https://www.scmp.com/rss/325302/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon My washing machine has finally given up the ghost – a poltergeist, really, judging by the deafening din it makes – and I am in the market for a replacement. Am I being odd for feeling a small thrill at the prospect? I must confess to a mild obsession with laundry. Much as I resist the comparison, I have almost certainly inherited this tendency from my mother, who runs two loads a day, come rain or shine, festive season or not. I am a more restrained enthusiast: I limit myself to one daily wash... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3353368/how-chinese-people-did-laundry-washing-machines-ash-soap-stone-beatings?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3353368/how-chinese-people-did-laundry-washing-machines-ash-soap-stone-beatings?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 May 2026 08:15:04 +0000 Kishore Mahbubani Kishore Mahbubani Western social science has made three metaphysical mistakes. The first was to assume that its laws and lessons were, like the physical sciences, universally applicable to all societies. Harvard Professor Theodore Levitt captured the prevailing zeitgeist well when he wrote in 1983: “The world’s needs and desires have been irrevocably homogenised.” That may have been true 40 years ago. It is no longer. One indirect consequence of this assumption – that the whole world was converging towards a... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3353739/west-was-never-whole-world-its-time-move?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3353739/west-was-never-whole-world-its-time-move?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 May 2026 02:00:19 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Fans of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace all have their own reasons for loving the epic novel. Some read it as a story of personal growth, reflected in Prince Andrei’s spiritual quest. Others favour its portrayal of the Russian aristocracy in the early 19th century. As for myself, the novel punctured the myth of the military genius – not just Napoleon’s. The book’s final section on Tolstoy’s philosophy of history presented the most significant challenge to G.W.F. Hegel – specifically regarding French... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3353547/beijing-had-already-won-trump-xi-summit-even-started?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3353547/beijing-had-already-won-trump-xi-summit-even-started?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 15 May 2026 12:30:05 +0000 Matt Glasby Matt Glasby This is the latest instalment in a feature series reflecting on instances of East meets West in world cinema, including China-US co-productions. Hoping to replicate the success of his 1961 smash hit El Cid, Hollywood producer Samuel Bronston turned to the events of the Boxer rebellion, which took place in China from 1899 to 1901. Named after a crucial siege, the ensuing epic, 55 Days at Peking (1963), would star Charlton Heston and David Niven, and be shot on huge sets in rural Spain. Bronston... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3352437/how-hollywoods-55-days-peking-turned-chinas-boxer-rebellion-racist-western?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3352437/how-hollywoods-55-days-peking-turned-chinas-boxer-rebellion-racist-western?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 15 May 2026 04:15:07 +0000 Vincenzo La Torre Vincenzo La Torre Every year at Watches and Wonders – the world’s most important fair for luxury timepieces, held in Geneva, Switzerland – brands ranging from Rolex to Cartier and Patek Philippe vie for attention with extravagant booths showcasing their latest releases. This year though, Panerai stole the show with a buzzy installation that paid homage to its nautical heritage while also being very Instagrammable. Designed and manufactured in-house by the brand, the structure was a reproduction of the historic... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/luxury/watches/article/3353504/style-edit-panerai-ceo-emmanuel-perrin-watch-brands-maritime-heritage-interview?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/luxury/watches/article/3353504/style-edit-panerai-ceo-emmanuel-perrin-watch-brands-maritime-heritage-interview?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 May 2026 04:24:43 +0000 Julian Ryall Julian Ryall Statues erected by South Korean civic groups on the other side of the world honouring the tens of thousands of women forced into sexual slavery by imperial Japanese forces during World War II have once again succeeded in making Tokyo’s elites deeply uncomfortable. The decisions by local governments in Germany’s capital and New Zealand’s largest city to rescind or decline to renew permits for “comfort women” memorials have been pounced on by conservatives within Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3353417/japan-south-korea-comfort-women-row-stoked-statues-abroad?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3353417/japan-south-korea-comfort-women-row-stoked-statues-abroad?