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Chinese culture

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Chinese zodiac predictions
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Chinese overseas
Shaolin monk Yan Chen helps a student do a somersault during a training session at the Shaolin Temple in Ngwerere, outside Lusaka, Zambia, on August 8, 2026. Photo: AFP
Chinese culture

How Africa’s first Shaolin Temple shares Chinese martial arts and culture

The temple in Zambia has become one of the most visible symbols of China’s cultural footprint in a country where its influence already runs deep.

Chinese culture

This Singaporean designer is reviving Chinese hanfu for the modern era

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Chinese culture

The world’s only hieroglyphic script still in use today is found in China

Chinese culture

Is the Year of the Horse’s seventh month lucky for you? Forecasts for all signs

Feng shui master Andrew Kwan breaks down this lunar month’s prospects for all 12 Chinese zodiac signs in work, finances, romance and health.

The seventh lunar month of the Year of the Horse 2026 will bring a powerful wave of cosmic shifts, reshaping fortunes across all 12 Chinese zodiac signs, according to feng shui master Andrew Kwan. Photo: Shutterstock
The seventh lunar month of the Year of the Horse 2026 will bring a powerful wave of cosmic shifts, reshaping fortunes across all 12 Chinese zodiac signs, according to feng shui master Andrew Kwan. Photo: Shutterstock
Chinese culture

7 Hungry Ghost Festival taboos to avoid to keep unwanted spirits at bay

Spirits are believed to roam the world when the gates of the underworld open, and actions such as picking up loose change can attract them.

Cantonese

Want to learn Cantonese? These influencers are sparking a Canto revival

Influencers like Uncle Donnie, Andrew Bui and Mihi Matshingana are connecting a Cantonese-speaking diaspora and inspiring learning.

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Chinese culture

The Chinese sex worker who built an empire in America’s Old West

Ah Toy rose from new immigrant to madam running a chain of successful brothels, fighting racism, sexism and the authorities on the way.

Olivia Cheng (right) plays pioneering Chinese madam Ah Toy in the US martial arts crime drama series Warrior. Ah Toy was the first recorded Chinese sex worker in San Francisco, who went on to own a chain of successful brothels. Photo: HBO Max
Olivia Cheng (right) plays pioneering Chinese madam Ah Toy in the US martial arts crime drama series Warrior. Ah Toy was the first recorded Chinese sex worker in San Francisco, who went on to own a chain of successful brothels. Photo: HBO Max
Architecture and design

The Shenzhen Natural History Museum is now open. What’s to see there?

The US$517 million museum that opened on July 28 is a ‘living educational landscape’ covering space, dinosaurs, evolution and much more.

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Chinese culture

Can this AI-powered Chinese astrology platform shake up the industry?

Singapore-based astrologer Sean Chan trained Tian Qi on over 9,000 of his own consultations. But not all his peers are so keen on using AI.

Chinese culture

How Chinese pirate queen Ching Shih ruled the South China Sea in the 1800s

Ching, aka Zheng Yi Sao, became China’s most successful pirate during the Qing period, building a fearful empire that terrorised the region.

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An illustration depicts Ching Shih (right) during a swordfight. Chinese pirate factions were paralysed by infighting in the early 19th century, but Ching and her husband Zheng Yi unified them under a confederation.
Wellness

How tai chi energises these Chinese retirees: ‘everyone’s health has improved’

Tai chi practitioners at Beijing’s Temple of Heaven talk about learning the ancient Chinese practice and how it benefits health and spirit.

People practice tai chi in a park near the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, China. Photo: AP Photo/Andy Wong
People practice tai chi in a park near the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, China. Photo: AP Photo/Andy Wong
Chinese culture

Is the Year of the Horse’s sixth month lucky for you? Forecasts for all signs

Feng shui master Andrew Kwan breaks down this lunar month’s prospects for all 12 Chinese zodiac signs in work, finances, romance and health.

Books and literature

‘I never felt ready’: author on finally writing her Chinese grandmother’s story

Elizabeth Lim reveals why it took her 10 years to write Fishbone Cinderella about her grandmother’s journey from Hong Kong to San Francisco.

Art

What was it like to attend a Children’s Palace in socialist-era China?

The ‘Youth Palace’ exhibition at Shanghai’s Rockbund Art Museum looks at a socialist educational institution that promoted collectivism.

