https://www.scmp.com/rss/330481/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com The best part of Wordle – that online word puzzle that has players posting their coloured-square achievements on social media – is not that millions of people have become enamoured with language, with participants plumbing new depths of their vocabulary and learning about linguistic patterns, such as letter frequency and combinations. No, the best part of Wordle is that it is no longer being played solely in English, the language in which it was initially developed. It now encompasses a... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/arts-music/article/3168196/wordle-wonderful-just-look-versions-word-game?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/arts-music/article/3168196/wordle-wonderful-just-look-versions-word-game?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 24 Feb 2022 21:15:21 +0000 China will launch a new campaign to improve protection of cultural relics as part of its efforts to boost domestic confidence in the country’s culture and increase its international allure. The Communist Party’s publicity department recently issued a notice asking officials and cadres at all levels to “comprehensively enhance” protection of historic cultural relics, after President Xi Jinping highlighted the issue during a visit to Pingyao, a historic town in Shanxi and Unesco World Heritage... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3167876/china-starts-campaign-strengthen-protection-cultural-relics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3167876/china-starts-campaign-strengthen-protection-cultural-relics?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Feb 2022 01:00:23 +0000 A Hong Kong construction worker was killed on Monday, a day before his 35th birthday, when a concrete slab fell on him at the site of a high-profile renovation and development project. The man was standing on scaffolding about four metres above the ground carrying out demolition work at the historic State Theatre Building when he was struck by the falling concrete at about 8.45am, according to police. Emergency personnel were immediately called to the scene on Tin Chong Street in North... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3158604/hong-kong-construction-worker-killed-falling-concrete-slab?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3158604/hong-kong-construction-worker-killed-falling-concrete-slab?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 06 Dec 2021 05:38:07 +0000 It begins with the sharp beat of drums. Hundreds of Hongkongers have stood together for hours to hear the beats that signal the beginning of the fire dragon dance – a colourful and atmospheric ritual first performed in Tai Hang village in 1880 to ward off a plague. Now a different disease is at large around the world, and the dragon will once again dance to bring health and luck – albeit virtually. Almost every year, the night before the Mid-Autumn Festival, a fire dragon has danced through Tai... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3148959/behind-tai-hangs-fire-dragon-dance-hong-kong-mid-autumn?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3148959/behind-tai-hangs-fire-dragon-dance-hong-kong-mid-autumn?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Sep 2021 06:45:12 +0000 Anisha Thai is as unwilling to stand still in her career as she is in her dance performances. A recent winner of Hong Kong broadcaster TVB’s competition show Dance for Life, she is a dance teacher, a social media influencer with a growing following for her Afrodance videos, a model and, as if all that weren’t enough, a civil engineer by day. She’s on a mission to increase the representation of her culture not just in Hong Kong but around the world. Her medium for accomplishing that is dance,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3143599/tvb-dance-show-winner-anisha-thai-her-black-and-asian?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3143599/tvb-dance-show-winner-anisha-thai-her-black-and-asian?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Aug 2021 20:45:16 +0000 Spare a thought for Macau. While the media has made much ado about the absence of arrivals at other tourism-dependent Asian destinations, Hong Kong’s neighbouring special administrative region has escaped attention. Travel and tourism are Macau’s bread and butter – the industry accounted for 72 per cent of the city’s GDP (gross domestic product) in 2019, according to data platform Knoema – but although it has for some time been open to mainland Chinese tourists, its lifeline, visitor numbers... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3142808/what-if-macau-gifted-chinese-island-hengqin-where?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3142808/what-if-macau-gifted-chinese-island-hengqin-where?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Jul 2021 03:39:27 +0000 A panel of experts has unanimously backed a move to accord the highest historical grading to three of Hong Kong’s century-old underground reservoirs, acknowledging that these facilities are vital to understanding the development of the city’s water supply system.  Members of the Antiquities Advisory Board (AAB) on Thursday said they believed that Albany Fresh Water Service Reservoir, Peak Fresh Water Service Reservoir and Mount Gough Fresh Water Service Reservoir possessed rich historical,... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3136837/hong-kong-panel-backs-grade-one-heritage-status-three?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3136837/hong-kong-panel-backs-grade-one-heritage-status-three?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Jun 2021 15:21:15 +0000 Guangzhou is known as the birthplace of Cantonese, but among the city’s younger generation, it’s quickly losing favor to Mandarin, the official national language. Some grandchildren have reportedly refused to speak in Cantonese with grandparents who can only communicate in it, while young parents often switch between Cantonese and Mandarin when talking with their children. “It’s a pity, but it’s necessary because most kids nowadays don’t like speaking Cantonese even though they were born here... https://www.scmp.com/culture/activist-fighting-keep-cantonese-alive-its-homeland/article/3000209?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/activist-fighting-keep-cantonese-alive-its-homeland/article/3000209?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 29 Oct 2018 11:35:03 +0000 Designing a font from scratch is incredibly time-consuming. It takes a couple of months to produce a complete Western font set with just over 500 glyphs. For Chinese typefaces, which have over 13,000 characters, it can take up to four years. At least, that’s how long it took to develop Jinxuan, the world’s first crowd-funded traditional Chinese typeface. Jinxuan is the brainchild of Justfont, a typography company in Taipei that specializes in traditional Chinese characters, which are still used... https://www.scmp.com/culture/these-guys-spent-4-years-making-chinese-font-tea-leaves/article/3000199?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/these-guys-spent-4-years-making-chinese-font-tea-leaves/article/3000199?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 23 Oct 2018 09:45:22 +0000