https://www.scmp.com/rss/320218/feed Zigor Aldama is an award-winning journalist from Spain. Focused on social issues, he's been covering Asia from China since 1999. He lives in Shanghai and his work is currently published in Spanish by the newspapers of Vocento group and El País. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Abul Bajandar feared he would never be able to hug his daughter, Jannatul. It was made impossible by the gigantic warts covering his hands and feet, huge protuberances with the texture of tree bark growing especially big around fingers and toes, but also on the arms and legs. These are an extremely rare symptom of his extremely rare condition, epidermodysplasia verruciformis. There are fewer than 10 documented cases worldwide and, since there is no known cure, Bajandar, 35, had lost all hope and... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3228310/pain-unbearable-viral-tree-man-extremely-rare-disease-had-his-dream-come-true-much-worse-was-come?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3228310/pain-unbearable-viral-tree-man-extremely-rare-disease-had-his-dream-come-true-much-worse-was-come?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 Jul 2023 03:15:09 +0000 The city’s airport is shaped like a vase, the high-speed railway station was inspired by two hands holding a teacup, and the white lamp posts lining the streets are adorned with classic artisanal patterns. For Jingdezhen, in Jiangxi province, it all comes back to one thing: porcelain. “I guess no other place has survived 2,000 years doing just one thing,” says Xiong Jianjun, founder of the prestigious porcelain company that bears his name. In 2019, nearly 15 per cent of the city’s 1.1 million... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3105628/china-town-porcelain-capital-jingdezhen-2000?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3105628/china-town-porcelain-capital-jingdezhen-2000?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 Oct 2020 02:15:12 +0000 It’s 5.50am, with just a faint purple light glowing on the horizon, when a group of children aged six to 15 march diligently towards their classrooms.  At 6.15am, they begin lessons in Chinese, English and math. At 7.50am, they stop for breakfast.  There’s no time to linger, students must be clean and dressed by 8.30am, when they head upstairs to two spacious rooms on the first floor of an L-shaped building near the center of Liaoning’s provincial capital, Shenyang.  Here the real training... https://www.scmp.com/arts/chinas-acrobatics-schools-once-ticket-world-are-struggling-survive/article/3043409?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/arts/chinas-acrobatics-schools-once-ticket-world-are-struggling-survive/article/3043409?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 24 Dec 2019 10:45:51 +0000 It’s 5:50 am, with just a faint purple light glowing on the horizon, when a group of children aged 6 to 15 march diligently toward their classrooms. At 6:15, they begin lessons in Chinese, English, and math. At 7:50, they stop for breakfast. There’s no time to linger, though, because the students must be clean and dressed by 8.30. They head upstairs to two spacious rooms on the first floor of an L-shaped building near the center of Liaoning’s capital, Shenyang. Here, the real training begins—in... https://www.scmp.com/culture/china-acrobatics-school-opportunity/article/3042671?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/china-acrobatics-school-opportunity/article/3042671?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Dec 2019 12:18:07 +0000 It’s 5.50am, with just a faint purple light glowing on the horizon, when a group of children aged six to 15 march diligently towards their classrooms. At 6.15am, they begin lessons in Chinese, English and maths. At 7.50am, they stop for breakfast. There’s no time to linger, students must be clean and dressed by 8.30am, when they head upstairs to two spacious rooms on the first floor of an L-shaped building near the centre of Liaoning’s provincial capital, Shenyang. Here the real training begins.... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3041813/chinas-acrobatics-schools-once-ticket-world-are?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3041813/chinas-acrobatics-schools-once-ticket-world-are?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Dec 2019 02:30:07 +0000 “Fiesta” is arguably the most widely known Spanish word. And for good reason: Spaniards need little excuse to party. God, the Virgin Mary, a variety of saints and running bulls are all celebrated with gay abandon, but traditional fiestas are being joined by a new breed of secular revelry, celebrating battles and other historical events. Prominent among the latter is the Tomatina, an all-out war fought with tonnes of tomatoes that breaks out each August in the Mediterranean town of Buñol. This... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3032965/els-elfaninats-firecrackers-flour-and-rotten-eggs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3032965/els-elfaninats-firecrackers-flour-and-rotten-eggs?