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Chinese culture
Latest news and updates on Chinese culture including the country’s traditions, food, values, history and festivals.
Artist Dominique Fung at the Massimo de Carlo gallery in Tai Kwun, Hong Kong. Photo: Jocelyn Tam
Art

Q&A | How this artist transforms historical Chinese symbolism into paintings

New York-based Dominique Fung speaks about her creative journey, Empress Dowager Cixi, and why she wants audiences to leave her show feeling expansive.

Chinese overseas

How Toronto’s Chinatown is fighting back against existential threats

Art

How this artist uses rice to connect to her community – and ancestors

Art

How pupils of Chinese ink painter Lui Shou-kwan went their own way

Lui Shou-kwan’s teaching influenced students from the New Ink Movement’s Wucius Wong to graphic designer and artist Kan Tai-keung.

Untitled I (2002) by Irene Chou, one of several artists who studied under master ink painter Lui Shou-kwan in Hong Kong in the 1960s who developed distinctive styles of painting. Photo: courtesy of Alisan Fine Arts
Hong Kong society

How the story of Hong Kong’s ‘dumpling queen’ beat Hollywood’s Thunderbolts*

Daughter of founder of Wanchai Ferry recalls family’s difficult journey in building business empire that has been turned into film leading box office on mainland.

Taiwan

Taipei Palace Museum struggles with tourist numbers amid cross-strait tension

Opposition lawmaker questions massive drop in visitors from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.

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Art

Liu Dan’s Chinese ink art with Western influences on show in Hong Kong

Known for his paintings of rocks, 72-year-old who fuses Chinese and Western artistic practices presents 26 works at Phillips auction house.

Contemporary Chinese ink artist Liu Dan’s selling exhibition in Hong Kong includes work spanning four decades of his career, with asking prices in the millions of Hong Kong dollars. Photo: courtesy of PhillipsX
Art

Discovering calligraphy: how a traditional art is experiencing a resurgence

From traditional scripts to modern styles, this art form offers a creative outlet and a chance to connect with history – here are tips from Hong Kong artists Samantha Cheung, Kalo Chu and Kaye Shu.

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Review | ‎The Dumpling Queen: founding of a Hong Kong food brand

Andrew Lau’s rags-to-riches biopic streamlines and rather sugarcoats the story of the Wanchai Ferry brand’s Zang Jianhe, played by Ma Li.

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Food and Drinks

Recap | Unveiling the best of Cantonese cuisine

Explore the global influence of Cantonese cooking, from the kung fu secrets of wok hei to Michelin-starred fine dining around the world, to the worldwide embracing of XO sauce and shrimp paste.

Cooks working in a dai pai dong in Hong Kong. From such street food stalls to fine-dining Cantonese restaurants, customers savour the effect of wok hei, the “breath of the wok”, in their food. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung
History

Recap | China’s religious history features many faiths and a cult that started a war

Traditional Asian beliefs and Abrahamic religions have existed in China for centuries, columnist Wee Kek Koon looks at their impact.

A drawing of Hong Xiuquan, a Hakka Chinese who claimed to be the brother of Jesus and led the Taiping Rebellion against China’s Qing dynasty. Its brutal suppression by imperial troops left 20 to 30 million people dead. Photo: Getty Images
China's population

More Chinese leave the knot untied as marriage registrations drop

Marriages saw a year-on-year fall of 8 per cent in China for the first quarter of 2025 – a worrying sign as demographic decline continues.

Science

A fiery conquest in 112BC may have led to decline of the Chinese swamp cypress

Han military campaign toppled the rebel Nanyue kingdom but also decimated vast stands of cypress, study finds.

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Chinese zodiac predictions

Is Year of the Snake’s fourth month lucky for you? Forecasts for all 12 signs

Feng shui master Andrew Kwan breaks down this lunar month’s prospects for health, love, finance and career for the 12 Chinese zodiac signs.

A snake lantern in Shanghai. A feng shui master assesses their prospects in the lunar year’s fourth month. Photo: Reuters
Lessons from China's history

Reflections | What China’s shift from feudalism can teach about today’s political climate

China’s first emperor ended 800 years of feudalism, then the imperial system was replaced in 1912. Political shifts are a constant of history.

A painting of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. Photo: Wikipedia
Diplomacy

Opinion | China showcases its neighbourhood diplomacy across Southeast Asia

President Xi Jinping’s recent trip to Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia highlighted China’s commitment to fostering regional harmony.

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Diplomacy

Opinion | In Africa, China must focus on both the infrastructural and the emotional

Unlike the West’s approach, China’s aid is mostly state-led. The lack of a strong grass-roots presence leaves it open to misconceptions.

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United States

The changing faces of New York’s 3 most prominent Chinatowns

From Manhattan’s Cantonese enclave to Flushing, where Mandarin rules, the food and language in city’s Chinatowns tell stories of immigration.

The Chinatown in Lower Manhattan is New York’s oldest, shaped by immigrants from Hong Kong, and from Guangdong and Fujian provinces in mainland China. Photo: Getty Images
History

Truth behind a martial arts legend played by Jet Li and Jackie Chan

It has been 100 years since the death of kung fu master Wong Fei-hung who was little known during his lifetime.

Food and Drinks

Michelin chefs in Europe are embracing China’s culinary repertoire

Japan has long been a major source of culinary inspiration in the West, but the gaze is shifting to other Asian cuisines.

Food and Drinks

MasterChef Italia’s first ethnically Chinese winner on food and identity

Former model Anna Zhang Yilan, who wowed judges by fusing Italian and Chinese cuisine, talks about her childhood and cooking with her mother.

MasterChef Italia season 14 winner Anna Zhang Yilan. Photo: courtesy of MasterChef Italia
US-China relations

Being Chinese | I’m a Cannes-going Chinese showbiz producer. It’s fun – except when it isn’t

I make deals with international studios and platforms. Often, I face a wall of Western presumption about the Chinese way of doing things.

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Chinese actress Fan Bingbing arrives for a screening at the Cannes film festival in 2023. Being a Chinese entertainment deal maker with a cross-border focus is less fun and exciting in reality. Photo: AFP
Lessons from China's history

Reflections | The ancient Chinese general whose calm during surgery is still told of today

Worshipped by many Chinese, Lord Guan so personified the virtues of courage and loyalty that he was deified after his death.

Asia travel

History of the world’s oldest Chinatown, Binondo, now a foodie paradise

Established in 1594 in the Philippine capital Manila, Binondo has gone from financial hub to culinary hotspot boasting amazing restaurants.

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Asian diaspora

Discover the rich history and modern revival of Bangkok’s Chinatown

Thailand’s capital boasts what is one of the largest Chinatowns in the world. We examine its growth from the late 1700s to today.

Food hawker stalls serve customers during Chinese New Year in Bangkok’s Chinatown in Thailand. Photo: Getty Images
Mental health

Letters | Social connection and purpose are also vital for mental health

Readers discuss a more holistic approach to fostering youth resilience, The Last Dance’s re-release on the silver screen, and enticing visitors to Hong Kong.

Creating school and community environments conducive to supportive peer connections is key to building resilience among our youth. Photo: Shutterstock
Singapore

Singapore’s flavour face-off: mainland Chinese cuisine vs local food culture

The rise of Chinese food brands in Singapore and their impact on local cuisine has sparked debates on cultural preservation and coexistence.

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Chinese overseas

Chinatowns around the world

Chinatowns are often portrayed as gritty underworlds riddled with prostitution, gambling and drug trafficking. Some of this is rooted in truth, but that unfair depiction is largely the result of rampant xenophobia and cultural ignorance, especially in the West.  

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