"I'm so hungry, I could eat anything. Anything at all." In a drought-stricken corner of rural China, an education can be the difference between a life of crushing poverty and the chance for a better future. But for Ma Yan, money is scarce, and the low wages paid for backbreaking work aren't always enough to pay school fees . . . or even to provide enough food for herself and her family. Ma Yan's heart-wrenching, honest diary chronicles her struggle to escape hardship through her persistent, sometimes desperate, attempts to continue her schooling. Its publication was an international sensation, creating an outpouring of support for this courageous teenager and others like her . . . all due to one ordinary girl's extraordinary diary.
Yan Ma Books
Ma Yan was a teenager, thirteen and fourteen, when she penned these diary entries. At sixteen, she aspired to attend university to study journalism, driven by a powerful purpose: to inform the world about the poverty and realities of her home region. Her writing offers a raw and unflinching glimpse into her life, aiming to foster awareness and understanding through firsthand accounts.


Strategic Spatial Planning Support System for Sustainable Development
Agent-Based Modelling and Simulation
- 236 pages
- 9 hours of reading
Focusing on urbanization, the book presents the Strategic Spatial Plan Support System (SSP-SS), designed to visualize population growth and forecast energy demand, land use, and waste discharge. It analyzes the interactions of household agents to assess policy impacts on urban development during various growth phases. Through simulations, it explores the relationship between energy and resource consumption and sustainable urban development. Targeted at researchers, universities, and urban policymakers, it serves as a valuable tool for informed decision-making in urban planning.