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SCMP

We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing.
1. China’s visa-entry scheme leaves EU trio out in the cold. Why?

2. Too busy for love in time of baby bust: Chinese students embrace being single

3. What will China’s new mega dam mean for India ties and Tibetan ecosystem?

4. The celebrities driving traditional Chinese medicine’s boom in the West

5. What is umami? How the savoury flavour makes food taste better



Japan moves to ease China tensions, US ambassador irks Singapore: SCMP’s weekly roundup

UK film on Hong Kong immigrants, top travel trends for 2026: 7 Lifestyle highlights

China’s new tech war warriors, study on jamming Starlink signals: 7 science highlights

Marcos family scandal, Singapore becomes Plan B for Chinese travellers: 7 Asia highlights

SCMP Highlights

Visa-free China, students embrace being single, Tibet mega dam: 5 weekend reads you missed

Taiwanese and Lithuanian flags are displayed at the island’s representative office in Vilnius, a source of Beijing’s tensions with Lithuania. Photo: Reuters 

Tourists visit the ancient city wall in Xian, northwest China’s Shaanxi province on August 8, 2024. Photo: Xinhua

Illustration: Brian Wang

China plans to build a massive hydropower project in Tibet on a section of the Yarlung Tsangpo River known as the Grand Canyon, shown here near Nyingchi city. Photo: AFP

Ex-One Direction band member Zayn Malik praises Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa, a Chinese herbal syrup, as an “elixir” for his voice in an interview with British Vogue in June 2024. Photo: SCMP composite/YouTube (@British Vogue)/Ninjiom.com

“Umami is crucial to Japanese cuisine,” says chef Kazuo Takagi. Photo: Shutterstock

US investigates Chinese chips, China’s mega dam: SCMP’s 7 highlights

The US says China seeks to dominate domestic and global chip markets through extensive anticompetitive and non-market means. Photo: Shutterstock

People enjoy the festive decorations at Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui. Photo: Jelly Tse

The China-made flat-top cargo ship Fan Zhou 8 during its five-day sea trial in the waters east of Shanghai. Photo: Xinhua

Lifting the lid on Jolin Zhu, the mysterious young Chinese woman who is the sixth wife of billionaire Oracle founder, Larry Ellison. Photo: AFP

US Marines in Japan, Malaysia’s first home-grown EV: 7 Asia highlights

Japan-based US Marine Corps soldiers embark an aircraft in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan, in November 2013. Photo: EPA

A Marine Corps pilot prepares for a vertical landing of Lockheed Martin F-35B stealth fighter aboard the USS Wasp amphibious assault carrier during their operation in the waters off Japan’s Okinawa on March 23, 2018. Photo: Reuters

Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra (left) and his daughter and PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra arrive before the royal endorsement ceremony in Bangkok in August. Photo: AP

Filipino death row inmate Mary Jane Veloso gestures as she leaves Yogyakarta Women’s Prison for her transfer to the capital city of Jakarta in preparation for her repatriation to the Philippines, in Gunung Kidul, Indonesia on December 15, 2024. Photo: AP 

Malaysia’s first locally produced electric vehicle, the e.Mas7, was launched in Kuala Lumpur on December 16. Photo: AFP

Chefs prepare their dishes before service at a monthly supper club in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: Hadi Azmi

A screengrab, of a viral video of a bakery assault in Indonesia, has sparked anti-Chinese sentiment. Photo: X/@untoksikk

A Yotteba customer receives a slap to the face at one of its izakaya outlets in Japan. Photo: TikTok/Salty_Gourmets

China-grown durian, Lunar New Year travel demand, Macau’s economy: 5 weekend reads

Passengers stream into a train station in central China’s Hunan province during the Lunar New Year travel rush in January 2024. Photo: AFP

Crowds of people walk past the Peace Hotel on Shanghai’s Bund during the Lunar New Year holiday in February 2024. Photo: AFP

illustration: Henry Wong

A study has found key differences between durian grown in China compared with Southeast Asia. Photo: Sun Yeung

Chinese football fans  celebrate their team’s win against Indonesia at the 2026 Fifa World Cup Asian qualification match in Qingdao, China, on October 15. Photo: AFP

Savory Taishanese tangyuan glutinous rice dumplings are gaining popularity as second- and third-generation Chinese influencers in the West share their parents’ recipes. The dumplings are a must at winter solstice and Chinese New Year. Photo: Getty Images

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Food & Drink

From why some EU nationals still need a visa for China to a mega dam project in Tibet, here are five stories you may have missed over the weekend


From why some EU nationals still need a visa for China to a mega dam project in Tibet, here are five stories you may have missed over the weekend.
