https://www.scmp.com/rss/500315/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com In a few days’ time, Muslims will celebrate Eid ul-Fitr to mark the end of Ramadan, the holy month in the Islamic calendar. Eid ul-Fitr is referred to by different names or variant pronunciations across the world’s Muslim communities, but these different names all share the basic meaning of a feast day celebrating the breaking of the fast. In Mandarin Chinese, it is called kaizhai jie. April saw the world’s three major monotheistic faiths observe important events in their individual religious... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3175765/why-chinese-buddhists-taoists-and-confucians?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3175765/why-chinese-buddhists-taoists-and-confucians?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 28 Apr 2022 03:15:21 +0000 Many young people in mainland China are not only choosing, or forced by economic circumstances, to remain childless, a substantial number of them are removing themselves from the rat race in a recent phenomenon known as “lying flat” (tangping). Discouraged by uneven access to resources and opportunities, the futility in chasing shifting and unreachable socio-economic markers, and the heavy toll the chase is taking on their minds, bodies and relationships, many young Chinese are simply opting... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/3138431/why-are-young-chinese-people-criticised-lying-flat-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/3138431/why-are-young-chinese-people-criticised-lying-flat-it?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 24 Jun 2021 00:45:18 +0000 For Chinese photographer Zhou Qiang, there was life before the Sichuan earthquake of 2013 and life after. At the time, he was working as a breaking news photographer, covering explosions, floods, and other disasters. But nothing prepared him for the scene that unfolded before him. “I went to the disaster area,” he recalls. “It was my first time witnessing such a devastating scene.” The 6.6-magnitude earthquake left more than 190 people dead, according to official government figures, and... https://www.scmp.com/culture/chinese-photographer-taoist-priest/article/3045432?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/chinese-photographer-taoist-priest/article/3045432?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Jan 2020 13:44:47 +0000 At the Say Tian Hng Buddha Shop in Singapore, a family has been making Taoist effigies by hand for over 100 years. These creations are hand-carved painted statues of various gods that Taoists worship. Many handmade-effigy shops have since disappeared because of factories that can mass-produce statues on a larger scale and at a lower price. The Ng family is the last of their kind keeping the craft alive in Singapore. Their way of surviving in the 21st century? A combination of public workshops... https://www.scmp.com/culture/last-store-singapore-still-hand-carves-taoist-statues/article/3002277?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/last-store-singapore-still-hand-carves-taoist-statues/article/3002277?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Mar 2019 04:09:33 +0000