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This Week in Asia - Society
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Back To The Future | Sichuan cuisine and the red hot secret about globalisation

SCMP Columnist
Chow Chung-yan
Chow Chung-yan

Asian Angle | Why no one wants to rule Thailand other than the military

Thitinan Pongsudhirak
Thitinan Pongsudhirak

Why is China’s gold medal count at the Rio Olympics so low?

SCMP Columnist
Wang Xiangwei
Wang Xiangwei

Back To The Future | The Chinese admiral who spread Islam across Southeast Asia

Over the past decades, researchers have concluded Admiral Zheng He and his armada were the key force behind Islam’s spread in Southeast Asia.

SCMP Columnist
Chow Chung-yan
Chow Chung-yan

On Reflection | K-pop, Korean soap stars and the secret Beijing won’t learn

Rana Mitter
Rana Mitter

Asian Angle | Is Malaysia’s Mahathir gambling his legacy by taking on Najib?

Zuraidah Ibrahim
Zuraidah Ibrahim

Violence in India as anger over bull-fighting ban spreads to Singapore

Protestors hold placards demanding jallikattu, a traditional bull-taming sport banned by India's top court, be allowed to resume unhindered as thousands gather at the Marina beach in Chennai, India. Photo: AP

Tens of thousands of protestors rally against a court ruling to stop ‘jallikattu’, but some observers say the issue is a rallying cry for deeper resentments

Longer hours, worse jobs: are Asians turning into working machines?

Guns, ammo and the aristocrat: how Hong Kong bank sting is connected to a Duterte drug war killing

Ron Milhench at the height of his notoriety in England. Photo: SCMP Pictures
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Lost in Cuba: China’s ‘forgotten diaspora’

A vintage car is parked outside a Chinese restaurant in Havana’s Chinatown. Photo: Reuters
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There’s too much drug blood on America’s hands to lecture Duterte

Some 3,000 people have died in Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s drug crackdown. Photo: EPA

How to relax when your ‘office’ is a cafe: Coffee Academics’ Jennifer Liu spills the beans

Jennifer Liu of The Coffee Academics. File photo

How strong is Singapore’s safety net against the Zika virus?

City state’s swift action has been praised, but tropical weather, population density and question marks over construction practices raise fears of a long fight ahead

What a mysterious death tells you about the future of Macau

People gather to watch fireworks exploding from a replica of the Eiffel Tower after the opening of the Sands new mega resort The Parisian in Macau, on September 13, 2016. Photo: AFP
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Asia in 3 minutes: New evidence in the search for MH370; claims about Duterte’s ‘Death Squad’

A piece of suspected aircraft wreckage found off the east African coast of Mozambique earlier this year. Australian authorities have confirmed the recovery of another piece of wing flap from the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Photo: AFP / Neels Kruger

The 25-year-old Malaysian Chinese who may have just solved the superbug problem

Shu Lam

Indian media: how free is it really?

An Indian reads a censored magazine at a road-side stall in New Delhi. Photo: AFP
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The former swimsuit model hoping to lift Japan’s wobbly opposition

Japanese politician Renho. Photo: AFP

Outside China, these places are where Maoism is alive and kicking

Maoist rebels march in the jungles of the Indian state of Chhatisgarh, 1,500km southeast of New Delhi. The rebels, who claim to be inspired by Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong, have been fighting in several Indian states, demanding land and jobs for agricultural labourers and the poor. Photo: AP

Can China ever move on from Mao Zedong?

A show in Beijing celebrates “Red Songs” from the Cultural Revolution era. File Photo

How hospital cured my addiction to work: Christie’s Asia president Rebecca Wei

Medical complaint taught her the value of time out – now she juggles a jetset lifestyle and hefty workload with spas, books and quality time with her daughter

Why Hong Kong’s new leaders leave me conflicted

Alan Li Tung-sing, Sixtus “Baggio” Leung Chung-hang, and Edward Leung Tin-kei, pay gratitude to their supporters in Tseung Kwan O after Baggio won a seat in New Territories East. Photo: David Wong

How Mother Teresa rose above criticism to sainthood

Mother Teresa from Calcutta, holds a Polish child during a visit to Poland. Photo: EPA

Mao concerts hit wrong note for Australians – and Chinese soft power

A woman in Melbourne takes a picture of a portrait of Mao Zedong by Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei. Photo: AFP

Who can step up as Singapore’s next leader?

A fainting episode by Prime Minister Lee during a televised address highlights the need to identify a successor – but whom it might be is far from clear
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How one Indian family is killing Africa’s oldest political party

Ajay and Atul Gupta. Photo: Getty Images

Will Myanmar’s economy ever kick its opium habit?

Opium poppies stand after being harvested at a field in Myanmar's Shan State. Photo: AP

How Singapore’s celebrity chef Justin Quek spends his private time

Chef Justin Quek at the Miele Private Lounge in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Unveiled: the straight-talking ‘Aussie chick’ behind the burkini

Models clad in burkini swimsuits pose with Australian-Lebanese designer Aheda Zanetti in western. Photo: AFP

Why Beijing’s headache over calls for Hong Kong’s independence has only just begun

Edward Leung Tin-kei, of Hong Kong Indigenous, at Tamar Park in Hong Kong. Photo: Nora Tam
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Is Hong Kong’s mystery yacht linked to Jho Low of 1MDB fame?

The Equanimity is spotted in waters near Sai Kung, Hong Kong. Photo: Howard Winn

Lavish superyacht linked to celebrity parties hosted by Malaysian financier at centre of 1MDB scandal has sailed into Hong Kong waters ... but its ownership is a mystery.

70 to 2: What the Rio Olympics medal tally says about China-India comparisons

The Chinese delegation for the Rio Olympic Games includes 160 men and 256 women, competing in 210 events over 26 sports. Photo: Xinhua

The Olympics underscore every four years why the fatuous twinning of India with China that was once in vogue (with an Indian minister even coining the term “Chindia”) was always, to put it mildly, premature, writes Shashi Tharoor.  

Central Asia’s answer to Dubai? In Kazakhstan’s Astana, reality bites

Amid the glitzy towers and preparations for a mega expo, a commodities crash, free-falling currency and China’s slowdown fuel uncertainty about the future