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 15 Oct 2019 12:30:09 +0000 Surenkhord Buyanrogtokh is not a busy man. One of 750,000 nomadic Mongolian herders tending 66.4 million animals, he spends most of his time staring at the horizon, watching his charges graze in the vast Gobi Desert. The Dornogovi provincial government gave Buyanrogtokh an award when his herd surpassed a headcount of 1,000, and another to mark the most camel calves born in Airag district in a single year. But vegetation is scarce here. Buyanrogtokh, 60, along with his two children, his wife and... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3026875/are-mongolias-lucrative-cashmere-goats-grazing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3026875/are-mongolias-lucrative-cashmere-goats-grazing?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Sep 2019 23:00:14 +0000 Making people uncomfortable is easy for Shanta. She just needs to stand in front of them for a few seconds. She may spend 30 minutes putting on her make-up, don a long gown and a hijab, but most of her fellow Bangladeshis still consider her a man. “We live in a traditional, religious society,” she says, collecting a 10 taka (90 HK cents) note from a blushing young couple sitting under a tree in the capital, Dhaka. “No one wants to be shamed in public, so they give us money to go away.” Those who... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3019278/india-bangladesh-and-nepal-transgender?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3019278/india-bangladesh-and-nepal-transgender?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 20 Jul 2019 11:45:10 +0000 The fight to save snow leopards in Mongolia was never going to be easy – not when it involved taking on mining companies, the backbone of the country’s most powerful industry. It was a long road, one that saw a suspicious death, efforts to convince rural communities that the snow leopard was not their enemy, and the creation of a massive new national park, but Bayarjargal Agvaantseren got there in the end. The snow leopard is as renowned for its beauty as for its scarcity. It lives at altitudes... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3015602/mongolias-snow-leopards-woman-who-took-mining-industry?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3015602/mongolias-snow-leopards-woman-who-took-mining-industry?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 Jun 2019 01:15:04 +0000 It’s noon and Jaya is waiting for friends at one of the many fancy coffee shops springing up in Ulan Bator, the Mongolian capital. Temka is playing video games at home; Gala is munching on popcorn while watching an old film, dressed in his pyjamas. Enkhush hasn’t even woken up yet; when he does, he grumpily knocks his horse-shaped alarm clock to the floor. Mongolian millennials are much the same as those anywhere else, it seems. Then, though, Gala puts down his popcorn, goes to his front door... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3012549/hu-mongolian-folk-rockers-ready-conquer-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3012549/hu-mongolian-folk-rockers-ready-conquer-world?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Jun 2019 12:00:14 +0000 The Shanghai Children’s Welfare Institute, the only orphanage in this city of 24 million inhabitants, is a fortress. Covering 63,000 square metres, the institution is one of China’s largest, but only a single gate breaks the high perimeter wall, which is crowned with video cameras. Guards turn away those curious about the beautiful gardens full of playing children that can be glimpsed through the gate. Few visitors are allowed inside, and those who enter do so only on strictly super­vised... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3010329/chinas-abandoned-children-shanghai-orphanage?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3010329/chinas-abandoned-children-shanghai-orphanage?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 May 2019 21:00:08 +0000 Some places allow you to travel back in time; historical sites and ancient buildings can transport visitors to eras past. Four floors of a brightly lit building on Shanghai’s Weining Road do the opposite, allowing the visitor a glimpse of the future. But only if they can get inside. DeepBlue Technology, which recently placed first in the Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining machine-learning challenge and is one of China’s most innovative robotics and artificial... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3007619/chinese-companies-leading-ai-and-robotics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3007619/chinese-companies-leading-ai-and-robotics?