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Why stealing pumpkins for newlyweds is a blessing in ancient Chinese tradition
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Why stealing pumpkins for newlyweds is a blessing in ancient Chinese tradition

In ancient China, welcoming autumn could involve stealing pumpkins, sitting on giant hanging scales and eating extra meat – rituals reflecting how people connected seasonal change with fertility, health and good fortune. Historical records show that during the Qing dynasty (1644–1912), groups of young people would gather on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival to sneak into fields and take pumpkin...

Qian Jiang, former Johns Hopkins’ eye institute expert, joins hospital in China
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Qian Jiang, former Johns Hopkins’ eye institute expert, joins hospital in China

Professor Qian Jiang, a senior eye expert at Johns Hopkins University in the United States, has moved back to China full time to pursue research on eye transplants. For more than two decades, Qian built and ran the genetic data hub at Johns Hopkins’ renowned Wilmer Eye Institute. He was welcomed at a ceremony on October 5 at Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital in Hangzhou, part of Zhejiang University, the h...

Rokid launches ‘no man’s land’ retail experience with Hong Kong flagship store opening
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Rokid launches ‘no man’s land’ retail experience with Hong Kong flagship store opening

When shoppers step into Rokid’s brand new flagship store in Hong Kong, they are greeted not by eager sales associates, but by glowing monitor screens and a robotic system waiting at the exit. In what the Chinese augmented reality (AR) gadget pioneer called an experiment in “no man’s land” retail, customers navigate the entire journey independently: testing artificial intelligence smart glasses, ma...

Huanggang Port swarmed by holiday rush with reports of 2-hour waits
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Huanggang Port swarmed by holiday rush with reports of 2-hour waits

Massive holiday crowds swamped the revamped Huanggang Port on Sunday during its first real test over the festival long weekend, with some travellers reporting two-hour waits. Outbound passenger traffic was “exceptionally heavy” between 10am and 2pm, with more than 30,000 departures, according to the Immigration Department. The surge prompted officers to open all inspection counters and implement a...

Huanggang Port swarmed by holiday rush with reports of 90-minute travel times

Huanggang Port swarmed by holiday rush with reports of 90-minute travel times

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Massive holiday crowds swamped the newly revamped Huanggang Port on Sunday during its first real test over the festival long weekend, with some travellers claiming it took up to 90 minutes to get from Hong Kong to Shenzhen. Outbound passenger traffic was “exceptionally heavy” between 10am and 2pm, with more than 30,000 departures, according to the Immigration Department. The surge prompted officer...

90-minute waits reported as Huanggang Port hit with holiday rush

90-minute waits reported as Huanggang Port hit with holiday rush

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Massive holiday crowds swamped Hong Kong’s newly revamped Huanggang Port on Sunday during its first real test over the festival long weekend, with some travellers claiming they waited up to 90 minutes to cross. Outbound passenger traffic was “exceptionally heavy” between 10am and 2pm, with more than 30,000 departures, according to the Immigration Department. The surge prompted officers to open all...

Huanggang Port swarmed by holiday rush as travellers report 90-minute waits

Huanggang Port swarmed by holiday rush as travellers report 90-minute waits

SCMP •

Massive holiday crowds swamped Hong Kong’s newly revamped Huanggang Port on Sunday during its first real test over the festival long weekend, with some travellers claiming they waited up to 90 minutes to cross. Outbound passenger traffic was “exceptionally heavy” between 10am and 2pm, with more than 30,000 departures, according to the Immigration Department. The surge prompted officers to open all...

Alert raised as holiday crowds overwhelm Hong Kong’s revamped Huanggang crossing

Alert raised as holiday crowds overwhelm Hong Kong’s revamped Huanggang crossing

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Massive holiday crowds and immigration bottlenecks overwhelmed Hong Kong’s newly revamped Huanggang Port on Sunday, prompting authorities to issue their first “busy” alert just six days after the border crossing reopened. The 24-hour land crossing between Hong Kong and mainland China, which reopened on October 12, logged over 130,000 passenger trips on Saturday as it kicked off its opening weekend...

Influential patriotic educator Ng Hon-mun dies aged 100

Influential patriotic educator Ng Hon-mun dies aged 100

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Ng Hon-mun, an influential pro-Beijing educator and long-time Hong Kong deputy to the National People’s Congress who was unafraid to call for reform, has died at the age of 100. His death was confirmed on Sunday by former chief executive Leung Chun-ying, also a vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. “Deeply mourn Principal Ng Hon-mun,” Le...

