Memories

Timeless treasures: How wuxia captured generations on print and screen

From rare, handwritten manuscripts surviving only in Singapore to the multibillion-view world of modern xianxia, wuxia remains a cultural powerhouse. Lianhe Zaobao senior correspondent Lim Fong Wei gives us a glimpse of a special exhibition from this year’s City Reading @ SG festival, tracing how these legendary martial arts tales evolved from newspaper serials into global screen phenomena.

Lim Fong Wei

30 Apr 2026

From Chinatown zoo to crocodile oil legacy: The strange history of Chop Wah On

From a shop in Singapore’s Chinatown, a homegrown brand with over 100 years of history steadily sells its products to locals and tourists alike. Lianhe Zaobao journalist Lilia Yeo speaks to the third-generation owners and discovers the rich heritage of this store that began by selling medicated oils.

Lilia Yeo

30 Apr 2026

[Photos] Gulangyu: Where Lim Bo Seng studied and Hokkien tycoons built their dreams [Eye on Fujian series]

Gulangyu, a UNESCO-listed island off Xiamen, was once a haven for Hokkien tycoons from Southeast Asia. Housing gems from Lim Bo Seng’s abode in student days to grand mansions, it reflects a rich, transregional past. NUS architecture professor Chen Yu takes us through the mesmerising vistas of Gulangyu.

Chen Yu

26 Mar 2026

[Big read] Not just money: Gold carries the weight of memories

Amid global uncertainty, rising inflation and weak consumer confidence, gold has once again come into favour as a safe-haven asset, echoing its role in times of war. Yet while its value can be measured in markets, the true weight of gold is not purely numerical. Beyond price and purity, it carries memories, meanings and emotional significance — as ThinkChina’s Grace Chong discovered in conversations with gold jewellers in Singapore and China, across generations.

Grace Chong

20 Mar 2026

The horse that saved me on the Mongolian steppe

Raised in a remote Mongolian temple, writer and adventurer Bateer Chai grew up among horses that define life on the steppe. One black horse became his guardian, shielding him from wolves and shaping his childhood forever. As we enter the Year of the Horse, he reflects on the bond between Mongolians and their horses — a relationship that is both life-defining and timeless.

Bateer Chai

16 Feb 2026

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

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

A Taiwanese boy named Thomas and the faith he made his own

Taiwanese art historian Chiang Hsun reflects on his spiritual journey, from youthful devotion to quiet estrangement, contemplating the place of Catholic faith in modern life in the wake of Pope Francis’s passing.

Chiang Hsun

12 Dec 2025

Vibrant, vast and vital: Singapore’s quest for relevance amid China’s evolution

As the book Singapore and China: Neighbours to Friends, Friends to Partners, co-edited by Professor Tommy Koh and Lee Huay Leng, editor-in-chief of SPH’s Chinese Media Group, is launched to mark the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Singapore, we republish Lee’s introduction titled Impressions. She stresses that Singapore must continually earn its relevance with China through understanding, engagement and adaptability.

Lee Huay Leng

03 Oct 2025

If you grew up by Yantai’s seaside, you would never want to leave [Eye on Shandong series]

For Meilin, a native of Shandong, childhood is filled with salty breezes — days spent exploring the shore and fields, and taking part in ganhai (赶海), where the sea reveals its treasures at low tide.

Wu Meilin

01 Oct 2025

[Photos] Turning pages with Moon Jae-in: A Taiwanese publisher’s unexpected encounter

The launch of a Taiwan-produced photo book themed around Korea in Seoul drew much local media attention and even caught the eye of former South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Historical photo collector Hsu Chung-mao shares the story behind publishing this World War II-era Korean photo collection, and how it sparked a memorable encounter.

Hsu Chung-mao

08 Aug 2025

Under typhoon skies: Rediscovering the Hong Kong I thought I’d lost

After a recent trip to Hong Kong that coincided with Typhoon Wipha, ThinkChina’s Candice Chan muses about the Hong Kong she knew and loved before, and the Hong Kong she got to know again, under the wind and rain.

Candice Chan

08 Aug 2025