A respected doctor in China called a brutal knife attack that robbed him of his surgical career “a pleasant surprise” because it forced him to reassess his life.

Tao Yong, an ophthalmologist, spoke one year after a patient, Cui Zhenguo, stabbed him in the head and arm with a vegetable knife at Beijing’s Chaoyang Hospital, where he is head of ophthalmology.

Tao sustained injuries on the back of his head and the neck and stayed in ICU for two weeks.

The doctor required surgery to save his hand…

The biggest mass arrests under the national security law in Hong Kong took place on Wednesday morning as 53 former opposition lawmakers and activists were rounded up for their roles in a primary election run-off last July.

Inkstone looks at the controversial democratic primary and why it triggered Beijing’s ire.

What was the opposition’s primary about?

The 35-plus strategy was drafted by Benny Tai Yiu-ting in March last year. Tai was an organizer of the Occupy Central protests that ground…

A company in China has imposed a controversial rule by fining employees who take more than one bathroom break during their shift.

The factory said it imposed the regulation to improve efficiency after discovering that some workers were spending time in the bathroom playing games on their phones or smoking cigarettes. 

According to photos published online by disgruntled employees last week, the factory in the city of Dongguan, in the province of Guangzhou fined six workers US$3 for using the…

Young people in China have recently embraced new ‘unofficial’ laziness rules in the workplace to protest against a modern work culture they believe is far too demanding without sufficient rewards. 

In a snub to China’s rat race and expectation to work long hours, Generation Z is calling on their comrades to start slacking off, or as they have dubbed it, “touching fish,” or “mo yu.”

Among the rules for laziness are doing stretches in the office pantry, using the most toilet paper in the…

In his final weeks in office, US President Donald Trump has issued a wave of controversial pardons to family members, close allies and Blackwater guards who killed Iraqi civilians. 

United Nations experts said the pardon of four Blackwater contractors violated international laws that obligate countries to hold their war criminals accountable for their crimes. 

But controversial presidential pardons are hardly unique for outgoing presidents. US President Bill Clinton pardoned 176 people on his…

Families with smokers from poor parts of China are 10% more likely to live in poverty than people from the same region who don’t smoke. 

A recent study by a Beijing-based research team found over 23% of families with at least one smoker were found be to be poverty-stricken, compared with just over 13% of those without. The survey analyzed more than 2,400 households in eight less-developed provinces in China.

Overall, the tobacco use rate in poor areas is higher than the national average,…

Major cities in China are trying to lower the din on public transportation by introducing “quiet cars” or punishing people for using their phone speakers with no headphones on the subway. 

In China, there are differences in opinion about whether or not being noisy in public should be regarded as impolite because it can be interpreted as a sign of vibrancy and energy.  

But for large swaths of the younger generations, it is important to be quiet on public transportation to show respect to…

A Chinese province will obligate companies to provide women with menstrual sick leave days starting in March, 2021. 

The announcement from the provincial government of Liaoning, a province in northeastern China, renewed worries that such “protective policies” will actually worsen gender discrimination in the workplace. 

The rules stipulate that companies must provide their employees with one or two days of sick leave for women on their menstrual cycle, provided they have medical proof of…

Perhaps BTS’ next song should be titled Time heals all wounds because four years after China banned the K-pop supergroup, their songs have finally returned to Chinese airwaves. 

In a promising sign this week that suggests warming relations between the two nations, the band’s hit song Dynamite was played on Beijing radio.

One academic described the move as “hopeful”, but said it was too soon to tell if the nations’ long-running disputes would end. 

Since 2016, relations between China and…

The year 2020 will be everyone’s to remember, no matter how much we would like to forget. 

Living through a pandemic that has changed lives and the course of history, and the ripple effects will be felt for years to come. 

But it also reminded us of our core humanity, be it racing to save our beloved pets, some whimsy in the form of a camel or our willingness to get outraged over minor slights. 

As a holiday treat, we have selected five stories that reminded us of the complexity and audacity…