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Chinese culture

Chinese culture
Latest news and updates on Chinese culture including the country’s traditions, food, values, history and festivals.
Jeweller Choo Yilin’s pieces are about identity. Photo: Handout
Jewellery

Luxury jewellery designers are embracing spirituality and mindfulness

Local brands fuse traditional Chinese motifs with a modern aesthetic, while Boucheron takes inspiration from Japanese art and philosophy.

Malaysia

How the Peranakan Chinese built one of Southeast Asia’s most powerful networks

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Food and Drinks

7 of the most popular food stories of 2025, including top Malaysian breakfasts

Lessons from China's history

Reflections | Chinese historical myths that are accepted as fact, and why they’ve endured

Like Singapore’s ‘ejection’ from Malaysia, Chinese history contains fallacies, including ones about Sun Yat-sen and Empress Dowager Cixi.

Sun Yat-sen, widely regarded as the founding father of modern China, is credited with “leading” the 1911 Revolution that overthrew the Qing dynasty, but in fact he was not even in China at the time of the Wuchang Uprising, the trigger of the revolution, and only learned about it afterwards. Photo: Getty Images
Art

How the horse paintings of Xu Beihong have galloped through history

Known as the father of modern Chinese art and famed for his horse paintings, Xu Beihong blended Western techniques with Chinese tradition.

Chinese zodiac predictions

Is the Year of the Snake’s 11th 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 health, love, work and finances.

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Collecting

How China fell in love with My Little Pony collectible cards

When My Little Pony first aired on TV in China, it didn’t take off. Instead, it was collectible cards that saw it become a galloping success.

My Little Pony trading cards have become hugely popular across China, with fans hoping to find rare cards in packs.
Food and Drinks

7 popular 2025 stories celebrating Chinese culture, from seal carving to tofu

The art of carving stone stamps, the popularity of egg waffles, a twist on cheongsam – check out these Chinese culture stories from 2025.

Corruption in China

China probes museum art theft claims that ‘make the Louvre thieves look dumb’

Case triggers questions over handling of cultural treasures as former Nanjing Museum director is accused of masterminding large-scale scam.

Asia travel

6 of the best hotels in Chengdu from which to explore the city or mountains

Whether you’re going there for the pandas and city vibes, or the mountains and teahouses, these are the best places to check into in Chengdu.

The Shangri-La Chengdu stands by the city’s river. Photo: Handout
Art

Artist Hung Fai brings both control and chaos to Hong Kong exhibition

‘A Veiled Revelation’ sees Hung Fai disrupt his previous, more calculated style to reveal a chaotic vulnerability in his newer works.

Artist Hung Fai stands in front of his work Traces XI (2025) at “A Veiled Revelation”, his new exhibition at Grotto Fine Art in Shau Kei Wan, Hong Kong. The solo exhibition is a disruption of his usual control in his work. Photo: Jonathan Wong
Pop Mart

Chinese toymaker Pop Mart targets wider audience with magazine, grow IP

The magazine, which is available for US$5.7 online and at select offline locations, features Michelle Yeoh on the cover.

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

3 forgotten Hong Kong wuxia gems from director Chor Yuen

Chor Yuen’s Duel for Gold, Clans of Intrigue and Jade Tiger may be less famous than some of his other films, but are just as groundbreaking.

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China’s soft power

From Labubu to blockbuster films, was 2025 the year of China’s soft power?

Chinese lifestyle brands and other cultural exports proved to be a hit around the world this year, here are some of our most notable stories.

Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen
Macquarie

Language Matters | Word of the Year 2025 choices reflect how virtual our reality has become

From Oxford’s ‘rage bait’ to Macquarie Dictionary’s ‘AI slop’, 2025 WOTYs show the influence of the virtual world on our daily lives.

Word of the Year 2025 choices around the world – including Oxford’s “rage bait” and Cambridge Dictionary’s “parasocial” – reflect the increasing influence that artificial intelligence has on everyday life. Photo: Shutterstock
Year of the Horse 2026

‘I have witnessed magic’: how horses help Hong Kong people with disabilities

Riding for the Disabled Association instructor Joelle Scott reveals some of the amazing ways equine therapy can help those with disabilities.

Hong Kong

Explainer | What is the winter solstice? History, food and how Hong Kong celebrates

Known as dung zi in Cantonese and dongzhi in Mandarin, the winter solstice is one of the most important celebrations for Chinese families.

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Blockchain

Video | How a Shanghai start-up is digitalising Chinese tea

Safety, verification and trust behind start-up company Teakan Technology’s goal to make traditional Chinese tea digitally traceable.

Safety, verification and trust behind start-up company Teakan Technology’s goal to make traditional Chinese tea digitally traceable
Asian cinema: Chinese films

Review | Good Autumn, Mommy: Shu Qi anchors gritty Chinese rural drama

Shu Qi stars as an impoverished woman who believes her newborn was taken from her in Good Autumn, Mommy, set in rural Guangzhou in 1995.

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Food and Drinks

Best places to eat in Hangzhou, China’s rising fine-dining hotspot

Hangzhou has become a gourmand mecca in recent years, with its Michelin Guide full of top restaurants serving a range of Chinese cuisines.

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

3 female action stars who ruled Hong Kong cinema alongside Michelle Yeoh

Like Michelle Yeoh, female fighters Cynthia Rothrock, Kara Hui and Shih Szu starred in their own must-see Hong Kong action classics.

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Kara Hui Ying-hung (left) and Hsiao Hou in a still from My Young Auntie (1981)
TikTok

Are China’s social media apps the soft power play to win over the West?

After the US migration to RedNote, experts say transforming engagement into influence will require a ‘light touch’ from Beijing.

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Illustration: Henry Wong
Year of the Horse 2026

5 of the best-known horses in Chinese legend, from the Red Hare to qilin

Horses play a fascinating role in Chinese folklore, ranging from the downright disturbing – one kidnaps a girl – to the gently auspicious.

Chinese overseas

Being Chinese | The 30-word identity pitch of an overseas Chinese

To some, “Are you Chinese?” is a question about nationality. To others, it’s about ethnicity. To cover all bases, I’ve crafted a 30-word answer.

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Lessons from China's history

Reflections | Ancient China’s Labubu-like doll craze also saw fans splurge silly money

Mohele dolls featured expensive ‘special editions’, saw designer collaborations and even inspired cosplay, much like Labubus today.

Labubus hang for sale at a market in New York’s Times Square in November 2025. The dolls’ unprecedented popularity has led their value to surge as many buy them as investments and keep them entombed in plastic cases. Photo: Reuters
Art

Famous horse-related works of art as the Year of the Horse 2026 approaches

To celebrate the nearing Year of the Fire Horse, we look at paintings, books and plays that show how the use of horses in art has evolved.

A scene from War Horse, performed at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 2019. The award-winning British play is one of many artworks made over the centuries with a strong equine focus. Photo: Winson Wong
Asian diaspora

How Boston Chinatown overcame constant threats to win its place in history

New England’s last surviving Chinatown, Boston Chinatown has long suffered hostile urban renewal but now its community is stronger than ever.

US-China relations

US commission wants more Mandarin language courses to curb Beijing’s sway

Move would deepen students’ linguistic and cultural understanding amid cuts to US cultural exchange programmes to China.

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