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 25 Apr 2019 14:00:10 +0000 “You’re overstepping the line. Please get back,” warns a female voice from the loudspeaker on one of Shanghai’s new traffic lights. Pedestrians look left and right, see no cars and cross the road. The jaywalkers don’t realize that a set of cameras above the speakers have used facial recognition software to capture their faces. Soon enough, their photos appear on screens installed just under the lights. Nearby, a traffic warden armed with a whistle says that, very soon, jaywalkers will not just... https://www.scmp.com/tech/chinas-facial-recognition-system-could-reach-far-it-might-not-be-there-yet/article/3000569?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/chinas-facial-recognition-system-could-reach-far-it-might-not-be-there-yet/article/3000569?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Jan 2019 09:27:46 +0000 It’s 9pm when the first buses start arriving at the Shanghai Bashi Public Transportation depot. In the coming two hours, as they finish service around the city’s Baoshan district, almost 300 drivers will bring their vehicles in to be cleaned, maintained and parked for the night. The queue to enter the security gate grows, but the employee in charge of the gas pumps has little to do. He battles boredom with his phone while buses pass by. His future employment prospects look bleaker still. Two... https://www.scmp.com/tech/how-chinese-state-leading-charge-electric-buses/article/3000520?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/how-chinese-state-leading-charge-electric-buses/article/3000520?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Jan 2019 09:24:08 +0000 It’s 9pm when the first buses start arriving at the Shanghai Bashi Public Transportation depot. In the coming two hours, as they finish service around the city’s Baoshan district, almost 300 drivers will bring their vehicles in to be cleaned, maintained and parked for the night. The queue to enter the security gate grows, but the employee in charge of the petrol pumps has little to do; he battles boredom with his phone while buses pass by. And his future employment prospects look even... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2182466/powered-state-china-takes-charge-electric-buses?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2182466/powered-state-china-takes-charge-electric-buses?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Jan 2019 16:00:45 +0000 Love them or hate them, Chinese tourists have taken over the world – and they are not going home any time soon. There is no better place to grasp the scale of the phenomenon than in the Shanghai headquarters of Ctrip, China’s largest online travel agency. In the network operation centre, data flows in real time across screens covering the walls, revealing what the company’s 300 million users are purchasing, where they are travelling and what services they are requesting. Meet the female CEO... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2178010/ctrip-not-only-bringing-world-chinese-tourists?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2178010/ctrip-not-only-bringing-world-chinese-tourists?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 Dec 2018 06:00:30 +0000 Women are supposed to hold up half the sky in China, but Jane Sun Jie is one of very few to have reached the stratosphere. “My career is a reflection of China’s 40 years of development and opening up,” says Shanghai-born Sun, who is one of the few female chief executives in the country. Ctrip gave Chinese tourists the world, now it’s shaping it too Born during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) – she won’t say exactly when – Sun was fortunate to receive a good education. “When I was a student at... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2178026/ctrip-ceo-jane-sun-my-career-reflection-chinas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2178026/ctrip-ceo-jane-sun-my-career-reflection-chinas?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 Dec 2018 05:15:45 +0000 Pascal Lamy does not mince words. That may be because he is no longer burdened by his position as director general of the WTO, which he held between 2005 and 2013, or because the China-Europe International Business School (CEIBS), where he is a distinguished professor, offers a rare platform to speak freely in China. In this conversation with the South China Morning Post, before his master class at the Shanghai campus, he analyses the current trade dispute between the United States and China and... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2177509/trump-will-achieve-nothing-tariffs-former-wto-head-blasts-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2177509/trump-will-achieve-nothing-tariffs-former-wto-head-blasts-us?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 11 Dec 2018 23:00:15 +0000 You may not know the name of this place, but you have most definitely heard the sound it makes. Close to a huge violin monument in the Donggaocun town in Pinggu, the easternmost district of Beijing, dozens of factories and workshops produce an estimated 300,000 violins – including violas and cellos – a year. That’s about one third of the world’s total production of the instruments, according to an official Tourism Bureau publication. Pinggu’s rise to become the world’s top violin maker – by... https://www.scmp.com/society/40-years-chinas-economic-reform-sound-pinggus-violins/article/2174606?