When Bella Lin was 12 years old, she noticed that her guinea pigs (豚鼠) seemed unhappy in their small cage with “prison-like bars”, Lin told the CNBC Make It website. Focusing on finding an alternative to traditional cages for her pets, the now 17-year-old from Mountain View, US, began her designs.

Lin experimented with multiple designs and used around $2,000 from her savings to start her side business, Guinea Loft, on Amazon in November 2022. It made a big difference and sold nearly 11,000 cages and brought in more than $410,000 in 2023, according to CNBC Make It.

Initially, Lin informed her father of her desire to develop an improved cage. Her father had relations with a family-owned factory in China through a previous client, and he reached out to them.

Traditional guinea pig cages typically consist of bars, roofs, and either tarp (防水布) or plastic bottoms, making them hard to clean and often smell bad. Lin’s initial glass, open-floor cages offered more visibility and mobility, with a two-layered bottom. This design allows for the easy removal of soiled bedding by pushing it into a removable plastic tray (托盘). However, due to high shipping costs, the glass material was impractical, and the open floor caused problems for her smaller guinea pigs, as their feet would get stuck.

Lin and her six-person team in China devoted late nights to researching and testing products. Her team handled the sourcing, manufacturing, packaging and photography of the products. In the end, they chose acrylic, instead of glass, and crafted replaceable bottoms, as Lin described it. The bottoms are easy to throw out, which is good for business: Once customers run out of the bottoms, they have to visit Lin’s Amazon store again to restock.

“Witnessing the practical effects of Guinea Loft cages through customer reviews and emails is empowering,” Lin said. “As someone who once placed great emphasis on academic recognition, the success of my side business has boosted my confidence in exploring life beyond high school.”

I began to grow up that winter night when my parents and I were returning from my aunt’s house, and my mother said that we might soon be leaving for America. We were on the bus then. I was crying, and some people on the bus were turning around to look at me. I remember that I could not bear the thought of never hearing again the radio program for school children to which I listened every morning.

I do not remember myself crying for this reason again. In fact, I think I cried very little when I was saying goodbye to my friends and relatives. When we were leaving I thought about all the places I was going to see — the strange and magical places I had known only from books and pictures. The country I was leaving never to come back was hardly in my head then.

The four years that followed taught me the importance of optimism, but the idea did not come to me at once. For the first two years in New York I was really lost — having to study in three schools as a result of family moves. I did not quite know what I was or what I should be. Mother remarried, and things became even more complex for me. Some time passed before my stepfather and I got used to each other. I was often sad, and saw no end to “the hard times.”

My responsibilities in the family increased a lot since I knew English better than everyone else at home. I wrote letters, filled out forms, translated at interviews with Immigration officers, took my grandparents to the doctor and translated there, and even discussed telephone bills with company representatives.

From my experiences I have learned one important rule: almost all common troubles eventually go away! Something good is certain to happen in the end when you do not give up, and just wait a little! I believe that my life will turn out all right, even though it will not be that easy.

As vast fields surrounding Beijing and Shanghai transformed into towering skyscrapers, and old bicycles gave way to motor vehicles, the essence of music communication remained unchanged over these shifts.

“I’ll never forget that I’ve never seen so many bicycles in my life,” Philadelphia Orchestra violinist Davyd Booth said, recalling his first tour in China 50 years ago. “Everyone rode a bicycle. There were literally hundreds, thousands.”   

This month, 14 musicians from the Philadelphia Orchestra, including Booth, are returning to China, with performances scheduled in Beijing, Tianjin, Suzhou and Shanghai. The tour marks the 50th anniversary(周年纪念日) of their first visit in the 1970s, celebrating the unique friendship between China and the United States. Over the years, the orchestra(管弦乐团) has strengthened connections across China, with concerts and residencies that facilitate meaningful people-to-people interactions.

Booth said the 1973 tour was his first international trip with the orchestra. He considered himself lucky to have been part of the tour. He had just auditioned(试演) and got accepted into the orchestra that year. His official start date was scheduled after the orchestra’s return from China, but Booth received a call from the personnel manager informing him that someone had fallen ill. He then took the place and went to China.

“I was incredibly thrilled! Then, after I hung up, I realized I didn’t even have a passport,” Booth said. However, he got his passport and visa in just three days, thanks to the strong support from both countries. With his violin in tow, Booth joined the team on the 15-hour flight to China.

In addition to some regular compositions, the Philadelphia Orchestra also played the Yellow River Concerto, one of the most popular piano concertos in China even today. The Philadelphia Orchestra cooperated on this ensemble (合奏) with a Chinese pianist, marking the earliest ties between the US and China in music.

After the concert, the team was hanging around on the streets, Booth said. It was a fun experience even though people did not know how to talk to locals because of language barriers, he said. “You can communicate a lot by smiling, and it worked out very, very well,” he added.