https://www.scmp.com/rss/523845/feed Ren Yan is a Beijing-based current affairs commentator. She writes on a wide range of topics on China, international politics and cross-culture communications. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Ren Yan Ren Yan My grandma, now in her 90s, has long held together an extended family including four children and six grandchildren. As a Chinese saying goes, “Having an elder in the family is like having a treasure.” While my aunt, father and two uncles all live near her in the same city in northern China, my generation has ventured out to different places. Yet no matter where we have settled, no trip home is complete without a visit to Grandma. When I first moved to Beijing, I had to travel about five hours... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3345599/china-some-us-are-keeping-elderly-care-family-now?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3345599/china-some-us-are-keeping-elderly-care-family-now?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 07 Mar 2026 01:30:08 +0000 Ren Yan Ren Yan Recent weeks have seen a sharp decline in Sino-Japanese people-to-people exchanges. All flights on 12 routes from mainland Chinese cities to Japan had been cancelled as of November 24, reportedly due to low demand. According to the Civil Aviation Data Analysis System, some 12 per cent of flights between China and Japan scheduled between November 24 and January 18 have been cancelled. On some routes, more than half have been cancelled. Chinese tourists, Japan’s largest inbound group, had... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3334373/why-chinese-are-cancelling-their-trips-japan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3334373/why-chinese-are-cancelling-their-trips-japan?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 30 Nov 2025 01:30:09 +0000 Ren Yan Ren Yan Recently, some major Western media outlets have focused on China’s embrace of clean energy technologies. Between the lines of the rhetoric on China becoming an “electrostate”, there is palpable anxiety about US President Donald Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” approach and the partisan political landscape. The New York Times highlighted one of China’s longest ultra-high-voltage power lines, stretching from the far northwest remote desert to the populous southeast, noting that these power lines are... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3329944/how-strategic-planning-powering-chinas-green-energy-transition?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3329944/how-strategic-planning-powering-chinas-green-energy-transition?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 24 Oct 2025 01:30:08 +0000 Ren Yan Ren Yan Every Lunar New Year, the urban professional woman – let’s call her Tracy – returns to her rural hometown, where she quickly drops her city identity for her simple rural name Cuihua, helping her family prepare the holiday meal. Funny before-and-after pictures emphasising the contrast between sleek blazers and comfortable pyjamas have captivated Chinese social media users. But these social media memes mask a deeper question. How does “Cuihua” become “Tracy”? Her journey involves more than a... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3328900/after-decades-struggle-women-china-are-rewriting-their-future?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3328900/after-decades-struggle-women-china-are-rewriting-their-future?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Oct 2025 21:30:09 +0000