Intellectuals
Society
China’s political debate finds a new home on YouTube
China’s political debate finds a new home on YouTube, where overseas-based commentators build a parallel public sphere still widely accessed in China via VPN, even as some voices remain on the ground. Lianhe Zaobao journalist Zhang Guanghui explores the shift.
Zhang Guanghui
12 May 2026
Culture
Taiwanese art historian: My Aquarian friend Hualing who embraced everyone [Part 2]
Taiwanese art historian Chiang Hsun continues reminiscing about his time in Iowa, US, with Hualing Nieh Engle, as well as other prominent literary figures such as Wang Zengqi and Ah Cheng. Through ups and downs, Nieh’s Aquarian character shines through, strong and resilient.
Chiang Hsun
02 Jan 2026
Culture
Taiwan art historian: My Aquarian friend Hualing who embraced everyone [Part 1]
Taiwan art historian Chiang Hsun remembers his time in Iowa, US, with Hualing Nieh Engle, reminiscing on her ability to embrace people from all walks of life — a perfect example of an Aquarian. Such is the breadth and depth of the Aquarius’s rushing waters, endlessly flowing, with the water bearer’s energy always being given away to all living creatures.
Chiang Hsun
26 Dec 2025
Society
The politicisation of Taiwan’s university academics
Honda Mami, a Japanese student in Taiwan, notes that university academics should be politically neutral, but those in Taiwan seem to be blatantly showing their political inclinations in apparent efforts to influence their students.
Honda Mami
05 Aug 2024
Culture
A study room of one's own: 21st century Chinese intellectuals and their pursuit of knowledge
Cultural historian Cheng Pei-kai shares the ups and downs of being an avid reader, from the difficulties in keeping his book collection neat and orderly, to the joy of having a handful of treasured books. He marvels at the sketches a friend made of the study rooms of literati, academics and calligraphers who have since passed on. While his study room is crammed with books and looks more like a storeroom, his love for books burns bright like it does for fellow literati.
Cheng Pei-kai
05 Apr 2024
Society
US elite schools churning out 'perfect followers', not change makers?
Commentator Wu Guo notes how Ivy League schools in the US have churned out people who are academically brilliant, but unable to connect with real life or relate to real issues around them. Such indifference is symptomatic of US elites from top backgrounds.
Wu Guo
08 Feb 2024
Politics
Singapore's role as a neutral interpreter of China to the West
Professor Walter Woon says that Singapore's close relationship with both the West and China gives it a unique advantage as a more neutral interpreter of China for the Western world. The country is also well-placed to help reduce tensions between the US and China.
Walter Woon
19 Dec 2023
Society
From Mao ideals to the American dream: What China's 'sent down youths' sacrificed to chase a better tomorrow
The post-50s Chinese generation of intellectuals who were heavily influenced by Mao had the practice of leaving their children behind as they single-mindedly sought to achieve success abroad. US academic Wu Guo remarks that this generation of people who had been sent down to the rural areas, travelled abroad, and finally gained a foothold and settled down in the US, have always been motivated by a religious zeal for chasing a dream.
Wu Guo
15 Dec 2022
Culture
Yü Ying-shih saw Hong Kong as beacon of hope for the Chinese-speaking world
Vancouver-based academic Leo K. Shin remembers his former professor, eminent historian and sinologist Yü Ying-shih, on the first anniversary of the latter's passing. He says Yü was a staunch defender of humanity intrinsic in Chinese culture who always spoke up against the use of cultural tenets for political gain or acts against human dignity. It comes as no surprise then that he understood well the significance of Hong Kong as a beacon of freedom, democracy and human rights.
Leo K. Shin
29 Jul 2022
Society
China should avoid labelling South Korea as a Western nation
It would be rather extreme of China to peg South Korea as a key member of the Western camp because of its political system and values, says US academic Wu Guo. South Korea and China are inseparable in terms of culture, history, economy and people ties. It might be more accurate to view South Korea as a buffer between China and the West.
Wu Guo
28 Jul 2022
History
Wang Gungwu and Malaysia: Building an intellectual bridge to China
Tracing the evolution of China's development, Malaysian academic Peter T.C. Chang pays tribute to historian Wang Gungwu and his contributions to the study of Chinese overseas. Wang continues to play a major role in the field as a member of a pioneering class of bridge-building scholars who are adept at explaining China to the world, and the world to China. This is an edited version of the book chapter "A Pioneering Class of Bridge-Building Junzi" from the book Wang Gungwu and Malaysia (2021) published by the University of Malaya Press.
Peter T.C. Chang
22 Apr 2022