Skip to content Skip to sidebar Skip to footer

Culture

The world’s first restaurant and earliest celebrity chef

Shopkeepers in China 900 years ago accidentally created restaurant food culture, and their achievement is listed among Life magazine's 100 greatest achievements of the past millennium. Emily Zhou reports IN OR ABOUT THE YEAR 1120 AD, a shopkeeper in the old Chinese city of Kaifeng had an idea. There were lots of merchants arriving from…

August 11, 20220Comments ByEmily Zhou

Culture

A student told Confucius the most important thing in life

ONE DAY, CONFUCIUS asked four of his students to tell him about the greatest thing they would like to achieve. “I’d like to help rule a troubled land and bring peace to it,” said one. “I’d like to govern a poor place and raise it to prosperity,” said another. The third was a humbler young…

August 9, 20220Comments ByEmily Zhou

Culture

Rain spoiled their picnic: so he invented the umbrella

MORE THAN TWO millennia ago, a young man and his sister decided to go a scenic spot called the West Lake for a picnic. But then it began to rain heavily. The pair, along with other sightseers, hurried to find shelter at nearby pavilions. From there, they found out that they could look out at…

July 27, 20220Comments ByEmily Zhou

Culture

Tang Clan arrived in Hong Kong long before the British

HONG KONG HAS a fascinating history behind its futuristic cityscape. And much of the history dates back centuries before the British era. Yuen Long’s Ping Shan is one of the most historically significant places in Hong Kong – and there's a heritage trail where visitors can marvel in a cluster of well-preserved …

July 26, 20220Comments ByH.C. Lu

Culture

The rock man’s scroll and other treasures at new museum

The Hong Kong Palace Museum is set to open on July 2 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the city’s reunification with China. This publication is running features on some of the items you can see there. H.C. Lu highlights some treasures. ALMOST A THOUSAND years ago there lived a calligrapher, poet and painter named…

June 30, 20220Comments ByH.C. Lu

Culture

In eastern vs western values, a pop culture gap looms

To tap into popular music has been to tap into the values of the west, where many songs are dark or even adults-only. You don't see that in Asia. The world's creative energy center is moving to Asia, where music fans are singing a very different tune, reports Anna Tang. AMONG ENGLISH SPEAKERS around…

June 30, 20220Comments ByAnna Tang

Culture

‘Bring me a westerner’: curious story behind Palace Museum art

IN THE EARLY 1700s, the ruling emperor of China had a curious request: “Bring me a westerner!” Although Chinese painting had been through hundreds of years of evolution, the Kangxi Emperor was intrigued by western art, which had a notably different style. The message was sent out by members of the Jesuit community in China…

June 29, 20220Comments ByEmily Zhou

Culture

Remembering the Beatles visit to Hong Kong

PAUL MCCARTNEY, by far the most acclaimed of all pop musicians, recently turned 80. Eight facts of local interest: 1) Paul, John and George (Ringo was ill) visited Hong Kong on June 8, 1964. 2) In their suite at the President hotel, Kowloon, they found a smiling lady, said to be a mistress of the…

June 27, 20220Comments ByNury Vittachi

Culture

Students wear classic Chinese costume for graduation

SCHOLARSHIP HAS BEEN valued in China for thousands of years – so why don’t scholars dress in local style? On graduation day at Jiangsu Normal University, thousands of students wore classical Chinese costumes instead of standard western suits, reports Olala, a popular Chinese-Vietnamese voice on Twitter. This has become a tradition at that university in…

June 18, 20220Comments ByNury Vittachi

Culture

The strange true story of the hostage prince who fell in love

PRINCE YIREN OF QIN had a horrible job. He was a hostage. He had been assigned to that role by his own parents. That may sound strange, but that was often the case in China during the Warring States period, more than 2,200 years ago. The young man was a member of the royal family…

June 14, 20220Comments ByEmily Zhou

Culture

The world’s first restaurant and earliest celebrity chef

A student told Confucius the most important thing in life

Rain spoiled their picnic: so he invented the umbrella

Tang Clan arrived in Hong Kong long before the British

The rock man’s scroll and other treasures at new museum

In eastern vs western values, a pop culture gap looms

‘Bring me a westerner’: curious story behind Palace Museum art

Remembering the Beatles visit to Hong Kong

Students wear classic Chinese costume for graduation

The strange true story of the hostage prince who fell in love

Yes, you’re half of a couple, but the law says that isn’t your spouse

How I fell out of love with the Hong Kong pan-democrats

Seven myths about Jimmy Lai