The 2023 “golden week” holiday period which includes May Day did more than just reveal how badly people in mainland China wanted to travel and visit tourist sites. Beijing-based reporter Luna Sun discusses the numbers and has a look at an island hoping to surpass Hong Kong as a free trade and travel destination, while the Post’s Oscar Liu and Harvey Kong look at new trends and behaviours seen among the hundreds of thousands of tourists who visited Hong Kong over the past week.

274 million Chinese take a holiday: why ‘golden week’ 2023 was different

Want to learn more about China first-hand, from reporters on the ground? In every episode, we take a deep-dive into a specific topic, mixing independent reporting and exclusive interviews to bring you unique insights into an emerging potential superpower. Now, we’re featuring regular updates on the coronavirus pandemic from across the country. Brought to you by the South China Morning Post.

News & Politics

The European Union and the United States claim that China is flooding global markets with cheap goods. China says these assertions are groundless. Post Europe correspondent Finbarr Bermingham breaks down the arguments for and against overcapacity, and looks at whether the EU and China are heading towards a trade war.Read more about this: https://sc.mp/a1e73f

Why the EU, US are concerned about China’s overcapacity

The US has been grappling with an opioid crisis for decades, but the problem has been exacerbated by the arrival of fentanyl – a synthetic drug 50 times more potent than heroin. What roles do China and India play in the global illicit fentanyl trade? Post correspondent Khushboo Razdan and independent investigative journalist Ben Westhoff walk us through their reporting.For more on this: https://sc.mp/8c9626

Unravelling China and India’s roles in the US fentanyl crisis

Domestic tourism in China is steadily recovering, but what about inbound tourism? Post senior correspondent Ralph Jennings has a look at who is visiting China and who is not and explores the various hurdles foreigners face when travelling to China.For more on China travel: https://sc.mp/facef8

Tourism trouble: post-pandemic hurdles of China travel

Hong Kong’s urban jungle was once regularly visited by wild tigers, with sightings of the big cats until the 1960s. While local history books only mention tiger killings in 1915 and 1942, the animals appear in oral accounts, newspapers and John Saeki's 2022 book The Last Tigers of Hong Kong – which tells tales of deadly attacks and terrified villagers hearing roars and frantic pig squealing. In this podcast, the Post tracks down Hong Kong’s links to the critically endangered South China tiger. 

Roars from the past: When wild tigers roamed Hong Kong

China is turning science fiction into fact, whether through the development of nuclear reactors for interplanetary space travel or the use of artificial intelligence to fight corruption. The Post’s science editor Stephen Chen and science reporter Holly Chik discuss some of the latest achievements by China’s scientific community and how the country is nurturing the next generation of scientists.Read the latest on China science: https://sc.mp/a3caf7

274 million Chinese take a holiday: why ‘golden week’ 2023 was different

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