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 May 2026 00:00:08 +0000 Charmaine Yu Charmaine Yu During the Christmas holiday in 2021, Jack Smith discovered a collection of surgical equipment boxes in the garage of his childhood home near London. The boxes contained around 80,000 35mm film slides taken by his late grandfather Herbert Smith as he travelled around the world between 1945 and 1987, including to Hong Kong in 1979. “He passed away in 1987, so I never met [him], and those photos were left in a big box for about 30 years,” Smith, now 28, says. Those previously hidden photographs,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts/article/3353393/photographers-snaps-1970s-hong-kong-given-life-5-decades-grandson-he-never-met?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts/article/3353393/photographers-snaps-1970s-hong-kong-given-life-5-decades-grandson-he-never-met?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 May 2026 23:15:09 +0000 Reuters Reuters Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday oversaw a scaled-back military parade in Moscow commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Security was tight as Putin spoke at the event, even as a US-brokered three-day ceasefire eased concerns about possible Ukrainian attempts to disrupt the festivities. Putin hailed Russian troops fighting in Ukraine, declaring that they “face an aggressive force that is armed and supported by the entire bloc of Nato”. The president did not... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3352987/russia-marks-victory-day-parade-moscow-under-tight-security?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3352987/russia-marks-victory-day-parade-moscow-under-tight-security?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 May 2026 08:42:58 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon Rarely featured in domestic or international news, the Malaysian state of Negeri Sembilan is currently facing a constitutional crisis centred on its royal ruler. In April 2026, four chieftains known as the Undang Yang Empat declared that the incumbent ruler, Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir, had been deposed, and named a successor. The state government rejected the move, arguing that the declaration was invalid because one of the chieftains no longer held legitimate authority. The incident has since... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3352719/how-succession-struggles-chinas-history-are-echoed-malaysias-2026-royal-crisis?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3352719/how-succession-struggles-chinas-history-are-echoed-malaysias-2026-royal-crisis?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 May 2026 00:15:05 +0000 Xiong Yang Xiong Yang Nanjing, a bustling metropolis in eastern China that serves as the capital of Jiangsu province, has embraced eclectic influences across its long history, from foundations laid during the Six Dynasties (220-589) to the intellectual cosmopolitanism of China’s Republic era (1912-1949). Its culinary scene is infused with the Halal flavours of its Hui Muslim residents and imperial influences, all niftily blended with the precision of Huaiyang chefs. A weekend trip to Nanjing is a great idea for those... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3352629/best-things-do-chinas-nanjing-great-food-and-architecture-history?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3352629/best-things-do-chinas-nanjing-great-food-and-architecture-history?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 May 2026 09:15:05 +0000 Ilaria Maria Sala Ilaria Maria Sala “Blooming: The Art of Gardens in East and West” at the Hong Kong Museum of Art is a spectacular show that brings together the gardening traditions of China with those of France and Italy, placing particular emphasis on China’s Qing dynasty (1644-1912) and France’s Palace of Versailles. Co-organised with the Palace Museum in Beijing, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Palace of Versailles, the show gathers artworks from different eras that reflect the universal joy people find in nature and the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts/article/3352109/gardens-china-and-europe-juxtaposed-spectacular-hong-kong-exhibition-featuring-monet?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts/article/3352109/gardens-china-and-europe-juxtaposed-spectacular-hong-kong-exhibition-featuring-monet?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 May 2026 04:15:04 +0000 Ushar Daniele Ushar Daniele The sounds of passing cars and birds chirping broke the morning stillness at Penang’s Northam Road Protestant Cemetery as visitors began filtering in after 8am. Tour guide Zul Harris arrived in a purple shirt, grey trousers and a black flat cap to greet seven tourists waiting at the gate. Inside, a narrow laterite path ran through the cemetery beneath old frangipani trees, whose dense canopy cast a muted green light over weathered headstones tilting at uneven angles. Zul was leading a cemetery... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3352393/penangs-cemetery-tours-spur-interest-pioneers-colonial-history?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3352393/penangs-cemetery-tours-spur-interest-pioneers-colonial-history?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 May 2026 00:00:21 +0000 SCMP Editorial SCMP Editorial Bruce Lee’s legacy in Hong Kong got a needed boost last month with the unveiling of a life-size statue of the late kung fu legend at the site of his childhood home. The tribute marking 85 years since Lee arrived in the city is to be welcomed, but also raises questions about why there is not more focus on one of Hong Kong’s most famous sons. Entertainment company hmvod and arts curator Heiman Ng organised the statue’s unveiling and an exhibition at the Prudential Centre on Nathan Road in Jordan.... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/comment/article/3352177/hong-kongs-efforts-commemorate-bruce-lee-should-pack-bigger-punch?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/comment/article/3352177/hong-kongs-efforts-commemorate-bruce-lee-should-pack-bigger-punch?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 May 2026 23:15:10 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon I was recently diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) after an overnight sleep test at a hospital. I had long known I was a loud snorer, but what finally drove me to seek medical help was persistent daytime exhaustion despite clocking a full eight hours of sleep each night. The results were alarming. A normal person has five or fewer “events” – when the airway is partially or fully blocked during sleep – an hour. I recorded 63. At one point, I stopped breathing for 77 seconds. I... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3351990/ancient-chinese-sleep-advice-bedtimes-and-body-positions-state-mind?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3351990/ancient-chinese-sleep-advice-bedtimes-and-body-positions-state-mind?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 May 2026 00:15:07 +0000 Xinlu Liang Xinlu Liang Fujian province, the closest mainland Chinese province to Taiwan, is an important site for Beijing’s messaging towards the island. In the first of a two-part series (read part two here), Xinlu Liang examines how Beijing is framing the executions of Communist Party spies in Taiwan within a reunification narrative. A courtyard house in an old quarter of Fuzhou, capital of the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian, has become the unlikeliest of national pilgrimage sites. For decades, the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3352156/why-beijing-now-wants-its-spies-executed-taiwan-come-decades-cold?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3352156/why-beijing-now-wants-its-spies-executed-taiwan-come-decades-cold?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 May 2026 22:00:12 +0000 Matt Glasby Matt Glasby This is the latest instalment in our From the Vault feature series, in which we reflect on culturally significant movies celebrating notable anniversaries. When Pearl Harbor was released 25 years ago this month, it became a byword for a certain kind of ultra-crass, ultra-commercial Hollywood filmmaking. Critics sharpened their knives, the film stacked up six Golden Raspberry Award nominations, and Team America: World Police honoured it with a diss track featuring the lyrics: “I miss you more... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3351588/why-michael-bays-much-derided-pearl-harbor-deserves-second-look-its-25th-anniversary?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3351588/why-michael-bays-much-derided-pearl-harbor-deserves-second-look-its-25th-anniversary?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 May 2026 09:15:08 +0000 Reuters Reuters Hundreds of protesters clashed with Australian emergency services workers in a remote town following the arrest of a man suspected of murdering a five-year-old indigenous girl, police said on Friday. Australia’s prime minister, the Northern Territory’s police commissioner and a spokesperson for the victim’s family all appealed for calm after an angry crowd of roughly 400 indigenous people gathered on Thursday night at the hospital where ‌the suspect was taken after being beaten unconscious by... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3352139/riot-erupts-over-australian-indigenous-girls-suspected-killer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3352139/riot-erupts-over-australian-indigenous-girls-suspected-killer?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 May 2026 08:10:27 +0000 SCMP SCMP Sir Mark Young returns This article was first published on May 1, 1946 Sir Mark Young, Governor of Hongkong, returned to the Colony yesterday (April 30, 1946). Sir Mark was Governor when the Japanese attacked on December 8, 1941 and was a prisoner of war until the capitulation. An official welcome took place when Sir Mark stepped ashore from Queen’s Pier. Broadcasting from Government House in the evening, Sir Mark paid a tribute to the memory of those who fell in the defence of the Colony and... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/3352042/1946-hong-kongs-governor-sir-mark-young-returns-after-wwii-scmp-archive?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/3352042/1946-hong-kongs-governor-sir-mark-young-returns-after-wwii-scmp-archive?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 30 Apr 2026 10:45:07 +0000 Reuters Reuters Australian police ⁠said on Thursday they have found a ⁠body believed to be that of a missing five-year-old indigenous girl and were searching for the man who allegedly murdered her. The girl, now referred to by her family as Kumanjayi Little Baby in line with Indigenous customs, was reported missing from her home in ‌a remote community in central Australia late on Saturday. Police said they located a body of a young Indigenous girl they believed was hers shortly before midday on Thursday about... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3352021/australian-police-find-body-search-missing-indigenous-girl-5?