China has long been a testing ground for the world’s architects to try out new ideas. From the “bottle opener” in Shanghai to the “big trousers” in Beijing, the country is no stranger to unorthodox building design. The latest structures to draw attention are two new buildings in the country’s Yangtze River Delta.

Coco Kehong is one China’s most celebrated male pole dancers. The 27-year-old got his start after working behind the scenes at a Shanghai bar, where he worked as a make-up artist for the female dancers. 

Urban exploration, also known as “urbex”, has attracted enthusiasts across the world, and China is no exception. Mickey Tang is among China’s many urban explorers who explore abandoned man-made structures. One of his recent explorations focused on an abandoned film studio on the outskirts of Shanghai.

In an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post, China’s top respiratory expert Dr Zhong Nanshan, who played a pivotal role in the fight against the severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic in 2002-03, warned of a potential second wave of Covid-19 infections in China. He also said sample testing can help prevent the next coronavirus wave.
 

The Walt Disney Company has reopened its biggest Asia resort after a four-month shutdown, as Shanghai’s health authorities eased restrictions on public gatherings after getting the coronavirus outbreak in the megacity of 24 million people under control.

The Covid-19 pandemic has put great strain on hospitals which are short of enough workers and struggling to protect staff from the deadly virus that causes the disease. Many other industries are also scrambling to find ways to protect workers from infection. For some of China’s hi-tech industries, including those involved with robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), coronavirus challenges are creating business opportunities.  

Zou Dehu had been a bartender in Ningxia in northwestern China before he left town after he got into a fight with his father. Now more than eight months later, he’s in Shanghai and working as a delivery man. Restrictions on movements because of Covid-19 have forced the city to rely heavily on the work of delivery services. But the challenges of operating amid a pandemic, and fears about the economic damage it has created, now have Zou worrying about what lies ahead.

The Chinese town of Yiwu, just outside Shanghai, is known for making everything from Christmas trees to toys and souvenirs for export to international clients. But as the world struggles with the Covid-19 pandemic, orders for goods from Yiwu have plummeted.

A teahouse in China’s southwestern province of Sichuan has earned a reputation for offering visitors a trip back in time. Bearing the name of the Chinese goddess of mercy, Guanyin, the Guanyinge Teahouse also serves up a sample of the laid-back lifestyle many associate with Sichuan almost as much as the spicy food found in the area.

The coronavirus outbreak has kept Hong Kong schools closed since the Lunar New Year holiday, which ended on February 3. This will last until at least April 20. HKUGA College has resorted to teaching Chinese, maths, science and even physical education online.

There has been a shortage of supplies since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic. Some ordinary Hongkongers are determined to help each other out amid the crisis.

A flight carrying 106 of the 364 Hongkongers who have been under a coronavirus quarantine on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan for more than two weeks touched down in Hong Kong on the morning of February 20, 2020. The group was immediately taken to a government facility where they must now undergo another 14-day quarantine. At least 53 of the more than 300 passengers from Hong Kong on the vessel have tested positive for the deadly virus that causes Covid-19 and must remain in Japan for treatment. 

After the local government in the northern Chinese municipality of Tianjin ordered a lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus, senior citizens also known as “empty nesters” were left unable to get daily necessities – until a group of volunteers came to their rescue.
 

Shanghai is an international city featuring cuisine from all over the world. Adventurous eaters may want to go for a culinary challenge and try ladetiao, one of, if not the spiciest dish you can find in the city. It features bullfrog meat, slow-cooked for 40 minutes in five different types of chilli peppers. The dish is so daunting to eat – even for spice lovers – that one restaurant in Shanghai ran a promotion, offering ladetiao free of charge to anyone who could finish within an hour. Some might be put off by the name alone, which means “so spicy, it makes you jump.”

Aside from the debilitating side effects of chemotherapy, leukaemia also comes with great costs to the families of young patients fighting the disease in China. 

