South China Morning Post - Society

Chinese furniture heiress Che Xuanqiao on art space she founded to show her growing collection

Wed, 27 Jan 2021 04:15:04 GMT

Dressed plainly in a T-shirt and wearing no make-up in a coffee shop in Beijing, 28-year-old Che Xuanqiao is as far as can be from how Netflix series Bling Empire has led us to think an heiress to a multibillion-dollar business empire should look.Despite her understated look, Che will be getting plenty of notice as part of a coterie of Chinese millennials who are as rich as Croesus and who buy a lot of art, especially since she is opening an art space with a growing collection.Che’s is a…

Authorities reject claims a forest in China was destroyed to make way for vineyards

Tue, 26 Jan 2021 14:13:28 GMT

Provincial authorities on Tuesday rejected claims that a forest in China’s arid northwest has been razed to make way for vineyards, after an investigation prompted by media reports and a public outcry.But environmental group the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation did not accept the finding, saying it was “deeply shocked” by the government’s claim that the forested area had remained almost unchanged for the past six decades.The foundation filed a lawsuit over the…

Hitting or scolding your child will soon be illegal in China, but will the new law stick?

Tue, 26 Jan 2021 13:15:16 GMT

China will soon join dozens of other countries in banning parents from spanking their children.While corporal punishment was outlawed in China in 1986, the practice remains widespread, particularly in rural areas. A new family education law prohibits the use of violence to “educate” children on how to behave. The law is awaiting approval by China’s top legislative body, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee.Authorities have until now struggled to implement the 1986 law. Families…

Miffy with a beak, Eric Cartman from South Park in Balenciaga – artists deny plagiarism and ...

Mon, 25 Jan 2021 23:15:12 GMT

A professor at one of China’s top fine-art academies wanted to get people interested in contemporary art with his latest exhibition, and they did.Chinese internet users were filled with outrage, accusing Feng Feng of plagiarising Miffy, the world-famous cartoon rabbit created by a Dutch artist. But the Chinese artist refuses to apologise for his “Rabbitduck” series – pictures of Miffy with a duck’s beak.“Plagiarism and appropriation represent two different attitudes. Those who plagiarise often…

Chinese Covid-19 lockdowns: Jilin residents vent anger over food shortages

Mon, 25 Jan 2021 13:06:51 GMT

A deputy mayor in a city in northeastern China has apologised after residents complained about a lack of food and essentials during the lockdown imposed to contain the latest coronavirus outbreak.Some residents in Tonghua in Jilin province, a city of more than 2 million people that entered a lockdown last Monday, vented their frustration on social media over a shortage of groceries, a rise in food prices and a lack of medicines.One posted on the Twitter-like microblog Weibo: “There are 50 packs…

Can China encourage its people to have more babies? New local government proposal attempts to ...

Mon, 25 Jan 2021 11:21:06 GMT

A local government proposal that encourages people in China to have more babies has reignited concerns over the country’s looming demographic crisis and raised doubt over whether it can work.Guo Xingping, director of the state-owned Shanxi Province Reproductive Science Institute, presented the proposal to legislators in the central province of Shanxi. He said the government should create a “good matchmaking environment and encourage women aged between 21 and 29 to give birth during this optimal…

Chinese environmentalists up in arms over forest destroyed to make way for vineyards

Sun, 24 Jan 2021 10:00:21 GMT

The destruction of a forest in China’s arid northwest to make way for vineyards has triggered an investigation by the local authorities as environmentalists warned it could cause an ecological disaster.Previous efforts by environmentalists to sue the winemakers have stalled in the courts but last week the provincial authorities in Gansu said they would look into the destruction of the state-owned Yangguan Forest Farm 60km (37 miles) outside the ancient Silk Road city of Dunhuang after a…

How to help your child cope amid the coronavirus pandemic: spend more time with them, use ...

Sat, 23 Jan 2021 18:30:09 GMT

Children are more resilient than we give them credit for, but we still need to teach them how to manage challenges like the one we have all been facing over the past year.The Covid-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on children in many ways. It has been hard for them (and their parents) to live without a structured school life, which can provide them with a support system. It has led to reduced social interaction with their friends and peers, a loss of familiarity, and the absence of a daily…

Coronavirus: Wuhan’s clubbers back in business a year after lockdown

Sat, 23 Jan 2021 12:00:09 GMT

Glow-in-the-dark rabbit ears, pulsating beats and a flexible attitude to masks: nightlife in Wuhan is back with a vengeance a year after a lockdown brought life to a standstill in the central China city of 11 million.As the rest of the world continues to grapple with lockdowns and soaring infections, young people in the city, once the epicentre of the coronavirus, are enjoying their hard-earned freedom.In Super Monkey – a huge nightclub in the city centre – there is no dress code or VIP list…

Sham marriages and divorces are common in China to beat limits on home and vehicle ownership ...

