Before I came to China, I thought of many goals that I wanted to achieve during my time here, most of which are too boring to share, so I’ll spare you the details. One goal that is worth sharing (because you all probably have the same) is that I wanted to explore the depths of this country that I now call home. When I traveled to a village in the mountains of Guizhou to cover bullfighting between the Dong and Miao ethnic groups, I thought I had taken a big step towards achieving my goal. But then I found out about Greg Abandoned.

In this month’s cover story, Ned Kelly interviews Greg, a keen urban explorer who has visited some truly jaw-dropping locations across the world. From an abandoned space shuttle in the desert in Kazakhstan to an airplane graveyard that turned out to be a military base (and resulted in a long interrogation), Greg has many stories to tell.

Lead singer of the Arctic Monkeys, Alex Turner once said, “Technological advances really bloody get me in the mood.” And I couldn’t agree more. This month we’ve moved away from Galley Gadgets and on to Industry News, an insightful look at some of the biggest movements and shake-ups in Chinese business and tech industries over the last month.

Elsewhere, Li Bowen interviews three Chinese ‘preppers.’ Unlike the American version, Chinese preppers are not preparing for the end of the world or the collapse of civilization as we know it, but for more rational situations like snap lockdowns.

Finally, Alistair Baker-Brian looks at the effect the ‘double reduction’ policy has had on the private training center industry sincerumors of its implementation began circulating one year ago.

For your digital version of the August issue, scan the QR code below. 

Best Regards,

Lars Hamer

Editor-in-Chief

[Cover image via Greg Abandoned]