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Lessons from China's history

Lessons from China's history
Wee Kek Koon draws parallels between current events and trends and episodes and attitudes in China’s past.
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March making English the official language of the country. Photo: AFP
Donald Trump

Reflections | After Trump decree, how China and Singapore’s official languages came to be

China did not have an official language in the modern sense before the 20th century, while Singapore’s is different to its national language.

Books and literature

Reflections | US conservatives ban books. In ancient China such acts didn’t end well

Wellness

Reflections | Why a Chinese ruler ordered people put to death for drinking

Food and Drinks

Reflections | An ode to pandan, seen in Singaporean chiffon cake and other dishes

Pandan chiffon cake is associated with Singapore, but pandan is popular all over Southeast Asia and seen in various foods and drinks.

Kueh lapis and pandan chiffon cake from Bengawan Solo. Although it is often associated with Singapore, pandan is popular all over Southeast Asia and used in food and drinks across the region. Photo: Zhang Dayu
Donald Trump

Reflections | Nazi salute or no, Elon Musk reminds us of the importance of gestures

Some historical gestures should never be revived. The yi greeting, once common in ancient China, is thankfully not one of them.

Singapore

Reflections | Amid Singapore morning shower debate, how bathing used to be a luxury

A social media post about sweaty commuters sparked intense debate in Singapore, yet in the old days people would go months without a bath.

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Asian diaspora

Reflections | Why world doesn’t know about Malaysian and Singaporean food

Malaysia and Singapore are tiny compared to other Southeast Asian countries, let alone China, whose foods are ubiquitous around the world.

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A bowl of Singapore laksa from The Laksa Club in Hong Kong. The spicy noodle soup has not conquered the world, unlike Vietnamese pho and any number of Chinese dishes. Photo: The Laksa Club
Chinese culture

Reflections | So Chinese New Year prosperity toss salad is unchristian?

A pastor has called the Chinese New Year ritual of shouting good wishes while tossing salad ingredients high in the air ‘superstitious’.

Weddings

Reflections | Why are Chinese couples so set on Western wedding fashion?

Chinese brides used to wear black, then red, before the Western white gown became ubiquitous. Some push back now and don hanfu bridal wear.

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Chinese history

Reflections | The earliest Chinese lotteries, and a cheating operator’s gruesome death

Various forms of lottery have existed in China for centuries, as have attempts to ban them for reasons like the social problems they induce.

People queue to buy lottery tickets at a branch of the Hong Kong Jockey Club in the city’s Central business district for the Mark Six Snowball draw of HK$100 million on January 2, 2025. Photo: Edmond So
Religion

Reflections | Is God there? Yes, said China’s Confucius, but so what?

Chinese philosopher Kongzi, also known as Confucius, put no faith in deities, preferring to focus on the here and now.

Kongzi, also known as Confucius, preferred to focus on the here and now rather than on deities. Photo: Getty Images
Africa

Reflections | Witch doctor arrests in Zambia and a witchcraft lie that ended a dynasty

An alleged attempt to bewitch a president is a reminder of a plotter’s bogus claim about witchcraft being used against a Chinese emperor.

South Korea

Reflections | Suicide in Korea is a big problem. In China, views were once very different

Events during one period in Chinese history indicate that for many, dying for honour was far more desirable than living a disgraced life.

Joe Biden

Reflections | Hunter Biden pardon, Chinese history give the lie to equality before the law

The idea that no one is above the law was mere aspiration in imperial China. Biden pardoning his son shows it to be so in United States too.

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Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden hug on stage at the Democratic National Convention in August 2024. The US president gave his son a full pardon to spare him imprisonment. Photo: AFP/Getty Images/TNS
History

Recap | Taylor Swift, Elon Musk and Salman Rushdie were foreshadowed in ancient China

Explore connections between Chinese history, current events, and modern celebrities with longtime contributor Wee Kek Koon.

Taylor Swift performs at Singapore’s National Stadium in March. The singer played six concerts in the Lion City as part of The Eras Tour. Photo: Getty Images
History

Reflections | Like Musk for Trump, a benefactor aided rise of China’s first emperor

Political contributions are not new – 2,300 years ago a rich merchant helped the father of China’s first emperor gain power, and his son.

History

Reflections | China’s Great Wall, and the Malaysian state that wants its own

People from Kelantan in Malaysia go to Thailand for pleasure. Migrants enter the US from Mexico. Why leaders dream of walls to stop them.

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Chinese history

Reflections | China has long kept a firm grip on news, with gossip harshly punished

The Yongzheng Emperor even put to death editors and writers linked to a report he had celebrated a festival that he had said he would not.

A man carries an AI-generated image of former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump carrying cats away from Haitian immigrants, a reference to falsehoods spread about Springfield, Ohio, during a campaign rally for Trump at the Tucson Music Hall in Tucson, Arizona, Sept. 12, 2024. (Rebecca Noble/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)
Chinese overseas

Reflections | How my DNA test showed I’m less Chinese than I thought

Wee Kek Koon had always known he was ‘not quite Chinese’ in terms of genetics and ancestry but his recent DNA test results still floored him.

History

Reflections | The wells where a Chinese scholar and emperor’s consort met their ends

In 1900 a scholar jumped in a Beijing well out of shame. A palace consort died in a Forbidden City well too. Was she ‘martyred’ or killed?

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Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)

Reflections | How ‘dragon bones’ shed a whole new light on China’s ancient history

With the news that dinosaur fossils were found in Hong Kong, here is how China’s oracle bones changed our understanding of the Shang dynasty.

Oracle bone, The engraved characters are the earliest known examples of Chinese script. The bones originally used for divination also provide information about rulers, battles, folk religion and religious rites. China. Chinese. Shang dynasty c 1766 1122 BC. An yang, Honan. (Photo by Werner Forman/Universal Images Group/Getty Images) Photo: Getty Images
Food and Drinks

Reflections | Only Hong Kong sex symbol Amy Yip should be offended over bubble tea

Accusations of cultural appropriation aimed at a Canadian brand’s boba tea don’t sit right in Asia, where ‘borrowing’ cuisines is normal.

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Actress Amy Yip on a film set.
Corruption in China

Reflections | When officials in drought-prone part of China committed huge fraud

In a case that shocked China 250 years ago, officials were punished for fraud involving donations in return for university places.

Crime

Reflections | Official corruption isn’t new, but first recorded case in China was unusual

Yangshe Fu, Chinese history’s first recorded corrupt official, was killed after accepting a nobleman’s daughter as a bribe in a court case.

Chinese culture

Reflections | My name isn’t weird, it reflects diversity that’s dying out in China

Chinese names were once pronounced according to a person’s local dialect. Thanks to standardisation and the pinyin system, this is changing.

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Pedestrians in the Orchard Road shopping district in Singapore in 2018. Chinese names were once pronounced according to a person’s local dialect. This is dying out. Photo: AFP
Religion in China

Reflections | Why China avoided the wars of religion that consumed other places

Different faiths have coexisted more or less peacefully throughout Chinese history, with foreign religions accepted and later on Sinicised.

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Buddhist art in the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, in Gansu province, China. Different religions and belief systems have co-existed more or less peacefully throughout Chinese history. Photo: Getty Images
Paris 2024 Paralympic Games

Reflections | Paralympians need more appreciation. Ancient China offers a lesson

People with disabilities were celebrated for their achievements in China’s past. Paralympians today deserve to be better appreciated.

Mid-Autumn Festival

Reflections | Why Teochew mooncakes are reminders of a history of migration

Eating Teochew mooncakes at Mid-Autumn Festival is a reminder of the Teochew people’s history of migration from China to Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.

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