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/society/40-years-chinas-economic-reform-sound-pinggus-violins/article/2174606?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Nov 2018 11:30:00 +0000 On her way to school, Aigerim Asker looks like the Kazakh girl next door. Dressed in jeans and a matching blue jacket, with her hair in two neat braids fashioned by her mother, she rides 12km through the mountains on horseback or motorbike to reach Altai, a town in western Mongolia’s Bayan-Ölgii province. At 13, she often replies to questions with a shy smile. When she speaks, she does so in an almost inaudible whisper, frequently looking for an approving nod from her father. But Aigerim is no... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2174492/how-eagle-huntresses-are-challenging-mongolian?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2174492/how-eagle-huntresses-are-challenging-mongolian?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Nov 2018 02:45:30 +0000 Visitors detect Maotai, nestled on the slopes of a tiny valley in the north of Guizhou province, long before they see the small town. The stench from its fermentation tanks is carried on the wind, and is so pervasive that locals do not even notice it. “What smell?” they ask, with surprise. Maotai gives its name to China’s most famous liquor, as well as its part publicly traded and part state-owned produ­cer, Kweichow Moutai, which was founded in 1951 with the merger of three distilleries. Maotai... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2170165/inside-fortress-maotai-secrets-china-hard-liquor?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2170165/inside-fortress-maotai-secrets-china-hard-liquor?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 Oct 2018 05:00:30 +0000 Yelang Valley lies on the gentle slopes of a remote hill outside Guiyang, the capital of southern China’s Guizhou province. It is home to a surreal park dotted with eerie representations of faces, deities and creatures from Chinese mythology. The aesthetic inspiration, however, is a European, the legendary Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, and like his artistic hero, the mastermind behind the 50-acre park, Song Peilun, will not live to see his greatest creation to its end. Although Song started on... https://www.scmp.com/culture/chinese-gaudi-builds-playground-monsters-guizhou/article/3000149?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/chinese-gaudi-builds-playground-monsters-guizhou/article/3000149?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 28 Sep 2018 05:41:45 +0000 Song Peilun is the archetypal Chinese artist: he is slim, has long, loose hair, always dresses in a traditional changshan tunic and scatters old proverbs throughout his sometimes-hard-to-decipher discourse. But his great masterpiece was inspired by a European. Song’s Yelang Valley has some­thing in common with both Park Güell and the still-unfinished Sagrada Família cathedral – two of legendary Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí’s most prominent creations – in Barcelona, Spain. Like the first,... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2163906/chinese-artist-who-his-inspiration-gaudi-will-not?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2163906/chinese-artist-who-his-inspiration-gaudi-will-not?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 15 Sep 2018 06:00:30 +0000 Loius Vuitton and Plada. No, these aren’t typos. They’re the bold-face names displayed at two spacious shops spotted a week ago on the ground floor of a new luxury compound in Renhuai, a small city in China’s southwestern province of Guizhou. The stores look just like the real thing. Storefronts display huge photos of models posing with legit-looking products. The only way to tell they're not real is that spelling. But nobody seemed to care, until I told the real Louis Vuitton about these... https://www.scmp.com/business/how-chinese-counterfeiters-are-making-money-street-and-online/article/2162237?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/how-chinese-counterfeiters-are-making-money-street-and-online/article/2162237?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 31 Aug 2018 10:15:45 +0000 There have always been many women at China Joy, Asia’s biggest videogame and digital entertainment show. But most are just bait for male gamers. Dressed in tight tops and miniskirts, models pose on the deafeningly loud stages scattered across seven massive pavilions at the Shanghai New International Expo Center during the event, which ends on Monday. But not Emmy Zhu. The 28-year-old wears what looks like a bulletproof vest and holds a very realistic-looking assault rifle. “This is the only... https://www.scmp.com/tech/chinas-female-gamers-fight-esports-acceptance/article/2158454?