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Shadow puppetry originated in China for a grieving emperor

Many people think of shadow puppetry as a southeast Asian tradition, but historians say it started in China more than 2,000 years ago. In 2011, this ancient art was added to the official list of items of humanity’s intangible cultural heritage. Emily Zhou reports MORE THAN TWO THOUSAND years ago during the Han Dynasty, Emperor…

January 10, 20230Comments ByEmily Zhou

Culture

Ancient figurines reveal ‘unibrow’ was once height of fashion

IN 1928, RAILWAY WORKERS were digging deep into the ground in Luoyang during the construction of the Longhai railway (隴海鐵路). They uncovered a large Tang Dynasty tomb, more than ten centuries old. The diggers unearthed a large number of pottery items. Many were delicate figurines, with unusual colors: mostly creams, browns and greens. Hong Kong…

December 2, 20220Comments ByEmily Zhou

News

China trims Ecuador debt by $1b, growing its fan club

THE PEOPLE OF ECUADOR revealed on Monday that China had slashed their debt by more than US$1 billion. Cash saved will go to social programs for the needy. By restructuring the developing country’s bailout, the Chinese are effectively foregoing US$1.4 billion in repayments—which is good for Ecuador. “It’s a positive deal. There is an important…

September 21, 20220Comments ByNury Vittachi

Culture

Imagine a land run by. . . poets

It sounds hard to believe, but civil service applicants in China had to write actual literature to win top jobs, becoming "jinshi" - a class of writer-administrators who advised the emperor. (Business people were ranked low on the ladder.) For centuries, it worked well - but at other times, the bureaucratic need for order and…

September 16, 20220Comments ByEmily Zhou

Opinion

Britain’s opium era strategy to deal with China

THE DAOGUANG EMPEROR tasked Commissioner Lin Zexu (image above) with suppressing the opium trade bedeviling China in 1839. Lin initially tried diplomacy. As British traders were growing the drug in India and then smuggling it into China, he hoped an appeal to their country’s sense of honor might be salutary. Before the outbreak…

September 14, 20220Comments ByGrenville Cross

News

Massive secret network revealed to be pushing western narrative

Huge disinformation campaign ran for almost five years, study shows Network blackened reputation of Chinese, Russians, Iranians Agents used AI to generate photos of fake humans for Facebook and other media Falsified accounts pushed stories in tandem with US govt media VOA, RFE and others A TORRENT OF DISINFORMATION about the Chinese and other communities…

August 27, 20220Comments ByNury Vittachi

News

Lazy Brits should learn from China – Liz Truss

A LEAKED PIECE of audio today revealed prospective new UK leader Liz Truss wishing that British people worked hard, like the Chinese. The country needs “more graft”, she says, using a British slang term for hard work. “Essentially it’s partly a mindset and attitude thing, I think. It’s working culture, basically. If you go to…

August 17, 20220Comments ByNury Vittachi

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

Opinion

Chinese finance firms could get ESG edge

IS IT IMPORTANT TO YOU that your investments don’t worsen problems of pollution, the mistreatment of workers, and corruption? If so, you are probably aware of two hot topics in finance: Environmental, Social and Governance investing (ESG), and Sustainable Finance. Both initiatives are bringing business opportunities for investment banks and commercial banks to drive profit…

August 10, 20220Comments ByJason Yan

Features

Return to the Kingdom of Bicycles

Planners designed ten thousand kilometers of bike track in China, as cycling makes a huge comeback THE BICYCLES ARE BACK. Cycling, for decades the dominant mode of transport in China, is becoming popular again, and the potential is immense. Shanghai, 1980s As recently as the 1990s, China was known as the Kingdom of Bicycles, with roads…

August 8, 20220Comments ByNury Vittachi

Shadow puppetry originated in China for a grieving emperor

Ancient figurines reveal ‘unibrow’ was once height of fashion

China trims Ecuador debt by $1b, growing its fan club

Imagine a land run by. . . poets

Britain’s opium era strategy to deal with China

Massive secret network revealed to be pushing western narrative

Lazy Brits should learn from China – Liz Truss

The world’s first restaurant and earliest celebrity chef

Chinese finance firms could get ESG edge

Return to the Kingdom of Bicycles

Record-breaking number of deals clinched at China import expo

Mainland China, HK, now helping other nations make clean energy transition

Yes, China is preparing to take humans back to the moon