Influential leftist educator Ng Hon-mun dies aged 100

Influential leftist educator Ng Hon-mun dies aged 100

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Ng Hon-mun, an influential leftist educator and former Hong Kong deputy to the National People’s Congress, has died at the age of 100. His death was confirmed on Sunday by former chief executive Leung Chun-ying, who is also a vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. “Deeply mourn Principal Ng Hon-mun,” Leung wrote on Facebook. Ng was regard...

Pakistan risks deeper instability as political feud threatens counterterrorism efforts

Pakistan risks deeper instability as political feud threatens counterterrorism efforts

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Pakistan’s counterterrorism campaign against Taliban insurgents risks being undermined by public resentment, following the dismissal of the opposition-led administration of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. According to a statement issued by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office after an emergency cabinet meeting last Sunday, the decision to impose temporary federal rule was necessitated by the “...

China slams Japan’s Takaichi over Yasukuni ritual offering, warns of ‘remilitarisation’

China slams Japan’s Takaichi over Yasukuni ritual offering, warns of ‘remilitarisation’

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China has condemned Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi for sending a ritual offering to Tokyo’s war-linked Yasukuni Shrine, a move that threatens to cast an even longer shadow over the strained ties between Beijing and Tokyo. At the start of Yasukuni’s three-day autumn festival on Saturday, Takaichi sent a ritual tree-stand offering to the shrine in her capacity as prime minister, although she...

Hong Kong police to link mall CCTVs to surveillance network, security chief says

Hong Kong police to link mall CCTVs to surveillance network, security chief says

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Hong Kong police are in the final stages of talks to connect security cameras at shopping centres to the force’s expanding smart surveillance network aimed at tackling crime, the security chief has revealed. Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung on Sunday said authorities were in discussions with private shopping centres to integrate their closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems, without n...

Hong Kong to link private mall cameras to police surveillance network: Chris Tang

Hong Kong to link private mall cameras to police surveillance network: Chris Tang

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Hong Kong police are in the final stages of talks to connect security cameras at private shopping centres to the force’s expanding smart surveillance network aimed at tackling crime, the security chief has revealed. Speaking on a television programme on Sunday, Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung said authorities were in discussions with private shopping centres to integrate their closed-...

More drug, semiconductor firms to set up or expand in Hong Kong, OASES head says

More drug, semiconductor firms to set up or expand in Hong Kong, OASES head says

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Ten to 20 more companies are set to establish or expand operations in Hong Kong, including leading drug makers and a semiconductor business, with a roughly equal number of mainland Chinese and overseas firms, the head of a government investment office has said. Peter Yan King-shun, director general of the Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises (OASES), a government body under the Financial Se...

More drug, semiconductor firms eyeing Hong Kong for expansion, OASES head says

More drug, semiconductor firms eyeing Hong Kong for expansion, OASES head says

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Ten to 20 more companies are set to establish or expand operations in Hong Kong, including leading drug makers and a semiconductor business, with a roughly equal number of mainland Chinese and overseas firms, the head of a government investment office has said. Peter Yan King-shun, director general of the Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises (OASES), a government body under the Financial Se...

Mad rush for oxygen tanks, air purifiers in haze-choked Southeast Asia

Mad rush for oxygen tanks, air purifiers in haze-choked Southeast Asia

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Toxic haze from wildfires burning in Indonesia has spiked a demand for oxygen tanks and air purifiers across the region, manufacturers say, as they work the clock on equipment providing life-saving clean air. The months-long haze has blanketed parts of Southeast Asia, forcing school closures and fuelling a rise in respiratory complaints. Families are now rushing to buy devices to keep indoor air c...

Hong Kong ‘optimistic’ on economic growth despite global slowdown, Paul Chan says

Hong Kong ‘optimistic’ on economic growth despite global slowdown, Paul Chan says

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Hong Kong is more “optimistic” about its economic growth this year than the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is about the global outlook, the finance chief has said, pointing to the city’s unique position to capitalise on international capital flows and the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. Writing on his blog on Sunday after attending the IMF and World Bank Group’s annual meetings in Bangkok, F...

China moves to cement ties with Uzbekistan amid tussle with US for Central Asian influence

China moves to cement ties with Uzbekistan amid tussle with US for Central Asian influence

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Chinese Premier Li Qiang has called for deeper cooperation with Uzbekistan in areas such as minerals and artificial intelligence as the Beijing vies with Washington for influence in Central Asia. Li told President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on Saturday that Beijing was ready to strengthen strategic communication and expand mutually beneficial cooperation with Uzbekistan. He urged the two countries to step...

