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Lessons from China's history

Lessons from China's history
Wee Kek Koon draws parallels between current events and trends and episodes and attitudes in China’s past.
Brushing one’s teeth is a basic part of oral hygiene today. Centuries ago, Chinese people used chewing sticks, among other methods, to keep their teeth clean. Photo: Shutterstock
Chinese history

Reflections | How ancient Chinese dental practices were often similar to those used today

From gargling with medicinal concoctions to chewing sticks, people in China addressed dental health with considerable ingenuity.

Chinese culture

Reflections | Chinese diners’ preference for warm water is not as ancient as you’d think

China economy

Opinion | As history makes clear, a powerful China is not expansionist

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History

Reflections | Chinese historical myths that are accepted as fact, and why they’ve endured

Like Singapore’s ‘ejection’ from Malaysia, Chinese history contains fallacies, including ones about Sun Yat-sen and Empress Dowager Cixi.

Sun Yat-sen, widely regarded as the founding father of modern China, is credited with “leading” the 1911 Revolution that overthrew the Qing dynasty, but in fact he was not even in China at the time of the Wuchang Uprising, the trigger of the revolution, and only learned about it afterwards. Photo: Getty Images
Chinese history

Reflections | Malaysia’s unusual creation still affects it today. China mulled doing similar

Malaysia was born as a federation in 1963, with some states considered ‘special’. China also once toyed with federal ideals.

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Labubu

Reflections | Ancient China’s Labubu-like doll craze also saw fans splurge silly money

Mohele dolls featured expensive ‘special editions’, saw designer collaborations and even inspired cosplay, much like Labubus today.

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Science

US green tech retreat echoes mistake of China’s Qing dynasty before collapse

While Washington pulls back on climate, Beijing is making it possible for developing nations to leapfrog into a cleaner energy era.

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Illustration: Henry Wong
Chinese history

Reflections | In wake of Tai Po blaze, China’s long and difficult struggle fighting fire

The qualities that made buildings beautiful in premodern Chinese cities also made them dangerously flammable, and fire was a constant threat.

Chinese history

Reflections | ‘Mar-a-Lago faces’ echo Chinese elites’ unhealthy attempts to please a king

King Ling of Chu’s preference for his officials to be thin-waisted saw them practically starve themselves in efforts to win royal approval.

Chinese history

Reflections | From slapping body parts to National Games, China’s history of exercise

Used to train soldiers long before its benefits were taught to regular folk, exercise has become a matter of national resilience in China.

新华社照片，广州，2025年11月9日 这是11月9日拍摄的开幕式现场表演。 当日，第十五届全国运动会开幕式在广东奥林匹克体育中心举行。 新华社记者 卢汉欣 摄
Chinese culture

Shameful period? How China’s Qing dynasty brought both wealth and humiliation

China’s final dynasty saw the arts and economy thrive under Manchu rule. But internal and external struggles corroded centuries of stability.

The Qianlong Emperor was the fifth emperor of China’s Qing dynasty, reigning from 1735-1796. Under the Manchus, China’s final dynasty was marked by flourishing arts and economic growth. But in 1912, the imperial system that had survived for centuries collapsed as the country entered the modern era.
Chinese history

Reflections | Andrew’s loss of ‘prince’ title echoes the downfall of China’s past royals

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s fall from prince to commoner mirrors how many disgraced royals in imperial China also lost their titles.

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Chinese history

Reflections | How Asean differs from the alliances of China’s Warring States Period

Asean’s consensus-driven approach, based on non-aggression, generally fosters regional peace, unlike the factious alliances in China’s past.

Chinese history

Reflections | How Trump’s new ballroom echoes the grand monuments of China’s emperors

Many monuments built by the emperors of old were architectural marvels and stunning spectacles of power, but perilous in consequence.

US President Donald Trump’s new White House ballroom, privately funded at an estimated cost of US$250 million, echoes the monuments built by China’s ancient emperors. Photo: The White House
History

Reflections | Like Trump’s Time photo, Chinese emperor’s portraits were often unflattering

The contradictory portraits of Zhu Yuanzhang, one of China’s most controversial rulers, reflect his complex historical image.

