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10 amazing facts about the rice in your bowl

RICE IS RICE, RIGHT? Wrong! Rice is a whole range of wonderfulness. It’s a miracle food, it’s a staple, it’s a delicacy, it’s a business and it’s a whole culture. In Hong Kong, people say "if you haven't had rice, you haven't eaten" and this writer totally knows what they mean. Rice connoisseur Anthony Lam…

December 29, 20220Comments ByNury Vittachi

Chinese history Features

Slaughter in four minutes: Britain’s invasion of Tibet

IT WAS ARGUABLY the most mismatched war in history. The British invaded the Chinese state of Tibet in 1903, leading to the deaths of an estimated 2,700 Tibetans. And just five British officers. This extraordinary story has three main elements: First, the presence of a western superpower, known for its unmatched weaponry, acting…

December 12, 20220Comments ByFriday Writers

Features

New rail station moves China into sci-fi territory

ATHLETES ARRIVING IN CHINA for the Asian Games next year will feel like they’ve arrived in a sci-fi movie. The spectacular design of the new Hangzhou West railway station makes users think they are stepping into the future. The main elements are either bright white or completely transparent, and the structural lines are huge in…

December 2, 20220Comments ByH.C. Lu

Features

Responding to the criticism of Qatar

THE HOSTS OF THE Football World Cup is Qatar, a small middle-eastern nation. China is not one of the teams involved in the games -- but played a huge role in constructing the infrastructure for the games. For a full report on that, click here. For a response to the criticism that is being levelled…

November 24, 20220Comments ByNury Vittachi

Features

Ed-tech star rises from Hong Kong minority

A young Hong Kong firm has found a way to teach computer coding skills to children and adults in more than 20 countries around the world. To read about the company, BSD Education, click here. Or scroll down for an essay profiling Nickey Khemchandani, one of the firm's co-founders. Meno Mentier reports. HONG KONG IS…

November 14, 20220Comments ByMeno Monteir

Features

The good folk organizing parties for other people’s children

CLOSE YOUR EYES. Make a wish. Now blow out those candles! One of the great things about these modern “globalized” days is that we can all adopt each other’s traditions. And the big favorite across much of the world now is the children’s birthday party. The idea of annual gatherings, where you mark someone’s age…

October 28, 20220Comments ByNury Vittachi

Features

Hong Kong: densely packed but surprisingly green

With its dramatic vistas of mountains, oceans and lakes, Hong Kong has always been an attractive place to live. How has this been achieved, since the city is more densely packed than even India's Mumbai? Andrew Lam reports. HONG KONG HAS ALMOST three times as many people per square kilometer than Singapore or London. We…

October 18, 20220Comments ByAndrew Lam

Features

Creating an e-commerce system for everyone

TEN YEARS AGO, many people expected the e-commerce revolution to change the way that humans bought and sold things. Except it didn’t. Not at first. There were some early adopters, but the average person on the street was still hesitant. What if you ordered something … and it didn’t arrive? Or the wrong thing was…

October 5, 20220Comments ByNury Vittachi

Features

The banana trader who saw the future of shopping

A BANANA SALESMAN stepped into a department store called David Jones & Co and saw the future. This was 1890s Sydney, and the man, Ma Ying-piu (馬應彪), had never seen anything like it. In front of him was a huge space in which people bought an unimaginably wide variety of goods, and above were multiple…

September 29, 20220Comments ByFriday Writers

Features

Why people sewed up a wound on the back of a giant fish

The Emperor's fish, an extraordinary giant beast that had been seen in the waters of the great rivers for centuries, was dying. Until the day came when there was just one left. It was injured and the people tried desperately to save it. Emily Zhou reports. THE WINTER OF 2003 was bitterly cold. A…

September 29, 20220Comments ByEmily Zhou

Features

10 amazing facts about the rice in your bowl

Slaughter in four minutes: Britain’s invasion of Tibet

New rail station moves China into sci-fi territory

Responding to the criticism of Qatar

Ed-tech star rises from Hong Kong minority

The good folk organizing parties for other people’s children

Hong Kong: densely packed but surprisingly green

Creating an e-commerce system for everyone

The banana trader who saw the future of shopping

Why people sewed up a wound on the back of a giant fish

Can Europe dare to do the smart thing, and partner with China in Africa?

Australia’s government lives in a Pentagon-penned fiction of US primacy

How the HK Bar Association lost its way – and was guided back on track