Chinese history

An archaic labour law meant the Vienna Boys Choir could not perform over Christmas in 1978. Photo: SCMP Archive

Vienna Boys Choir gets Christmas off: headlines from 40 years ago

A journey back through time to look at significant news and events reported by the South China Morning Post from this week in history

13 Dec 2018 - 9:51pm 2

Pro-democracy demonstrators raise their fists and flash victory signs as they stop a military truck on its way to Tiananmen Square on May 20, 1989. Photo: AFP

Tiananmen crackdown ignited a decade of debate on Chinese military’s role

8 Dec 2018 - 12:23pm 13

Nearly 7,000 Chinese soldiers were killed and 15,000 others wounded in the conflict with Vietnam. Photo: Handout

How ‘reform and opening up’ triggered the transformation of China’s military

7 Dec 2018 - 2:17pm 24

Bao Ling and Bao Li – arrived in Hong Kong on a three-month loan from Guangzhou. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Pandas, ‘indecent’ stamps and a stray torpedo: past headlines

6 Dec 2018 - 10:43pm

The site was formerly the Victoria Road Detention Centre. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

US university’s Hong Kong site remembers dark past of brutal detention centre

6 Dec 2018 - 9:39am 9

Now locked in head-on rivalry, the US once helped China kick-start its science and technology ambitions

US welcome of three scientists helped China transform into a tech superpower

7 Dec 2018 - 10:18am 62

It was estimated in 1978 that legal immigrants from mainland China would swell Hong Kong’s population by 400,000 by 1986. Photo: SCMP

Pigs on loose and cosmic cult leader: headlines from 4 decades ago

29 Nov 2018 - 8:46pm

Claudia Patatas and Adam Thomas, who named their baby Adolf out of “admiration” for Hitler.

What’s in a name? For neo-Nazis and ancient Chinese, quite a bit

29 Nov 2018 - 10:38am

On the trail of Deng Xiaoping in the French town where he embraced Communism

Deng Xiaoping in France: the town where he became a Communist

19 Nov 2018 - 2:55pm 2

Ying Hsing Wen in cadet uniform (left and centre); with his granddaughter Harriet Tung (right), and a West Point class photograph taken in 1909. Photo: Handout

What we can learn from the man who warmed US-China ties 100 years ago

17 Nov 2018 - 11:14pm 14

International trade in ancient China and the surprisingly brief existence of the Silk Road

The surprisingly brief existence of the ancient Silk Road

15 Nov 2018 - 10:41pm

The supersonic jet, Concorde, departs from Kai Tak Airport. Photo: SCMP archive/C.Y. Yu

Rat tails for banks loans and a lord on the dole: past headlines

15 Nov 2018 - 9:32pm

Illustration: Brian Wang

Where to now? 40 years after the big experiment that changed China

23 Nov 2018 - 12:15pm 28

Illustration: Joe Lo

When China opened up, did it change the world, or did the world change it?

14 Nov 2018 - 9:28am 53

Chinese Labour Corps: the first world war’s forgotten army, all but airbrushed out of history

Chinese Labour Corps: the first world war’s forgotten army

19 Nov 2018 - 2:54pm 6

A decorative plate featuring an image of Chinese President Xi Jinping is seen behind a statue of late communist leader Mao Zedong at a souvenir store next to Tiananmen Square in Beijing on February 27, 2018. The cult of personality surrounding Xi has been compared to that of Mao. Photo: AFP

Why Xi should learn from Chiang Kai-shek, not Mao

10 Nov 2018 - 6:51pm 49

‘Shanghai is the ultimate noir.’ British author Paul French talks about his obsession at Hong Kong festival

British author in Hong Kong on his obsession – 1930s Shanghai

7 Nov 2018 - 6:51pm

The Itchan Kala’s outer walls, in Khiva in Xorazm region, Uzbekistan, is just one of the tourist attractions in the city that was supposedly established in the beginning of the Christian era. Photo: VW Pics/Universal Images

