Quartz

DIFFERENT STROKES

As her peace icon image fades, Aung San Suu Kyi is winning over a new set of admirers in China

Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi reviews honour guards during a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, August 18, 2016.

On Tuesday (Sept. 19), Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi made her first major remarks on the crisis that has seen 400,000 Rohingya Muslims…

Echo Huang

September 19, 2017

VANISHING INTO THICK AIR

This is how much of your life air pollution is stealing from you based on where you live

People wearing masks for protection against air pollution push their luggage at the Beijing Capital International Airport as the capital of China is shrouded by heavy smog on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2016. Beijing and much of industrial northern China are in the midst of a "red alert," the highest level in China's four-tiered pollution warning system. The alert has affected 460 million people, according to Greenpeace East Asia, which calculated that about 200 million people were living in areas that had experienced levels of air pollution more than 10 times above the guideline set by the World Health Organization. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Air pollution is the single largest environmental health risk humans face, according to the World Health Organization, but what does that mean for you? Researchers…

Life as Laboratory

Echo Huang

September 11, 2017

THE SIX

A documentary is revealing the untold stories of six Chinese passengers who survived the Titanic

A member of staff at the Transport museum in Belfast, Northern Ireland, points to photographs of the Titanic displayed in a family album, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014. The album featuring never seen before pictures was displayed Tuesday which showed the launch and departure from Belfast in 1912. The album containing 116 prints belonged to John W Kempster who was a director and the master of ceremonies at Harland & Wolff, the Belfast shipyard that built the ship. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

For all the books, documentaries, and movies about the Titanic, the discovery that Chinese passengers were among those who survived the cruise ship’s sinking has…

Echo Huang

September 08, 2017

TRY TO SEE IT MY WAY

China wants to talk its people into marriage and out of divorce

Chinese pedestrians watch a model wearing a 50-metre-long wedding gown on a street in Hefei, east China's Anhui province March 19, 2005. China saw 1.613 million couples divorce in 2004, an increase of 21.2 percent over the previous year, according the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

The share of people getting married in China is falling, and the divorce rate is rising—two trends that are worrying not only Chinese parents, but…

China's Transition

Echo Huang

September 07, 2017

NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Don’t be fooled—just because it’s a five-star hotel doesn’t mean it’s clean

An employee dressed in a panda costume poses for a photo during the soft opening of a panda-themed hotel at the foot of Emei Mountain, Southwest China's Sichuan province, February 25, 2013. According to local media, the hotel is the first panda-themed hotel in the world and will officially open in May with room rates from 300 to 500 yuan ($48 to $80) per night. Picture taken February 25, 2013.

When you stay at a five-star hotel, you don’t expect to worry about fresh, clean sheets. You’d only expect the best services money can buy.…

Echo Huang

September 05, 2017

BRIGHT SPOT

The first BRICS bank project to be up and running is, symbolically, a renewable energy plant

Employees check solar panels, as they work on a grid-connected photovoltaic power generation project, at a power plant in Changxing County, Zhejiang Province, China June 13, 2017.

In 2015, the BRICS nations—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—set up a jointly funded alternative to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund,…

China's Transition

Echo Huang

September 05, 2017

DEAD POETS SOCIETY

Archaeologists have found the tomb of China’s Shakespeare

Relics seen in an open pit of suspected imperial-era tombs at the construction site of a shooting range for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games where work has been suspended in Beijing, China, Monday, May 8, 2006. The tombs, found in mid-April, are believed to date back five to six centuries to the Ming dynasty and may be those of eunuchs serving at the imperial court, the Beijing Morning Post said. Beijing has been the site of imperial and other capitals for more than 1,000 years, and almost every major building project unearths gravesites or relics. Most are removed or destroyed before experts can examine them.

Archaeologists working in southeastern China said this week they have identified the tomb of Tang Xianzu, a renowned late 16th-century playwright who is often dubbed…

Echo Huang

August 31, 2017

TRUST CRISIS

The family of a missing Chinese scholar in the US faces criticism of fundraising for her search

Chinese student Yingying Zhang is seen in a still image from security camera video taken outside an MTD Teal line bus in Urbana, Illinois, U.S. June 9, 2017.

The family of a missing Chinese scholar in the US is facing questions and criticism online about a fundraising effort underway to help search for…

Echo Huang

August 30, 2017

ROYAL TREATMENT

Pet owners in China are splurging on luxury hotels, acupuncture treatments, and fancy funerals

A dog receives treatment at Shanghai TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) Neurology and Acupuncture Animal Health Center, which specialises in acupuncture and moxibustion treatment for animals, in Shanghai, China, August 16, 2017. REUTERS/Aly Song SEARCH "ACUPUNCTURE" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. - RTS1COM3

Excessive pet pampering, nothing new in the West, is catching on with China’s rising middle class. Though still small by US standards, the nation’s growing…

Life as Laboratory

Echo Huang

August 29, 2017

DAMAGE CONTROL