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True stories of ordinary people and the extraordinary events that have shaped their lives

True stories of ordinary people and the extraordinary events that have shaped their lives.

Outlook: China's Blind 'Barefoot Lawyer'

Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng.

30/03/2015

China's Blind 'Barefoot Lawyer'

BBC World Service - Outlook, China's Blind 'Barefoot Lawyer'

Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng on the dramatic escape which made him famous

Chen Guangcheng describes how he managed to avoid capture for several days after his escape from house arrest in 2012.

Chen Guangcheng is a blind Chinese political activist whose extraordinary escape from house arrest in 2012 made headlines around the world. The self-taught lawyer climbed over the wall of his heavily guarded home and evaded capture for days. He finally turned up at the American embassy in Beijing, and has now started a new life with his family in Washington DC. He has written a book about his experiences entitled The Barefoot Lawyer.

In the 1960s and '70s the American city of San Francisco was a hot-bed of alternative culture. It threw up music, art - and comic books. In 1970 Ron Turner started a subversive comic book publishing company called Last Gasp - and it is still pushing boundaries today with its weird and wonderful selection of titles. Reporter Tania Ketenjian went to meet him.
 
As a small child in Iraq, Basma Hameed suffered horrific burns to her face in an accident in the kitchen. Over the years, plastic surgeons and specialist doctors worked to repair the damage but with only limited success. So Basma took matters into her own hands. She learned a form of tattooing so she could effectively colour-in her scar. Now living in Toronto in Canada, Basma has set up clinics where she is using her technique to help others.

When her mother died in a freak accident, Australian Brooke Davis turned to writing to deal with her grief. She came up with a best-selling novel called Lost and Found which explores the psychological effect of loss through three very different people - an 87-year-old man trapped in a care home, an 82-year-old widow, and a seven-year-old girl whose father has died and whose mother has abandoned her.

(Photo: Chen Guangcheng. Credit: AP/Zeng Jinyan)

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