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Chinese culture

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Chinese superstitions
Martial arts
Lunar New Year
Chinese history
Hong Kong culture
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)
Dongba script, the world’s only hieroglyphic script still in use today, was created by Naxi shamans for sacred rituals. Photo: Amandayan
Chinese culture

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

Over 1,000 years old, Dongba script is associated with the Naxi ethnic minority and is a common sight in Yunnan province’s Lijiang city.

Chinese culture

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

Chinese culture

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

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.

(From left) Donnie Wong, Andrew Bui and Mihi Matshingana are among a surge of Cantonese-speaking influencers making a splash on social media this year. Photos: Donnie Wong, Andrew Bui, Frites Macau
(From left) Donnie Wong, Andrew Bui and Mihi Matshingana are among a surge of Cantonese-speaking influencers making a splash on social media this year. Photos: Donnie Wong, Andrew Bui, Frites Macau
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.

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.

Singapore-based astrology Sean Chan uses his AI-powered Chinese metaphysics reading platform Tian Qi. Photo: courtesy of Sean Chan
Singapore-based astrology Sean Chan uses his AI-powered Chinese metaphysics reading platform Tian Qi. Photo: courtesy of Sean Chan
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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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.

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.

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

Elizabeth Lim is known widely for her young adult high fantasies such as Six Crimson Cranes (2021) and Spin the Dawn (2022). Now, the New York Times bestselling author is making a deliberate, maturity-driven pivot for her newest novel Fishbone Cinderella (2026). Photo: Adrian Ow.
Elizabeth Lim is known widely for her young adult high fantasies such as Six Crimson Cranes (2021) and Spin the Dawn (2022). Now, the New York Times bestselling author is making a deliberate, maturity-driven pivot for her newest novel Fishbone Cinderella (2026). Photo: Adrian Ow.
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.

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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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.

American author Lisa See. Her Chinese great-grandfather, Fong See, settled in Los Angeles in 1897 around 26 years after the events of the Los Angeles Chinese massacre of 1871, in which roughly 500 white and Latino Angelenos attacked the city’s Chinese residents. Photo: Patricia Williams
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.

Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner Elizabeth Yau at her clinic in Central. Photo: Jonathan Wong
Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner Elizabeth Yau at her clinic in Central. Photo: Jonathan Wong
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.

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.

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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.

Truffle dumplings with Yunnan ham, conpoy and abalone from Above & Beyond. The restaurant at Hotel Icon is among the various Hong Kong hotel restaurants offering zongzi, or sticky rice dumplings, to celebrate the 2026 Dragon Boat Festival. Photo: Hotel Icon
Truffle dumplings with Yunnan ham, conpoy and abalone from Above & Beyond. The restaurant at Hotel Icon is among the various Hong Kong hotel restaurants offering zongzi, or sticky rice dumplings, to celebrate the 2026 Dragon Boat Festival. Photo: Hotel Icon
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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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.

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.

A painting depicts Yang Guifei being attended to by a court maid. The princess, regarded as one of the “Four Beauties” of ancient China, has gone down in infamy for contributing to the end of the Tang dynasty. But is this point of view fair? Photo: Handout
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.

Sézanne at Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi, Japan. The restaurant has been quietly stripped of its three Michelin stars. Photo: Sézanne
Sézanne at Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi, Japan. The restaurant has been quietly stripped of its three Michelin stars. Photo: Sézanne
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.

Chinese culture

The dark story of Consort Wan, 17 years older than the emperor who loved her

Wan Zhen’er became a beloved consort of Emperor Chenghua against all conventions, but records indicate a pernicious side to her tale.

Chinese culture

Origin of Hong Kong’s ‘peace buns’, Cheung Chau Bun Festival’s iconic snack

‘Ping on bao’ are both happily eaten and the focus of the festival’s famous bun scrambling competition. One baker explains how he makes them.

An employee of Kwok Kam Kee, a bakery on Hong Kong’s Cheung Chau island, prepares traditional ping on bao, or “peace buns”, ahead of the annual Cheung Chau Bun Festival. Photo: Yik Yeung-man
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