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Emily Zhou

71 articles published

Fall in marriage numbers reminds the Chinese of the ‘comb sisters’

WHEN SHOULD A WOMAN GET MARRIED? Maybe never! The benefits or otherwise of marriage has suddenly become a hot topic in China, after a viral media interview in which mothers were asked to list the benefits of being a married woman—and could not think of any. This was a bit of a shocker, since the…

January 17, 20240Comments ByEmily Zhou

Culture

A herdsman in Tibet just won a top literary prize

A FORMER HERDSMAN on the remote Qinghai-Tibet steppes has won a top literary prize in China—even though he left school at the age of 12. Suonan Cairang (索南才讓) first encountered modern storytelling as a child—when people set up tents in which rural people could watch videos. The organizers would sometimes play the videos so loud…

December 29, 20230Comments ByEmily Zhou

Chinese history Culture

The quiet Taoist who stood up to legendary slaughterer Genghis Khan

AS CHINESE AND other diplomats urge a halt to brutal wars raging in Israel and elsewhere today, this may be a good time to remember one of the most extraordinary meetings between a peacemaker and a ruthless warrior. The two characters in this story are Qiu Chuji (丘處機), a Taoist master, and Genghis Khan, the…

December 28, 20230Comments ByEmily Zhou

Culture Features Hong Kong News

Monet steals the show at extraordinary Hong Kong art exhibition

WANT TO LEARN the history of western art in a single afternoon? The Hong Kong Palace Museum is showcasing the UK National Gallery's prestigious painting collection - with 52 of the world’s finest masterpieces painted by fifty influential artists over a 400-year period. All the big names are there, including Botticelli, Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, Rembrandt,…

December 12, 20230Comments ByEmily Zhou

Culture Features

Groundbreaking animation tells tale of extraordinary Chinese poet

Chinese filmmakers have created a dramatic animated movie in the Disney-Pixar style, with 3D characters in thrilling adventures. Yet at the same, "30,000 Miles From Chang'an" is also very different. It celebrates Chinese history, telling the story of China's most famous poet, and it is unapologetically educational: it has 48 classic Chinese poems scattered throughout…

November 23, 20230Comments ByEmily Zhou

Culture

Two years to turn an epic novel into a blockbuster movie

MOVE OVER, The Lord of the Rings. There’s a new three-part big-budget fantasy movie in town, and it is making a big splash. Part one of the Fengshen Trilogy has a tight grip on the top of the box office chart in China, and is far ahead of Hollywood’s Barbie in popularity and earnings in…

August 24, 20230Comments ByEmily Zhou

Culture Opinion

This garden opened my mind to the music of elegance

CANTONESE OPERA (粵劇), one of the most representative cultural symbols of the Lingnan region (嶺南地區), the area south of the Nanling mountains (南嶺山脈), is the foundation and origin of modern Cantonese music. The first time I heard about Cantonese music was when I was learning the Guzheng (古箏). My teacher said that it would be…

August 24, 20230Comments ByEmily Zhou

Chinese history Culture

Silent but radiant history-tellers in ancient Chinese tombs

GOLD ISN’T JUST BEAUTIFUL AND RARE. It is also durable. No historian can document every detail of history, but burial objects in gold often tell a story better than other records. Thanks to the generous donation from the owners of Mengdiexuan (夢蝶軒), Betty Lo(盧茵茵) and Kenneth Chu (朱偉基), the public has the opportunity to remember…

August 10, 20230Comments ByEmily Zhou

Chinese history

The emperor treated everyone harshly—except one man

IT WAS EXTRAORDINARILY RISKY to be the brother of Yinzhen (胤禛), the fourth son of Emperor Kangxi (康熙帝). Yinzhen wanted the throne really badly. A cold-blooded man, he imprisoned some of his 23 brothers and killed one who had the same mother as he did. He wanted to get rid of competition to become the…

August 3, 20230Comments ByEmily Zhou

Chinese history

Visiting the thatched home of China’s great poet-sage Du Fu

Could I get mansions covering ten thousand miles, I’d house all scholars poor and make them beam with smiles. In wind and rain these mansions would stand like mountains high. Alas! Should these houses appear before my eye, Frozen in my unroofed cot, content I’d die. -- the poem “My Thatched Hut was torn apart…

June 28, 20230Comments ByEmily Zhou