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3352021/australian-police-find-body-search-missing-indigenous-girl-5?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 30 Apr 2026 09:25:32 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse New Zealand officials rejected on Wednesday an application to install a statue commemorating so-called “comfort women” enslaved by Japan before and during World War II after Tokyo suggested it could harm diplomatic relations. Japan forced up to 200,000 women from Korea, China and Southeast Asia into sexual slavery from 1932 until 1945 and the issue remains a sore point in Tokyo’s relations with its neighbours. The Korean Garden Trust had sought to install a statue honouring the survivors at... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3351852/new-zealand-officials-reject-statue-remembering-japans-wwii-sex-slaves?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3351852/new-zealand-officials-reject-statue-remembering-japans-wwii-sex-slaves?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Apr 2026 09:23:25 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Archaeologists and researchers at the ancient Roman site of Pompeii have used artificial intelligence for the first time to digitally reconstruct the face of a man killed in the AD 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius that smothered the city, offering a new way to understand one of history’s most famous natural disasters. The digital portrait represents a man whose remains, along with those of another person, were discovered as they attempted to flee the city towards the coast of what is now Italy... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3351616/archaeologists-pompeii-use-ai-reveal-face-one-victims?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3351616/archaeologists-pompeii-use-ai-reveal-face-one-victims?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Apr 2026 17:04:04 +0000 Sumnima Kandangwa Sumnima Kandangwa Macau has always embodied dialogue between East and West. As one of Macau’s landmark cultural destinations – and the only museum in the region built entirely around the Silk Road – Poly MGM Museum’s “Silk Roads Beyond Borders” enters a fresh phase with three major additions. New Italian and Persian treasures make their Asia debut, illuminating centuries of exchange. Macau’s history as a major node of the Maritime Silk Road gives that mission a natural foundation. “That gives our work a level of... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/lifestyle/leisure/article/3351144/style-edit-poly-mgm-museums-silk-roads-beyond-borders-adds-european-masterpieces?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/lifestyle/leisure/article/3351144/style-edit-poly-mgm-museums-silk-roads-beyond-borders-adds-european-masterpieces?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Apr 2026 04:38:03 +0000 Lisa Lim Lisa Lim It’s not just blue, it’s not turquoise, it’s not lapis; it’s cerulean. That pivotal monologue in The Devil Wears Prada explained how haute couture created a million-dollar industry based on that most specific shade of blue. Cerulean derives from Latin caeruleus, encompassing “blue, dark blue, blue-green”, suggested to be a result of a dissimilation of caelulum (changing one of the “l” sounds to “r”), the diminutive of caelum (“heaven, sky”) – the Latin word caeruleus was applied by Roman authors... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-beauty/article/3351304/azure-cerulean-how-some-most-fashionable-shades-blue-got-their-names?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-beauty/article/3351304/azure-cerulean-how-some-most-fashionable-shades-blue-got-their-names?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Apr 2026 07:15:07 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon Just when I thought I had exhausted my appetite for buffets, a Sunday brunch at a French restaurant in Crowne Plaza Kuala Lumpur proved a delightful corrective. There was free-flowing sparkling wine, a generous spread and a parade of desserts that made restraint all but impossible. I am told that another restaurant in the same hotel offers a Saturday “Straits of Malaya” buffet showcasing Malay cuisine. The prospect is enticing, though it will have to wait a few weekends. At my age, one must eat... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3351102/history-chinas-hospitality-industry-and-how-its-inns-evolved-over-time?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3351102/history-chinas-hospitality-industry-and-how-its-inns-evolved-over-time?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:15:07 +0000 Ashlyn Chak Ashlyn Chak Hong Kong is considered one of the safest cities in the world today – but it has not always been so. There have been periods throughout contemporary history when its streets were ruled and terrorised by gangs. In this series, we look at the history of Hong Kong’s major triad societies and how they shaped the underworld of organised crime and inspired the city’s pop culture. Most well-established Hong Kong triads have auspicious names: Sun Yee On literally means “new, righteousness, peace”, while... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3350992/inside-14k-how-hong-kong-triad-grew-global-crime-syndicate?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3350992/inside-14k-how-hong-kong-triad-grew-global-crime-syndicate?