue to burn in the eastern part of Australia.

If your beloved furry friend goes missing in China, hiring a pet detective is now a way to increase your chances of a happy reunion.

Every year, elephants take part in the Surin Elephant Round-up where the elephant handlers, called mahouts, show their skills in battle re-enactments and football games. However, critics say the elephants have to endure traumatic and painful training to be tamed.

Protests continued in Hong Kong through the afternoon and into the evening of November 14, 2019. 

With violent protests at Hong Kong universities showing no signs of easing, some students from mainland China have fled their campuses. 

China plans to develop a unified national park system by 2020, after gathering inspiration from wilderness recreation areas in the United States. 

Over 548,000 students will take the College Scholastic Ability Test, also known as Suneung, South Korea’s national college entrance exam on November 14. The test is a major part of the South Korean education system and for many students, their academic life leads up to this moment. The tests last all day and feature back-to-back exams. The country comes almost to a standstill as stock markets open late and public transport often puts on extra services. Doing well on the test will often determine where students go to university but can also affect future job prospects. With the stakes so high while the students revise, some parents go to temples to pray.

Bolivian President Evo Morales announced his resignation on November 10, 2019, after he claimed to have won the country’s general election causing several weeks of protests. The resignation comes after the head of the army had called for Morales to step down. Tensions flared up after the results were stopped for 24 hours without explanation before it was announced that Morales has won the election. A report by the Organisation of American States later said it could not verify the results as it had found evidence of data manipulation.

Lion cubs in at a zoo in China’s eastern province of Jiangsu did not exactly live up to the fierce reputation of their species when introduced to a new “friend.” 

In Xinjiang, a 75km (47-mile) stretch of road snakes back and forth over a mountainous incline as it reaches a height of 4,100 metres (13,450ft) above sea level. 

Fancy a luxurious loo? A golden lavatory with 40,815 diamonds has set a Guinness World Record.

An American on drug dealing charges escaped a courthouse with two other prisoners in Pattaya, Thailand on November 4. The shackled inmates fled in a pickup truck after stabbing and shooting guards.

This year’s Tokyo Ramen Show brought food lovers 36 kinds of the Japanese noodle soup from different regions of the country. The annual event aims to promote tourism in Japan and is one of its largest outdoor gourmet festivals. The event was held at Komazawa Olympic Park from October 24 to November 4.

At least three of the 39 victims found dead in a lorry in England on October 23 set off from Vietnam’s ‘Billionaire Village’ where farmers live in palatial mansions. Villagers go overseas, legally or illegally, for better lives and to support families back home.

Excessive weight is a growing problem across China, where 6.6 per cent of adults were considered obese according to the latest research from 2016 – almost double the rate recorded a decade earlier. 

Shanxi Province is famous for its traditional knife-shaven noodles. But apprentice chefs at Taiyuan Tourism College see noodle-making as an art form.

In Shandong and Sichuan, hills and valleys are lit up by red leaves as autumn creeps in.