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Indigenous men and children prepare for a dance event in Australia’s Central Western Desert Indigenous Protected Area earlier this year. Photo: AFP
Australia

Europeans committed genocide against indigenous Australians, inquiry finds

The explosive report details mass killings, forced child removals and cultural suppression, calling for government compensation.

From our archives

In pictures: summer fun on the beach of Hong Kong’s Repulse Bay

Serbia

Before Dracula: sleepy village stakes claim as home of ‘father of vampires’

Japan

Afraid of no ghosts? Japan warms to ‘haunted’ homes with dark histories

Once shunned, ‘misfortunate properties’ – the sites of murders or suicides – are becoming hot commodities in Japan’s surging property market.

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A property broker looks on while a worker cleans the floor in a house in Japan classified as a “jiko bukken”. Photo: Reuters
Art

Striking Hong Kong neon show honours ‘heroes’ and one family’s legacy

Neon master Wong Kin-wah and his grandson have teamed up for an exhibition that blends traditional neon craftsmanship with modern artistry.

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Hong Kong

How Girls with Guns movies made stars of Michelle Yeoh and Maggie Cheung

The armed-and-dangerous women genre of the 1980s and 90s was a rollicking roller-coaster during Hong Kong’s silver screen heyday.

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Lessons from China's history

Reflections | Unlike Trump, ancient China embraced foreign students, even made exams easier

As China has shown at various periods in its history, the greater a civilisation, the more open and magnanimous it is to foreigners.

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Activists hold up signs during a rally in support of international students at Harvard University in the US. President Trump has launched a campaign to block the university from accepting foreigners. Photo: TNS
On Our Radar

‘Neon Heroes’ shines light on Hong Kong’s illuminated heritage

A grandfather-grandson exhibition celebrates the former’s contribution to the Hong Kong cityscape’s neon-lit heydays.

Hong Kong economy

Hong Kong Palace Museum to host city’s largest showcase of Egyptian artefacts

Exhibition in November will feature items such as a 2.8-metre tall statue of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, mummified cats and coffins.

From our archives

In pictures: how typhoons have wreaked havoc on Hong Kong through the decades

South China Morning Post photographers have captured the power and devastation of major storms through the years.

Typhoon Rose caused severe damage to a Hong Kong squatter area after making landfall on August 16, 1971, packing winds of up to 165km/h. Photo: SCMP Archives
Music

US$30 million Stradivarius viola may be the most expensive instrument ever

The 335-year-old Tuscan-Medici viola has been on loan to the US Library of Congress for decades, but now it has become a gift to the nation.

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Roberto Diaz, president and chief executive of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, plays the Tuscan-Medici viola, made by Antonio Stradivari, at the Library of Congress in Washington, the US, on May 14, 2025. Photo: TNS
Malaysia

‘Racist’ post against Malaysian Chinese general gets rebuke – from Islamist PAS

In his post, Zaharudin Muhammad wrote about a hypothetical scenario of Malaysia having its first Chinese prime minister in due course.

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Britain

King Charles to host Trump in second UK state visit later this year

This makes Trump the US president the first elected political leader in modern times to be hosted for two state visits by a British monarch.

Art Basel

Hong Kong’s first public art gallery began with a private donation

Sir Catchick Paul Chater donated his private art collection to the City Hall Art Gallery & Museum – now the Hong Kong Museum of Art – shaping the city’s art scene.

Ranks of soldiers outside a British factory in Guangzhou, in 1847. A coloured lithograph from the collection of the Hong Kong Museum of Art, donated by Sir Paul Chater. Photo: Handout
Jewellery

How Japonisme still influences modern jewellery by Lalique, Cartier and Chaumet

Iconic Japanese themes continue to be reinterpreted by jewellery designers today, weaving stories of the country’s culture and nature into contemporary collections.

Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa has inspired Simone Jewels’ Romance de L’Art Nouveau jewellery. Photo: Ran
Asia travel

Unleash your inner Buddhist warrior at a martial arts temple

Martial arts retreat at a Buddhist temple carved into a South Korean mountainside offers a deep sense of peace - eventually.

Hong Kong

Art deco architecture abounds in Hong Kong – if you know where to look

Hong Kong was no pioneer of the architectural style, which flourished post-WWI, but there are still some gems to be found – from the Kadoorie Estate to the frontage of King George V School.

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First Mention

When a man threw five children into a Hong Kong drain, killing one

Tragedy struck Hong Kong in 1934 as a man grabbed five children and threw them into a drain, leading to the death of a boy.

The view from Victoria Peak in the 1920s – a witness heard screams from the Tramway Path near the Peak Tramway, the Post reported on June 23, 1934. Photo: Getty Images
World of performing arts

How does South Korea’s 100-year-old last circus survive?

After several near-closures, the Dongchoon Circus Troupe continues to draw audiences who call it ‘a very impressive and meaningful circus’.

Lessons from China's history

Reflections | How extreme heat proved Chinese military officer’s undoing in classic novel

Yang Zhi’s insistence that his convoy hurry in the height of summer comes back to bite him in the Ming-dynasty novel Outlaws of the Marsh.

Japan

Japanese American museum blasts Trump order as threat to ‘truth and democracy’

The order directs US park sites to flag content that may ‘disparage Americans, past or present’.

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Visitors at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles stand beside flags representing World War II incarceration camps on February 17, 2024, during a commemoration of Executive Order 9066 – the 1942 directive that authorised the forced relocation of Japanese Americans. Some participants had been detained at the camps or had family members who were. Photo: TNS
Hong Kong

Bruce Lee used to train on the roof of this iconic Hong Kong restaurant

Once a go-to hotel in Sha Tin, Lung Wah Hotel still pays homage to the kung fu star and delights diners with its pigeon dish.

Lung Wah Hotel is hidden next to the East Rail Line in Sha Tin, Hong Kong. Photo: Gavin Yeung
First Mention

When the Hilton Hotel chain came to Hong Kong in the 1960s

The Post covered the arrival of the city’s first Hilton Hotel, from the announcement of plans to its demolition in 1994 by tycoon Li Ka-shing.

Fashion

All hail the button, tiny hero of fashion – without it, we are truly undone

Used as adornments, symbols of wealth, practical fastenings and couture accents, buttons were relied on throughout history by everyone from the Indus people of the Bronze Age to the ancient Romans.

Britain

‘Our own stories’: Indian tribes visit UK to reclaim ancestors’ remains

Historians say some of the remains, including skulls, were taken by colonial officers from burial sites and battlefields in Nagaland, with others looted in acts of violence.

Human skulls were often taken by colonial powers from Asia, Africa and elsewhere to trade, display or study. File photo: AFP
South Korea

BTS’ Jungkook apologises for wearing ‘Make Tokyo Great Again’ hat after backlash

The 27-year-old K-pop star said he was not aware of the hat’s historical and political significance.

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Left: BTS member Jungkook wearing the controversial “Make Tokyo Great Again” cap during a rehearsal appearance in June 13 Photo: Handout. Right: Jungkook during a BTS 5th anniversary photoshoot in Los Angeles in May 2018. Photo: Dispatch / Wikimedia Commons
Art

Hong Kong history, one tile square at a time

Hong Kong’s ubiquitous mismatched mosaics have become sought-after reminders of yesteryear, artist Adrian Wong shows.

From our archives

In pictures: how Hong Kong celebrated Father’s Day down the years

The South China Morning Post’s intrepid photographers capture special Father’s Day moments over the decades.

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