Born with just one arm, Shanghai artist Zhang Yuecheng struggled to overcome prejudice. But with the help of a local robotics company, he acquired an artificial arm that has allowed him to transform into a cyborg artist. Zhang says the arm implant has given him confidence and “shortens the distance between me and the world.”

Shanghai has been under lockdown for more than a month as authorities try to contain the spread of Covid-19. But many people complain the food and supplies provided by the government have not been enough. Some residents have staged balcony protests to demand officials provide more essentials since they are unable leave their homes

As Shanghai enters its third week of Covid-19 lockdown, other Chinese provinces have begun sending aid packages and even delivery workers to help the megacity cope as the city of 26 million struggles to contain its largest outbreak of Covid-19. But with case numbers still high and the Chinese government determined to stick to its zero-Covid strategy, the city shows little signs of returning to normality. Post Shanghai video correspondent Thomas Yau,  who’s among the millions of residents caught up, has been resorting to bartering for supplies to cope with the extended lockdown.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic started in 2020, Shanghai had enjoyed huge success in balancing infection control and quality of life. Mass screening and lockdowns were a rare sight in China’s most populous city. But that success story came to an abrupt end when the Omicron variant outpaced the city’s responses in March 2022.

Food deliveries in China’s financial and commercial hub, Shanghai, normally can be easily ordered with just a few swipes on a mobile phone. But as the country’s most populous city tackles its most serious wave of Covid-19 infections, lockdown measures have confined most of the city’s 25 million residents to their homes. As a result, food logistics have been severely hit and daily necessities are increasingly hard to come by.

After the March 28-31, 2022, lockdown on Shanghai’s Pudong area was lifted, the second phase of the city’s coronavirus lockdown got under way. Starting April 1, the stay-at-home orders were applied to Puxi, the city’s western half, in a bid to stem the worst outbreak of Covid-19 infections so far in the Chinese metropolis.

After months of imposing limited lockdowns of individual neighbourhoods, Shanghai has decided to lock down parts of China’s biggest city in two phases in a bid to curb a spike in Covid-19 infections. The measures started on March 28, 2022, with restrictions on a zone from the eastern bank of the Huangpu River, including the Pudong New Area that is home to about 5.7 million people. After the first lockdown ends on April 1, the west bank of the city will be locked down.

Shanghai is trying to control the worst Covid-19 outbreak the Chinese metropolis has since the start of the pandemic. Shanghai has been regarded as a “model city” showcasing China’s response to the disease, and local authorities have boasted about its “precise pandemic response”. But a new surge in cases is testing Shanghai’s unique pandemic approach.

"No matter what life throws you, you've got to eat," is Wan Zuocheng's motto. 

China’s troubled real estate giants Evergrande and Kaisa have continued selling assets to cover enormous debts the companies have each accrued. Evergrande is trying to avoid a collapse under more than US$300 billion worth of liabilities, while Kaisa Group has missed two bond coupon payments due on November 11 and 12, 2021.

China has seen a surge in criminal cases involving hidden cameras in hotel rooms and rented flats. Once only accessible to private investigators or big companies, hidden spy devices have become more affordable as well as more advanced and harder to detect, leading to misuse. He Zhihui worked as a private detective in the early 2000s. But when the Chinese government outlawed the profession in 2009, he flipped his job to become a counter-surveillance expert.

China’s Singles’ Day, also known as Double 11, used to be all about big discounts, record-high sales figures and flashy galas. But following the recent government crackdown on the country’s tech giants and amid a push for “common prosperity”, the focus of the annual event in 2021 has shifted from consumerism to social responsibility.

China is the world’s most populous country. For decades, it tried to rein in its population growth with tough family planning laws. But in 2021, Beijing scrapped its one-child policy and instead started encouraging couples to have three children. What prompted the Chinese government to make such a dramatic change?

Singapore has opened a wildlife forensics centre that aims to help in the fight against animal trafficking. By analysing seized endangered animal parts, such as ivory and pangolin scales, it is able to determine the origins of the contraband goods, allowing authorities to trace the movement of wildlife smuggling operations.

In July 2021, the city of Zhengzhou – an industrial and commercial hub in central China – received a year’s worth of rainfall in just three days. It triggered deadly flooding and an environmental disaster that crews are still busy cleaning up. But the tragedy has also left many asking what China will do to tackle climate change?

China’s space programme has come a long way since the country embarked on its first space mission in the late 1960s. Today, it is only the third country in the world to carry out manned space missions, after the United States and Russia. As China continues setting new milestones in its space programme, we take a look at what’s fuelling its space aspirations.

Siobhan Haughey scored an Olympic silver medal for Hong Kong in the 200-metre freestyle swim on July 28, 2021. She is the second Hong Kong athlete to win a medal at Tokyo 2020, joining fellow Hongkonger Edgar Cheung Ka-long who won gold in men’s fencing two days earlier. Haughey’s success also marked the first time a Hong Kong swimmer has reached an Olympic final. 

As the birthplace of China’s ruling Communist Party, the city of Shanghai is home to many sites that are important for its history. As the party prepares to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its founding on July 23, 1921, the city has started a huge public relations push that includes special tours and exhibitions.

Zhi Xiang is a Shanghai-based Buddhist monk who has been saving animals since the early 1990s. Over the years, he has expanded his efforts and built a small team that runs an animal shelter caring for up to 7,000 dogs and cats. The operation, set up at the Gratitude Temple on the outskirts of the Chinese megacity, has given many animals a forever home and helped the monk find his way on his spiritual journey.

As China steps up its environmental protection policies, many companies are finding opportunities to cash in. Businesses hunting for the next green opportunities are keeping an eye on the upcoming “two sessions”,  where new environmental policies are expected to emerge as delegates from around the country gather for annual meetings of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

The Chinese city of Shanghai has started vaccinating residents from high-risk groups using Covid-19 vaccines manufactured in the country by Sinopharm and SinoVac. 

A cafe in the Chinese city of Shanghai has come up with a novel way to interact with customers. Known to locals as the “bear claw” cafe, the shop serves up items through a hole in a front wall which also serves as the only window between people outside and staff, some of whom have hearing disabilities.

The first cluster of cases of what was first identified as a “mysterious pneumonia” was reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. At the time, few suspected the novel coronavirus behind the illness would spread worldwide to become one of the deadliest pandemics in human history. The Post's Shanghai video correspondent Thomas Yau was among the first international journalists on the ground in Wuhan. One year later, he returned to Wuhan to see how the pandemic has affected the city and how it has recovered.