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Chinese culture

Chinese culture
Latest news and updates on Chinese culture including the country’s traditions, food, values, history and festivals.
Illustration: Craig Stephens
China society

Opinion | The quiet revolution in animal rights in China

With national laws the ultimate goal, progress is being made, one local regulation and court case at a time.

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Art

8 of the world’s most exciting art exhibitions to visit this March

TikTok

Language Matters | Gen Z loves ‘Chinamaxxing’, but where does ‘maxxing’ come from?

Year of the Horse 2026

What is the Lantern Festival? Plus 6 ways to celebrate it in Hong Kong in 2026

Marking the last day of Chinese New Year celebrations, the Lantern Festival has roots that stretch back more than 2,000 years.

One Instagram-worthy location in Hong Kong for the Lantern Festival is Lee Tung Avenue in Wan Chai, which is currently lined with more than 800 traditional red-and-gold lanterns suspended overhead. Photo: Edmond So
Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Love ‘A Better Tomorrow’? The Hong Kong director and film that inspired it

Patrick Lung Kong was known for films that imparted moral lessons. We look at ‘The Story of a Discharged Prisoner’ and ‘Teddy Girls’.

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Performing arts in Hong Kong

Hong Kong group brings ancient Silk Road murals’ musical depictions to life

The Hong Kong Gaudeamus Dunhuang Ensemble’s musical compositions are inspired by ancient artworks from China’s Mogao Caves.

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History

How AI is helping bring Hong Kong history to life on Instagram and beyond

Cultural preservationists use generative AI to breathe life into photos from the past, but does this practice promote or distort history?

A photo of Hong Kong during the mid-20th century, colourised by OldHKinColour. The team behind the popular Instagram account uses artificial intelligence to bring such photos to life, but some say this “distorts” history. Photo: OldHKinColour
Lessons from China's history

Reflections | After Andrew’s arrest, how high-born criminals were treated in ancient China

The long-spoken Chinese maxim that nobles were punished like commoners when breaking the law is not upheld by history.

Food and Drinks

Why Hangzhou’s 2-Michelin-star Ru Yuan is ‘a restaurant unlike any other’

Ru Yuan’s chef Fu Yueliang shares why everything from local dishes to design at his restaurant is about transcending Song-dynasty tradition.

Asian cinema: Chinese films

Review | Scare Out: Zhang Yimou tackles national security in subpar Chinese spy thriller

A story of a mole inside a state security team in China, Scare Out is slickly executed but narratively muddled, and far from Zhang’s best.

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Jackson Yee as security operative Yan Di in a still from Scare Out (category IIB, Mandarin), directed by Zhang Yimou. Zhu Yilong and Song Jia co-star.
Performing arts in Hong Kong

Review | Trump is abducted by aliens and has Chinese ‘twin’ in chaotic Cantonese opera

Showing in Hong Kong, Trump on Show 4.0 combines political satire and surreal Sino-US commentary but feels like a ‘paper tiger’ with no bite.

Elvina Kong (left) performs as Japanese politician Sanae Takaichi and Lung Koon-tin as US president Donald Trump on the opening night of the Trump on Show 4.0 at Sha Tin Town Hall in Hong Kong. Photo: Contemporary Drama Association
Lunar New Year

Sharing the luck: inside Southeast Asia’s embrace of Lunar New Year

Malay and Indian households are increasingly embracing the festivities, tossing ‘yusheng’ and giving hongbao to show ‘unity in diversity’.

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Style Edit

Style Edit: L’ÉCOLE Asia Pacific’s new engagement ring course

Today, the engagement ring takes pride of place in Hong Kong alongside Chinese ceremonial gifts – L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts’ new course will offer a closer look.

Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

How these 2 films became classics of Hong Kong’s Chinese folk opera cinema

Love Eterne and Dream of the Red Chamber are two very different ‘huangmei diao’ films from legendary Hong Kong director Li Han-hsiang.

