No partner for Valentine’s Day? No problem. Rent-a-partner services provide a quick but expensive solution to young people pressed by families to bring home a partner. Such services increase in demand in China, with prices starting from RMB100 per day and running to as high as RMB3,000 daily. Websites offering “professional” rental services of girlfriends […]
Taiwanese founder of Pengyuan restaurants and the inventor of General Tso’s chicken (左宗棠雞), passed away in Taipei, Taiwan on Nov. 30. He was 98. Peng started out as an apprentice of Cao Jingchen, a famous early 20th-century Chinese chef. After his apprenticeship, he began developing his own takes on Hunan cuisine. Peng first cooked General […]
WeChat, China’s major instant messaging app, came up with a new holiday tradition: sending and receiving red packets via social media. On the eve of 2017 lunar new year alone, a record of 14.2 billion electronic red packets containing gift money were given and received, with people born in the 1980s being the most active […]
Hokkien, on the tongues of Tsinoys, has grown and evolved, taking on a life of its own. Sometimes words simply fail us. With some creativity, Tsinoys have strung together words to form colorful phrases that simply hit the bull’s eye. Here are some expressions unique to Hokkien as favored by Tsinoys. 長脚骨 teng k’a kut […]
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Eat Red for your heart
Are you worried about your heart? Don’t feel blue. Go red, and eat red food for your heart. This novel idea comes from the American Heart Association, which recommends that men and women eat red-colored food to protect their hearts. However, America’s short list of red food includes cherries and pomegranates, which are rarities here […]
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Xiangqi introduced to PH
Xiangqi (Chinese chess 中國象棋) has moves similar to western-style chess (國際象棋). The chessmen of xiangqi are written in Chinese characters whereas those of the western-style chess are carved as figures. Xiangqi is a game for all ages. It is played widely in Asian countries especially in China, where people play the game in public places, […]
If anyone deserves to be recognized as the Father of Philippine Xiangqi or Xiangqi Master of the Philippines, it would be the late Tan Lo Ping (陳羅平), a self-taught xiangqi player who was pivotal in firmly establishing xiangqi as an official sport in the Philippines and introducing world-class xiangqi players formally into the World Xiangqi […]
The western part of China has many unique and breathtaking scenic areas. One of them is Mount Emei (峨眉山) in Sichuan province, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. Mt. Emei is one of the four sacred Buddhist mountains of China (中國佛教四大名山). At 3,099 meters, it is the highest of these sacred mountains, […]
When we ushered in the lunar new year last Jan. 28, popular media told us it was the year of the rooster, but in the Chinese language, we actually only say that it’s the year of the chicken – 雞年。 The chicken can be a hen or a rooster but I suppose in popular culture, […]
Tsinoy taipan Lucio Tan was named one of the recipients of 2016 Pride of China (中華之光) award in ceremonies held in Beijing last December. Tan was cited for his outstanding contribution in propagating Chinese culture through education. Back in the 1980s, aside from his support for the University of the East, Tan supported Chinese education […]