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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.
Ulrich Tukur plays the title role in the 2009 film John Rabe, which recounts the Nanking massacre from a Western standpoint. Photo: Handout
European cinema

John Rabe, film with a Western angle on the Nanking massacre

The film tells the story of the Japanese massacre of Chinese civilians through the eyes of ‘good’ Nazi John Rabe.

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Lessons from China's history

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

Art

Explore China’s culinary heritage at the Hong Kong Palace Museum

Art

Profile | Father of modern ink art fused painting styles from East and West

An émigré from post-war China, in Hong Kong Lui Shou-kwan married Chinese ink art with Western abstract art to forge the New Ink Movement.

Lui Shou-kwan (pictured painting) moved from China to Hong Kong, where his exposure to Western art movements led him to fuse his Chinese ink art with abstract art and launch the New Ink Movement.
Horoscopes

What’s your luck looking like for March 2025, the Earth Rabbit month?

This is your month if you’re a Rabbit like Angelina Jolie or Johnny Depp, while Horses and Roosters should tread carefully.

History

Chinese stories of California gold rush told in Hong Kong exhibition

Sojourning in Gold Mountain at Hong Kong Museum of History shines a light on migrants’ journeys from China to San Francisco in the 1800s.

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Chinese culture

Beijing’s Palace Museum taps its storage for relics to restore

The museum of imperial relics founded in the Forbidden City in 1925 has retrieved stored artefacts to restore and eventually put on show.

A conservator restores a scroll at the Palace Museum in Beijing. Photo: Reuters
Art

The end of Hong Kong’s golden age marked the start of her success

Artist Jaffa Lam’s practice describes a dynamic arc – like Hong Kong’s art scene itself – moving beyond cultural tradition to embrace the everyday and individual.

Chinese culture

Opinion | Why Ne Zha 2 is part of a broader Chinese cultural renaissance

The film’s strong box office performance marks a shift in how Chinese culture is perceived by young people in China and around the world.

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Profile

How Hong Kong filmmaker Fruit Chan found his way in the industry

The Hong Kong filmmaker on the horrors of Hollywood, working his way up and exploring the handover.

Hong Kong filmmaker Fruit Chan. Photo: SCMP / Jocelyn Tam
Science

Tibetan tree rings link climate change and fall of major Chinese dynasties

Study tracking climate patterns across thousands of years found that periods of lower rainfall coincided with some major political upheavals.

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Dry periods on the Tibetan plateau were linked with major political upheaval. Photo: Xinhua
Chinese culture

Ne Zha 2: ancient Chinese tales are a winning formula for animated film success

Eight days after its release, the film became China’s highest-grossing movie ever with its take on mythical figures.

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From our archives

When Hong Kong asked for men to be birth-control-pill guinea pigs

‘A male pill would also promote male responsibility for contraception,’ the Family Planning Association said when calling for trial volunteers in 1977.

Food and Drinks

Chinese-American graphic novel cookbook author on its inspiration

Ying Chang Compestine often explained the names of Chinese dishes to American friends. Then she hit upon a fun way to do so in a cookbook.

Prolific author Ying Chang Compestine, who was written a graphic novel Chinese cookbook with illustrations by UK-based artist Vivian Truong. Photo: Instagram/yingchangcompestine
Art

When Brit art world provocateurs Gilbert & George’s visited China

It was the early 1990s, the mainland was opening up, and coming in hot were the two biggest troublemakers in British art. The man who got them there tells all in his new book.

George Passmore and Gilbert Proesch, aka artists Gilbert & George, took their controversial show to China in 1993. Photo: Courtesy of James Birch
Chinese culture

Want better luck in the Year of the Snake? Pray to these 3 Chinese gods

Besides the tai sui and Jade Emperor, the gods of wealth, doors and kitchens are also appeased by those wanting the best shot at fortune.

Science

Chinese sweat and blood – not soldiers – have left their mark on Panama Canal

Donald Trump stokes fears about Beijing’s influence in Panama, but thousands of Chinese gave their lives to build canal and railway.

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Lessons from China's history

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 couples have been amongst the most eager in Asia to adopt Western wedding fashion, but some are pushing back now by marrying in hanfu, the traditional clothing of Han Chinese. Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto
Taiwan

Opinion | How Taiwan’s Quemoy symbolises shared but diverging memories

Taiwan’s ‘Cold War Disneyland’ offers both a window into the bleakness of war and a reminder of the benefits of cross-strait detente.

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Hong Kong society

Palace Museum to bring Islamic, Tutankhamun relics to Hong Kong in 2025

Museum’s number of visitors fell by 17 per cent last year to 1 million, compared with 1.2 million in 2023.

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Lessons from China's 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
Chinese culture

What is that red Chinese candy box you see during Lunar New Year?

The chuen hup, also known as a togetherness box, is full of tiny sweet treats that carry rich cultural connotations and auspicious meanings.

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A traditional chuen hup usually has eight compartments, and the snacks within are collectively called the “Eight Sweets”. The typical line-up – all candied – consists of lotus root, lotus seeds, water chestnuts, winter melon, carrot slices, kumquat, coconut shreds and coconut wedges. Photo: Shutterstock
Horoscopes

Chinese horoscopes: what does January 2025 hold for your zodiac sign?

The final phase of the Dragon year is about balance, reflection and preparing for the Year of the Snake – discover your potential challenges and opportunities ahead.

Food and Drinks

How 1,000-year-old lost art of Chinese tea ceremony is being revived

Latte art has got nothing on the ancient Chinese art of drawing on tea foam whipped up with a bamboo whisk, these days using matcha.

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Science

Did a wet climate give rise to China’s first empires over 2,000 years ago?

Researchers find rainy, humid climate in ancient north China contributed to agricultural boom and prosperity of Qin and Han dynasties.

Northwest China once had a much wetter climate than today, according to an analysis of pine tree trunks found in an ancient Han dynasty tomb near Baiyin city in Gansu province, shown here. Photo: Qin Chun
Lessons from China's history

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.

One of the “villain hitters” who operate under a flyover in Hong Kong performs a ritual. They practise a form of witchcraft, belief in which remains strong in the modern age in many parts of the world, as it has for thousands of years. Photo: Dickson Lee
Hong Kong culture

Beijing-Paris ties on display in Hong Kong show of silk, porcelain and diplomacy

Versailles and Forbidden City joint exhibition a sign of past exchanges and possible future strengthening of ties, experts say.

History

Should museums return antiquities to their countries of origin? Some say no

New fronts have opened up in the war of cultural restitution, raising complex ethical and legal questions as some argue against museums returning foreign artefacts.

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