Silk Road’s new ‘bucket list’ destinations

31 Oct 2018 - 12:02pm

Actor Lawrence Wong, who plays Hai Lan Cha in ‘Story of Yanxi Palace’, believes the show was such a big hit because of the various characters that viewers love to hate, and love to love. Photo: Instagram @ohohlawrence

Meet actor Lawrence Wong, Hai Lan Cha in ‘Story of Yanxi Palace’

11 Oct 2018 - 2:06pm

Yang Fuxi with one of his traditional Chinese ox-horn bows, in Beijing’s Panjiayuan Market last month. Picture: Steven Ribet

Bow makers bringing traditional Chinese archery back from the brink

18 Oct 2018 - 10:42am 4

Social media erupts over screenshots of derogatory messages described as anti-Chinese hate speech

Foreigners accused of racial slurs and insults in China WeChat group

3 Oct 2018 - 8:14pm 38

After years of discussion, work is due to begin soon to recreate key parts of Stratford-upon-Avon in a development which will also pay homage to ‘China’s Shakespeare’ Tang Xianzu and Spain’s Miguel de Cervantes

China’s replica of Shakespeare’s birthplace coming in 2022

3 Oct 2018 - 2:50pm 1

Lavishly illustrated volume lifts the veil on life in the Forbidden City by looking at the robes, jewellery, and accessories empresses wore and the sensuous paintings that adorned their walls

Tasteful erotica from Forbidden City feature in book on empresses’ lives

1 Oct 2018 - 7:39pm

Stretching from the Roman empire to Asia, the ancient trade route lured invaders, migrants and merchants to China, and left artefacts rich with multicultural meaning

Centuries-old silver jug conjures up mysteries of the Silk Road

1 Oct 2018 - 3:27pm

Modern renderings of the four men historically recognised as the most beautiful in ancient China. (From left) Wei Jie, Pan An, Ji Kang and Prince Lanling. Images: mafengwo.cn

‘Sissy man’ look has been flaunted for centuries by celebrated figures

30 Sep 2018 - 3:01pm 1

A print of a work titled “Work well, so that comrade Stalin will say thank you!”, by Vladislav Grigoryevich Pravdin. Picture: Alamy

How Chinese word for ‘comrade’ came to refer to LGBT community

28 Sep 2018 - 3:29pm

Tsui Hark’s latest blockbuster highlights how the legendary legal defender’s image has been reinterpreted in contemporary media

A Tang-dynasty ‘whowasit’: the mystery of the real Judge Dee

27 Sep 2018 - 9:52am

The world’s tallest Confucius statue will be formally launched on Monday in Qufu, east China’s Shandong province. Photo: Xinhua

World’s largest Confucius statue to open in sage’s east China home

21 Sep 2018 - 5:21pm 5

Consorts of the Qianglong Emperor take centre stage in the Chinese drama The Story of Yanxi Palace. Photo: Handout

What The Story of Yanxi Palace says about China’s attitude to feminism

19 Sep 2018 - 10:07am 5

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It will take a strategic, decades-long US effort to manage a power rivalry with China, but none appears to be in the cards, Ankit Panda writes

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How Trump’s partisan policies rubbed salt in wounded China-US ties

6 Oct 2018 - 10:39pm 15

From arms to energy, Russian influence in the region is growing ever greater – and key to Moscow’s route to dominance is its unique relationship with Beijing

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24 Sep 2018 - 4:14pm 22

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Yoga ball murder victim Wong Siew Fing (left) and her younger sister Wong Siew Fong, aged eight and six respectively. Photo: Handout

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Yoga ball murderer was a manipulative, bullying husband: sister-in-law

24 Sep 2018 - 3:01pm

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24 Sep 2018 - 10:11am

Hung, 66, plies her trade in Sham Shui Po, a popular ground for ‘street stall grannies’. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

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‘Street stall grannies’ a sign Hong Kong elderly falling through cracks

22 Sep 2018 - 12:17pm 8

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