South China Morning Post

Less than a month after Baby Jane Allas was diagnosed with stage-three cervical cancer, she received another blow.

On February 17, while the 38-year-old woman was on paid medical leave prescribed by a Hong Kong government doctor, Allas was given a dismissal letter.

Her employers were terminating her contract because of her illness.

Still shaken by the diagnosis and her unemployment, Allas said: “I feel so upset… My main concern is: how am I going to get medical care and the meds I need?”

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On an otherwise unremarkable Saturday in a central Chinese city, hundreds of workers at the world’s largest iPhone assembly plant lined up to quit their jobs.

In the years since robust sales of the iPhone turned Apple into one of the biggest companies on the planet, the workers in the city of Zhengzhou had never seen anything quite like this: a slowdown in the demand for their labor.

“In 2017, we were churning out iPhone 8s. I was thrilled that I could work 11 hours every day and didn’t take…

In the Inkstone index, we break down China into the simplest possible chunk: a single number. What can one number tell us about China? Quite a lot.

All Chinese people are good at math. Right?

The stereotype has taken a beating after the country’s subpar performance in an international high school math competition – a field in which it has traditionally excelled.

Now Chinese people online have accused the government of stifling the nation’s talent through a dogmatic approach to education.

In this year’s Romanian Master of Mathematics contest, an annual event for high school pupils, the Chinese team came sixth – with the Americans taking…

Photos of a cat said to have been subjected to cosmetic surgery had the Chinese internet all riled up this week.

That is, until vets familiar with the procedure explained that the operation was most likely done for medical, not cosmetic, reasons.

But as far as truth is concerned, it’s too late. It’s just one of many examples of how false news is propagated on social media – even if the social media platform in question is censored more extensively than any other.

The far-fetched case of…

I simply must remove my shoes before I enter a house. Outdoor footwear – as a repository of disgusting things picked up from soil surfaces, pavements and public toilets – has no place in the home.

It’s often assumed the Chinese have always followed this practice.

But for about 1,000 years before the 20th century, most stepped into their homes without removing or changing their shoes.

Historical records show that early on, the Chinese did remove their shoes, because they sat on the floor,…

“Before” and “after” weight loss photos; diet pills touted as cures for sadness; the social stigma attached to weight gain: throughout the world, societal and cultural norms are teaching young people to associate their body size with success, or lack thereof.

For many young people, growing up with these pressures is resulting in eating disorders that last well beyond their teenage years.

Growing up in Hong Kong and finding my passion in the academic field of psychology has led me to become…

China is tightening rules on gene-editing, after a Chinese scientist prompted a global outcry by claiming that he had edited the genes of a pair of newborn twins.

In a draft regulation released this week, China’s National Health Commission proposed a stringent approval process for biomedical research and heavy penalties for scientists who evade oversight.

The proposal, which is now up for public consultation, was made after “China’s Dr. Frankenstein” He Jiankui said he had edited the genes of…

Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody is hot off four wins at the 2019 Oscars, including a Best Actor going for Rami Malek’s performance as the band’s lead singer Freddie Mercury.

Now it’s been given permission to open in the lucrative and massive China market – with a few small changes.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the biopic will open in mid-March only after cuts are made to the film to remove portrayals of drug use and several kisses between Mercury and other men.

That’s a pretty major…

In the Inkstone index, we break down China into the simplest possible chunk: a single number. What can one number tell us about China? Quite a lot.