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Chinese history

Chinese history
The latest news, analysis and opinion on Chinese history. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.
A tray of Lunar New Year snacks. Many Chinese communities enjoy the same festive favourites at this time of year, but places such as Singapore and Malaysia also gorge on regional treats shaped by foreign influences and migration. Photo: Getty Images
Lessons from China's history

Reflections | What do common Lunar New Year snacks in China, Singapore and Malaysia symbolise?

Lunar New Year treats in China vary from those in Singapore and Malaysia, for which some question whether they are truly ‘Chinese’.

Art

The unicorn has been revered for 4,000 years. It still has us under its spell

China economy

Opinion | US-China rivalry: great powers that don’t make things won’t be great for long

Lessons from China's history

Reflections | How Chinese new year cards went from elites’ greetings to bribery instruments

Wishing someone a happy new year was a highly formal affair among people of status in imperial China and some cards were even collected.

In imperial China, wishing someone a happy new year was anything but casual. Among people of status, it was a highly formal affair, governed by etiquette, hierarchy and a good deal of social anxiety. Photo: Sina
Science

Composite tool find puts China in tech revolution up to 160,000 years ago: paper

Team says discovery of 2,600 stone tools, including hafted tools, reshapes understanding of human evolution in eastern Asia.

Asian cinema: Chinese films

Review | Gezhi Town: Chinese war drama with Xiao Zhan dares to entertain

Civilians try to fend off Japanese soldiers in this thrilling drama that focuses on character dynamics rather than patriotic grandstanding.

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Lessons from China's history

Reflections | Was Chinese princess sent to marry a Malaysian sultan a real person?

Hang Li Po’s 15th-century marriage allegedly sealed Malacca and China’s friendly relations. Proof of her existence is scant. Does it matter?

Malaysian singer and model Dewi Seriestha is seen in a poster for “Teater Muzikal Puteri Hang Li Po”, a stage production that ran at the Encore Melaka theatre in Malacca, Malaysia, in October 2024. Photo: Instagram/encore_melaka
Chinese culture

Why Asia’s historic Silk Road should have been called the ‘Horse Road’

It was China’s desperate need for good warhorses that spawned history’s most famous trade network, animals it paid for in silk and then tea.

Interiors

This refurbished home is a love letter to old Shanghai

A Hong Kong designer transforms his late aunt’s flat with 1930s East-meets-West glamour.

Chinese culture

World’s first Chinese rosewood cello stars in Hong Kong exhibition

Made over six months from a 200-year-old piece of Chinese rosewood, or huanghuali, the cello is now on show at Sheung Wan’s Liang Yi Museum.

The Chinese rosewood cello that stars in “The World’s First Huanghuali Cello” is seen at the exhibition at the Liang Yi Museum in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong. The exhibition, which runs until January 28, showcases the masterpiece alongside other items made from Chinese rosewood. Photo: Jonathan Wong
Chinese culture

This remote Chinese minority uses horsetail hair to create beautiful embroidery

A craft passed down for thousands of years, the horsetail embroidery of China’s Shui people is deemed a local intangible cultural heritage.

A Shui minority woman embroiders with horsetail in Sandu Shui Autonomous County in China’s Guizhou province. Shui minority women can spend months or even years making a piece of horsetail embroidery, which is used as decoration on clothes, shoes, wallets and more. Photo: Visual China Group via Getty Images
Science

Chinese team restores legendary Tang dynasty ‘golden’ armour from Tibetan tomb

Tomb’s occupant confirmed to be a Tuyuhun king and the golden armour is likely to have been among his prized possessions, conservators say.

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Lessons from China's history

Reflections | What a Chinese hero’s fatal love of raw fish warns us about uncooked food

The recent sale of the most expensive tuna in Tokyo reflects sushi’s popularity, but an episode in Chinese history shows raw food’s dangers.

Chinese culture

7 horse-themed Chinese idioms to use during the Year of the Horse

Horses symbolise strength, speed and health in Chinese culture. Here are seven sayings based on the animal, with Cantonese pronunciations.

Horses are the subject of many Chinese idioms. Here are seven of the most popular horse-related expressions in Chinese, how to pronounce them in Cantonese and the stories behind them. Photo: Shutterstock
Chinese culture

What the Chinese surname Ma, meaning ‘horse’, symbolises and how it spread

Ma is one of mainland China’s most common surnames and is interestingly even prevalent among Chinese Muslims. We look at its history.

As the Year of the Horse 2026 approaches, we explore the origins and prevalence of the Chinese surname Ma, which literally translates as “horse”. Photo: Shutterstock
Lessons from China's history

Reflections | How ancient Chinese dental practices were often similar to those used today

From gargling with medicinal concoctions to chewing sticks, people in China addressed dental health with considerable ingenuity.

Legacy of war in Asia

Opinion | Amid historical tensions with Japan, Hong Kong must engage for the future

Remembering the pain of the Nanking massacre does not preclude engagement, but ensures lessons of the past strengthen our shared commitment to peace.

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Fashion

History of Chinese-style ‘frog buttons’, seen on viral Adidas jacket

Used in China for centuries, frog buttons are a key feature of a limited-edition Adidas jacket that has become a huge hit on social media.

A model wears Adidas’ “Tang-style” jacket that combines streetwear cool with Chinese details including “frog buttons”. The jacket has become a viral hit on social media. Photo: Adidas Power of Three
US-China relations

US poet laureate Arthur Sze on slowing down to translate poetry across cultures

As the first Asian-American poet laureate, Sze reflects on Chinese cultural inheritance and poetry’s role beyond borders.

Science

Could 2,000-year-old machine from tomb in China be earliest binary computer?

Silk-weaving loom dating to Western Han is world’s oldest known ‘computer hardware’ with corresponding ‘software’, China science body says.

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China economy

Opinion | As history makes clear, a powerful China is not expansionist

China was an unmatched power in the Song and Ming dynasties, with greater concentrated authority. But it consolidated, rather than colonised.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Chinese culture

The Chinese cowboys challenging narratives of the American Old West

Whether through art or immersion in the rancher lifestyle, these Asian men are redefining what it means to be a cowboy in the American West.

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Self-professed Chinese cowboy Bruce Wang Shibo stands with a horse. The Chinese national is one of those rewriting narratives of the American West. Photo: Bruce Wang Shibo
Horoscopes

What’s your luck like in 2026, the Fire Horse year? Horoscopes for every Chinese zodiac sign

What are your lucky numbers and months in 2026? Here’s how you fare in terms of wealth, career and relationship prospects.

Hong Kong Voices

A fifth-gen shop owner on closing the business despite his umbrella obsession

The 73-year-old owner of Sun Nga Shing Umbrella Store in Sham Shui Po recently announced that he would be closing the family business, which dates back to the Qing dynasty.

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
Chinese culture

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.

The Three Stallions, by Xu Beihong. The piece is just one example of the many horse paintings that Xu was known for.
Science

Bronze Age cemetery offers clues on how ancient Chinese brewed red rice wine

Vessels found in tombs at Mogou in modern-day Gansu contain traces of a fermentation starter of the type still used to make sake today.

Science

China urged to sue over Japanese royal’s role in Unit 731 crimes

Emperor Hirohito should be held accountable, according to scholars who say the wartime ruler was shielded from prosecution by US policy.

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