US President Donald Trump called Time magazine’s cover photo of him the “worst of all time” and complained it had “disappeared” his hair. Photo: Time
Chinese history

Reflections | The small Chinese state that once played peacekeeper like Singapore today

Long ago, the Chinese state of Song repeatedly helped end conflicts between powerful neighbours with a diplomatic heft that belied its size.

Chinese history

Reflections | How ancient Chinese sects have foretold Rapture-like divine ends for millennia

Christian groups prophesise paradisiacal new beginnings today, but similar visions existed throughout imperial Chinese history.

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Singapore

Reflections | ‘I shall do harm’: the ancient Chinese traitor who boosted his country’s enemy

Zhonghang Yue’s reforming of Xiongnu puts the negative attitude often seen towards Malaysians-turned-Singaporeans into perspective.

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Xiongnu nomads were considered “barbarians” by many Han Chinese. After Chinese palace eunuch Zhonghang Yue was forced to visit the warlike state, he became a valued advisor to its people, much improving the state’s productivity and self-governance, and remained there until his death. Photo: Weibo

Reflections | How the lion became a symbol of Chinese identity and cultural exchange

From homes to temples, lion figures are ubiquitous in China. Why is an animal that has never lived in the wild there so culturally relevant?

Chinese culture

How China’s earliest 3 dynasties shaped its society and culture

From 2070BC to 256BC, the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties paved the way for Chinese society with Taoism, written language, music and more.

Mainland China

Reflections | China’s ‘durian express’ recalls emperor’s efforts to sate consort’s cravings

New system to get durians to northern China faster reminds of how lychees were rushed to Emperor Xuanzong’s favourite consort at great cost.

Durian is native to Southeast Asia, but China is now the world’s biggest market for the “king of fruits”. Its new “durian express” system will transport more of the fruits to northern China faster. Photo: Getty Images
Donald Trump

Reflections | Like Trump’s US, imperial China used to have a Ministry of War

For centuries, the ‘Three Departments, Six Ministries’ system, which included a Ministry of War, was at the heart of China’s governance.

US President Donald Trump hands a signed executive order to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth renaming the Department of Defence as the Department of War in the Oval Office of the White House on September 5, 2025. An arm of the government dedicated to war also existed in imperial China. Photo: AP
Chinese history

Reflections | After Fan Bingbing’s Malaysia award, a history of Chinese official honours

Honorary titles have existed in China for millennia, and apart from a rejection of such notions in the 20th century, are still awarded.

Shi Yongxin

Reflections | Shaolin Temple scandal would have led to far harsher reactions in China’s past

The resolution of the temple’s recent shameful episode is much more civilised than the violent purges of Buddhism in China’s history.

Chinese culture

Reflections | History of Chinese libraries, from huge palace collections to public spaces

Libraries were the preserve of rulers and officials for much of China’s history, but that started to change at the turn of the 20th century.

Tianyi Pavilion in Ningbo, in China’s Zhejiang province, is one of the world’s oldest libraries still standing. Photo: Edmond So
China-Russia relations

Reflections | A brief history of China-Russia relations, from bitter rivals to close allies

China and Russia have forged a deepening strategic partnership in recent years, but relations between the two have not always been so warm.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin walk inside the Kremlin’s Grand Palace in Moscow on May 8, 2025. The relationship between the two countries over the centuries has been marked by commerce and cultural exchange, but also conflict. Photo: AP
Singapore

Reflections | As Singapore marks 60th birthday, how did Chinese dynasties fare at same age?

The Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties were some of China’s most prominent. What was happening with them six decades in?

Hong Kong

Reflections | How homosexuality was accepted, even celebrated, in ancient China

Opponents of Hong Kong’s Registration of Same-sex Partnerships Bill cite traditional values, but China has a history of being more accepting.

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