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What you need to know about: Chinese culture

What you need to know about: Chinese culture
Your everyday questions answered on Chinese culture.
Clouds over the River before Rain (1504), painted by Chinese landscape artist Shen Zhou during the Ming dynasty (1369-1644). Photo: Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images
Art

How Chinese landscape paintings reflect changing art styles through history

From divine visions to expressions of the self, the evolution of ink landscape painting reflects wider changes in Chinese art over centuries.

Art

Not a Chinese art buff? Why you can still appreciate landscape paintings

Chinese culture

Explainer | Why the Chinese calendar has ‘leap months’ and when they fall

Food and Drinks

Chinese dining etiquette dos and don’ts, from who eats first to tea pouring

Chinese table manners and traditions emphasise sharing and politeness and can be complicated. Here are the most important rules.

Although Chinese eating customs have evolved over time and through cultural shifts, some aspects have remained the same, such as the oldest or most senior person starting a meal and where you put your chopsticks. Photo: Shutterstock
History

Truth behind a martial arts legend played by Jet Li and Jackie Chan

It has been 100 years since the death of kung fu master Wong Fei-hung who was little known during his lifetime.

Hong Kong economy

Letters | Hong Kong shows its education hub aspiration isn’t just talk

Readers discuss the government’s push to become a magnet for global talent, language requirements for university admissions, a new Chinese culture centre and provision of handrails around the city.

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Chinese culture

Video | What is Mid-Autumn Festival and why do Chinese families celebrate it?

The festival, considered the second biggest in China, falls on September 17 this year.

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A boy with a lantern outside the Blue House in Wan Chai on September 9, 2024. Photo: Sam Tsang
Chinese culture

How the Jade Rabbit became part of Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival

The pet of moon goddess Chang’e in Chinese mythology, the Jade Rabbit is associated with Mid-Autumn Festival traditions across Asia

Music

Chinese chime bells and gongs have always struck a chord. Here’s why

Of the metal instruments used in a traditional Chinese music orchestra, chime bells and gongs are the most common. We examine their history.

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Performing arts in Hong Kong

Explainer | The history of Chinese musical instruments, their role in a modern orchestra

From the earliest playable musical instruments to their roles in a modern four-section orchestra, Chinese traditional instruments and their 8,000-year history explained.

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Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra member Wang Kaihan sits with her pipa. Photo: Jonathan Wong
Chinese culture

Language Matters | The life of the poet whose death inspired the Dragon Boat Festival myth

In exile, poet and statesman Qu Yuan wrote what is regarded as the most innovative and influential work in the history of Chinese poetry. His death inspired the myth behind the Dragon Boat Festival.

Qu Yuan was a Chinese poet who advocated resistance to the hegemonic Qin state during the Warring States Period (475BC–221BC). Photo: Getty Images
Chinese culture

Made in China: 5 of its top cultural exports, from noodles to writing

The products of Chinese civilisation that began more than 3,000 years ago, these cultural exports have had a lasting influence in East Asia and the wider world.

Chinese culture

Explainer | When best to open your Lunar New Year red packets to avoid bad luck

We reveal which days are best to open Lunar New Year lai see red envelopes to avoid bad luck and set yourself up for an auspicious Year of the Dragon.

Trending in China

Hair-raising: when annual China tradition of salon trims goes hilariously wrong

The annual Chinese Spring Festival is a time for celebration and renewal, which includes the belief that a new haircut can avert bad luck, but the practice has unexpected and amusing results for some.

The belief in China that having a haircut in the first month of the Lunar New Year can lead to misfortune makes many people head to the salon for a trim before the Spring Festival begins, but it doesn’t always go to plan. Photo: SCMP composite/Xiaohongshu
Chinese culture

Explainer | One packet or two? Your Chinese New Year lai see questions answered

The Chinese New Year tradition of giving red packets (lai see in Cantonese) dates back centuries, and was meant to ward off evil spirits. Here is our comprehensive guide to giving and receiving lucky money.

