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History

History
The latest news, analysis and opinion on History. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.
US President Donald Trump (bottom right) shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping upon arriving at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14. Photo: Reuters
US-China relations

As I see it | Beijing had already won before the Trump-Xi summit even started

There’s a lesson for the US president in Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in the early 19th century.

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American cinema

How Hollywood turned China’s Boxer rebellion into a racist Western

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Style Edit

Style Edit: Emmanuel Perrin, Panerai CEO, on its watches’ maritime heritage

Japan

Japan-South Korea ‘comfort women’ row stoked by statues abroad

The removal of wartime sex slave memorials in Germany and New Zealand has electrified certain LDP hardliners, risking a diplomatic rift.

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A former South Korean “comfort woman” holds the hand of a statue symbolising Japan’s wartime sex slaves in Seoul in 2021. Photo: Reuters
Art

Photographer’s snaps of 1970s Hong Kong given life by grandson 5 decades on

Jack Smith’s ‘Streets of Neon’ collection features five ‘extremely personal’ photos his grandad took of a Hong Kong that no longer exists.

Russia

Putin criticises Nato at Victory Day parade in Moscow

At this year’s event, marking WWII victory, troops were told that in Ukraine they face ‘an aggressive force’ armed by the military alliance.

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Lessons from China's history

Reflections | Succession struggles in China’s past echoed in Malaysia’s 2026 royal crisis

Disputes over Negeri Sembilan’s next royal ruler recall how succession in China often fused dynastic legitimacy with aristocratic elections.

Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir, the royal ruler of Negeri Sembilan, speaks during the opening of the Negeri Sembilan state assembly in Seremban, Malaysia, on April 23, 2026. Photo: YouTube
Asia travel

Best things to do in China’s Nanjing, from food and architecture to history

Planning a weekend in Nanjing? Here’s an itinerary to consider for visiting the bustling metropolis in eastern China.

Art

Gardens of China and Europe juxtaposed in spectacular Hong Kong exhibition

A new exhibition at the Hong Kong Museum of Art features works including Monet’s water lilies and Qing dynasty masterpieces.

Malaysia

Penang’s cemetery tours spur interest in pioneers, colonial history

While the state receives millions in conservation funding, it faces challenges in preserving the Protestant cemetery due to its climate.

A British visitor attends a tour of the Old Protestant Cemetery in Penang, Malaysia. Photo: Ushar Daniele
Hong Kong culture

Editorial | Hong Kong’s efforts to commemorate Bruce Lee should pack bigger punch

While the latest move to honour the late kung fu star is welcome, more must be done to acknowledge his standing as a pillar of Hong Kong heritage.

Chinese-American martial artist and actor Bruce Lee is pictured during the early 1970s. Photo: Archive Photos/Getty Images
Lessons from China's history

Reflections | Ancient Chinese sleep advice, from bedtimes and body positions to state of mind

For premodern Chinese people, sleep was much more than daily rest – it was a cultivated discipline and a medical necessity.

Taiwan

Why Beijing now wants its spies executed in Taiwan back in the spotlight

Mainland China is seeing a surge in interest over ‘invisible martyrs’ such as Wu Shi, a KMT defector who was executed in Taipei in 1950.

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American cinema

Pearl Harbor at 25: is Michael Bay’s World War II epic really that bad?

Pearl Harbor was widely panned upon release in 2001 but with its strong cast and characters and explosive action, is it worth reassessing?

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Ben Affleck in a still from Pearl Harbor (2001). Directed by Michael Bay and co-starring Josh Hartnett and Kate Beckinsale, the film made US$450 million at the worldwide box office. Photo: AP
Australia

Riot erupts over Australian indigenous girl’s suspected killer

About 400 indigenous people gathered at the hospital where ‌the suspect was taken after being beaten unconscious by locals.

A police vehicle burns as community members clash with authorities outside Alice Springs Hospital in Australia on Thursday. Photo: EPA
Hong Kong culture

On This Day | In 1946, Hong Kong’s governor Sir Mark Young returns after WWII – SCMP archive

On this day 80 years ago, Sir Mark Young returned to Hong Kong after being a prisoner of war during the Japanese occupation.

Australia

Australian police find body in search for missing indigenous girl

The girl was reported missing from her home in a remote community in central Australia on Saturday.

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New Zealand

New Zealand officials reject statue remembering Japan’s WWII sex slaves

The government said feedback for the statue application included formal representations from Japan.

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A statue of a ‘comfort woman’, pictured in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in 2020. Japan forced up to 200,000 women from Korea, China and Southeast Asia into sexual slavery between 1932 and 1945. Photo: Reuters
Italy

Archaeologists use AI to reconstruct Pompeii victim’s face and final moments

AI-generated image shows a man ducking for cover, with a flaming Mount Vesuvius in the background.

Style Edit

Style Edit: Poly MGM Museum’s new ‘Silk Roads Beyond Borders’ treasures

New Italian and Persian treasures make their Asia debut, expanding the museum’s Silk Road narrative with rare works that illuminate centuries of East-West exchange.

Language Matters

Language Matters | From azure to cerulean, how fashionable shades of blue got their names

The Devil Wears Prada explained there’s big money in leveraging names of blue hues, some of which evolved across centuries and continents.

Anne Hathaway as aspiring journalist-cum-fashion assistant Andy Sachs in The Devil Wears Prada (2006). With the sequel just around the corner, we look at how some of the most fashionable shades of blue got their names. Photo: 20th Century Fox
Lessons from China's history

Reflections | The history of China’s hospitality industry and how its inns evolved over time

Private inns served travelling merchants in ancient China and grew in number and sophistication as the economy and infrastructure expanded.

WUZHEN, ZHEJIANG PROVINCE, CHINA - 2014/11/05: A small inn is renovated from an ancient civil house. Located in the centre of the six ancient towns south of Yangtze River, Wuzhen displays its two-thousand-year history in its ancient stone bridges floating on mild water, its stone pathways between the mottled walls and its delicate wood carvings. It gives a unique cultural experience for tourists. (Photo by Zhang Peng/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Chinese history

Inside the 14k, the Hong Kong triad that went global

From its roots in mainland China to expansion in Hong Kong and beyond, we look at the history of one of the most notorious triad societies.

Art

‘Raw honesty’: new museum preserves Thai-Chinese art rebel’s remarkable legacy

The Tang Chang Private Museum opens on May 1 as the Bangkok-born artist’s family aims to show the world his work before it’s too late.

Japan

Japan’s Takaichi sends Yasukuni shrine offering, South Korea expresses ‘regret’

Seoul urges Japan’s leaders to ‘face history squarely’ and show through action ‘a sincere remorse for its past’.

Japanese nationalists visit Tokyo’s Yasukuni shrine during the 79th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II in 2024. Photo: dpa
Style Edit

Style Edit: The Omega Speedmaster story – from Apollo 11 to Artemis II

From Nasa’s punishing 1965 trials, to the Speedmaster Moonphase Meteorite, ‘Reverse Panda’ and X-33 – this is how a space icon keeps evolving.

The Omega Speedmaster Moonphase Meteorite is made using iron meteorite and lunar meteorite. Photo: Handout
Hong Kong society

Over 250 rare Han dynasty relics on display in major Hong Kong showcase

Development chief Bernadette Linn calls exhibition a ‘sequel’ to last year’s Tang dynasty showcase, with 95 per cent of relics shown in city for first time.

United States

Asian Angle | The Thucydides Trap is a lie created to justify a US-China war

Ancient Greece offers no lessons for Asia. The Global South must stop letting America’s war machine write history.

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