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 24 Apr 2026 04:45:07 +0000 Enid Tsui Enid Tsui There was never any doubt that Nawapooh Sae-tang, the grandson of the late Bangkok-born artist Tang Chang, would inherit the family business of protecting and promoting his legacy. “My father had told me from a young age that as his eldest son, I would have to be involved in the running of the estate,” he says ahead of the May 1 opening of the Tang Chang Private Museum in Nakhon Pathom, an hour outside the Thai capital. It might not have been his choice, but Nawapooh has blossomed into a... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts/article/3350850/new-tang-chang-art-museum-thailand-preserves-thai-chinese-art-rebels-remarkable-legacy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts/article/3350850/new-tang-chang-art-museum-thailand-preserves-thai-chinese-art-rebels-remarkable-legacy?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 Apr 2026 23:15:10 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sent a ritual offering on Tuesday to a shrine honouring the country’s war dead that has long angered neighbouring countries but did not visit in person, media reports and an unidentified source close to the matter said. The Yasukuni shrine in central Tokyo is dedicated to 2.5 million war dead, mostly Japanese, who perished in conflicts since the late 19th century. That number includes senior military and political figures convicted by an international... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3350867/japans-takaichi-sends-yasukuni-shrine-offering-south-korea-expresses-regret?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3350867/japans-takaichi-sends-yasukuni-shrine-offering-south-korea-expresses-regret?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 Apr 2026 08:58:05 +0000 SCMP Style Reporter SCMP Style Reporter On April 1, as Nasa’s Artemis II set off on humanity’s first crewed lunar voyage in more than 50 years, all four astronauts on the mission did so wearing the Omega Speedmaster X-33 – a modern instrument for a new era, rooted in a legacy stretching back six decades. That story began with a far simpler mechanical chronograph that proved its ability to survive where few other timepieces could. In 1965, after a series of punishing trials designed to replicate the extremes of space travel, Nasa... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/luxury/watches/article/3350717/style-edit-omega-speedmasters-60-year-legacy-apollo-11-artemis-ii?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/luxury/watches/article/3350717/style-edit-omega-speedmasters-60-year-legacy-apollo-11-artemis-ii?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 Apr 2026 02:00:14 +0000 SCMP Reporter SCMP Reporter A major exhibition featuring more than 250 sets of Han dynasty relics – most of which have never been displayed in Hong Kong – is offering a rare look into one of the most influential periods of Chinese history. The showcase, titled “The Majestic Han: A Golden Age of Vigour and Cultural Integration”, is running at the Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui until September 20. Admission is free. The event is co-organised by the Development Bureau and the National Cultural Heritage... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/3350639/over-250-rare-han-dynasty-relics-display-major-hong-kong-showcase?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/3350639/over-250-rare-han-dynasty-relics-display-major-hong-kong-showcase?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Apr 2026 13:21:47 +0000 Chandran Nair Chandran Nair From Washington to Brussels and even Asia, policymakers have become obsessed with the “Thucydides Trap”, a concept born from Graham Allison’s Destined for War, published in 2017. We are endlessly warned that whenever a rising power challenges the hegemon, war is almost inevitable. This is convenient and lazy. It also ignores the history of peacemaking and the lesson of most wars, which are driven by conquest and control of resources – the creation of the United States being a war of conquest... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3350495/thucydides-trap-lie-created-justify-us-china-war?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3350495/thucydides-trap-lie-created-justify-us-china-war?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Apr 2026 05:30:08 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Fans of William Shakespeare know that the great playwright came from Stratford-upon-Avon, the English riverside town where tourists still throng to see his childhood home. But he made his name in London – though few traces of him remain in the British capital. A newly discovered 17th century map sheds new light on the Bard’s London life, pinpointing for the first time the exact location of the only home Shakespeare bought in the city, and where he may have worked on his final plays. Shakespeare... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3350395/william-shakespeares-only-london-house-located-newly-discovered-17th-century-map?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3350395/william-shakespeares-only-london-house-located-newly-discovered-17th-century-map?