Politics
The limits of Takaichi’s ‘Japan is back’
Armed with a commanding electoral mandate, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi wants to revitalise Japan’s economy, rebuild its technological edge, strengthen its military and take a tougher line on China. But multiple challenges are exposing the risks of trying to pursue all these ambitions at once, notes academic Tan Kong Yam.
Tan Kong Yam
Society
When politics divides, can content creators bring China and Japan together?
Chinese and Japanese content creators are crossing the political divide one video at a time — challenging stereotypes and keeping the people of both sides connected, even as their influence can only go so far. Lianhe Zaobao journalist Lee Chan Hui tells us more.
Lee Chan Hui
Technology
Time to ‘pace’ AI development?
Even as US tech leaders warn of losing control over AI, China makes the point that AI risks should not slow development down. This is an example of other factors that could decide the US-China AI race, more than technology alone, says commentator Deng Yuwen.
Deng Yuwen
Economy
[Big read] Can new industries lure talent back to China’s rust belt?
The affordable and idyllic life in Liaoning, Shenyang and Heilongjiang are drawing young professionals back home, but some are torn by the low wages, scarce job opportunities and an economy struggling to transform. Lianhe Zaobao associate China news editor Sim Tze Wei speaks with these returnees.
Sim Tze Wei
Popular This Month
Society
I went to Nanning to find the pyramid schemes that lured Singaporeans
After 52 Singaporeans were arrested in Guangxi, Lianhe Zaobao associate China news editor Sim Tze Wei travelled to Nanning to trace the pyramid schemes said to have lured them in — and found a city where real policies and projects can be repackaged as fake investment opportunities.
Sim Tze Wei
Politics
Bilahari Kausikan: How to think about foreign policy and geopolitics
Former Singapore diplomat Bilahari Kausikan rues the general lack of understanding about foreign policy and geopolitics. On Ukraine, US-China relations and the wars in the Middle East, he offers some rubrics to fall back on in a speech delivered at the Humanity Matters Charity Conference at the Institute of Lifelong Learning in July. This is an edited version of the transcript.
Bilahari Kausikan
Society
How an American influencer exposed China’s ‘crotch nationalism’
The scandal surrounding an American influencer in China has exposed how quickly pro-China digital personas can turn sour, leaving female victims caught in a crossfire of nationalist judgment. Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Liu Liu dives into the matter.
Liu Liu
Society
Warm tea and brainwashing: Why Singaporeans fall for China’s 1040 scam
Despite years of police crackdowns, the “1040 Sunshine Project” continues to thrive in new and increasingly covert forms, luring victims with promises of enormous returns and claims of secret state backing. Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Zhang Guanghui dives into the issue.
Zhang Guanghui
Society
[Video] Could Niu Lai be China’s highest-return film ever?
Made by a mother and son with no outside investment, the low-budget Chinese animated film Niu Lai earned only US$1,000 in its first nine days before viral clips pushed its box office takings past US$4 million in just a few days. ThinkChina’s Lu Lingming explains what drove its unexpected box office success.
Lu Lingming
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Editor's pick
Culture
[Video] Was Cantonese really the language of Tang poets?
With copious research into the vivid histories of Hong Kong and Guangzhou, academic Lian-Hee Wee and researcher Winnie HY Cheung trace a quirky timeline of the evolution of the Cantonese language in ThinkChina’s Eye on Guangdong series.
Society
[Video] Could Niu Lai be China’s highest-return film ever?
Made by a mother and son with no outside investment, the low-budget Chinese animated film Niu Lai earned only US$1,000 in its first nine days before viral clips pushed its box office takings past US$4 million in just a few days. ThinkChina’s Lu Lingming explains what drove its unexpected box office success.
Lu Lingming
Politics
[Video] Bilahari Kausikan: How to navigate the new world order
Bilahari Kausikan, in an interview with ThinkChina editor Chow Yian Ping, examines how US-China rivalry is reshaping the global order, why China’s “China dream” narrative of national rejuvenation remains powerful but limiting, and how a more fluid, multipolar Asia will test the nimbleness of smaller states such as Singapore.
