Chow Yian Ping

Editor, ThinkChina

Chow Yian Ping is the editor of ThinkChina. She was a senior correspondent at the Chinese language daily Lianhe Zaobao where she wrote big reads and features. She has worked as a journalist, a museum curator and a TV producer. She has lived in Beijing, Hong Kong, Manila, Wellington and Singapore where she is now based. Yian Ping volunteers for the community-initiated Oral History Project (oralhistoryproject.sg) and interviews pioneers from the Singapore culture scene. In her free time, she enjoys writing short stories, essays and poems in Chinese. 

Professor Wang Gungwu speaks on China, the coronavirus, and the prospect of a divided world. (SPH)
Politics

Wang Gungwu: Even if the West has lost its way, China may not be heir apparent

By Chow Yian Ping 18 May 2020
In a wide-ranging email interview with ThinkChina editor Chow Yian Ping, sinologist Wang Gungwu shares his thoughts on how China and the world have changed because of the pandemic. He keenly observes that Chinese leaders have sought greater control over the population in recent years, and the situation will worsen as the pandemic deepens their insecurities. On the international stage, an intense clash of interests among the major powers looks set to keep nations divided. On the micro-level however, he takes heart that a “globalisation from below” is taking place; the fact that the virus knows no borders has brought people closer together, with opportunities for reset.
Ezra Vogel, Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences Emeritus, Harvard University. (Vogel photo: Neoh Kee Leng, Graphic: Jace Yip)
Politics

[Video and text] A mountain can have many tigers and every tiger has its own problems

By Chow Yian Ping 07 Feb 2020
[Video and text] Ezra Vogel, East Asian expert and thinker extraordinaire, shares his views on China, the US, Japan, as well as global trends, in an exclusive interview with Chow Yian Ping, editor of ThinkChina.
Centenarian Ho Weng Toh is not only a WWII veteran, SIA pioneer pilot, but also a published author of his autobiography. A picture of him taken in 1945, hangs on the wall. (Long Kwok Hong/SPH)
History

War, love, and passion: The life of a WWII Flying Tiger (Video and text)

By Chow Yian Ping 29 Nov 2019
He was a student studying in Hong Kong in the 1940s. He flew the B-25 bomber during WWII. He was a pioneer pilot of SIA, and at the age of 90, returned to the US to seek closure on his love. Centenarian Ho Weng Toh chats with Chow Yian Ping, editor of ThinkChina, about life, loss and love, at the launch of his book, Memoirs of a Flying Tiger: The Story of a WWII Veteran and SIA Pioneer Pilot.
Professor Ho Puay Peng: Singapore has to put in more effort in terms of how people identify with conserving buildings.
Culture

If they don’t care about it, tear it down

By Chow Yian Ping 24 Sep 2019
NUS Head of Architecture Ho Puay-peng talks about his relationship with Hong Kong’s elite, how Singapore lags behind Hong Kong, and why conservation is all about the views of the community.
Professor Cheng Pei-kai. (SPH)
Culture

Overhaul of the Chinese value system: How can Chinese meet the challenges ahead?

By Chow Yian Ping 24 Sep 2019
Professor Cheng Pei-kai spoke to Lianhe Zaobao about China's history, culture, and values, and not boarding a ship that sank.
Professor Wang Gungwu. (SPH)
Culture

Wang Gungwu: When “home” and “country” are not the same

By Chow Yian Ping 24 Sep 2019
Historian Wang Gungwu speaks to Zaobao about home, country, land, and the world in a globalised era.