https://www.scmp.com/rss/315669/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com It's a sabbatical year for prominent South African artist William Kentridge but he's still causing a stir. His exhibition "Notes Towards a Model Opera" is now on at Johannesburg's Goodman Gallery, after opening in China last June. The exhibition tugs at the already tense threads that run through the China-in-Africa narrative. The timing of the show is significant, too, opening a month after the top-level Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (Focac) took place in the artist's native Johannesburg.... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/arts-entertainment/article/1911946/william-kentridges-china-centric-art-show?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/arts-entertainment/article/1911946/william-kentridges-china-centric-art-show?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 13 Feb 2016 14:30:00 +0000 In 2013, Shanghai Zendai announced its US$7.8 billion plan to turn a suburb of Johannesburg into the "New York of Africa". Now the Hong Kong-listed company - which plans to build 35,000 houses, a finance centre and a sports stadium in the South African city in 15 years - is throwing its weight behind the nation's art scene, and a topic that is touchy back on home soil. Zendai Development South Africa, its local subsidiary, has donated 250,000 rand (HK$147,500) to enable 36 South African artworks... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1852973/ticket-china-south-african-artworks-make-it-beijing-biennale?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1852973/ticket-china-south-african-artworks-make-it-beijing-biennale?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 28 Aug 2015 23:15:45 +0000 The presence of the Chinese is having a transformative effect spiritually in one of South Africa's most storied townships, Soweto. In a country where religious beliefs span Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, traditional African religions and Judaism, Buddhism is putting down new roots, thanks to these arrivals. In a crèche in the sprawling Johannesburg township of 1.3 million people, the chanting of Nam myoho renge kyo (an invocation to the Mystic Law of the Lotus Sutra) can be heard on a weekly... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1823423/how-buddhism-spreading-soweto-thanks-chinese-migrants?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1823423/how-buddhism-spreading-soweto-thanks-chinese-migrants?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 20 Jun 2015 14:45:00 +0000 An estimated 500,000 Chinese now call South Africa home, but violent crime is increasingly casting a long shadow over their African dream. Just three days into 2015, a 25-year-old Fujianese shopkeeper was murdered in her store in Limpopo province, just north of Johannesburg. The married mother of one was repeatedly stabbed in the face during the robbery. No arrests have as yet been made. Just one month earlier, a Chinese shopkeeper in Cape Town survived being stoned by a mob of 200, after he... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1688992/chinese-south-africa-learn-live-violence?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1688992/chinese-south-africa-learn-live-violence?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 24 Jan 2015 14:19:43 +0000 When Mao Zedong's name popped up in a Pretoria municipality "name bank" debate, the politicians present must have wondered if they were experiencing a cultural revolution of their own. Road name changes, per se, are nothing new in South Africa. Since the country's democratic transition 20 years ago, airport, hospital, suburb and street names have been, and continue to be, renamed. Most often, the new titles erase colonial names and are a nod to the icons who laid the foundations for a democratic... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1622908/city-scope-trouble-mao-zedong-street?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1622908/city-scope-trouble-mao-zedong-street?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 Oct 2014 14:30:00 +0000 Another star was added to the "Chinese cosmos" last month when a shiny plastic tiara was placed on the head of a Johannesburg beauty queen. Having won her country's heat, Kelly Murphy, 20, will be South Africa's first representative at the annual International Miss Chinese Cosmos Pageant. The event's organisers have, for years, hosted regional pageants throughout the Americas, Australia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. This year, South Africa got a look in, too. Regional winners will next... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1590097/african-queen?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1590097/african-queen?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 14 Sep 2014 02:30:15 +0000