https://www.scmp.com/rss/5502/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com IT sounds like a plot to rival The Producers, but a musical based on the Morecambe Bay cockle-picking disaster has struck the wrong note with relatives of those who lost their lives. On the night of 5 February 2004, 23 illegal Chinese immigrants perished in the treacherous waters of the bay in northwest England. The unlikely folk musical Sinking Water, written by Craig Adams and Daniel York Loh, has been in development for more than a year. But after fierce opposition from Morecambe residents,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/personalities/article/2049330/how-musical-about-morecambe-bays-tragic-chinese-cockle?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/personalities/article/2049330/how-musical-about-morecambe-bays-tragic-chinese-cockle?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 27 Nov 2016 11:04:21 +0000 House sales rarely go smoothly, but the purchase of Britain's biggest stately home by a Hong Kong investment group has caused astonishment and outrage. When it was announced Lake House Group would pay more than £8 million (HK$94 million) for historic Wentworth Woodhouse in South Yorkshire it looked like just another marque deal for a Chinese business. But in the week since, anger has grown at the way the sale was handled and questions raised about the future of the 18th century... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/1878923/anger-hong-kong-group-snaps-britains-biggest-stately-home?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/1878923/anger-hong-kong-group-snaps-britains-biggest-stately-home?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Nov 2015 00:15:30 +0000 When President Xi Jinping arrives in Britain on Monday it will mark "a game-changing moment" in the relationship between the two nations. Over the past decade the talk has been of a "strategic partnership", but things have most definitely moved on in recent months. Ten years after the last visit to Britain by the Chinese head of state there is a lot more at stake than simply strengthening Sino-British ties. While Beijing needs overseas markets to ensure continuing economic growth, London just... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1869004/reddest-red-carpet-will-be-unfurled-ensure-successful?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1869004/reddest-red-carpet-will-be-unfurled-ensure-successful?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 Oct 2015 20:00:00 +0000 There's normally quite a gap between being an edgy teenager full of ideological zeal and becoming an elected politician. The journey usually involves several years and many compromises. However, for Mhairi Black neither applies. Because this 20 year-old undergraduate has just become the youngest member of parliament in the United Kingdom in more than 300 years. In 1667, Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle, was just 13 when he was elected as an MP in Devon. It's fairly certain that his... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1801545/mhairi-black-20-year-old-scotland-seeks-fight-social-justice-uks-youngest?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1801545/mhairi-black-20-year-old-scotland-seeks-fight-social-justice-uks-youngest?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 17 May 2015 19:45:30 +0000 Twenty years after he brought down one of the world’s oldest banks, Rogue Trader Nick Leeson believes the ills of the financial sector are simply “not fixable”. Leeson was the junior derivatives trader who gambled and lost HK$9.93 billion causing the 1995 collapse of Barings Bank and earning him a lengthy jail term. Speaking to the South China Morning Post, the man who came to be the embodiment of the flawed financial wheeler-dealer claimed little of the “culture” that has brought shame on the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1724858/rogue-trader-nick-leeson-there-will-be-more-financial-scandals-while?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1724858/rogue-trader-nick-leeson-there-will-be-more-financial-scandals-while?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Feb 2015 03:45:00 +0000 New direct flights between Hong Kong and Britain have landed business leaders there with a problem - how to get their hands on enough Putonghua speakers in Manchester. Cathay Pacific last week launched a four-flights-a-week service between the two cities that is hoped to bring economic benefits to both. Managers at Britain's biggest shopping mall, the Trafford Centre, have been preparing for the influx of Chinese visitors by teaching staff the language. And now they are on the lookout for more... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1661822/new-direct-hong-kong-manchester-flights-spur-search-putonghua?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1661822/new-direct-hong-kong-manchester-flights-spur-search-putonghua?