In Hong Kong over a hundred people marched in Kowloon Tong on November 23, urging authorities to stop firing tear gas. Parents are worried that the chemicals in tear gas would hurt their children and affect the environment of school campuses. 

After coming under siege during violent clashes between radical protesters and police, Hong Kong’s Polytechnic University has remained in a stand-off for six days as officers await the surrender of diehard demonstrators.

Several radical protesters who had been inside Hong Kong Polytechnic University tried to escape as first aiders and some injured protesters were escorted off the campus. Police quickly chased them down and arrested them. The university has been under siege for three days but it was a relatively calm evening at PolyU. The campus has been occupied by radical protesters for more than a week. Most have left but 60-100 remain inside.

The stand-off between radical protesters barricaded inside Hong Kong Polytechnic University and riot police threatening mass arrests continued without a solution into the early hours of November 19, 2019. Sources say dozens of protesters abseiled onto a highway from a campus footbridge and escaped via motorbike. Meanwhile, thousands of other demonstrators tried to march to the university to help those inside, resulting in more clashes with police.

China’s e-commerce platform Alibaba recorded its highest Singles’ Day sales figures yet, racking up 268.4 billion yuan (US$38.4 billion) in 24 hours on November 11, 2019. The shopping festival, which falls on November 11 every year, is the world’s largest of its kind, where shoppers scoop up everything from consumer electronics to luxury items and even cars. The festival was being closely watched this year as a barometer for consumer sentiment, 16 months into a US-China trade war and amid a slowdown in the Chinese economy. Alibaba Group Holding is the parent company of the South China Morning Post.

As anti-government protesters aimed to disrupt National Day, a traditional flag-raising ceremony at Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai took place on October 1, 2019. Delegates including Hong Kong Chief Secretary for Administration Matthew Cheung Kin-chung watched the ceremony indoors on a screen.

Anti-government protesters threw at least two petrol bombs inside an MTR station in Hong Kong on September 29, 2019, the 17th straight Sunday of demonstrations in the city. 

On the fifth anniversary of the start of the Occupy movement in Hong Kong, a rally was held in Tamar Park to mark the day. While this rally was under way, protesters occupied Harcourt Road, shutting off traffic.  Bricks were thrown over the water barriers surrounding government headquarters and windows were smashed. Petrol bombs were thrown and the police responded with water cannons and tear gas. The police asked the rally to end early unless the crowd could be controlled by the organisers. The crowd continued to occupy the road and threw objects. The police clearance began and the crowd fled.

When Hong Kong first saw a first mass march against the government’s now-abandoned extradition bill on June 9, 2019, few could have predicted the political abyss that would follow. 

For the first time in 12 weekends of anti-government protests, a policeman fired a warning shot during clashes with demonstrators in Hong Kong. Earlier, police also deployed water cannon for the first time, threatening to use them in order to disperse hundreds of protesters who had occupied a road following a march.

Thousands of Hongkongers took part in an anti-government protests for a 12th consecutive weekend, but violence erupted when riot police and protesters clashed outside a police station in Kowloon. Police fired tear gas and rounds of non-lethal ammunition to disperse the crowd, which retreated a few blocks away. The protesters regrouped and put up barricades, resulting in another stand-off and firing of tear gas to clear the road.

Thousands of protesters in Hong Kong staged a sit-in at Yuen Long MTR station to remind passengers of the violent mob attack that happened here one month ago. On July 21, a group of rod-wielding men dressed in white attacked protesters and passers-by indiscriminately at the station. At least 45 people were sent to the hospital for treatment. Police arrested 28 people, but no one has been charged for the violence.

Hong Kong protesters gathered for another massive rally on August 18, 2019. This is the eleventh consecutive weekend of unrest in Hong Kong since the extradition bill crisis began in June. 

Protesters gather on August 18, 2019 in Victoria Park, Causeway Bay for an anti-government protest.

August 17 saw continued protests in Hong Kong. This is the 11th week in the ongoing crisis sparked by the government’s now-suspended extradition law amendment, which would have allowed the transfer of suspects from Hong Kong to mainland China.