Culture

Crab Butter Rice is unlike any other crab dishes: it is a seasonal delicacy that exclusively combines the autumn crab's paste and roe without using any of its meat. Cultural historian Cheng Pei-kai shares his experience eating it, and its peculiar and debatable origins from Suzhou brothels.

Singapore’s oldest Buddhist monastery, the Lian Shan Shuang Lin Monastery, is set for a fresh round of restoration works. Its bell and drum towers, which are in severe disrepair, will be rebuilt at an estimated cost of $7 million, and will open to the public by the second half of 2022.

Professor Ho Puay-peng of NUS is an architect by training. His signature architectural work is the HK$1.5b Tsz Shan Monastery in Hong Kong, commissioned by business magnate Lee Kah Shing. Interestingly, Prof Ho’s father Ho Beng Hong was also an architect whose designs include several Chinese architecture-inspired modern buildings in Singapore. ThinkChina invited Prof Ho to reflect on how classical Chinese architecture has evolved and changed in contemporary times outside of China, through an exploration of his own works and those of his father.

If you think Sichuan cuisine is just about mala hotpots, you’re in for a surprise as we share the less-known flavours that make Sichuan cuisine uniquely Sichuan. 

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 spoke to Lianhe Zaobao about China's history, culture, and values, and not boarding a ship that sank.

Does modernisation equate to abandoning tradition? Will copying-and-pasting Western models work? What can China learn from its 5000 years of civilisation?

Historian Wang Gungwu speaks to Zaobao about home, country, land, and the world in a globalised era.