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Lunar: Stories

WWII sex slave issue looms large over South Korea’s ties with Japan

17 Jun 2022 - 4:00PM

Lunar: Newsletter

Should you have a child if you worry about the environment?

30 Aug 2021 - 7:49AM

Investing

Women investors, one-stop marriage shops, and more

30 Jul 2021 - 4:14PM

Oscar

Body neutrality, mesmerising mushrooms and more

30 Apr 2021 - 4:00PM

Chinese food trends

Ciba: a chewy, sticky Chinese rice cake

Typically found in southern China, ciba is often eaten as a dessert. Few places still make it by hand, but this man in Dafang has been doing it the traditional way for over a decade.

28 Apr 2021 - 11:47AMvideocam

Food and Drinks

How Chinese tea eggs get their unique colour and taste

Tea eggs are a popular snack across mainland China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia, characterised by dark-brown lines that cross the egg white. Making them is a time-consuming process that can take anywhere from a few hours to a whole day.

26 Apr 2021 - 3:11PMvideocam

Health in China

Banlangen: The Chinese medicine that is also used for tie-dye

Banlangen made headlines last year when it was touted as a possible coronavirus remedy. But in southwestern China, the herb is mostly used as a dye for clothing

29 Mar 2021 - 3:30PMvideocam

Tie-dye shirts made with banlangen in Yunnan, China. Photo: Guo Yong

China society

The delicate and dying art of fixing ancient Chinese books by hand

There are more than 50 million antique books in China, but only a handful of people are trained to repair them.

3 May 2021 - 10:42AMvideocam

Tibet

Few have seen how Tibetan yak milk soap is made. Here’s a rare look

For generations, Tibetans have been using yak milk and butter to protect their skin from the harsh conditions of the plateau

18 Mar 2021 - 11:30AMvideocam

Timepieces

Shenzhen watchmaker: how a Chinese man taught himself to make US$80,000 watches

Lin Yonghua learned how to make watches by taking them apart. Now, he is one of China’s few Swiss-accredited watchmakers

13 Mar 2021 - 3:00PMvideocam

Lin Yonghua is one of only three people in China accredited by the AHCI, a prestigious association of independent watchmakers. Photo: Fang Xin

Lunar: Stories

Bangladesh’s transgender anchor, the perfect soup dumpling and more

12 Mar 2021 - 4:00PM

Food and Drinks

This Chinese pancake is three times the size of your face

The giant pastry is called a guobing, which literally means ‘pot biscuit’ because it resembles the mouth of a giant pot.

7 Mar 2021 - 3:44PMvideocam

Lunar: Newsletter

Asia’s Golden Globes moment, egg-freezing inequality and more

8 Mar 2021 - 10:42AM

Food and Drinks

Is this the best way to cook soup noodles?

Pot-lid noodles are a speciality of Zhenjiang, where shopkeepers insist their particular cooking method makes a difference

3 Mar 2021 - 5:24PMvideocam

In Zhenjiang, noodles are cooked with a lid floating in the water. Photo: Shirley Xu

Food and Drinks

Making Fujian misua, China’s longest noodle, is as intense as a workout

It is made by stretching dough to over 30 metres, which is why some people consider it the longest noodle in China.

23 Feb 2021 - 12:31PMvideocam

Huang Jia makes misua at his shop in Fujian province, eastern China. Photo: Goldthread

Food and Drinks

How sweet and sour pork gave this Chinese former convict a second chance

Thirty years ago, Du Yaying went to prison for her part in running a gambling den. Finding her passion for food, she is today the chef and owner of a popular restaurant in Xiamen, China.

18 Feb 2021 - 3:28PMvideocam

Food and Drinks

The origins of siu mai: how an iconic dim sum staple came to be

Siu mai is popular street snack in Hong Kong, but its origins can be traced further north to Inner Mongolia.

17 Feb 2021 - 11:50AMvideocam

Chinese culture

Why Chinese people might say they have two birth dates

For thousands of years, farmers have used the Chinese calendar to figure out the best times to plant and harvest crops.

12 Feb 2021 - 11:45AMvideocam

Leung Yu-time, a publisher in Hong Kong, holds up one of his company’s calendars. Photo: Goldthread

Taiwan

How oyster omelettes helped the Chinese win a war

Oyster omelettes, or pancakes, are a street food staple in Taiwan and Xiamen. Legend has it that the dish originated in the throes of battle.

3 Feb 2021 - 1:07PMvideocam

Tibet

The dying art of making Tibetan fiddles by hand

The fiddle-like xianzi has been part of Tibetan folk culture for centuries. But the number of people who can make the traditional instrument is dwindling.

1 Feb 2021 - 2:16PMvideocam

Taiwan

The Taiwanese rice cake that’s ‘no less than a Japanese or Western sweet’

From Minnan - a part of southern China - the snack spread all over Asia, to Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and beyond.

26 Jan 2021 - 3:22PMvideocam

Sweet kueh pressed in the shape of a tortoise. Photo: Goldthread

Chinese culture

Wuhan calling: how the city’s punk rock scene changed China’s youth

Punk is still not a common sight in China, but if you do find a scene, chances are you’re in Wuhan.

20 Jan 2021 - 12:44PMvideocam

Chinese culture

Why are Chinese students so good at maths?

It’s a stereotype played out on the big screen and the presidential campaign trail. But how much truth is there to it? Some students and teachers in Asia say there is something to it: ‘All my Chinese students are just the next level above.’

1 Oct 2020 - 4:26AMvideocam

Chinese cuisine

The special ‘gold’ Chinese noodle that’s thin as a thread

Known as jinsimian in Chinese, gold thread noodles are thin as hair and reserved for important occasions. To achieve the effect, chefs carefully run a heavy knife back and forth across dough – a technique that takes a career to perfect.

16 Sep 2020 - 2:08PMvideocam

Chinese culture

Why money is not a taboo topic for Chinese people

While talking about money can be taboo in the West, many Chinese people discuss money with candour. Apart from religious practices and ancient superstitions, booming private wealth in recent decades helped remove social taboos around openly talking about money.

17 Jul 2020 - 5:40PMvideocam

In Taoism, there is the God of Wealth, Caishenye, who people pray to for wealth to come to them. Illustration: Goldthread

China society

Why do Chinese people love drinking hot water?

For many outsiders, the Chinese love affair with hot water is perplexing – it is one of the most searched questions about Chinese people on Google.

25 May 2020 - 6:59PMvideocam

A public health campaign poster from 1952 encourages students to drink more warm water. Photo: Handout

Food and Drinks

The man selling Cantonese rice cakes to hipsters in New York’s Chinatown

When Paul Eng of Fong On decided to reinvent his family’s rice cake and tofu business, there was one problem: he didn’t know the recipes.

26 May 2020 - 9:50AMvideocam

Food and Drinks

What is Taiwanese papaya milk, bubble tea’s quirky sidekick?

Boba might be Taiwan’s most famous cultural export, but there’s one drink that says even more about the island’s history and unique climate. Topped with a slight froth, papaya milk is creamy, mildly sweet and refreshing to its fans, while others might find it pungent and intolerable.

26 May 2020 - 9:50AMvideocam

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