Sat, 23 Jan 2021 07:45:14 GMT

As the Chinese saying goes: for every measure from above, there will always be a countermeasure from below.That may explain why, for many years, despite local governments’ bests effort to cool off the overheating property market in major Chinese cities, resourceful residents have always found a way to beat the system.One example is the administrative orders limiting the number of homes one family can own, which varying from city to city. In Shanghai, for instance, a person with a hukou, or…

‘More painful than death’: a year on from coronavirus lockdown chaos in Wuhan

Sat, 23 Jan 2021 04:00:11 GMT

When Yue Zhongyi heard Wuhan was about to go into lockdown last year, he wanted to leave town.But it was already too late, so the 62-year-old retiree rushed to the supermarket instead and stocked up on huge bags of rice, 15kg of noodles, and bottled water.The entire city of 11 million people was sealed off the next morning, on January 23, as health authorities imposed aggressive measures to contain the spread of the new coronavirus.For the next 76 days, Yue and his family – like everyone else –…

Chinese police shoot dead hostage taker in school siege

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 14:42:40 GMT

A police sniper shot dead a knife-wielding man holding a boy hostage at a school in southwestern China on Friday.The man had earlier stabbed several pupils at the school in Kunming, Yunnan province, police said in a short statement.Seven people were wounded in the attack and were being treated in hospital.The police did not disclose any other fatalities, or the name of the attacker.“The investigation of the case is being carried out urgently,” police said.Footage released by police showed the…

‘Useless Edison’, DIY video star, sorry for making torture device replica after outcry from ...

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 09:14:19 GMT

It was one of the worst instruments of torture in history – used on women deemed disobedient, usually because of adultery.They would be strapped naked to a “wooden donkey” as if riding it, and whipped as they were paraded through the streets in a public shaming. Wooden or metal spikes embedded in its back sliced through the victim’s crotch until they passed out, weights often strapped to their feet to increase the agony.So when a Chinese internet star dubbed Useless Edison for his hilarious…

Coronavirus in China: new film praises Wuhan ahead of lockdown anniversary

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 07:37:07 GMT

China is rolling out a state-backed film praising Wuhan ahead of the anniversary of the 76-day lockdown in the central city where the coronavirus was first detected.The documentary Days and Nights in Wuhan features contributions from 30 filmmakers portraying the suffering and sacrifices made by the city’s 11 million residents, medical staff and front-line workers as they battled the virus that began racing through the city in December 2019.The film is one of at least three documentaries…

China gold mine blast: rescue of 21 people trapped will take at least two more weeks, official says

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 07:05:08 GMT

Rescuers believe it could take at least another two weeks to free miners trapped underground in eastern China, dashing hopes of an imminent retrieval for a group that has already spent 12 days entombed by an explosion.The increasingly desperate attempt to save 21 workers has been further complicated by a massive blockage that has delayed drilling efforts, according to state media.“The obstacles are just too huge, which means we need a least another 15 days or even more to reach the miners,”…

Xi Jinping steps out in US$1,000 parka, giving Chinese sportswear company’s shares a boost

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 20:15:10 GMT

President Xi Jinping’s choice of a cobalt blue parka to protect himself against the cold this week sharply boosted the stock price of the Chinese company that owns the Canadian outdoor clothing brand.The president wore the high-end Arc’teryx winter coat while inspecting venues of the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in the mountains north of Beijing. The parkas are advertised on Arc’teryx’s international website for US$1,000.Images of Xi keeping warm in the designer attire were splashed…

One worker confirmed dead in Chinese gold mine blast

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 05:53:02 GMT

Chinese rescuers drilled deep into the ground on Thursday in an increasingly desperate bid to save 21 miners trapped for almost two weeks, with one confirmed dead and still no signs of life from over half of the missing workers, state media reported.Twenty-two workers were entombed hundreds of metres underground at the Hushan mine near Qixia in eastern China’s Shandong province after an explosion on January 10 sealed the entrance and cut off communications.Contact has been established with one…

Bodybuilder with one leg sets up disability centre to help and inspire China’s 85 million ...

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 23:15:20 GMT

China’s prize-winning female body builder Gui Yuna is showing the world just what disabled people like her can achieve. The fiercely determined 37-year-old can already lay claim to being an Olympian, a world-record holder, a prize-winning bodybuilder and a mother of one – despite having lost a leg in a road accident when she was seven.Now, the inspirational athlete who recently won first prize on her bodybuilding debut in Beijing, has plunged headfirst into her next challenge – establishing a…

Backlash to Chinese actress Zheng Shuang’s surrogacy scandal: ‘definitely not innocent’, ...

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 09:45:11 GMT

The backlash continues full throttle.Two days after popular Chinese actress Zheng Shuang was accused by her former partner, producer Zhang Heng, of abandoning their two children born to US-based surrogate mothers, Chinese authorities and a host of commercial brands linked to Zheng have reacted to the controversy.Zheng’s surrogacy used a legal loophole and was “definitely not innocent”, the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China said on Wednesday…

Chinese actress Zheng Shuang’s surrogacy scandal rocks social media, prompting fresh debate ...

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 20:15:11 GMT

A scandal involving a high-profile celebrity and two surrogate children has rocked Chinese social media, setting off heated debate over whether there should be an outright ban of surrogacy in China.At the centre of the controversy is popular actress Zheng Shuang, who has been accused by her former partner, producer Zhang Heng, of abandoning their two children born to US-based surrogate mothers after the couple’s relationship ended before the children were born.Zhang said on Weibo, China’s…