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 13 Dec 2014 21:01:38 +0000 China needs to show "political strength and leadership" to help the world rid soccer of the match-fixing scandals that threaten the game's future, according to Fifa's former security adviser. Fraud buster Chris Eaton believes Chinese interests are at the heart of the problem that poses a real threat to the game's future. And the ex-Interpol man says that while the issue is a "global one" the "principal player" is China with its huge black-market betting industry. He said: "China either needs to... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1408536/soccer-graft-buster-calls-political-will-china-combat-match-fixing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1408536/soccer-graft-buster-calls-political-will-china-combat-match-fixing?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Jan 2014 21:42:49 +0000 Soccer is in a fix and China's illegal-betting industry is fuelling the problem, according to fraud experts. Match-fixing is seen as the biggest problem facing the sport with recent scandals hitting Italian, Turkish and English domestic soccer as well as the national teams of Guatemala, Nicaragua and South Africa. Illegal-gambling syndicates with their willing go-betweens find journeymen players paid low wages are tempted to take a back-hander to throw a game or get a red card. And it seems much... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1408535/china-epicentre-global-soccer-match-fixing-say-experts?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1408535/china-epicentre-global-soccer-match-fixing-say-experts?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Jan 2014 21:42:49 +0000 When the police chief of Tangier came face-to-face with a suspected illegal immigrant, little did he know he had in his custody Britain's most wanted man. Back in April 2011, Abdallah Bellahfid quizzed the balding businessman, who called himself Li Ming and claimed to be from Taiwan, for several hours. He gave them no other details and held no documentation, so officers contacted the Chinese embassy in Morocco, but drew a blank. Finally he was released because they could not determine his... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1177158/hunt-britains-most-wanted-man?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1177158/hunt-britains-most-wanted-man?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 The international hunt for suspected killer Du Anxiang has already cost more than £1 million (HK$11.6 million), but it has taken more than money to bring him back to Britain to face justice. When British detectives escorted the alleged killer onto a flight from Casablanca to Heathrow last Wednesday, it was the culmination of a two-year manhunt. Northamptonshire police said the extradition had been approved by the Moroccan Ministry of Justice in conjunction with the British Home Office. But in... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1177160/quiet-diplomacy-extradition-murder-suspect-du-anxiang?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1177160/quiet-diplomacy-extradition-murder-suspect-du-anxiang?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 China, it seems, is in love with all things Scottish - the whisky, the salmon and perhaps most of all, the game of golf Scotland gave to the world. But this is no unrequited love. The feeling is entirely mutual. Though still two years away from voting on the issue of independence from the UK, Scotland is looking for a long-term partner. And it is becoming clear Beijing is at the top of its list of suitors as the country's leader, First Minister Alex Salmond, and his Scottish National Party busy... https://www.scmp.com/article/1000871/clubbing-together?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1000871/clubbing-together?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 May 2012 16:00:00 +0000 It's more than 9,000 kilometres from Shanghai to Scotland, but the Highlands could soon welcome their first Chinese 'laird', the term for a member of the landowning nobility. Wealthy mainland investors are said to be scouring the property market to find a historic castle or stately home to add to their portfolios. Leading property agents are reporting a rise in interest from rich mainland and Taiwanese buyers, who want to be close to some of the world's greatest golf courses, the stunning lochs... https://www.scmp.com/article/1000870/highlands-ready-greet-first-chinese-laird?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1000870/highlands-ready-greet-first-chinese-laird?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 May 2012 16:00:00 +0000 After a decade living and working in Britain, Anxiang Du spoke very little English and had few friends outside the Chinese community in central England. He seemed like a quiet man: he ran a herbal medicine shop, lived an ordinary life with his wife, Dr Can Chen, and walked his pet white poodle near his home in Coventry. But on Friday April 29 last year, this ordinary man wrote an apparent suicide note, locked the door to his shop in Birmingham and boarded the 11.33am train to Northampton, less... https://www.scmp.com/article/998951/quiet-ordinary-man-who-exacted-murderous-revenge?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/998951/quiet-ordinary-man-who-exacted-murderous-revenge?