Summer Wang

After returning home to Shanghai from a work trip in mid-February, 37-year-old finance executive Yuling began observing flu-like symptoms and immediately quarantined herself at home. Yuling lives alone and is a self-proclaimed “sheng nü,” the colloquial Chinese term used to describe an unmarried woman over the age of 27, which roughly translates into “leftover woman.”

Malaysia was one of the most prominent skeptics of China’s Belt-and-Road investments last year. On Thursday (April 25), prime minister Mahathir Mohamad will be among the more than 30 leaders at the global infrastructure investment program’s second summit in Beijing, a canny symbol of how the controversial initiative is adapting to criticism.