A screenshot from the video “Ludwig” (2018), Diego Marcon. (Photo courtesy the artist and Sadie Coles HQ, London)
Chinese culture

‘Cleverest woman that ever lived’: the rise of China’s Empress Dowager Cixi

Beginning royal life as a low-ranking concubine, Cixi controlled Qing-dynasty China for nearly half a century from behind the scenes.

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A portrait of Empress Dowager Cixi, one of the most powerful and influential women in Chinese history. Photo: Universal Images Group via Getty Images
A portrait of Empress Dowager Cixi, one of the most powerful and influential women in Chinese history. Photo: Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Books and literature

‘Night of Horrors’: LA’s Chinese massacre of 1871 brought to fore in new book

Lisa See’s novel Daughters of the Sun and Moon revisits the terrible events that saw around 500 people attack the city’s Chinese residents.

SCMP Highlights

TCM for a new generation, Dragon Boat Festival picks: 7 Lifestyle highlights

From ancient Chinese healing in the social media age to sticky rice recommendations, here are seven stories from SCMP’s recent reporting.

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Food and Drinks

Think matcha is Japanese? Think again, says this Hong Kong tea brand

Hong Kong bar owner Gavin Yeung founded matcha brand Celadon after being ‘floored’ by its long history in China before reaching Japan.

The company uses powder from China’s Zhejiang province to spotlight the green tea’s true Chinese origins, which, the founders say, are contrary to “everything this generation knows about matcha”. Photo: Chloe Loung
The company uses powder from China’s Zhejiang province to spotlight the green tea’s true Chinese origins, which, the founders say, are contrary to “everything this generation knows about matcha”. Photo: Chloe Loung
Food and Drinks

An American pastry chef reinvents the hotpot with immigrant-inspired twists

Inspired by her cross-cultural upbringing, Natasha Pickowicz breaks traditional hotpot rules to blend regional Chinese styles with new ingredients.

Food and Drinks

7 top places for sticky rice dumplings in Hong Kong for the Dragon Boat Festival

These hotel restaurants are offering a range of traditional and modern ‘zongzi’ for the Dragon Boat Festival on June 19.

Chinese culture

How a Chinese empress shaped her country without ever taking the throne

Empress Xiaozhuangwen secured power, averted crises and deposed enemies while raising and guiding China’s longest-serving emperor.

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A painting of Empress Xiaozhuang (1613-1688), known for most of her life by the title Grand Empress Dowager. After securing power by having her son ascend the throne in 1643, she raised his successor, her grandson Kangxi, who would go on to be China’s longest-ruling monarch, reigning from 1661 to 1722. Photo by: Pictures From History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Chinese culture

Is the Year of the Horse’s fifth month lucky for you? Forecasts for all signs

Feng shui master Andrew Kwan breaks down this lunar month’s prospects for all 12 Chinese zodiac signs in work, finances, romance and health.

How’s your luck in the Year of the Horse 2026’s fifth month? Feng shui master Andrew Kwan gives his predictions for all 12 Chinese zodiac animal signs. Photo: Shutterstock
How’s your luck in the Year of the Horse 2026’s fifth month? Feng shui master Andrew Kwan gives his predictions for all 12 Chinese zodiac animal signs. Photo: Shutterstock
Chinese culture

Who was Yang Guifei, the Chinese beauty blamed for toppling a dynasty?

One of ancient China’s ‘Four Beauties’, Yang besotted an emperor, was the target of a rebellion, and in death became a tragic romantic icon.

SCMP Highlights

Tokyo Sézanne’s missing stars; beating arthritis at 68: 7 Lifestyle highlights

From a little-known haven on Hokkaido island to how optimism make you live longer, here are seven stories from SCMP’s recent reporting.

Chinese culture

How China’s ‘Excalibur of the East’ souvenir swords sparked airport warning

Tourists with replicas of the ancient Sword of Goujian, from the Hubei Provincial Museum, were told not to hand-carry them onto planes.

Visitors take photos of the ancient Sword of Goujian at the Hubei Provincial Museum in Wuhan, in central China’s Hubei Province, on May 17, 2026. An airport notice at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport warning not to hand-carry replicas of the sword on board planes has gone viral on Chinese social media. Photo: Xinhua
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