Chow Yian Ping
Politics
[Video] Is China stopping its own citizens from leaving?
China has introduced new rules on exit and entry administration, setting out when authorities can intervene in border crossings and when citizens may be barred from leaving the country. The regulation brings national security, export controls and technology concerns more directly into the rules governing cross-border movement. ThinkChina’s Lingming Lu looks into the issue.
Lu Lingming
Society
[Video] Rare Hubei tornadoes expose China’s rising weather risk
Three rare tornadoes in Hubei exposed a stark new reality: China must prepare for increasingly complex extreme weather with better forecasting, more resilient cities and stronger disaster response. ThinkChina’s Yi Jina and Lu Lingming find out more.
Yi Jina, Lu Lingming
Society
[Video] Effortlessly beautiful: China’s new obsession with ‘invisible’ cosmetic procedures
Why are millions of Chinese paying for cosmetic procedures that nobody is supposed to notice? The pursuit of “natural beauty” is reshaping the country’s booming medical aesthetics industry. ThinkChina’s Yi Jina finds out more.
Yi Jina
Society
[Video] China made it to the World Cup, just not on the pitch
China’s men’s football team is once again absent from the World Cup, but China is visible almost everywhere else around the tournament. ThinkChina’s Lu Lingming looks at how China made it into the World Cup economy, even as its team remains off the pitch.
Lu Lingming
Society
[Video] ‘Bullying our ancestors’: Why Chinese netizens are boycotting LV
A seemingly ordinary trademark dispute between Louis Vuitton and Chinese milk tea chain Molly Tea has escalated into a wider debate over intellectual property and cultural ownership. As backlash builds, with many even calling for LV’s trademark to be revoked, the case has become a broader reckoning on how cultural motifs should be protected in a modern commercial world.
Yi Jina
Culture
[Vox pop] Blood, lion dance or dialect: What makes a Chinese Singaporean?
As the movie Dear You brings the history of early Chinese migrants back into the spotlight, online conversations about Chinese identity and cultural heritage have grown louder. ThinkChina’s Lu Lingming and Yi Jina speak with Chinese Singaporeans about what Chinese identity, or “Chineseness”, means to them today.
Lu Lingming, Yi Jina
Culture
[Video] Living in the moment: Two Singaporean artists finding home in Jingdezhen
In Jingdezhen, China’s porcelain capital, Singaporean ceramists Ken Lu and Nelson Lim have each found their own mecca — a place for Ken to put down roots, and for Nelson to continually return to. Living in the Moment, produced by Lu Lingming and Yi Jina, is ThinkChina’s first documentary film. It explores how the city reshapes Ken and Nelson’s identities as Chinese Singaporeans, while tracing their lifelong pursuit of art and craft.
Lu Lingming, Yi Jina
Latest Articles
Economy
Can China burn away Indonesia’s waste crisis?
Indonesia awarded 11 waste-to-energy (WtE) projects in under a year. It should not come at a surprise that Chinese firms won most of them, and are also making inroads in other Southeast Asian capitals. But WtE comes with tradeoffs, say researchers Kevin Zongzhe Li and Genevieve Donnellon-May.
Kevin Zongzhe Li, Genevieve Donnellon-May
Technology
Dreame and Unitree: Are China’s young tech founders sabotaging themselves?
Dreame’s Yu Hao and Unitree’s Wang Xingxing have taken very different paths to the top. Their contrasting leadership styles point to a common challenge for young founders: knowing when to put themselves forward and when to let the company take centre stage, says Chinese commentator Ni Tao.
Ni Tao
Politics
Xi Jinping’s tech diplomacy meets harsh realities of BRICS
BRICS is gaining cohesion, but internal divisions remain. As it seeks a bigger global role, China is using AI cooperation to expand its network of partners, promote its standards and gain an edge over the US. Lianhe Zaobao China news correspondent Edwin Ong reports.