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/chinas-female-gamers-fight-esports-acceptance/article/2158454?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 06 Aug 2018 09:45:15 +0000 It’s ironic, but the first thing we see at Shanghai’s new robot restaurant is a human being. “People are not yet used to dealing only with machines,” explains a smiling young man. Located in Shanghai’s suburban Jiading district, the Robot.He restaurant is the first of its kind. It’s part of Hema supermarkets, e-commerce giant Alibaba’s new retail chain in which customers shop not with trolleys, but with their phones. (Alibaba also owns Inkstone.) At Hema’s 59 (and growing) stores, shoppers scan... https://www.scmp.com/food/alibabas-robothe-robot-restaurant-opens-hema-supermarket-chain/article/2155834?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/alibabas-robothe-robot-restaurant-opens-hema-supermarket-chain/article/2155834?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Jul 2018 09:45:30 +0000 It’s easy to cross the border between Nepal and India. Too easy. Most of its 1,600km is marked by simple, 30cm-high concrete piles. There is no wall, no fence, no barbed wire. In fact, some farmers have fields that are part in Nepal and part in India. There is no surveillance infrastructure to make sure people don’t stray across the border and Nepali and Indian passport holders don’t need visas to visit each others’ countries. They don’t even have to carry their passports; an official... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2154963/fighting-human-trafficking-nepal-patrol-activists?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2154963/fighting-human-trafficking-nepal-patrol-activists?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Jul 2018 09:30:30 +0000 It’s 8am and the temperature is already above 30 degree Celsius in Qingyuan, a prefecture-level city in the north of Guangdong province and home to the Evergrande Football School. Most of the 48 pitches at the world’s largest soccer academy are already in use. Children and teenagers in red and yellow kits stretch, run and kick balls. For the next 90 minutes, before regular school classes begin, they will sweat buckets. “He shui,” Ibon Labaien reminds his charges, in broken Mandarin, every few... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2149708/has-legacy-chinas-one-child-policy-destroyed-xi?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2149708/has-legacy-chinas-one-child-policy-destroyed-xi?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 Jun 2018 08:30:45 +0000 “Snow is unusual in Shanghai,” says Li Xiao, an engineer at the National Intelligent Connected Vehicle Pilot Zone, “so we have to take the opportunity to test the vehicle in the most adverse weather conditions.” Li and colleague Chen Dong are about to oversee a trial of a driverless electric bus, at the first testing area for autonomous vehicles in China. Covering two square miles and capable of replicating a range of road conditions, the zone has a section of highway, a tunnel to simulate the... https://www.scmp.com/tech/chinas-self-driving-cars-are-ready-beat-tesla-their-own-game/article/2142892?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/chinas-self-driving-cars-are-ready-beat-tesla-their-own-game/article/2142892?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Apr 2018 10:00:30 +0000 “Snow is unusual in Shanghai,” says Li Xiao, an engineer at the National Intelligent Connected Vehicle Pilot Zone, “so we have to take the opportunity, to test the vehicle in the most adverse weather conditions.” Alibaba confirms self-driving car tests, joining Baidu and Tencent in China’s autonomous car race  Li and colleague Chen Dong are about to oversee a trial of a driverless electric bus, produced by Xiamen Golden Dragon Bus, at the Enclosed Test Zone, the first testing area for autonomous... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2142449/chinas-self-driving-vehicles-track-take-global?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2142449/chinas-self-driving-vehicles-track-take-global?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 22 Apr 2018 08:00:30 +0000 Ernawati made great sacrifices for the well-being of her family. She was married at 14 to a man six years her senior and became the breadwinner two years later, when she first travelled to Saudi Arabia, to work as a domestic helper. She never complained, we are told, and earned enough to pay for one of the best houses on the rural outskirts of Sukabumi, a chaotic city of 318,000 people in West Java, Indonesia. Ernawati now spends her days chained up in a small storeroom in the house she worked... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2140544/indonesian-domestic-helpers-sex-abuse-slavery?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2140544/indonesian-domestic-helpers-sex-abuse-slavery?