https://www.scmp.com/rss/330376/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com When the pandemic is finally behind us, Hong Kong will return, with its regional neighbours, to the Greater Bay Area project. It used to be a hot topic of discussion among academics and policymakers before Hong Kong was effectively shut out by pandemic border controls. However, there is little doubt that the Greater Bay Area remains a key part of Hong Kong’s long-term development. As a project of regional economic integration, its success will ultimately be determined by the free exchange of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/hong-kong/article/3177370/hong-kongs-denial-dependent-visas-mainland-spouses-sends?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/hong-kong/article/3177370/hong-kongs-denial-dependent-visas-mainland-spouses-sends?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 May 2022 22:45:14 +0000 Writer and executive producer Miranda Kwok can really relate to the lead character of her latest TV show, The Cleaning Lady. No, she wasn’t an “illegal alien” in the US, didn’t clean nightclub toilets, doesn’t have a sick child and no medical insurance, nor has she been coerced by a mobster to do some dirty work, literally, as the drama’s lead character has had to. But to pursue a career in film and television, the Chinese-Canadian did move to Los Angeles with no money, no place to live, and no... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3162496/i-came-here-nothing-cleaning-lady-producer-and-writer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3162496/i-came-here-nothing-cleaning-lady-producer-and-writer?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 08 Jan 2022 10:45:13 +0000 Former Danish immigration minister Inger Stojberg, known for her hardline stance in that role, was handed a 60-day prison sentence on Monday by an impeachment court for having illegally ordered the separation of underage couples seeking asylum. Stojberg was accused of knowingly breaking the law by ordering the separation of all asylum-seeking refugee couples where at least one was under 18 years of age, a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights. Under Danish and human rights law,... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3159571/danish-ex-minister-sentenced-underage-asylum-separations-case?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3159571/danish-ex-minister-sentenced-underage-asylum-separations-case?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Dec 2021 15:00:50 +0000 As China continues its rise, its leadership’s unstated goal seems to be to overtake the United States as the world’s leading power. If China really wants to achieve this, the best thing it can do is learn from America’s example, become a magnet for people around the globe and convince them to become Chinese citizens. The US might have the world’s largest economy and most expensive military, but its real strength is that for centuries it has been a magnet for people all over the world. Thanks to... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3151338/china-must-become-immigration-magnet-if-it-wants-overtake-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3151338/china-must-become-immigration-magnet-if-it-wants-overtake-us?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 Oct 2021 17:30:13 +0000 Hong Kong people have flight in their DNA. This is not surprising in light of the city’s complicated history, but now that Hong Kong has been a part of China again for more than two decades, the people of this city need to reflect on the meaning of citizenship. Let’s start at 1839, when the First Opium War began. It ended with China ceding Hong Kong to Britain in 1842. The Second Opium War ended with Britain grabbing Kowloon, and China eventually had to grant a 99-year lease on the New... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3148182/hong-kong-exodus-those-who-choose-stay-need-decide-where-their?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3148182/hong-kong-exodus-those-who-choose-stay-need-decide-where-their?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Sep 2021 22:15:15 +0000 Made in China: A Memoir of Love and Labor by Anna Qu, pub. Catapult Inked in typewriter font on Anna Qu’s forearm is the title of her debut memoir: Made in China. The tattoo came first, she says, and testifies to the deeply personal nature of this project for Qu. Ten years in the writing, Made in China is a skilful and emotive excavation of a traumatic childhood split between China and the United States. As well as playfully reclaiming an often pejorative tag, the title attests to a personal... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/books/article/3142373/living-us-operating-chinese-bitter-childhood-recalled?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/books/article/3142373/living-us-operating-chinese-bitter-childhood-recalled?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 24 Jul 2021 11:45:08 +0000 “To move or not to move” seems to be the hottest question in Hong Kong these days (“Thousands quit Hong Kong, saying it’s no longer the home they knew”, June 30). As a middle-aged citizen who studied in the United Kingdom for three years and with family and friends scattered across the world, from Australia and New Zealand to Canada and Singapore, I wish to say a few words on this issue. Racial discrimination is not a factor that should be disregarded. Would you mind if locals spit on you or... https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3139158/hong-kong-exodus-think-carefully-making-leap?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3139158/hong-kong-exodus-think-carefully-making-leap?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 30 Jun 2021 22:30:18 +0000 I had seen this woman before. Many times now. I was certain of it. But who was she? In a film from 1947, she is operating an electric Chinese typewriter, the first of its kind, manufactured by IBM. Semi-circled by journalists, and a nervous-looking middle-aged Chinese man – Kao Chung-chin, the engineer who invented the machine – she radiates a smile as she pulls a sheet of paper from the device. Kao is biting his lip, his eyes darting between the crowd and the typist. As soon as I saw that film,... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3135053/she-memorised-ibm-typewriter-codes-5400-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3135053/she-memorised-ibm-typewriter-codes-5400-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 May 2021 20:15:07 +0000 The earliest Chinese migrants to Britain were employed by the British East India Company. They arrived in the East London docklands in the 1780s, aboard merchant vessels carrying tea, ceramics and silk. The ships docked in an area that was then known as Limehouse, a thriving, industrious entrepot and already the most cosmopolitan district in the most cosmopolitan city in the land. Among the few first-person accounts that exist from Chinese sailors of the period is an oral one given by Xie... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3135218/once-upon-time-chinatown-struggles-londons-first?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3135218/once-upon-time-chinatown-struggles-londons-first?