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The latest news, analysis and opinion on History. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.
Snow capped mountains tower above the historic Goldenes Dachl, or Golden Roof, in the medieval Old Town of Innsbruck, Austria. Photo: Shutterstock
European travel

Think Innsbruck is all about skiing? Then think again

From royalty to jewellery and serious cuisine, there’s more to the historically rich Austrian ski town than its popular runs.

Art

London museum where you can touch ‘5,000 years of creativity’

From our archives

When a family of five died tragically in a murder-suicide in 1999

South Korea

South Korea’s ties with Japan face new test after ex-forced labourer wins suit

A 107-year-old South Korean has won his case against Mitsubishi after a court ordered the firm to pay him compensation for his labour.

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A shop in Tokyo featuring Japanese and South Korean flags. Ties between both sides are set to be tested again over a South Korean ex-forced labourer winning a suit against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Photo: AP
Chinese culture

Language Matters | What to know about intangible cultural heritage amid Hong Kong celebrations

With Hong Kong Intangible Cultural Heritage Month in full flow, a look at ICH’s five main domains and the importance of linguistic heritage.

Hong Kong society

Chinese legends, Disney characters compete in Hong Kong dragon boat races

Paddlers don dazzling array of colourful costumes for final day of Hong Kong’s International Dragon Boat Races.

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Chinese culture

Why China’s leaders seek a culture that is both modern and distinctly Chinese

Historian Wang Gungwu on China’s quest for a unifying national ethos, fusing global insights with heritage to ensure stability in a changing world.

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Deng Xiaoping, China’s paramount leader and architect of its reform and opening-up policy. Photo: AFP
Lessons from China's history

Reflections | Oxen, sheep or pigs? Ancient Chinese rules on animal sacrifices

Muslims celebrate Eid al-Adha this weekend, which involves ritual animal sacrifice, something Chinese started performing in the Zhou dynasty.

Old Hong Kong

Then & Now | How Hong Kong became a souvenir hunter’s paradise

Long a magnet for tourists, the vast choice of ‘oriental’ curios on sale at visitor hotspots across Hong Kong have been a feature of the city since its urban beginnings.

Thailand

Thailand and Cambodia face rising tensions over Emerald Triangle dispute

Thailand warned of military action against Cambodia amid nationalist protests and diplomatic efforts to ease the border crisis.

Thai police officers stand guard in front of the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok on Friday. Photo: Reuters
China-Philippines relations

Opinion | With 50 years of history, Manila and Beijing should do better diplomacy

Stop allowing South China Sea spat to poison the waters when there are in fact many areas of potential cooperation for mutual benefit.

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Allowing security issues to dominate relations is neither wise nor strategic. Photo: Shutterstock
Japan

South Korea’s Lee pledges warmer ties, but past tensions leave Japan ‘worried’

A minor bilateral misstep or the need to push a nationalist agenda could see ties spiral to the lows of 2019, analysts warn.

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Indonesia

Then & Now | When Indonesia was the Hongkonger’s summer destination of choice

Where did well-heeled Hongkongers escape the summer heat in the years preceding mass tourism?

Germany

WWII bombs defused in German city’s biggest post-war evacuation

Over 20,000 people evacuated from central Cologne after bombs were uncovered during roadwork.

Two of the three unexploded World War II bombs are defused and prepared to be loaded onto vehicles. Photo: dpa via AP
Food and Drinks

Explainer | What’s in a Chinese olive? The history behind the congee ingredient

Chinese olives are not a local variant of what you put in your martini. One Hongkonger recalls her first encounter with the umami-rich fruit.

===Online Use==== Cantonese olives (From Left to Right) Licorice olive, salted olive, preserved olive and airplane olives. 14May25 SCMP / Jocelyn Tam
India

Indian ‘history hunter’ shows children how to use 20th-century tech

Typewriters, rotary telephones, lanterns and tube radios are among the collection of artefacts Aditya Vij demonstrates at his New Delhi home.

High Jewellery

Chanel’s Reach for the Stars high jewellery launch in Kyoto

For its latest launch, Chanel unveils pieces featuring comets and wings as motifs; the debut in Kyoto is also a nod to the house’s collaboration with local lacquer artisan Yoshio Okada.

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Japan

‘Lies into truth’: outcry in Japan over Chinese bias at Canadian history museum

With exhibits on Unit 731 and wartime atrocities, critics in Tokyo warn the museum is eroding Japan’s ‘credibility and national dignity’.

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Japanese troops in Nanking, now known as Nanjing, after conquering the city in 1937. Photo: Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Sex and relationships

200-year-old condom made from sheep’s appendix goes on display

Prophylactic on show in Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum bears the phrase ‘This is my choice’ and an erotic image of a nun and three clergymen.

Books and literature

Review | Chinese tenacity in US amid a century of hate explored in new book

Michael Luo’s Strangers in the Land tells heart-wrenching stories of exclusion, racism and violence directed at Chinese immigrants to the US.

Style Edit

Style Edit: The new Santos de Cartier Petit Modèle timepiece

Over the years, the Santos de Cartier has been worn by everyone from pilots to the character Gordon Gekko in the 1987 film Wall Street: its latest incarnation recognises that small is beautiful.

Today’s Santos de Cartier watches follow in the footsteps of the 1904 original – the first watch designed to be worn on the wrist. Photo: Handout
Thailand

How a family’s vision is transforming Bangkok’s historic Chinatown

A transformation is turning the area into a destination for locals and visitors, showcasing rich heritage and striking modernity.

The Assakul siblings, Win, Sun, Sandy and Sea, pose for a group portrait at Baan Trok Tua Ngork. Photo: Natthawut Taeja
From our archives

When a wall collapsed on people at a bus stop near a school, killing 6

Tragedy struck in June 1966 as a woman and 5 children were crushed by a wall near a school that collapsed on Hong Kong’s Boundary Street.

Tourism

Rising seas eat away African country’s coast, and a dark history

Ocean surges are eroding the coastline of Ghana, and with it remnants of the West African country’s historical role in the slave trade.

Hong Kong society

Opinion | Forget tourist fads. Let’s better preserve, promote Hong Kong heritage

Government needs to think twice about demolitions and work with NGOs and professional institutes to highlight historic buildings and sites.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Music

These ‘floppy discs’ had music that could get you thrown in jail

Back in the USSR of the 1950s and 60s, hipsters, desperate for decadent rock ’n’ roll, cut illegal records using X-ray film.

A disc-cutting lathe shows how records were produced on old X-rays by bootleggers in the Cold War-era Soviet Union. Photo: Getty Images
Old Hong Kong

Then & Now | Perils of Hong Kong summer could spell disaster for a winter wardrobe

The city’s cooler months require heavy warmer clothes, but how to care for these often luxury items during gruelling summers?

Japan

In Japan, North Koreans ‘very angry’ over funding cuts for their schools

Chosen Soren has called for funding to be restored, saying Japan is ‘politically very unfriendly’ to the local North Korean community.

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