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Chinese culture

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Chinese superstitions
Martial arts
Lunar New Year
Chinese history
Hong Kong culture
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)
A luxury poon choi from Hong Kong restaurant Duddell’s. Poon choi is a popular meal for family gatherings during the winter solstice in China. Photo: Nicholas Wong / Sixteen Photography
Chinese culture

Explainer | What is the winter solstice? History, food and how Hong Kong celebrates

Known as dung zi in Cantonese and dongzhi in Mandarin, the winter solstice is one of the most important celebrations for Chinese families.

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Year of the Horse 2026

Mongolia’s child jockeys are key to its heritage. But are they in danger?

Chinese culture

5 of the best-known horses in Chinese legend, from the Red Hare to qilin

Chinese culture

How Boston Chinatown overcame constant threats to win its place in history

New England’s last surviving Chinatown, Boston Chinatown has long suffered hostile urban renewal but now its community is stronger than ever.

A paifang gate marks an entrance to Boston Chinatown. Although at one time or another, Chinatowns existed in other cities in the United States’ New England region, today, Boston’s is the only one remaining. Photo: Hei-kiu Au
A paifang gate marks an entrance to Boston Chinatown. Although at one time or another, Chinatowns existed in other cities in the United States’ New England region, today, Boston’s is the only one remaining. Photo: Hei-kiu Au
Chinese culture

Why the Year of the Horse 2026 could bring chaos but also great progress

With 12 animals and 5 elements, the Year of the Fire Horse comes around every 60 years and tends to bring both good fortune and bad.

Hong Kong culture

Should Hong Kong abandon bamboo scaffolding after Tai Po fire tragedy?

Hong Kong’s iconic bamboo scaffolding holds much cultural significance, but will the Wang Fuk Court blaze see the end of its use?

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Chinese culture

How one factory is keeping Hong Kong’s porcelain craft alive

Set up in 1928, Yuet Tung China Works produces guangcai porcelain used by luxury hotels in Hong Kong and royal families in Europe.

Yuet Tung China Works, a porcelain factory in Hong Kong’s Kowloon Bay neighbourhood, has four showrooms, the shelves stacked from floor to ceiling with plates, bowls tea sets and vases, many bursting with traditional motifs such as flowers, dragons, phoenixes and carp. NOV 12, 2025. Photo: Kylie Knott
Yuet Tung China Works, a porcelain factory in Hong Kong’s Kowloon Bay neighbourhood, has four showrooms, the shelves stacked from floor to ceiling with plates, bowls tea sets and vases, many bursting with traditional motifs such as flowers, dragons, phoenixes and carp. NOV 12, 2025. Photo: Kylie Knott
Chinese zodiac predictions

Is the Year of the Snake’s 10th month lucky for you? Forecasts for all signs

Feng shui master Andrew Kwan breaks down this lunar month’s prospects for all 12 Chinese zodiac signs in health, love, work and finances.

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.

Food and Drinks

2025 or 1625? Diners at new Beijing restaurant ‘time travel’ to ancient China

Yan Wai Yan dishes up an eight-act period performance with an eight-course meal and provides hanfu clothing for those wishing to dress up.

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Artists in traditional Chinese clothing perform as customers enjoy their meals at Yan Wai Yan, a new theatrical restaurant in Beijing, China. Photo: AFP
Books and literature

China’s crackdown on same-sex love stories leaves women ‘less happy’

Despite the largest crackdown yet, danmei stories are still available in China – but they are far tamer and, some say, just not as good.

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Women near shelves of merchandise for danmei stories in a comic store in Beijing. China is cracking down on stories about men in love. Photo: AP
Women near shelves of merchandise for danmei stories in a comic store in Beijing. China is cracking down on stories about men in love. Photo: AP
Chinese culture

The Monkey King of Chinese mythology leaps to life in new opera in the US

The mischievous Monkey King has been brought to life on stage in a ‘magical kung fu opera’ in the US, through song, dance, puppetry and more.

Chinese culture

How China’s Ming dynasty brought us everything from porcelain to novels

The prosperous Ming dynasty restored Han Chinese rule after the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty and introduced numerous cultural and social changes.

Chinese culture

How China changed during the Yuan dynasty, when Mongols ruled

Mongol rulers shook up Chinese society as Silk Road trade routes thrived, paper money became common and China’s influence in Eurasia grew.