Edwin Ong
Society
Powerless in the classroom: Why Taiwanese teachers are quitting
Schools are struggling to fill vacancies even as tens of thousands of qualified teachers remain outside the profession. Competition from the technology sector, mounting workplace pressures and fears of parental complaints are making teaching an increasingly difficult career to sell, notes Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Lai Oi Lai.
Lai Oi Lai
Politics
China’s new tech diplomacy: Foreign journalists get a front-row seat
China is reshaping its external communication strategy. By training foreign journalists in AI and tech integration, Beijing aims to build global connections and challenge Western narrative dominance. Lianhe Zaobao associate editor Han Yong Hong tells us more.
Han Yong Hong
Economy
Can Southeast Asia survive Pinduoduo’s price onslaught?
Competing with Chinese e-commerce giants on price is a losing battle for Southeast Asia. Entrepreneur Simon Lim proposes a new model that leverages global supply chains, distributed local retail networks and AI to help it gain the strategic edge.
Simon Lim
Society
[Big read] How Singapore’s boba milk-tea generation is rediscovering traditional tea
A new generation of teahouses is putting a contemporary spin on traditional tea culture, from Teochew gongfu tea and Chinese ceramics to herbal milk teas, giving young Singaporeans new ways to slow down, connect and rediscover age-old traditions. Lianhe Zaobao senior Fukan correspondent Ng Yimin finds out more.
Ng Yimin
Culture
15th Shanghai Biennale: Does the flower hear the bee?
In an increasingly AI-centred world, this year’s edition of the Shanghai Biennale themed “Does the Flower Hear the Bee?” asks timely questions in inviting visitors to think about engaging different forms of intelligence beyond ourselves. Curator and writer Tan Hwee Koon walks us through the exhibition.
Tan Hwee Koon
Technology
China’s AI race: Can it make energy and computing work as one?
China is attempting to merge three national networks — computing, telecommunications and electricity — to win the AI race. Academic Ruay-Shiung Chang discusses why the global AI race is no longer simply about algorithms and semiconductors.
Ruay-Shiung Chang
Technology
How ZTE changed Xi Jinping’s vision for China’s tech future
The 2018 ZTE crisis exposed China’s vulnerability to US technology controls. For Xi Jinping, it became a defining lesson in why technological self-reliance, strategic resilience and control over critical technologies matter. Professor Tan Kong Yam analyses its lasting impact.
Tan Kong Yam
Society
[Big read] From singing bowls to forest therapy: China’s 10-trillion-RMB healing economy
China’s healing economy is booming as consumers spend on emotional wellbeing, from singing bowls and forest therapy to trendy toys. But as healing becomes big business, concerns over commercialisation and misleading claims are growing. Lianhe Zaobao journalist Zeng Shi finds out.
Zeng Shi
Politics
Tung Chee-hwa: Misunderstood visionary or failed leader?
Hong Kong’s first chief executive endured the Asian financial crisis, SARS and mass protests before stepping down amid deep public discontent. Two decades on, some of the reforms and economic strategies he championed are being viewed in a different light, says Lianhe Zaobao journalist Tai Hing Shing.
Tai Hing Shing
Politics
Trump’s ultra-rich cabinet: How rich is too rich for public office?
Reports highlighting the extraordinary wealth of Trump and his senior officials have renewed scrutiny of the relationship between public office and personal fortune — and the perennial question of whether wealth helps or hinders those entrusted with serving the public, notes academic Chen Liujun.
Chen Liujun
Technology
Could the PLA’s robot soldiers be used against Taiwan?
China is developing humanoid robots that could enter the battlefield within a decade. While Taiwan is a potential scenario, experts say the PLA’s push reflects a broader drive to prepare for the warfare of the future. Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Edwin Ong finds out more.
Edwin Ong