World in Progress Folgen

In Northern Italy, the small village of Ostana is fighting for its very existence. A hundred years ago, more than one thousand inhabitants living there. But with more and more people moving away, only five residents residents were left by the 1990s. But one man has been trying to turn Ostana's fate around.

For many people, clothes made from silk signify beauty and elegance in fashion. But not everyone is aware that the silk worms that create the fine silk thread are actually killed in the production process, when their cocoons are placed in boiling water to obtain the thread. Some silk products are marketed as "Ahimsa" silk, claiming to use a non-violent production method.

The Xinjiang province in the far west of China is one of the main political hotspots in the People's Republic. The predominantely Muslim Uighurs have become a minority in their traditional homeland and say they feel oppressed by the Han Chinese. Beijing tries to control the growing tensions with an iron fist, blaming extremists supported from abroad for violence.