https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/rss/325288/feed Wee Kek Koon draws parallels between current events and trends and episodes and attitudes in China’s past. en https://assets-v2.i-scmp.com/production/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon We recently hosted visitors from Malaysia at our place in the Czech Republic, happily guiding them around Prague and several places beyond the capital, including a few that were new to us, too. There was much conviviality as the six of us explored beautiful Czech cities and towns, sampled hearty local cuisine and slipped effortlessly into the distinctive Malaysian-Singaporean patois – a lively hybrid of English, Chinese, Malay and some Indian vocabulary and syntax – that comes naturally to many... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3371741/how-confucius-teachings-about-morality-still-apply-today-and-what-we-can-learn-them https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3371741/how-confucius-teachings-about-morality-still-apply-today-and-what-we-can-learn-them Sat, 24 Oct 2026 00:15:08 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon Archaeologists have long found a disturbing pattern in the graves of ancient rulers: the dead were sometimes accompanied by other dead. Around royal tombs, the remains of people – who appear to have been killed specifically to follow their masters into the afterlife – lie alongside precious objects and weapons. A new study from Egypt has brought this practice back into the news. At the ancient royal cemetery of Abydos, archaeologists re-examined the skulls of people buried around the tombs of... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3370687/how-chinas-macabre-practice-human-sacrifice-burials-came-end https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3370687/how-chinas-macabre-practice-human-sacrifice-burials-came-end Sat, 17 Oct 2026 00:15:04 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon A human skull was carried into a Czech town in late September as part of the country’s observance of St Wenceslas Day, officially the day of Czech statehood. The public holiday honours Wenceslas, the 10th century ruler later venerated as the patron saint of the Czech lands and the “Good King Wenceslas” of the familiar Christmas carol. Wenceslas (Václav in Czech) was born around 907 and became ruler of Bohemia as a teenager. Raised as a Christian, he promoted Christianity – then relatively new to... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3370157/chinese-emperor-whose-death-sparked-mystery-remains-unsolved-1000-years https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3370157/chinese-emperor-whose-death-sparked-mystery-remains-unsolved-1000-years Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:15:06 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon Munich’s Oktoberfest was never on my travel bucket list. But it offered a chance to meet up with good friends from Hong Kong and their adorable toddler, Joshua, who go to the festival every year as a family. So there I was, spending a weekend at Theresienwiese, surrounded by bewildering varieties of beer and their drinkers. The annual Oktoberfest, first held in October 1810 to celebrate a royal wedding, is about more than just beer. There are amusement rides, games, stalls selling things you... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3369449/surprising-history-beer-china-li-tsingtao https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3369449/surprising-history-beer-china-li-tsingtao Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:15:06 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon Before I went to Warsaw, I knew little of the city beyond the fact that it was Poland’s capital. I had not realised that much of present-day Warsaw, including its beautiful historic centre, was rebuilt after World War II. Warsaw’s wartime destruction was not merely the consequence of battle, but a deliberate campaign by its Nazi German occupiers to erase much of the city. In August 1944, the Warsaw Uprising – a Polish armed revolt by the city’s underground resistance against German occupation –... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3368383/when-centuries-chinese-knowledge-were-destroyed-warlord-who-burned-capital https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3368383/when-centuries-chinese-knowledge-were-destroyed-warlord-who-burned-capital Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:15:07 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon I spent a week in Warsaw and ate more pierogi than I could shake a stick at. These beloved traditional Polish dumplings come filled with potatoes, cheese, meat, mushrooms and even fruit. Boiled or fried, they may look familiar to anyone acquainted with jiaozi, the Chinese dumpling, although their flavours are distinctly Polish. This is not to suggest that dumplings travelled directly from China to Poland. One theory posits that dumpling-like foods – from Nepalese momo and Central Asian and... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3367680/polish-priests-perilous-mission-save-doomed-chinese-dynasty-catholic-links https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3367680/polish-priests-perilous-mission-save-doomed-chinese-dynasty-catholic-links Sat, 19 Sep 2026 00:15:05 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon I suspect many Americans are embarrassed by their president’s recent actions. On August 27, Donald Trump signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America” following the collapse of trade talks between the United States and Canada. The change applies only in the US, while Canada and the rest of the world continue to call it Lake Ontario. Doug Ford, premier of the Canadian province of Ontario, has put up a sign declaring “Lake Ontario Now and Always”. The lake, meanwhile, remains... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3366754/amid-trumps-lake-america-stink-chinese-emperor-whose-renaming-campaign-backfired https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3366754/amid-trumps-lake-america-stink-chinese-emperor-whose-renaming-campaign-backfired Sat, 12 Sep 2026 00:15:04 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon In Belgium, Clement Vandenkerckhove, a 26-year-old former car salesman, has recently been formally recognised as the son of Prince Laurent, the younger brother of the country’s king, Philippe. Vandenkerckhove was born out of wedlock when his mother, the Belgian singer Wendy Van Wanten, and Prince Laurent had a relationship in the 1990s. A DNA test confirmed the paternity, and a private ceremony earlier this year made Vandenkerckhove a prince of Belgium and gave him rights to his father’s private... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3366074/prison-and-poverty-chinese-emperor-rags-riches-tale-liu-bingyi https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3366074/prison-and-poverty-chinese-emperor-rags-riches-tale-liu-bingyi Sat, 05 Sep 2026 04:15:05 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon Malaysia celebrates its Independence Day (“Hari Merdeka” in Malay) on August 31. This year, it will mark the 69th anniversary of the Malayan Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom. Note that it was a “Malayan”, not “Malaysian”, declaration. Sixty-nine years ago, in 1957, Malaysia did not yet exist; the modern nation of Malaysia came into being only on September 16, 1963, with the merger of the 11 states of the Malay Peninsula with British North Borneo (renamed Sabah), Sarawak and... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3365430/how-national-holidays-ancient-china-aligned-emperors-birthdays-so-all-could-revel https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3365430/how-national-holidays-ancient-china-aligned-emperors-birthdays-so-all-could-revel Sat, 29 Aug 2026 00:15:07 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon Donald Trump’s recent departure from Turkey was far more elaborate than it appeared. After attending a Nato summit in Ankara in July, the US president was publicly seen boarding Air Force One for the flight to Britain. This was, in fact, a decoy. Trump was secretly transferred from the aircraft and taken across the tarmac in a catering truck to a smaller Air Force C-32A military jet. The operation was prompted by intelligence indicating a credible Iranian threat to assassinate him, amid the... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3364558/trump-chinas-first-emperor-survived-various-assassination-attempts https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3364558/trump-chinas-first-emperor-survived-various-assassination-attempts Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:15:06 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon The Czech people are famously reticent with strangers, to the point that many of us would consider it rude. In shops and restaurants, getting a staff member to be helpful can feel like pulling teeth, while a smile is often out of the question. There is even a name for it: the Slavic Face – an icy, unsmiling expression that can come across as hostile and dismissive. I have been assured that it is an “equal-opportunity” aloofness. It is bestowed on everyone alike: locals and foreigners, black,... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3363749/how-chinese-societys-resilient-moral-framework-has-lasted-nearly-3000-years https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3363749/how-chinese-societys-resilient-moral-framework-has-lasted-nearly-3000-years Sat, 15 Aug 2026 00:15:06 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon Against my better judgment, I took out a gym membership in Prague. It turns out that my usual exercise regime – brisk walking for up to an hour every day – is not as practical in the city as I had imagined, at least not in my part of Prague. Cobblestone pavements are pretty to look at, but they are made for leisurely strolls, not aerobic walks, unless spraining an ankle or two is your intention. There are parks and green spaces near my flat, but they are either too small or they reek of... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3362793/even-confucius-was-buff-how-ancient-china-prized-strength-and-fitness https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3362793/even-confucius-was-buff-how-ancient-china-prized-strength-and-fitness Sat, 08 Aug 2026 00:15:05 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon I am not one to follow celebrity gossip, but the recent decision by several of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s children to drop their father’s surname caught my attention. Following the couple’s bitter separation, some of their children have chosen to remove “Pitt” from their original hyphenated surname, “Jolie-Pitt”. For people living in imperial China, changing one’s surname was rarely a casual decision. Unlike Europeans and many others, married Chinese women traditionally retain their own... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3362366/jolie-pitt-kids-change-their-surname-why-ancient-chinese-did-same https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3362366/jolie-pitt-kids-change-their-surname-why-ancient-chinese-did-same Sat, 01 Aug 2026 00:15:05 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon Czech politics seldom register on anybody’s radar in East Asia, but within a month of living in Prague, I am already hooked on the country’s political drama. It is more fascinating than any reality TV show. At the moment, the main spectacle is the very public spat between the Czech president and prime minister. President Petr Pavel, a liberal and popular retired army general who previously served as chairman of the Nato Military Committee, and Prime Minister Andrej Babis, a populist business... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3361558/when-chinese-emperors-and-their-prime-ministers-fell-out-results-could-be-deadly https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3361558/when-chinese-emperors-and-their-prime-ministers-fell-out-results-could-be-deadly Sat, 25 Jul 2026 00:15:06 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon Questions about who belongs to a nation and how citizenship should be acquired remain as contentious today as they have ever been. The rise of xenophobic, far-right politics in many countries is an ugly consequence of this debate. On June 30, 2026, the United States Supreme Court rejected an executive order issued by President Donald Trump that sought to end so-called birthright citizenship, the guarantee of citizenship to almost anyone born on American soil, including the children of... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3360860/after-us-birthright-citizenship-ruling-lessons-how-foreigners-once-became-chinese https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3360860/after-us-birthright-citizenship-ruling-lessons-how-foreigners-once-became-chinese Sat, 18 Jul 2026 00:15:05 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon Last week’s exposition of cooling strategies that premodern Chinese people used to beat the summer heat left out an important, everyday object that all of us have used at some point in our lives – the fan. During the worst of the recent heatwave in Europe, when temperatures in Prague soared to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and even the nights refused to cool below 30, someone kindly lent us an electric fan. It did not transform our temporary accommodation in the Czech capital into... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3359937/history-chinese-fans-and-how-they-kept-people-cool-summer-electricity https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3359937/history-chinese-fans-and-how-they-kept-people-cool-summer-electricity Sat, 11 Jul 2026 00:15:05 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon Europe is currently in the grip of a fierce, unrelenting heatwave, with temperatures in several countries surging past 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). This is not simply a matter of discomfort. Extreme heat is a public health emergency. When temperatures climb beyond what the human body can regulate, its cooling systems begin to fail. The most vulnerable – older people, those with chronic illnesses and anyone without reliable access to cooling – bear the heaviest burden. I was in... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3359032/europe-bakes-summer-heatwave-how-people-china-kept-cool-air-conditioning https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3359032/europe-bakes-summer-heatwave-how-people-china-kept-cool-air-conditioning Sat, 04 Jul 2026 00:15:06 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon I recently came across a social media post asking which phrase is the more appropriate description for Singaporeans whose ancestors came from China: “Singapore Chinese” or “Chinese Singaporean”. Grammatically, I prefer the latter. In English, adjectives generally precede nouns. In the phrase “big table”, for example, the main object is the table; “big” simply describes it. By the same logic, I am first and foremost a Singaporean, while “Chinese” merely describes the type of Singaporean I am. Yet... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3358273/how-chinese-language-has-long-been-shaped-foreign-influences https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3358273/how-chinese-language-has-long-been-shaped-foreign-influences Sat, 27 Jun 2026 00:15:04 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon The new family drama Dear You has become a surprise low-budget hit in mainland China, where it has grossed more than 1.6 billion yuan (US$237 million) at the box office since being released in April 2026. The film’s creators no doubt hope for similar success in Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia and Singapore, where it was released on June 18. The story follows an elderly woman and her grandson who goes to Thailand in search of his long-lost grandfather and uncovers a decades-old secret involving... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3357640/how-teochew-people-spread-china-and-their-outsize-influence-hong-kong-thailand https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3357640/how-teochew-people-spread-china-and-their-outsize-influence-hong-kong-thailand Sat, 20 Jun 2026 00:15:04 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon I recently discovered that the Singapore Weiqi Association is located within walking distance of my home. For the uninitiated, weiqi is the Chinese – and original – name of the board game better known in the West by its Japanese name, go. I have long been fascinated by weiqi, a game that is deceptively simple yet astonishingly complex, but I have never got around to learning it. At first glance, the rules appear remarkably straightforward. The game is played by two opponents on a board marked... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3356701/history-weiqi-or-go-chinese-board-game-dating-back-over-2000-years https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3356701/history-weiqi-or-go-chinese-board-game-dating-back-over-2000-years Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:15:05 +0000 Wenran Jiang Wenran Jiang I grew up in a classroom where the name Norman Bethune was invoked with reverence. Like every schoolchild in China, I could recite from memory Chairman Mao’s 1939 essay “In Memory of Norman Bethune”, which characterised Bethune as a man who had come from afar, who gave his life to the Chinese revolution, who embodied selflessness and internationalism. For years, I kept a poster in my office – the famous oil painting of Mao meeting Bethune in Yan’an – as a quiet tribute. As the years passed and... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/opinion/china-opinion/article/3355730/norman-bethunes-story-still-holds-lessons-china-canada-relations https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/opinion/china-opinion/article/3355730/norman-bethunes-story-still-holds-lessons-china-canada-relations Sat, 06 Jun 2026 21:30:06 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon A Hong Kong school trip to Singapore has become an unexpected talking point back home after a video of a principal losing his temper went viral. The incident saw Lee Cheuk-hing of San Wui Commercial Society Secondary School in Tuen Mun, in Hong Kong’s New Territories, take part in a heated exchange with security personnel outside a venue in the city state over coach parking arrangements. In full view of students and colleagues, an agitated Lee used several ill-chosen – some would say vulgar –... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3355869/hong-kong-principals-singapore-disgrace-highlights-centuries-old-educational-standards https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3355869/hong-kong-principals-singapore-disgrace-highlights-centuries-old-educational-standards Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:15:05 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon A coal mine explosion occurred in China’s Shanxi province last week. It was one of the deadliest in recent years, with 82 miners killed at the time of writing and many more injured. The details are familiar: a suspected gas blast, difficult rescue conditions, grieving families waiting above ground. Much has been said about improved safety standards and stricter oversight in China’s coal industry, and much of it is true. Yet accidents like this continue to punctuate the sector, both within China... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3355151/how-chinas-coal-mining-industry-evolved-over-history-shanxi-disaster-shocks-country https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3355151/how-chinas-coal-mining-industry-evolved-over-history-shanxi-disaster-shocks-country Sat, 30 May 2026 00:15:04 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon After last week’s exposition on laundry in China, I feel obliged to follow up with a few words on laundry’s faithful companion: ironing. I am not nearly as obsessive about ironing as I am about doing the laundry itself. Even so, I prefer to finish the day’s ironing rather than allow unironed clothes to accumulate over several days or, as some people I know seem perfectly content to do, an entire week. A towering pile of wrinkled shirts and trousers gives me mild anxiety. Ironing is also one of... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3354357/earliest-chinese-irons-date-back-over-2000-years-heres-how-they-evolved https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3354357/earliest-chinese-irons-date-back-over-2000-years-heres-how-they-evolved Sat, 23 May 2026 03:15:05 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon My washing machine has finally given up the ghost – a poltergeist, really, judging by the deafening din it makes – and I am in the market for a replacement. Am I being odd for feeling a small thrill at the prospect? I must confess to a mild obsession with laundry. Much as I resist the comparison, I have almost certainly inherited this tendency from my mother, who runs two loads a day, come rain or shine, festive season or not. I am a more restrained enthusiast: I limit myself to one daily wash... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3353368/how-chinese-people-did-laundry-washing-machines-ash-soap-stone-beatings https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3353368/how-chinese-people-did-laundry-washing-machines-ash-soap-stone-beatings Sat, 16 May 2026 08:15:04 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon Rarely featured in domestic or international news, the Malaysian state of Negeri Sembilan is currently facing a constitutional crisis centred on its royal ruler. In April 2026, four chieftains known as the Undang Yang Empat declared that the incumbent ruler, Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir, had been deposed, and named a successor. The state government rejected the move, arguing that the declaration was invalid because one of the chieftains no longer held legitimate authority. The incident has since... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3352719/how-succession-struggles-chinas-history-are-echoed-malaysias-2026-royal-crisis https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3352719/how-succession-struggles-chinas-history-are-echoed-malaysias-2026-royal-crisis Sat, 09 May 2026 00:15:05 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon I was recently diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) after an overnight sleep test at a hospital. I had long known I was a loud snorer, but what finally drove me to seek medical help was persistent daytime exhaustion despite clocking a full eight hours of sleep each night. The results were alarming. A normal person has five or fewer “events” – when the airway is partially or fully blocked during sleep – an hour. I recorded 63. At one point, I stopped breathing for 77 seconds. I... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3351990/ancient-chinese-sleep-advice-bedtimes-and-body-positions-state-mind https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3351990/ancient-chinese-sleep-advice-bedtimes-and-body-positions-state-mind Sat, 02 May 2026 00:15:07 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon Just when I thought I had exhausted my appetite for buffets, a Sunday brunch at a French restaurant in Crowne Plaza Kuala Lumpur proved a delightful corrective. There was free-flowing sparkling wine, a generous spread and a parade of desserts that made restraint all but impossible. I am told that another restaurant in the same hotel offers a Saturday “Straits of Malaya” buffet showcasing Malay cuisine. The prospect is enticing, though it will have to wait a few weekends. At my age, one must eat... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3351102/history-chinas-hospitality-industry-and-how-its-inns-evolved-over-time https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3351102/history-chinas-hospitality-industry-and-how-its-inns-evolved-over-time Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:15:07 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon It was a familiar situation that I found myself in. I was one of two Singaporeans among half a dozen or more Malaysians, and predictably – and almost always unprovoked – the trashing of Singapore’s food began, especially its supposed unoriginality and blandness vis-a-vis Malaysian fare. I have learned to grin and bear it, recognising that these barbs are less about food than the complex emotions Malaysians harbour towards their southern cousins, which are shaped by history, resentment and a... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3350239/what-ancient-chinese-dish-can-teach-people-about-proper-way-eat-dishes https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3350239/what-ancient-chinese-dish-can-teach-people-about-proper-way-eat-dishes Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:15:08 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon On a recent trip to Hong Kong, I visited the Aberdeen Chinese Permanent Cemetery. The ashes of a friend, who died eight months ago, are interred there. I had not been able to attend his funeral. Our last encounter was a distressing video call from his hospital bed a few days before he passed away. Standing before his niche, I recalled the good times we had shared in Hong Kong and on holidays abroad, and how kind he had been to me. He was also a window into a world that I was never privy to – a... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3349593/how-cremation-became-widespread-ancient-china-despite-going-against-confucian-beliefs https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3349593/how-cremation-became-widespread-ancient-china-despite-going-against-confucian-beliefs Sat, 11 Apr 2026 00:15:07 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon Last month, friends visiting from Hong Kong brought me two tins of cookies from Jenny Bakery – a popular local treat I had somehow never tried in two decades of living in the city. When I finally opened one, the aroma caught me off guard: rich, buttery and instantly familiar. It smelled exactly like the coffee buns from the Malaysian bakery chain Rotiboy, which I used to eat far more often than I should admit. I paused for a moment, tin in hand, trying to place that recognition. Maybe it was a... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3348537/history-chinese-flatbreads-reflects-how-food-has-echoes-faraway-places https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3348537/history-chinese-flatbreads-reflects-how-food-has-echoes-faraway-places Sat, 04 Apr 2026 00:15:07 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Why didn’t China develop its own scientific and industrial revolutions when it made so many discoveries and advances over millennia? That is often called “Needham’s question”, named after the historian of Chinese science and tech Joseph Needham. Why didn’t China develop capitalism during the Song dynasty when it was so close to achieving a breakthrough with trade, commerce, currency and semi-industrialisation, and an emerging merchant class? The Hungarian-French sinologist Etienne Balazs, among... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/opinion/china-opinion/article/3348381/why-china-always-misunderstood-and-misrepresented https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/opinion/china-opinion/article/3348381/why-china-always-misunderstood-and-misrepresented Wed, 01 Apr 2026 01:30:08 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon I was watching a “C-drama”, or Chinese television drama, on Netflix and found myself silently questioning why I had to sit through a sluggish 20-minute set piece that could have been done and dusted in two. At that moment, the person who had persuaded me to watch the period potboiler asked, “What is a biaoju?”, referring to a key plot device in the show. China’s armed escort services, known as biaoju, grew out of a very practical problem: getting from point A to point B without being robbed or... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3347993/how-imperial-chinas-armed-escorts-became-stuff-legend https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3347993/how-imperial-chinas-armed-escorts-became-stuff-legend Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:15:07 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon I recently enjoyed a delicious dinner at a restaurant in Kuala Lumpur that specialised in Hakka cuisine. Hakka restaurants have long existed in the city and elsewhere in Malaysia, but anecdotal evidence suggests their numbers have been growing rapidly in recent years. Less widely known than Cantonese and several other Chinese regional cuisines, Hakka food may be enjoying its moment in the sun, at least in Malaysia, where the Hakka population numbers around 1.25 million. They form the largest... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3347186/how-hakka-spread-china-and-beyond-their-cuisine-reflecting-hard-lives https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3347186/how-hakka-spread-china-and-beyond-their-cuisine-reflecting-hard-lives Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:15:09 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon In a recent interview, Reza Pahlavi, the former crown prince of Iran who is living in exile in the United States, described the death of the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as a moment that could mark the end of what he calls a monstrous era of repression. Many Iranians, he said, greeted the news of Khamenei’s assassination with elation, sensing a rare chance to reclaim their country. Pahlavi is careful to insist that he does not seek to be king or president, but a transitional... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3346223/what-irans-former-crown-prince-can-learn-exiled-royals-plea-chinese-emperor https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3346223/what-irans-former-crown-prince-can-learn-exiled-royals-plea-chinese-emperor Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:15:09 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon I have always been a worrier. For as long as I can remember, I have fretted over every conceivable disaster. Will that approaching car run me down because its driver neglected to fix its brakes? Will my apartment block collapse while I sleep? Will the latest war bring about the end of the world as we know it? It is not debilitating – these thoughts come and go in brief, sporadic flashes – but more than one therapist has suggested that I have a tendency to catastrophise. Their advice is familiar:... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3345516/modern-singapore-knows-vigilance-key-so-did-ancient-chinese-minister https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3345516/modern-singapore-knows-vigilance-key-so-did-ancient-chinese-minister Sat, 07 Mar 2026 00:15:08 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon You must have seen that photograph of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, brother of the British king, attempting to hide in the back seat of a car, eyes reddened by the camera flash, looking like a pathetic rodent moments before it is turned into roadkill. In response to the former prince’s arrest, King Charles said in a statement: “The law must take its course.” British law enforcement is finally initiating formal legal proceedings against Andrew for alleged wrongdoing. It may have taken far too long,... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3344712/after-andrews-arrest-how-high-born-criminals-were-treated-ancient-china https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3344712/after-andrews-arrest-how-high-born-criminals-were-treated-ancient-china Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:15:08 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon South Korea’s intelligence agency has signalled what could be a historic turn in North Korea’s dynastic politics. Lawmakers were recently told that supreme leader Kim Jong-un’s teenage daughter, whose name is widely believed to be Kim Ju-ae, is being positioned as his likely successor. If confirmed, the move would extend the Kim family’s rule into a fourth generation and, more strikingly, elevate a girl within a rigidly patriarchal society and political system. Her public profile has risen... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3344084/kim-jong-un-grooms-daughter-rule-chinese-princess-whose-ambition-backfired https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3344084/kim-jong-un-grooms-daughter-rule-chinese-princess-whose-ambition-backfired Sat, 21 Feb 2026 00:15:08 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon My niece’s parents-in-law recently flew in for the Singapore leg of her wedding – eight months after the main celebration in London. Keen to return the generosity they had shown me during my stay in the UK, I took the Lingalas on a day out in Singapore’s Little India and Chinatown. We began at the Indian Heritage Centre, an excellent museum that traces the layered history of the Indian diaspora in Singapore. After lunch and some shopping in Little India, we went to the 200-year-old Sri Mariamman... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3343146/how-singapores-chinatown-reveals-surprising-roots-buddhist-deities-ne-zha https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3343146/how-singapores-chinatown-reveals-surprising-roots-buddhist-deities-ne-zha Sat, 14 Feb 2026 00:15:08 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon Are your loved ones in luck this year? See our predictions for all the zodiac signs in the Year of the Horse. My favourite part of the Lunar New Year, the first day of which falls on February 17 this year, is the festive sweets and snacks. When I was a child and compelled to visit relatives in my large extended family – most of whom I did not even like (and still don’t) – my only real solace was the smorgasbord of titbits laid out in their homes. I ate as many of their snacks as I could, perhaps... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3342500/what-common-lunar-new-year-snacks-china-singapore-and-malaysia-symbolise https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3342500/what-common-lunar-new-year-snacks-china-singapore-and-malaysia-symbolise Sat, 07 Feb 2026 00:15:07 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon Are your loved ones in luck this year? See our predictions for all the zodiac signs in the Year of the Horse. I have just sent off a tranche of Lunar New Year cards to friends and family, especially those living overseas. I almost never send festive greetings at this time of year, probably because for a long time I was a Lunar New Year Ebenezer Scrooge for whom “Lunar New Year”, “Chinese New Year”, “Spring Festival”, or whatever one chooses to call it felt like a dreadful obligation best... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3341675/how-ancient-chinese-new-year-cards-went-elites-greetings-bribery-instruments https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3341675/how-ancient-chinese-new-year-cards-went-elites-greetings-bribery-instruments Sat, 31 Jan 2026 00:15:08 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon The New Year began on a convivial note for me, with friends visiting from afar. The Witzke family flew into Kuala Lumpur from Sydney for a week-long holiday, and our itinerary included sights in and around the Malaysian capital, as well as in Malacca, a Unesco World Heritage site known in Malaysia as Melaka. Before becoming one of Malaysia’s 13 states, Malacca had been a British possession that, together with Singapore, Penang and other territories, formed the Straits Settlements. Prior to... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3340824/was-chinese-princess-hang-li-po-sent-marry-malaysian-sultan-real-person https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3340824/was-chinese-princess-hang-li-po-sent-marry-malaysian-sultan-real-person Sat, 24 Jan 2026 00:15:10 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon Tokyo’s famed New Year fish auction has smashed its own headline record, with a giant bluefin tuna fetching an eye-watering price. At the Toyosu fish market’s first auction of 2026, a 243kg (535lb) bluefin tuna was snapped up for 510 million yen (US$3.2 million), making it the most expensive tuna ever sold at this annual ritual. The winning bid came from Kiyomura, the company behind the popular Sushi Zanmai chain. The purchase eclipsed the company’s own record-setting bid from 2019. The fish... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3339964/what-ancient-chinese-heros-fatal-love-raw-fish-warns-us-about-uncooked-food https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3339964/what-ancient-chinese-heros-fatal-love-raw-fish-warns-us-about-uncooked-food Sat, 17 Jan 2026 00:15:07 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon I welcomed the new year with a new crown – a dental one, that is. A routine check-up in late 2025 revealed fine cracks in one of my molars, which called for prompt intervention. First came the filing and reshaping of the damaged tooth, accomplished with a tool that produces my least favourite sound, but amplified and reverberating quite literally inside my head. A digital scan was then taken and sent to a laboratory, where the permanent crown would be fabricated. In the interim, a temporary... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3339020/how-ancient-chinese-dental-practices-were-often-similar-those-used-today https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3339020/how-ancient-chinese-dental-practices-were-often-similar-those-used-today Sat, 10 Jan 2026 00:15:07 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon You have probably seen this before. You are ordering at a restaurant when the server asks what sort of water you would like – still or sparkling? – and the Chinese diners at your table, usually women but not always, chime in: “Warm water”. Many Chinese believe that drinking warm water, or, more precisely, avoiding anything cold, is good for one’s health. As a child, my mother tried to stop me from consuming cold food and drinks because “it will make you sick”. “Then why aren’t Europeans and... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3338260/chinese-diners-preference-warm-water-over-cold-not-ancient-youd-think https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3338260/chinese-diners-preference-warm-water-over-cold-not-ancient-youd-think Sat, 03 Jan 2026 00:15:08 +0000 Xiang Bing Xiang Bing Beneath the “China threat” thesis, often heard in Western policy circles, is the assumption that China will become expansionist as it grows more powerful. But history gives us little reason to treat that as inevitable. At moments of peak strength, China has not consistently converted power into the kind of overseas colonialism, expansionism or conquest that marked the ascent of Western great powers. There are three often-cited reasons to suggest China’s rise might lead to expansionism. First,... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/opinion/china-opinion/article/3338323/history-makes-clear-powerful-china-not-expansionist https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/opinion/china-opinion/article/3338323/history-makes-clear-powerful-china-not-expansionist Thu, 01 Jan 2026 12:30:09 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon Last week, I noted that the contents of the Albatross file cast doubts on the popular narrative that Singapore was abruptly “kicked out” of Malaysia on August 9, 1965. The documents show that separation was not a unilateral expulsion but the outcome of months of secret, bilateral planning by senior leaders on both sides. The idea originated within Singapore’s own leadership in 1964, when figures such as then Minister of Finance Goh Keng Swee (who opened the file) judged that it was politically... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3337481/chinese-historical-myths-are-accepted-fact-and-why-they-have-endured https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3337481/chinese-historical-myths-are-accepted-fact-and-why-they-have-endured Sat, 27 Dec 2025 00:15:08 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon The Albatross file is a top-secret collection of papers compiled by Goh Keng Swee, one of the chief architects of modern Singapore and the right-hand man of the country’s founding prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew. In it are lesser-known details of the immediate run-up to Singapore’s dramatic separation from Malaysia on August 9, 1965. While the file’s contents have been known and studied for some years, a new book and exhibition are generating interest and raising questions about the popular... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3336910/how-malaysias-unusual-creation-still-affects-it-today-and-chinas-idea-doing-similar https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3336910/how-malaysias-unusual-creation-still-affects-it-today-and-chinas-idea-doing-similar Sat, 20 Dec 2025 00:15:08 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon You must have seen Labubu dolls – those furry, razor-toothed monsters that come in an array of colours and hang from every third person’s bag – though perhaps you do so less frequently now than in 2024. I suppose they are cute, a momentary distraction from the fraught world we live in, but for many, these charming critters serve another, humourless purpose: they are investments. Rare or limited-edition Labubus have commanded prices 10 to 20 times their original retail value. Their manufacturer,... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3336157/ancient-chinas-labubu-doll-craze-also-saw-fans-splurge-silly-money-toys https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3336157/ancient-chinas-labubu-doll-craze-also-saw-fans-splurge-silly-money-toys Sat, 13 Dec 2025 00:15:07 +0000 Holly Chik Holly Chik In 1865, when a British entrepreneur built a demonstration railroad near Beijing, Empress Dowager Cixi saw not progress but danger – of disruptions to feng shui, imperial graves and rural order – and had the tracks torn up. Two decades later, when a Chinese-built coal line threatened to steam too close to sacred grounds, Cixi’s solution was not innovation but regression. She ordered that the locomotive be replaced with horses. By clinging to tradition in the face of technological transformation,... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/science/article/3336278/us-green-tech-involution-echoes-mistake-chinas-qing-dynasty-collapse https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/science/article/3336278/us-green-tech-involution-echoes-mistake-chinas-qing-dynasty-collapse Fri, 12 Dec 2025 22:00:17 +0000