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Alice Yan

An Iraqi journalist, who is also an online celebrity in China and was once praised by China’s foreign minister Wang Yi, has become engaged to a woman from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
Ameen Muneer Mohammed Al-Obaidi, who is better known by his Chinese name, Fang Haoming, boasts about 5 million followers on social media.
He works as a China correspondent for the Dubai-based China-Arab TV.
Fang, 26, joined other foreign journalists to perform the popular Subject Three street dance at a Spring Festival gala event organised by China’s Foreign Ministry in February 2024.

As videos of their dance went viral, Fang was even recognised by the foreign minister Wang Yi, who said to him at a press conference: “Are you the young guy who danced the Subject Three? I saw the videos about you. Will you continue to dance?”
It is not the first time that Fang has attracted attention in the country.
In October 2019, he was invited to attend the celebration event for the 70th birthday of the People’s Republic of China.
When he saw thousands of doves fly to the sky, Fang, who experienced two wars in his childhood, burst into tears.

“I come from a war-torn country. I desperately hope the Middle East can resume peace,” the tearful Fang told the media in fluent Chinese.
In early March, Fang announced his engagement to the public.
“We are engaged. So I am a son-in-law to a Chinese family. My fiancée is a girl from Xinjiang,” he told a journalist friend from Sansha TV.
Fang and his fiancée studied at the same university in China and they have been together for five years, he said.
Fang was born in 2000 in Iraq. His family left the country for Syria months after the US attacked Iraq in 2003.
His elder sister met a Chinese student in Syria in 2009. They got married the next year.

When a domestic war erupted in Syria in 2011, Fang’s brother-in-law suggested the family move to his home country, China.
Fang’s father instantly sold all their belongings before taking the whole family to Yinchuan, capital city of Ningxia Hui autonomous region in northern China, where Fang’s brother-in-law hails from.
“I did not have a childhood before the age of 11. My biggest dream at that time was not sweets or toys, but to sleep well instead of being woken up by bombardment. Peace was a luxury for me,” Fang recalled, news portal QQ.com reported.
He said after arriving in Yinchuan, he was stunned by local elderly citizens dancing in a public square in a relaxed and peaceful atmosphere in the evening.
“Here, peace is not a faraway word, but refers to dances on a square, smiles from ordinary neighbours and every night with a good sleep without the disturbance from guns or bombs,” said Fang.
He attended local primary and secondary schools in Yichuan before being admitted by the North Minzu University in the city, where he majored in international trade.

Upon graduation from university, Fang took a job at China-Arab TV to cover China’s foreign policy and developments in science and technology.
He also shared China’s growth on his personal social media account, and his videos were viewed around 100 million times last year.
“I envy Chinese” is his catchphrase in the videos.
“I hope I can witness peace in the Middle East in my lifetime,” said Fang.
In February, he published a Chinese-language book named The Place Where I Was Reborn, which is about his life in China for the past 15 years.


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Iraqi reporter raised in China, famous for viral dance, gets engaged to Xinjiang woman

An Iraqi journalist who went viral in China for performing the Subject 3 dance has become engaged to a woman from Xinjiang. He moved to China at the age of 11.  Photo: SCMP composite/Baidu/Douyin

The Iraqi journalist who is widely known by his Chinese name, Fang Haoming, right foreground, gets a wave from China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi. Photo: Douyin

Fang pictured outside the Great Hall of the People in China’s capital, Beijing. Photo: Douyin

Fang has fully immersed himself in Chinese culture. Here he is pictured at a Spring Festival countdown event. Photo: Douyin

Fang shot to internet fame after he performed the popular Subject Three street dance at a Spring Festival gala event, above. Photo: Douyin

China woman, 63, gives birth to baby girl after conceiving via IVF following loss of only child

A 63-year-old Chinese woman, who tragically lost her only son, has recently welcomed a baby girl after conceiving through IVF. Photo: Douyin

Both the mother and her 2.8kg baby are healthy after being delivered via caesarean section. Photo: Douyin

Doctors have indicated that her health is better than that of many younger individuals, and she believes she can live long enough to raise her child. Photo: Douyin

Following her son’s death, the woman and her husband found themselves at a loss for words, surrounded by a heavy atmosphere in their home. Photo: Douyin

Inseparable China triplet brothers hold weddings on same day, grow up sharing everything

Triplet Chinese brothers, who grew up inseparable and shared clothes, beds and schooling, held their weddings on the same day Photo: Weibo

The couples walking together during the event were predominantly dressed in red. Photo: Douyin

For part of the rare celebrations all three blushing brides wore white. Photo: Douyin

Wedding party: The happy couples arriving at the venue where they would tie the knot. Photo: Douyin

Swedish man owns vehicle testing centre in China’s Inner Mongolia; likely the only foreigner there

A Swedish man has lived in the cold city of Yakeshi, Inner Mongolia, for two decades, running a leading ice surface vehicle testing facility.  Photo: SCMP composite/Shutterstock/Douyin

Gustav Holmgren has settled in nicely to the sub-zero temperatures in Inner Mongolia.  Photo: Douyin

A road sign in Chinese and English points the way to Holmgren’s business. Photo: Douyin

The shop floor of Holmgren’s vehicle testing facility filled with cars ready for testing. Photo: Douyin

Holmgren pictured outside his Inner Mongolian home. The businessman speaks fluent Chinese. Photo: Douyin

Ancient Chinese women used crude contraceptives – from eating tadpoles to ingesting mercury

Over 3,000 years ago, ancient Chinese women faced harsh realities when preventing pregnancy, turning to dangerous remedies. Photo: SCMP composite/Shutterstock/Sohu/Douyin

Tubular-shaped dried fish maw, above, were used as an early form of condom. Photo: RedNote

The fish maw, or bladder, in its pre-dried state before being fashioned into a contraceptive. Photo: RedNote

These musk and deer antler herbal pills placed in a woman’s navel were believed to keep her skin smooth but could lead to infertility. Photo: RedNote

Mercury-infused herbal tea was thought to disrupt the production of oestrogen.  Photo: RedNote

Modern-day forms of contraception, above, take the pleasure and comfort of women into account.   Photo: RedNote

China woman discovers uncle faked marriage with her late mother to inherit properties

A 27-year-old Chinese woman has  revealed online that after her mother died when she was nine, her maternal uncle had his wife impersonate her to marry him and inherit her properties. Photo: SCMP composite/Douyin 

Sun, now 27, in happier times with her smiling mother when she was a baby. Photo: Douyin

Among the assets the late Zhao Fang left behind was an array of gold jewellery. Photo: Douyin

Sun pictured as a toddler with her late mother, who died from sepsis in 2008. Photo: Douyin

Sun’s uncle switched the photographs and numbers on his wife’s and his sisters’ identification cards, above, so he could inherit the property. Photo: Douyin

News

People & Culture

China Personalities

Journalist who grew up knowing only war and conflict in the Middle East yearns for peace in the region; his catchphrase is ‘I envy Chinese’


Journalist who grew up knowing only war and conflict in the Middle East yearns for peace in the region; his catchphrase is ‘I envy Chinese’.


Iraq

Wang Yi

People’s Republic of China

Chinese foreign ministry

Iraqi reporter raised in China, famous for viral dance, gets engaged to Xinjiang woman

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Journalist who grew up knowing only war and conflict in the Middle East yearns for peace in the region; his catchphrase is ‘I envy Chinese’

Journalist who grew up knowing only war and conflict in the Middle East yearns for peace in the region; his catchphrase is ‘I envy Chinese’