A statue of Kublai Khan, China’s first Mongol emperor, in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar. The Yuan dynasty brought about big changes in China, but also a big increase in the country’s influence across Eurasia. Photo: AFP
Chinese culture

New Zealand artist Ant Sang on his Chinese heritage, ‘loyalty’ to Cantonese

New Zealand artist and illustrator Ant Sang is connecting with his Chinese heritage with a Cantonese-phrased Cantotees T-shirt collection.

Ant Sang, a fifth-generation Chinese-New Zealander, wears one of his Cantotees t-shirts. Photo: Delia Sang
Ant Sang, a fifth-generation Chinese-New Zealander, wears one of his Cantotees t-shirts. Photo: Delia Sang
Chinese zodiac predictions

Is Year of the Snake’s ninth month lucky for you? Forecasts for all signs

Feng shui master Andrew Kwan breaks down this lunar month’s prospects for love, career, health and finance for the 12 Chinese zodiac signs.

Chinese culture

Agarwood can sell for US$25,000 a kilo. But this ‘black gold’ has a dark side

Used primarily for incense, especially in Hong Kong, agarwood suffers from a dark side to its trade: a multibillion-dollar illegal market.

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Chinese culture

The Song dynasty was a great time for China. But a terrible one for many women

While the Song dynasty saw huge advancements in culture, commerce and technology, it also gave rise to the horrific practice of foot binding.

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Grand Marshal Zhao Kuangyin is proclaimed Emperor of the Song Dynasty on the battlefield after the Chenqiao mutiny in 960 in an illustration from Hutchinson’s History of the Nations, published in 1915. The coup saw Zhao become leader of one of China’s most prosperous dynasties. Photo: Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Grand Marshal Zhao Kuangyin is proclaimed Emperor of the Song Dynasty on the battlefield after the Chenqiao mutiny in 960 in an illustration from Hutchinson’s History of the Nations, published in 1915. The coup saw Zhao become leader of one of China’s most prosperous dynasties. Photo: Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Chinese culture

How the prosperous Tang dynasty took Chinese culture to new heights

As China’s influence grew abroad, cultural exchange helped open society, leading to innovations in the arts and the birth of tea culture.

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Art

How Chinese landscape paintings reflect changing art styles through history

From divine visions to expressions of the self, the evolution of ink landscape painting reflects wider changes in Chinese art over centuries.

Books and literature

Hong Kong-born poet stunned into silence by detractors finds voice again

Sarah Howe’s new collection comes a decade after her TS Eliot Prize win as a young part-Chinese female was met with racism and misogyny.

Hong Kong-born poet Sarah Howe, who won the 2015 TS Eliot prize for Lope of Jade, recently published her new collection of poetry, Foretokens. Photo: Marc Lixenberg
Chinese culture

How China’s Han dynasty forged a unified cultural and national identity

Knowledge spread and the arts flourished during this golden age of Chinese history, as the country opened up to international trade.

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Terracotta statues from the Western Han dynasty (206BC-AD9) that were unearthed in China’s Shaanxi province in 1965 are displayed in an exhibition in 2022, part of a series of special exhibitions launched by the National Museum of China to celebrate its 110th anniversary. Photo: Photo: Robert Ng
Terracotta statues from the Western Han dynasty (206BC-AD9) that were unearthed in China’s Shaanxi province in 1965 are displayed in an exhibition in 2022, part of a series of special exhibitions launched by the National Museum of China to celebrate its 110th anniversary. Photo: Photo: Robert Ng
Chinese culture

How the Qin dynasty forever changed the Chinese nation in just 15 years

From standardising writing and currency to burying scholars alive, Qin Shi Huang ruled China’s first imperial dynasty with might and fury.

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SCMP Highlights

Cantonese lessons from a kid, Chinese chef sparks debate: 7 Lifestyle highlights

From a Hong Kong filmmaker’s political themes to Bali’s first contemporary art fair, here are seven stories from SCMP’s recent reporting.

Hong Kong culture

Want to learn Cantonese? Take lessons from this 8-year-old from Hong Kong

Aiden Tsang makes learning Cantonese fun with his cute Instagram videos that get likes from Jimmy O. Yang and other Hong Kong celebrities.

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Aiden Tsang, who last year moved from Hong Kong to Australia, says he misses food found in Hong Kong’s cha chaan tengs. The eight-year-old is charming people on Instagram with his Cantonese lessons. Photo: Aiden Tsang
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