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 May 2021 05:15:12 +0000 At a time when the Covid-19 pandemic has fuelled anti-Asian racism and violence around the world, a new exhibition in Vancouver aims to shine a light on the accomplishments – and hardships - of its Chinese-Canadian migrants. The new exhibition - “A Seat to the Table: Chinese Immigration and British Columbia” - in Vancouver’s historic Chinatown district celebrates the achievements, bravery and determination of thousands of Chinese immigrants who have been arriving in Vancouver for more than 170... https://www.scmp.com/society/chinese-canadian-museum-showcases-unique-cultures-migrant-ancestors/article/3116792?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/society/chinese-canadian-museum-showcases-unique-cultures-migrant-ancestors/article/3116792?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Jan 2021 10:11:34 +0000 For years, China’s wealthiest have strived to gain residency overseas in order to protect their assets, but the pandemic has complicated matters.  Many are now facing a million-dollar question, do they stay in China and risk losing their assets, or move abroad where they risk contracting the virus? According to consultants and business people, many are conflicted and feel pressured that the Chinese government could seize their assets in what is perceived as a campaign against business... https://www.scmp.com/society/chinas-rich-nervous-move-assets-overseas-amid-pandemic-crisis/article/3116332?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/society/chinas-rich-nervous-move-assets-overseas-amid-pandemic-crisis/article/3116332?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Jan 2021 11:09:55 +0000 Cherie Wong was utterly consumed by the protest movement that swept Hong Kong last summer. “I didn’t sleep properly for days, for weeks, really,” she said. She watched the protests obsessively, then became an activist herself. Wong, 24, tried to discuss her beliefs with older family members who included former members of the Hong Kong Police Force. “It ended up in conflict, it was awkward,” she said. But her activities were cheered by her grandmother, in her mid-80s, who was “incredibly... https://www.scmp.com/society/how-hong-kong-canadians-became-people-two-homes/article/3099225?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/society/how-hong-kong-canadians-became-people-two-homes/article/3099225?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 28 Aug 2020 11:25:26 +0000 Heather J. Chin Heather J. Chin When it came time for Chinese-American author Diana Zheng to take photos for her debut cookbook on Chaoshan cuisine, she realized that her exhaustively researched recipes were still missing something: authentic tableware. “I really wanted to dish out my recipes on tableware that felt appropriate to the tone and mission of the cookbook, which was exploring this cuisine through an Asian-American lens,” says Zheng, who moved to the United States from Shantou, a city in the southeastern Chinese... https://www.scmp.com/identity/chinese-american-entrepreneurs-who-are-leaning-their-heritage/article/3003965?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/identity/chinese-american-entrepreneurs-who-are-leaning-their-heritage/article/3003965?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 30 Mar 2019 10:56:15 +0000 For decades, it was a half-whispered rumor, another puzzle in the already considerable mythology surrounding Bruce Lee. In 1971, just two years before his death at the age of 32, Lee wrote a pitch for a TV show about a martial arts master in America’s Old West. But Hollywood studios turned it down, unsure of whether American audiences were ready for a Chinese lead. Later, Warner Bros. made a series called Kung Fu (1972-75), starring white actor David Carradine as Kwai Chang Caine, a half-Chinese... https://www.scmp.com/culture/bruce-lee-series-was-whitewashed-its-finally-going-tv-he-intended/article/3003204?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/bruce-lee-series-was-whitewashed-its-finally-going-tv-he-intended/article/3003204?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Mar 2019 12:28:30 +0000 Sour Heart, winner of this year’s LA Times Book Prize, has made a splash for its striking portraits of Chinese immigrant families in America. Reading the short-story collection from Chinese-American author Jenny Zhang is like peering into the mind of a brash teenager coming of age in a chaotic immigrant household. It’s a body of work characterized by unrelentingly grotesque scenes, devastatingly beautiful prose, and lots of scatological humor. Most of the protagonists are young Chinese-American... https://www.scmp.com/identity/jenny-zhang-author-sour-heart-beauty-poop-and-immigrant-experience/article/3000322?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/identity/jenny-zhang-author-sour-heart-beauty-poop-and-immigrant-experience/article/3000322?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Dec 2018 03:30:32 +0000 When the allied powers ran out of men, they turned to China for help. From 1916 until the end of World War I in 1918, up to half a million Chinese people worked for British, French, and Russian forces on the front lines of a war they had no stake in fighting. They dug trenches, repaired tanks, assembled artillery shells, and transported munitions. They cooked, cleaned, and buried the dead. They were part of the largest and longest-serving non-European labor force in World War I, and their story... https://www.scmp.com/identity/forgotten-chinese-laborers-world-war-i/article/3000250?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/identity/forgotten-chinese-laborers-world-war-i/article/3000250?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Nov 2018 14:06:03 +0000 This is a review of Lillian Li’s debut novel “Number One Chinese Restaurant.” To the people of Rockville, Maryland, the Beijing Duck House is a community institution, but for Jimmy Han, it’s a prison. Inherited from his deceased father, the restaurant includes the secret recipe for perfectly crackly roast duck, an ensemble of loyal waitstaff and heavy debts, both financial and personal. It’s also the only thing standing in the way of Jimmy’s own aspirations to open his own place, one that’s less... https://www.scmp.com/identity/trapped-tradition-number-one-chinese-restaurant/article/3000152?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/identity/trapped-tradition-number-one-chinese-restaurant/article/3000152?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 Oct 2018 08:46:08 +0000 Just like French fries didn't come from France, Hainan chicken isn't from Hainan island in China. There is, however, a consensus that the deliciously silky chicken dish did get its inspiration from what is commonly known just as “chicken rice” in the southern Chinese province, or “wen chang” chicken, as it's come to be known. The wen chang chicken is a free-range chicken breed used to make chicken rice in Hainan. The chicken roams around islanders' homes pecking at fallen coconuts as its main... https://www.scmp.com/food/hainan-chicken-rice-isnt-hainan/article/2156849?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/hainan-chicken-rice-isnt-hainan/article/2156849?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Jul 2018 11:16:38 +0000