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The Lunar New Year tradition of giving red packets (lai see in Cantonese) dates back centuries, and was originally meant to ward off evil spirits. Photo: Jelly Tse
Chinese culture

Play nice in mahjong: your game behaviour says a lot about you as a person

If you peek at your opponents’ tiles, gloat about winning or do things to bring opponents bad luck, you risk become known as a player with bad ‘tile character’. Read on to learn how to avoid that.

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Chinese culture

How to get lucky in the Year of the Dragon: money, colours, clothing, food

Chinese people follow a lot of traditions to boost their luck during Lunar New Year. Here’s how to give yours a bump during the Year of the Dragon, from money and colours to clothing and food.

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Chinese culture

American, Hong Kong, Japanese – which version of mahjong do you want to play?

Mahjong is played according to different rules depending where you go in China, and the world. Some have different scoring systems, others different tiles. We take a look at how five versions differ.

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There are many variations of mahjong played around the world, with different rules and scoring systems and in some, unique tiles. Photo: Getty Images
Chinese culture

A complete guide to the Year of the Dragon 2024: 10 essential reads

From zodiac predictions and what to wear, to traditions, the wood element and lucky foods, numbers, stones and colours, this is your complete Lunar New Year guide for the Year of the Dragon 2024.

Chinese culture

Bad luck in mahjong? 4 game taboos to avoid if you want to win

In the game of mahjong there are plenty of dos and even more don’ts – we take a look at four taboos to be aware of when playing, among them why bringing a book to the table is a bad idea.

Chinese culture

Keep losing in mahjong? You need to learn some winning strategies

What are the simplest ways to win mahjong? We take a look at how to figure out the strategies of the other players, how to keep them from winning and what sort of mind games you can play.

What are the simplest ways to win mahjong? We take a look at how to figure out the strategies of the other players and how to psyche your opponents out. Photo: Antony Dickson
Chinese culture

Frequently asked questions: how long is Chinese New Year?

Celebrations for Chinese New Year begin on the eve of the first day of the first lunar month, and end with the Lantern Festival marking the first full moon of the lunar year. That’s 16 days all told.

Worshippers, including a woman dressed in a pig costume, offer incense at Wong Tai Sin Temple in Hong Kong on Lunar New Year’s Eve in 2019. Festivities for Chinese New Year run to 16 days, with different traditions attached to each day. Photo: Edmond So
Chinese culture

What to wear for Chinese New Year? The clue is in one of those 3 words

New clothes are held to represent a clean slate, and wearing them at Chinese New Year is said to help usher in good fortune. There must be some red in your outfit, for luck, and yellow or gold for wealth.

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Chinese culture

Is Rihanna proof that Year of the Dragon babies are luckier than others?

Bruce Lee, Martin Luther King Jnr and Rihanna were all born in the Year of the Dragon. They are not alone – but why is the Year of the Dragon the year above all others in which Chinese people want to have babies?

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Chinese culture

The top 10 ways to say Happy New Year in Chinese – Cantonese and Mandarin

You’ll never be tongue-tied at a January 1 party or Chinese New Year do again once you commit these four-word phrases to memory.

As you watch the fireworks display over Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong, or see in the new year wherever you are, know what to say by way of greetings to the Chinese people around you. Photo: Sam Tsang
Chinese culture

Frequently asked questions: who celebrates the lunar new year?

Sometimes thought of as an exclusively Chinese festival, Lunar New Year festivities take place in various other Asian cultures, too – Tibetan, Vietnamese, Korean and Mongolian, for example.

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A street vendor pushes her bicycle past a shop selling decorations in the old quarter of Hanoi ahead of the Lunar New Year, or Tet, holiday. The lunar new year is marked with festivities in cultures across Asia, and in their diasporas around the world. Photo: AFP
Chinese culture

Explainer | What Chinese animal am I? Their characteristics and when their years fall

How to tell if you are a Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig, Rat, Ox, Tiger and Rabbit? Check your date of birth against the Chinese calendar.

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Chinese culture

Year of the Dragon: it’s not just Chinese who revere the mythical beasts

The Year of the Dragon is eagerly awaited by people in China, where the mythical creature was for long a symbol of imperial power. Several other cultures have myths about dragons. We explore four.

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