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Apr 2012 16:00:00 +0000 When tormented teenager Natasha Warnes committed suicide in July last year, it created few headlines around the world. But to those close to the 16-year-old it was a sudden and catastrophic act borne out of a personal heartbreak she found too hard to bear. Tasha, as she was known to her friends, had fallen victim to a brutal act of face saving that until this week had been all but forgotten for almost a year. A happy girl before her life was touched by an act of extreme violence, the talented... https://www.scmp.com/article/998952/tragedy-too-terrible-live?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/998952/tragedy-too-terrible-live?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Apr 2012 16:00:00 +0000 The grieving relatives of a university lecturer stabbed to death along with his wife and two children say they believe that justice will prevail in the hunt for the killer. Hangzhou -born Dr Jeff Ding Jifeng, 46, his 47-year-old wife, Helen Chui, and their daughters, Nancy, 18, and Alice, 11, were murdered in their luxury home near Northampton in the Midlands of England on April 29. The couple's former friend and business partner, Du Anxiang, disappeared after the killings and is still the... https://www.scmp.com/article/973869/relatives-shocked-brutal-killing-lecturer-and-family?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/973869/relatives-shocked-brutal-killing-lecturer-and-family?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Detectives hunting Britain's most-wanted fugitive have appealed to his family and friends in Hunan province for help in tracking down the man wanted for the brutal murder of a family of four. More than two months after university lecturer Jifeng Ding, 46, and his family were hacked to death at their home in England, the suspect Anxiang Du, 52 is now believed to have fled Britain. The appeal comes as more details of the links between the two families emerge. Police sources said relatives of the... https://www.scmp.com/article/973172/fugitives-trail-fades-between-uk-and-hunan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/973172/fugitives-trail-fades-between-uk-and-hunan?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Jul 2011 16:00:00 +0000 A mainland-born businessman being hunted for the murder of a Chinese family of four in England has been named as Britain's most wanted man. Du Anxiang has been identified by police as the killer of his former business partner, Helen Chui, her university lecturer husband, Jifeng 'Jeff' Ding, and their two children at their home near Northampton, England. Hours before the slayings, Du, who was born in Hunan , wrote an apparent suicide note, but officers leading the manhunt believe that was a ruse... https://www.scmp.com/article/967719/hunan-expat-becomes-britains-most-wanted?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/967719/hunan-expat-becomes-britains-most-wanted?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 May 2011 16:00:00 +0000 People who met Anxiang Du thought of him as a quiet man who ran his Chinese herbal medicine shop and walked his pet white poodle near the home he had worked hard to buy after coming to England over a decade ago. His poor command of English did not help him make many friends, but he seemed a very ordinary man who lived an ordinary life with his wife Dr Can Chen. He was best known for always wearing a baseball cap which covered his bald head. On Friday last week, this ordinary man wrote an... https://www.scmp.com/article/967166/bad-blood-led-quiet-man-slay-family-4-and-disappear?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/967166/bad-blood-led-quiet-man-slay-family-4-and-disappear?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 07 May 2011 16:00:00 +0000 The most vilified Muslim cleric in Britain was put on trial last week, accused of preaching a gospel of race-hate and jihad among his followers in the nation. Instead of his usual role as a speaker, Abu Hamza al-Masri has listened to three days of testimony that portrays him as an evil bigot with a twisted view of Islam, spreading a creed of violence and intolerance, especially of Jews, for whom he believed Hitler was sent into the world to destroy. Hamza faces 15 charges of incitement to... https://www.scmp.com/article/532978/radical-cleric-faces-moment-truth?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/532978/radical-cleric-faces-moment-truth?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Jan 2006 16:00:00 +0000 Europe aims to maintain prosperous trade and financial relationships with Hong Kong after the handover. Commercial ties between the European Union and Hong Kong are well established - the territory is the EU's 10th largest trading partner. Add to that the fact that half of all Europe's trade with China passes through the territory and it is easy to see why great importance is placed on promoting a harmonious future. With the European Union pushing for China's entry into the World Trade... https://www.scmp.com/article/195288/links-set-get-stronger-beyond-97?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/195288/links-set-get-stronger-beyond-97?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 08 May 1997 16:00:00 +0000