Cherish peace and stability, John Lee urges Hongkongers during Chung Yeung Festival

Cherish peace and stability, John Lee urges Hongkongers during Chung Yeung Festival

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Hong Kong’s leader has urged residents to cherish peace and stability as senior officials marked Chung Yeung Festival with tributes to the city’s wartime defenders and public servants who died in the line of duty. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu attended the annual ceremony at the Hong Kong City Hall Memorial Garden in Central on Sunday, laying a wreath to honour those who died defending the city...

Banking on bricks: entrepreneur builds a business case for recycling plastic waste

Banking on bricks: entrepreneur builds a business case for recycling plastic waste

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Former investment banker Shervin Sharghy takes a practical approach to plastic recycling, first asking whether it makes financial sense before tackling the technical challenges. The founder of Hong Kong-based EcoBricks said the main obstacle to recycling plastic was often economic rather than scientific. Collecting, sorting, cleaning and processing waste plastic typically costs more than producing...

Looters smash Paris shops as ‘unacceptable’ violence rocks France

Looters smash Paris shops as ‘unacceptable’ violence rocks France

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Smashing shop windows and snatching boxes of goods, looters in Paris poured into stores across the capital on Saturday, facing no resistance from authorities as nationwide protests degenerated into violence. Crowds of masked men wearing black hoodies yanked at metal store shutters until they gave way, clearing shelves of cigarettes, sunglasses, clothes, jewellery and food. The violence erupted as ...

China’s youth draw upon Long March spirit to navigate modern uncertainties

China’s youth draw upon Long March spirit to navigate modern uncertainties

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As China marks the 90th anniversary of the Red Army’s victory in the Long March, some young Chinese are looking to the historic journey for guidance as they face uncertainty in their lives and future. For Lyu Leiyiyi, a 22-year-old student at the Communication University of China, the spirit of the Long March offers a sense of stability at a time when people and the environment around her are chan...

Harvard and Cambridge to attend Hong Kong forum on role of humanities in AI age

Harvard and Cambridge to attend Hong Kong forum on role of humanities in AI age

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The organiser of a forum that will bring together Hong Kong and overseas universities later this month has said it hopes to spark debate on the role of humanities programmes in an era increasingly dominated by artificial intelligence (AI). The Global University Presidents and Leaders Summit, organised by the Hong Kong Association for External Friendship, will be held on October 27 and 28 at the Co...

Southeast Asia’s ethnic Chinese traders feel the China squeeze

Southeast Asia’s ethnic Chinese traders feel the China squeeze

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Almost every year, Kevin Stewart flies to China to find stock for his Indonesian businesses. But increasingly, the factories he visits are selling to his customers too, sometimes for less than they charge him. A data science manager in the tech sector by day, the Chinese-Indonesian entrepreneur also helps run home-living and pet-supply companies that sell to other businesses and direct to consumer...

New property purchase disclosure rule in Japan sparks fears it may curb foreign investment

New property purchase disclosure rule in Japan sparks fears it may curb foreign investment

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Tokyo’s implementation of a rule that requires all property buyers to declare their nationality is raising concerns among investors, according to analysts. Japan’s shift from an ultra-loose monetary policy to gradual normalisation of its interest rates was also likely to force investors to reconsider whether real estate assets were still attractive, they added. “Japan has had a really strong run f...

Grass fire at Canadian military base kills 4, injures dozens

Grass fire at Canadian military base kills 4, injures dozens

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Flames that killed four Canadian soldiers and left 19 people in critical condition began with a smouldering grass fire that quickly grew in an Alberta base’s training area where personnel were carrying out exercises, officials said on Sunday. Officials said 39 people were in hospitals as a result ‌of the fire at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright, which Prime Minister Mark Carney described as one of ...

4 killed after high winds turn grass fire deadly at Canadian military base, report says

4 killed after high winds turn grass fire deadly at Canadian military base, report says

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A fire at an Alberta military base that killed at least four people and seriously injured dozens started with a smouldering grass fire that was whipped into a wall of flames by high winds, ‌Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper reported on Sunday. The fire then engulfed Canadian Armed Forces members at a firing range, the newspaper said, citing internal military communications. The Canadian government...

4 dead in fire at Alberta military base, Canadian PM Carney says

4 dead in fire at Alberta military base, Canadian PM Carney says

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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Sunday that four service members were killed and dozens more seriously injured in a devastating fire at a military base in Alberta, describing it as one of the worst peacetime tragedies for Canada’s military on domestic soil. Carney said the families of those killed had been notified and that the situation was still evolving. The base, one of Canada’s la...