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 07 Apr 2018 12:30:45 +0000 The memory of her first period makes Ganga Kunwar shiver. “It was already scary to think of the physiological change I was about to experience, but what terrified me the most, and still does when I think about that time, was that I was going to be kicked out of home for the first time,” she tells Post Magazine. At the age of 12 she was considered impure and, following the ancient practice of chhaupadi, banished. “I had to respect the tradition; I was being forced to live in a mud-and-brick shed... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2134278/period-shaming-nepal-new-law-may-finally-end?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2134278/period-shaming-nepal-new-law-may-finally-end?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Feb 2018 02:45:45 +0000 “Run!” Carlito Ramirez managed to shout just one word before the six masked men on motorcycles shot him in the back of the head. The warning saved the life of his wife.  “We were going to buy some rice and I just ran for cover,” recalls Victoria Ramirez, at her husband’s wake, in Caloocan City, Manila. “When I turned around, I saw Carlito lying in a pool of blood.” Carlito Ramirez was killed on December 11, just a week after the couple’s only daughter and her husband had been shot down in the... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2129538/how-philippines-war-drugs-has-become-war-poor?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2129538/how-philippines-war-drugs-has-become-war-poor?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 20 Jan 2018 00:45:15 +0000 The email came barely two months before Christmas, in 2007. My editor wanted an article about manufacturing in China. Products being sold around the world were made in the country and he wanted to prick the conscience of consumers before the festive season shopping orgy began – so the focus was to be on labour conditions and the quality of products. Especially toys. There was no better place to start than in Yiwu, the Zhejiang province manufacturing powerhouse and a favourite low-cost market for... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2124317/made-china-created-china-how-nation-turned-itself?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2124317/made-china-created-china-how-nation-turned-itself?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 17 Dec 2017 04:00:30 +0000 The lifts rising to Yitu Technology’s headquarters have no buttons. The pass cards of the staff and visitors stepping into the elevators that service floors 23 and 25 of a newly built sky­scraper in Shanghai’s Hongqiao business district are read automatically – no swipe required – and each passenger is deposited at their specified floor. The only way to beat the system and alight at a different floor is to wait for someone who does have access and jump out alongside them. Or, if this were a... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2123415/doctor-border-guard-policeman-artificial?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2123415/doctor-border-guard-policeman-artificial?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Dec 2017 01:15:00 +0000 The narrow Delhi street is still dark at 5.45 on a chilly winter’s morning. Some of the city’s poorest inhabitants, wrapped in scraggy blankets, sleep on pavements alongside scavenging goats and stray dogs. Even the stalls selling cups of warming chai are not yet open, and India’s teeming capital is silent this long before the dawn. A tight huddle of girls, mostly teenagers and all decked out in well-worn tracksuits, emerges from the misty gloom. They try to keep their voices low, but cannot... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2115836/indias-young-female-wrestlers-fighting-overcome?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2115836/indias-young-female-wrestlers-fighting-overcome?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Oct 2017 00:45:42 +0000 “Chinese tourists are the most powerful single source of change in the tourism industry.” Taleb Rifai, secretary general of the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), stresses every word. He raises his finger and explains: “Not only is it the biggest domestic market in the world, where 4.4 billion trips are made each year, but it’s also the leading global outbound market, with over 135 million international departures in 2016. This number has been increasing in double digits since 2010 and it’s... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2113116/how-chinese-tourists-are-changing-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2113116/how-chinese-tourists-are-changing-world?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 01 Oct 2017 00:15:45 +0000 “Zhifubao or Weixin,” asks the waitress. It’s a question that catches me by surprise because I was expecting a different one: “cash or card?” It has been a simple meal at Yershari, a Xinjiang chain restaurant in Shanghai’s Hongkou Plaza, and now as I eye my wallet the waitress gestures towards the cashier by the door. I can settle up the old-fashioned way over there, I’m told – the payment device she’s carrying scans QR codes. “Most of our clients use their phones now,” she says, with a... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2110118/going-cash-free-why-china-light-years-ahead?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2110118/going-cash-free-why-china-light-years-ahead?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 Sep 2017 12:30:25 +0000 Some respite from the intense summer heat can be found 18 metres below the scorching streets of Shanghai, but humidity remains energy sapping in the dark tunnels that are growing beneath Pudong. And yet, Yang Jun’s men keep drilling, and the huge tunnel-boring machine they operate advances 9.6 metres per day. “We use concrete blocks to cover the walls of the tunnels as the ‘mole’ moves forward,” shouts Yang, trying to make himself heard above the din. “Each circle is made up of seven... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2106229/shanghai-metro-keeping-worlds-longest-mass?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2106229/shanghai-metro-keeping-worlds-longest-mass?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 Aug 2017 00:45:55 +0000 Anaraa Nyamdorj has been born thrice. The first time was 40 years ago, in the Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator, when “I was born in a female body”. Nyamdorj says that once he reached the age of 10, he fell into a deep depression that led to a suicide attempt. “Until then, I didn’t really have an idea of what sex I belonged to. I was always a tomboy, but that didn’t make me wonder about my gender. Then the body changes started and I couldn’t handle it.” Nyamdorj swallowed sleeping pills and was... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2103383/lgbti-mongolia-fighting-rights-and-recognition?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2103383/lgbti-mongolia-fighting-rights-and-recognition?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Jul 2017 04:30:00 +0000 Inhar Urruzuno leads a double life. Or, rather, two parallel lives. During the day he earns a living in what, as a humble man, he calls a “taller”, the Spanish term for “mechanical workshop”. “We make parts for Airbus aeroplanes and for missiles,” he explains. His is one of the many advanced manufacturing plants that make the Basque Country, in northern Spain, one of Western Europe’s top hi-tech centres. But when his day’s work is done, he drives into the mountains, along a narrow, winding road,... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2095399/weighty-pursuits-basque-olympics-where-stone-lifters?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2095399/weighty-pursuits-basque-olympics-where-stone-lifters?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 May 2017 05:33:49 +0000 “Donald Trump could build his wall much cheaper and in less than a year,” Ma Yihe says, laughing, although he is not joking. “We could definitely do it. Maybe at around 60 per cent of the projected cost and three to four times faster.” Ma is the founder and chairman of WinSun, a Jiangsu province-based company that doesn’t hide its ambitions. “We print architecture’s future,” claims its brochure. And that’s no idle boast: in 2008, WinSun became the first company in the world to use a 3D printer... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2093914/we-could-3d-print-trumps-wall-china-construction?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2093914/we-could-3d-print-trumps-wall-china-construction?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 May 2017 23:45:45 +0000 “We didn’t pay much attention at the begin­ning, because we thought she just wanted to concentrate on the details of games she plays in the phone,” says Xi’s mother. But it turns out the 4½-year-old will have to wear glasses. She has myopia, something her young parents don’t think of as a problem. “It’s just an aesthetic issue. She will have to get used to the spectacles. Many people even wear them without the lenses just for fun, so I don’t think there is anything to worry about,” her mother... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2085125/chinas-myopia-epidemic-why-simple-solution-being?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2085125/chinas-myopia-epidemic-why-simple-solution-being?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 08 Apr 2017 01:15:45 +0000 The moment of truth has arrived. Tension fills the air. The unit director is less than satisfied with the results of two rehearsals, but the sun is sinking, a thin rain darkens the grey sky further and the scene must be shot. “We can’t waste the day! Suit up! It’s an action scene, you have to look enraged!” bellows a voice through a loudspeaker, haranguing the 100 or so extras assembled on set. This is to be the climax of War Against the Bandits, a television series set during the Japanese... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2073419/behind-scenes-hollywood-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2073419/behind-scenes-hollywood-china?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 24 Feb 2017 23:00:15 +0000 “Just call me Howard, no surnames.” Sitting in a small dim sum restaurant near the Mid-Levels escalator in Hong Kong’s Central business district, this smiling Hong Kong-born Australian music producer is obviously concerned about his privacy. He removes his baseball cap and all becomes clear. His round face and trapezoid haircut are distinctive; other pat­rons notice, too. Here sits Kim Jong-un, the North Korean dictator. “I was watching TV and I saw Kim for the first time, when his father... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2069448/obama-out-trump-mao-forever-impersonators-ups-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2069448/obama-out-trump-mao-forever-impersonators-ups-and?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Feb 2017 06:00:30 +0000 A little over five years ago, Bristi had just turned 15. She is now about to celebrate her 18th birthday. Indeed, the maths don’t add up. That’s because in 2011, when we last encountered her, Bristi lied about her age. “I had to say that because, otherwise, the madam would’ve hit me,” she admits now. Back then, she appeared to be an active, lively and smiling teenager, and so one of the most sought-after girls at the C&B Ghat brothel, in Faridpur, a chaotic town in central Bangladesh. In the... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2059566/sex-workers-bangladesh-future-bleak-past?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2059566/sex-workers-bangladesh-future-bleak-past?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Jan 2017 07:02:09 +0000 Why the fuss? In December, Tsuta became the only noodle restaurant in the world to be awarded a Michelin star. Although it seems to be just like the other 5,000 ramen shops in the Japanese capital, it serves arguably the best bowls of noodles in the world. The owner, Yuki Onishi, makes the noodles himself, from four kinds of stone-ground wheat, and uses high-quality chickens and seafood to prepare the broth. Each bowl comes with delicious soft-boiled eggs and top­pings such as char siu and... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/1983175/slurping-best-noodles-world-tsuta-tokyo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/1983175/slurping-best-noodles-world-tsuta-tokyo?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Jun 2016 10:30:30 +0000 Even if there were an old-type thermometer in place, it would be unable to correctly reflect how cold it is in Zaamar, a central Mongolian town of unpaved roads and wooden houses. At 40 degrees Celsius below zero, the mercury would freeze. But that doesn't really matter, because, regardless of the temperature, the "ninjas" don't rest. Armed with rudimentary tools, they hollow out the steppe in search of its most precious mineral resource: gold. And there are many of them; various studies claim... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1939514/winners-and-losers-mongolias-mining-gold-rush?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1939514/winners-and-losers-mongolias-mining-gold-rush?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 29 Apr 2016 04:30:30 +0000 It's almost impossible to avoid Fan Bingbing in China. Her slender figure is used to promote sportswear on billboards across the country and as the cast for Barbie dolls bearing her name while her snow-white skin, full lips and long raven hair serve the multinational makers of beauty products well. On the big screen she triumphs in many genres, while on television she sweeps through sets dressed in the clothes of ancient dynasties. And on the most prestigious catwalks of the world, designers... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/film-tv/article/1892354/actress-fan-bingbing-becoming-new-empress-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/film-tv/article/1892354/actress-fan-bingbing-becoming-new-empress-china?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Dec 2015 13:00:30 +0000 Eun Ji-lee is nervous. It is the day before the 22-year-old faces the final hurdle to get into the MBA programme she desperately wants to be accepted for: the university interview. She has made a list of dozens of possible questions and rehearsed the answers with her mother, but something is still missing: an outfit suitable for the occasion. In South Korea, appearance is a key to success - or reason for failure. "What we must wear is clearly defined," says Eun. "For women it's a smart black... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1846987/sharing-city-project-out-put-soul-back-seoul?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1846987/sharing-city-project-out-put-soul-back-seoul?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 08 Aug 2015 14:45:30 +0000