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Apr 2026 07:15:08 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon It was a familiar situation that I found myself in. I was one of two Singaporeans among half a dozen or more Malaysians, and predictably – and almost always unprovoked – the trashing of Singapore’s food began, especially its supposed unoriginality and blandness vis-a-vis Malaysian fare. I have learned to grin and bear it, recognising that these barbs are less about food than the complex emotions Malaysians harbour towards their southern cousins, which are shaped by history, resentment and a... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3350239/what-ancient-chinese-dish-can-teach-people-about-proper-way-eat-dishes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3350239/what-ancient-chinese-dish-can-teach-people-about-proper-way-eat-dishes?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:15:08 +0000 Francesca Fearon Francesca Fearon In November 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter made one of the most exciting discoveries of the modern era when he opened the tomb of the young King Tutankhamen, to find that all its precious 3,200-year-old treasure lay intact within. Now, a century later, those treasures along with others spanning 7,000 years of human history are being displayed together in the new six-storey Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, Egypt. Wandering around the museum, Egyptian jewellery designers, Amina Ghali and... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/luxury/jewellery/article/3350465/100-years-after-king-tuts-discovery-ancient-egypt-inspires-new-wave-jewellery-design?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/luxury/jewellery/article/3350465/100-years-after-king-tuts-discovery-ancient-egypt-inspires-new-wave-jewellery-design?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 17 Apr 2026 20:00:14 +0000 Charmaine Yu Charmaine Yu At first glance, Natalia Jagielska’s workspace looks like a clash between a scholarly science laboratory and a whimsical art studio. On one hand, she studies reconstructions of 200-million-year-old dinosaurs; on the other, she creates “cute” digital sketches of Jurassic-era creatures. For Jagielska, a 28-year-old postdoctoral researcher in palaeontology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), the two worlds are inseparable. Apart from research, she also works as a freelance illustrator... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/3349977/how-hong-kong-dinosaur-expert-making-her-mark-what-was-gentlemans-science?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/3349977/how-hong-kong-dinosaur-expert-making-her-mark-what-was-gentlemans-science?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Apr 2026 09:15:08 +0000 Ashlyn Chak Ashlyn Chak In the historical drama A Foggy Tale, which won the best narrative film and best original screenplay gongs at the 2025 Golden Horse Awards, writer-director Chen Yu-hsun tells the emotional stories of everyday individuals who fight tirelessly to survive against a backdrop of intense political and social turbulence. Set in 1950s Taiwan during the early years of the White Terror – a time of rampant political persecution under Kuomintang rule – A Foggy Tale follows Yue (Caitlin Fang Yu-ting,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3349843/what-taiwan-white-terror-drama-foggy-tale-taught-will-or-and-9m88-about-resilience?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3349843/what-taiwan-white-terror-drama-foggy-tale-taught-will-or-and-9m88-about-resilience?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Apr 2026 04:45:08 +0000 Reuters Reuters South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has sparked a diplomatic row with Israel and criticism at home after comparing Israeli military actions against Palestinians to the Holocaust in a social media post. The controversy began on Friday after Lee said “wartime killings” by the Israel Defence ‌Forces were “no different from the Jewish massacre” by the Nazis in World War II and reposted footage with a caption that said it showed Israeli troops had tortured and thrown a Palestinian from the roof of a... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3349935/south-korean-presidents-holocaust-remarks-spark-israel-outcry?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3349935/south-korean-presidents-holocaust-remarks-spark-israel-outcry?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Apr 2026 12:25:42 +0000 Reuters Reuters Ghana said France was open to having ⁠discussions with a coalition ⁠of countries that are calling ⁠for reparations for transatlantic slavery, following a meeting last week with President Emmanuel Macron. Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama, accompanied by Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and other officials, held talks with Macron in Paris on Wednesday. Ablakwa said on X after the meeting that Macron had indicated France was open to discussions on reparations, including the return of... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3349925/france-open-engaging-slavery-reparations-says-ghana?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3349925/france-open-engaging-slavery-reparations-says-ghana?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Apr 2026 10:50:32 +0000 Iman Muttaqin Yusof Iman Muttaqin Yusof Penang, the Malaysian state long marketed as the Pearl of the Orient, is better known today for its hawker food, colonial-era streetscapes and the multicultural life of George Town, whose historic core won Unesco World Heritage status in 2008. When Francis Light, a British merchant, landed on Penang on August 11, 1786, he took possession of the 293 sq km (113 square-mile) island on behalf of the British East India Company and renamed it Prince of Wales Island. One enduring local legend holds... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3349680/was-penang-robbed-kedah-malaysian-states-face-sovereignty-row?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3349680/was-penang-robbed-kedah-malaysian-states-face-sovereignty-row?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Apr 2026 02:00:18 +0000 dpa dpa Russia has formally designated Nazi crimes against the Soviet population during World War II as genocide and criminalised their denial, after President Vladimir Putin signed amendments to the country’s criminal code, the Kremlin said on Thursday. The term “genocide of the Soviet people” has increasingly been used in Russia in recent years. Authorities have also proposed repurposing a closed museum dedicated to the Soviet-era Gulag system into one focused on victims of Nazi crimes. Moscow has... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3349569/russia-criminalises-denial-soviet-genocide-nazis-during-world-war-ii?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3349569/russia-criminalises-denial-soviet-genocide-nazis-during-world-war-ii?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Apr 2026 18:21:17 +0000 Victoria Bela Victoria Bela Scholar and author Sheng-Wei Wang discusses how studying an ancient Chinese world map led her to conclude China explored and mapped the world before the European Age of Discovery and how the legacy of colonialism and a Eurocentric record of global history continue to affect power dynamics today. SCMP Plus readers get early access to articles in the Open Questions series. What first made you suspect that it was Chinese explorers and not Europeans who launched the true Age of Discovery? The... https://www.scmp.com/plus/economy/china-economy/article/3349523/china-always-connector-unlike-europes-colonisers-scholar-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/plus/economy/china-economy/article/3349523/china-always-connector-unlike-europes-colonisers-scholar-says?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Apr 2026 09:17:24 +0000 dpa dpa The summer residence of Italy’s fascist dictator Benito Mussolini is to be used as a cultural community space featuring exhibitions on history to promote democratic values. Villa Mussolini, situated on the seafront promenade of the seaside resort of Riccione on the Adriatic coast, now belongs to the local council, which spent US$1.3 million to secure the site. The house was built around 1890 in the typical style of holiday homes on the Adriatic coast. The Mussolinis bought it in 1934 and used it... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3349322/mussolinis-summer-villa-italian-coast-be-cultural-space?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3349322/mussolinis-summer-villa-italian-coast-be-cultural-space?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 Apr 2026 03:39:20 +0000 Oliver Giles Oliver Giles Winnie Wong, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, was on holiday in the summer of 2019 when she received the kind of call historians dream of. “I started screaming,” Wong says, laughing. “My family was like, ‘What?’” On the line was fellow historian Jordan Goodman, who had just visited the Canterbury Cathedral Archives & Library in England. There, he had discovered a trove of documents belonging to John Bradby Blake, an English botanist who worked for the East India Company in... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts/article/3348746/extraordinary-tale-chinese-british-collaboration-revealed-new-exhibition?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts/article/3348746/extraordinary-tale-chinese-british-collaboration-revealed-new-exhibition?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 06 Apr 2026 07:15:08 +0000 Lisa Cam Lisa Cam Okinawa is famous today for its pristine waters, gaudy Orion beer T-shirts, stone lions and dishes such as taco rice, but in centuries past it was better known as the centre of the independent Ryukyu Kingdom, which thrived as a maritime trade hub from 1429 to 1879. The Ryukyu Kingdom connected Southeast Asia, China and Korea with Japan through trade, which included Chinese ceramics and Japanese silver. Over 450 years, these exchanges led to the development of the kingdom’s unique culture. Ryukyu... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3348777/how-food-japans-okinawa-evolved-chinese-influences-become-truly-unique?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3348777/how-food-japans-okinawa-evolved-chinese-influences-become-truly-unique?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 05 Apr 2026 09:15:08 +0000 Fran Lu Fran Lu While most Chinese people’s surnames are only one character long, there are also millions of people who have compound surnames which are considered rare and precious. You might have come across some Chinese celebrities with surnames more than one character, such as Taiwan-born actress and cellist Ouyang Nana, Hong Kong-American stand-up comedian and actor Jimmy O. Yang. In fact, these two celebrities have the same compound surname, Ouyang, which is currently China’s most used compound surname,... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3348657/compound-chinese-surnames-come-historical-figures-ancient-states-now-fewer-100-remain?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3348657/compound-chinese-surnames-come-historical-figures-ancient-states-now-fewer-100-remain?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Apr 2026 10:00:09 +0000 Wee Kek Koon Wee Kek Koon Last month, friends visiting from Hong Kong brought me two tins of cookies from Jenny Bakery – a popular local treat I had somehow never tried in two decades of living in the city. When I finally opened one, the aroma caught me off guard: rich, buttery and instantly familiar. It smelled exactly like the coffee buns from the Malaysian bakery chain Rotiboy, which I used to eat far more often than I should admit. I paused for a moment, tin in hand, trying to place that recognition. Maybe it was a... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3348537/history-chinese-flatbreads-reflects-how-food-has-echoes-faraway-places?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3348537/history-chinese-flatbreads-reflects-how-food-has-echoes-faraway-places?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Apr 2026 00:15:07 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press More than 200 years after being sunk by Admiral Horatio Nelson and the British fleet, a Danish warship has been discovered on the seabed of Copenhagen Harbour by marine archaeologists. Working in thick sediment and almost zero visibility 15 metres (49 feet) beneath the waves, divers have been working against the clock to unearth the 19th century wreck of the Dannebroge before it becomes a construction site in a new housing district being built off the Danish coast. Denmark’s Viking Ship Museum,... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3348765/wreck-danish-flagship-sunk-famed-british-admiral-discovered-after-225-years?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3348765/wreck-danish-flagship-sunk-famed-british-admiral-discovered-after-225-years?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Apr 2026 06:20:49 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Why didn’t China develop its own scientific and industrial revolutions when it made so many discoveries and advances over millennia? That is often called “Needham’s question”, named after the historian of Chinese science and tech Joseph Needham. Why didn’t China develop capitalism during the Song dynasty when it was so close to achieving a breakthrough with trade, commerce, currency and semi-industrialisation, and an emerging merchant class? The Hungarian-French sinologist Etienne Balazs, among... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3348381/why-china-always-misunderstood-and-misrepresented?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3348381/why-china-always-misunderstood-and-misrepresented?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Apr 2026 01:30:08 +0000 Raissa Robles Raissa Robles As Japanese combat troops prepare to join war games in the Philippines next month – their first return to Philippine soil since 1945 – some Filipinos say the real issue is not only what Japan is doing now, but what it still has not fully reckoned with from the past. For survivors, activists and historians, Tokyo’s expanding security role in the Philippines has revived what one campaigner called “the elephant in the room” – the absence, in their view, of a formal state apology and official... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3348443/japans-wartime-past-weighs-growing-military-role-philippines?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3348443/japans-wartime-past-weighs-growing-military-role-philippines?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 31 Mar 2026 00:00:13 +0000 Peter Neville-Hadley Peter Neville-Hadley It seems odd that one of the earliest depictions of a kiss in the history of Western painting should be found in a church. But after a half-hour train ride inland from Venice, and a gentle stroll through historic Padua’s winding streets, there it is, inside the heavily painted interior of the early 14th century Scrovegni Chapel. In a fresco called Meeting at the Golden Gate (circa 1305), by Giotto di Bondone, two ageing figures greet each other with a public display of affection that seems to... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3348137/padua-italys-painted-city-best-shows-are-frescoes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3348137/padua-italys-painted-city-best-shows-are-frescoes?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Mar 2026 22:00:08 +0000 Park Chan-kyong Park Chan-kyong The death of one of South Korea’s most notorious police officers, known for his torture methods on prisoners, has revived painful memories of human rights abuses during the country’s era of military-backed authoritarian rule. Lee Geun-an, dubbed the “torture expert”, succumbed to multiple organ failure on Thursday at the age of 88. He had faced lifetime criticism for never expressing remorse and referring to himself as a “patriot”, once comparing his interrogation methods to “art”. Survivors of... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3348204/death-south-korean-torture-expert-reopens-authoritarian-era-wounds?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3348204/death-south-korean-torture-expert-reopens-authoritarian-era-wounds?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Mar 2026 01:30:10 +0000