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Betty Loh Ti (second from right) and Ivy Ling Po (right) in a still from The Love Eterne (1963), directed by Li Han-hsiang. Photo: Shaw Brothers Studio
Social media

Ancient Chinese astrology gets a Gen Z rebrand in Southeast Asia

Forget rituals and superstitions, today’s young professionals are using ‘bazi’ 10-year luck forecasts to plan their next career pivot.

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An event organised by Joey Yap, one of “bazi’s” most prominent modern practitioners. Photo: Handout
Asia travel

The Chinese city where waffles, watchtowers and world history meet

Guangdong’s ‘hometown of overseas Chinese’ is where architecture and cuisine created by returning émigrés reveal how culture flows both ways.

Chinese zodiac predictions

Feng shui tips for all 12 Chinese zodiac signs for the Year of the Horse 2026

Feng shui master Andrew Kwan shares where each Chinese zodiac sign can place items for good luck in the Year of the Fire Horse.

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Food and Drinks

Chinese food, but make it fine dining? Chefs push back against stereotypes

Forget fast food in boxes: chefs at upscale restaurants in the US are elevating Chinese cuisine to fine dining status, tasting menus and all.

Emily Yuen, chef at one-Michelin-star Chinese restaurant Yingtao in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen, prepares lo mai gai - sticky rice, lap cheong and salted duck egg yolk stuffed in a deboned chicken wing. Many chefs in the US are elevating Chinese cuisine and challenging stereotypes. Photo: AP
Chinese zodiac predictions

Feng shui advice for Snakes for luck in money, health and romance

Feng shui master Andrew Kwan shares where Snakes can put lucky coloured items at home and work for luck in the Year of the Fire Horse.

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Banking & finance

HK$10,000 bonus, extra day off: Hong Kong banks reward staff returning to work

Bank of China (Hong Kong) is giving away hampers, ZA Bank is paying a HK$10,000 bonus, while HSBC and Hang Seng are offering HK$500.

US-China relations

Born in China, raised in US: adoptees explore their identity at Lunar New Year

Growing up Chinese-American has not been easy for LuLu Grant and Phoebe McChesney, both wanting to fit in, while never too far from the past.

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Phoebe McChesney, left, with her twin sister and parents in the US, after their adoption from Hunan, China. Photo: Handout
Lunar New Year

Video | 12 killed by Lunar New Year fireworks blast in China

The explosion at a shop in Hubei came days after a similar incident in Jiangsu that prompted government calls for prevention efforts.

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Lunar New Year

Letters | As we celebrate the Lunar New Year, let’s ensure we do better by horses

Readers discuss the exploitation of equine animals, the spirit of Ramadan in Hong Kong, and why members of the ethnic minority community should master Chinese.

Food and Drinks

Why do Chinese love water chestnuts? All about the lucky ‘horse’s hoof’

A humble and vastly underrated ingredient, water chestnuts are used in a popular Lunar New Year dessert and also have many health benefits.

Lunar New Year

Opinion | Lunar New Year doesn’t need a home-cooked feast to be full of flavour

The most important thing isn’t if you cooked the food yourself or followed tradition to the letter – it’s being with people you care about.

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People enjoy their reunion dinner at a restaurant in Hong Kong’s Mong Kok district on February 12, ahead of the Lunar New Year. Photo: Sam Tsang
Hong Kong society

Breaking the cycle: Hong Kong parents wrestle with impact of their own abuse

Experts urge cultural change to end intergenerational violence as landmark study reveals childhood trauma still shapes parenting patterns.

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A landmark study has found that over 53 per cent of adults in the city have experienced at least one of 10 types of adverse childhood experiences. Photo: Getty Images
Food and Drinks

On the Menu | What do an American reality TV show and Chinese aunties have in common?

A Chinese millennial woman talks fat and fortune as she contrasts the toxic culture of the early noughties with today’s body positivity.

Hong Kong society

Editorial | Hong Kong should temper optimism with caution in Year of the Horse

Another neutral prophecy puts the onus on the city to proceed with prudence and act to bring about its own good fortune.

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