On her way to catch a foreign flick in Beijing, Jane Yao bought a cinnamon roll, had ramen, visited a bookshop, and dropped by a supermarket to grab some snacks.Such an impulse splurge has become all too rare in China, a country where consumption growth is still far below pre-Covid levels and poses
But, we do Wordle!!Er, OK. That’s how former secret agent Matt (Jamie Foxx) explains that he and wife Emily (Cameron Diaz) are now living a boring, mundane, glamour-free life and nobody would ever be looking for them.To which the rest of us Wordle players say: Whoa, speak for yourself, Matt! Lots of
With just 30 minutes to spare before the deadline, former lawmaker Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如) submitted her application to run for party chair in the upcoming Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) by-election following the resignation of party founder Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Jan. 1. Being held incommunicado in jail and faci
The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) five-decade authoritarian rule of Taiwan was so rife with injustice that it’s hard to capture how bad things could get. Several works get close: George H. Kerr’s Formosa Betrayed and Elegy of Sweet Potatoes by Tehpen Tsai (蔡德本), for example. More recently, Facin
They have been in a committed relationship for more than 13 years, and even had a wedding in 2019. Since then, Danaya Phonphayung and Sunma Piamboon, both women, have considered themselves a married couple, even if same-sex marriages were not legally recognized.The walls of their home in suburban Ba
Treading a familiar path for women in rural Vietnam, Nguyen Thi Hiep found a factory job in dynamic Ho Chi Minh City and spent 16 years helping make shoes for Western brands such as Adidas and Nike.Vietnam is among the world’s largest exporters of clothing, footwear and furniture and Ho Chi Minh Cit
At a shopping mall in Beijing, Zhang Yachun murmurs quietly to her closest confidant, a fluffy AI-powered robot whose soothing chirps remind her that she is not alone.Zhang, 19, has long battled anxiety over school and work, and has struggled to form deep friendships with other people.But since buyi
I am kneeling quite awkwardly on a cushion in a yoga studio in London’s Shoreditch on an unseasonably chilly Wednesday and wondering when exactly will be the optimum time to rearrange my legs. I have an ice-cold mango and passion fruit kombucha beside me and an agonising case of pins and needles. Th
When Angelica Oung received the notification that her Xiaohongshu account had been blocked for violating the social media app’s code of conduct, her mind started racing.The only picture she had posted on her account, apart from her profile headshot, was of herself wearing an inflatable polar bear su
Last week saw the appearance of another odious screed full of lies from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian (肖千), in the Financial Review, a major Australian paper. Xiao’s piece was presented without challenge or caveat. His “Seven truths on why Taiwan always will
Jan. 20 to Jan. 26Taipei was in a jubilant, patriotic mood on the morning of Jan. 25, 1954. Flags hung outside shops and residences, people chanted anti-communist slogans and rousing music blared from loudspeakers. The occasion was the arrival of about 14,000 Chinese prisoners from the Korean War, w
In Taiwan’s politics the party chair is an extremely influential position. Typically this person is the presumed presidential candidate or serving president. In the last presidential election, two of the three candidates were also leaders of their party. Only one party chair race had been planned fo
They increasingly own everything from access to space to how we get news on Earth and now outgoing President Joe Biden warns America’s new breed of Donald Trump-allied oligarchs could gobble up US democracy itself.Biden used his farewell speech to the nation to deliver a shockingly dark message: tha
On Sept. 27 last year, three climate activists were arrested for throwing soup over Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh at London’s National Gallery. The Just Stop Oil protest landed on international front pages. But will the action help further the activists’ cause to end fossil fuels?Scientists are beg
From my many years as a therapist and advice columnist, I’ve started to see clear patterns in the problems that bother my readers the most. And I can confirm that existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre was right: hell is other people. It’s difficult relationships with those around us that cause
I drink a lot of Pepsi Max. A slab of 30 cans has been known to disappear within a week. That’s upward of four 375ml cans a day of sugar-free cola. Not enough to end up on My Strange Addiction but enough to concern friends. “Those things will kill you,” they tell me.To be clear, there’s no evidence
It’s a slip of a thing, clocking in at a tight 90 minutes; a deft, light-footed amalgamation of two potentially formulaic comedy genres: the road movie and the mismatched buddy flick. But the second directorial venture from actor Jesse Eisenberg, which he also wrote and stars in, is considerably mor
Japanese is on the menu tonight. Yes, Taipei may be sprawling with cozy Izakayas and infamous ramen franchises, but for anyone in the market for authentic Japanese cuisine with both style and an inviting atmosphere, Parlor New Osaka offers a fresh, elevated take on our northeastern neighbor’s classi
Jilted on dating apps but undeterred in the quest for romance, 20 young singles gathered in Madrid to share activities and flirtatious smiles in a rediscovery of real-life love.The 10 men and 10 women, aged between 25 and 35, had eyed up each other nervously barely an hour before their first plunge
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