Life Style

Hours after New Delhi and Islamabad launched their worst conflict in nearly three decades, Indian businesses cashed in on a surge in nationalism with T-shirts and bags glorifying the military.After a deadly attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22, New Delhi launched strikes deep into Pakistan’s territory as part of what it named “Operation Sindoor”.India blamed Pakistan for backing the attackers who killed 26 civilians. Islamabad denied it and called for an independent inquiry.A ceasefire was reached on May 10 after four days of fighting, but a massive wave of nationalist support for the military operation continues unabated in India.T-shirts featuring “Operation Sindoor” on display at a store in Ludhiana, India. Businesses have cashed in on the recent flare-up in the...

Indian writer, lawyer and activist Banu Mushtaq has won the 2025 International Booker Prize for her short story collection Heart Lamp.The 77-year-old is the first author of literature in Kannada, a language spoken predominantly in the southwest Indian state of Karnataka, to receive the prestigious literary award for translated fiction.“This moment feels like a thousand fire flies lighting a single sky – brief, brilliant and utterly collective,” Mushtaq said at a ceremony at the Tate Modern gallery in London.“I accept this great honour not as an individual but as a voice raised in chorus with so many others.”Mushtaq reacts after winning the 2025 International Booker Prize. Photo: APMushtaq will share the £50,000 (US$67,000) prize with her translator, Deepa Bhasthi, who also helped choose th...

Each year, paddlers gather at waterways around Hong Kong to race to the sound of beating drums for the annual Dragon Boat Festival. Also called the Tuen Ng Festival, it is observed on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, this year on May 31.The festival is a time to indulge in zongzi – pyramid-shaped, bamboo-leaf-wrapped glutinous rice dumplings that can be steamed or boiled, with fillings sweet and savoury.Legend has it that 2,000 years ago, Chinese poet and patriot Qu Yuan drowned himself in protest against the imperial government, much to the horror of local villagers. To stop the fish from eating his body, they threw sticky rice dumplings into the water. Today, zongzi are synonymous with the Dragon Boat Festival.In Hong Kong, the most common zongzi are Cantonese-style sticky rice du...

Chinatowns are often portrayed as gritty underworlds riddled with prostitution, gambling and drug trafficking. Some of this is rooted in truth, but that unfair depiction is largely the result of rampant xenophobia and cultural ignorance, especially in the West.In a series of articles, the Post explores the historical and social significance of major Chinatowns around the world and the communities that shape them.Sydney’s Chinatown is a reflection of how the Chinese-Australian community helped shape the city’s identity.Its story mirrors Australia’s complex relationship with immigration, from the “White Australia” policy to today’s celebration of multiculturalism and the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.From its humble beginnings in The Rocks to its current home in Haymarket, Chinatown has...

4/5 starsIn It Was Just An Accident, women in Iran can choose to appear and work in public without headscarves, and wear Western-style bridal dresses in the open. Modern bookshops do brisk business, and – perhaps most strikingly – paroled dissidents can rebuild their lives without hassle from the authorities.In contrast to his previous films, the twice imprisoned Jafar Panahi – who is now allowed to work and travel freely after having his convictions overturned by Iranian courts – seems to have set It Was Just An Accident somewhere in an imagined, brighter future, when authoritarianism and religious dogma have receded into the distance.As suppressed anguish takes over, however, the film turns into one dark nightmare. Could past traumas be so easily forgotten – and how should those who suff...

In the first episode of television series Mr Lyan’s Taste Trips, the eponymous British bartender goes behind the scenes at the first malt whisky distillery to open in Japan a century ago.The host, whose actual name is Ryan Chetiyawardana, meets Shinji Fukuyo, master blender at Yamazaki Distillery in Osaka.He also chats to Hidetsugu Ueno, one of Japan’s best known bartenders, who makes him a White Lady cocktail at his Bar High Five in Tokyo, and visits a convenience store to recommend his pick of RTDs (ready-to-drink cocktails).Chetiyawardana, who has won dozens of bartending awards, owns multiple bars. His Dandelyan establishment, now closed, topped the World’s 50 Best Bars list in 2018.Ryan Chetiyawardana, host of Mr Lyan’s Taste Trips, samples a dram of whisky with Yamazaki Distillery’s ...

Nguyen Thi Thanh, the Vietnamese woman whose food was praised by celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain – who nicknamed her “Lunch Lady” – has died at the age of 58 in Toronto, Canada.Nguyen Thi Thanh had just arrived in Toronto, Canada, to help prepare for the opening of the Lunch Lady restaurant there on June 3 when she went into cardiac arrest and medical personnel were unable to revive her, according to the social media post.The post said Thanh was with loved ones when she died.“We were ready to welcome her. To honour her. To celebrate this moment together. And now, we are mourning an immeasurable loss,” it read.“Cô Thanh wasn’t just the heart and soul of The Lunch Lady. She was a mother figure, a mentor, a quiet master of her craft. Her food told stories. Her presence made people feel seen. ...

The influential Chinese social media platform RedNote – also known as Xiaohongshu – can easily make a business and has turned some Hong Kong restaurants into must-see attractions for visitors from mainland China.But can users of the platform also break a business?This past month, a minor online tempest brewed when mainland Chinese tourists who dined at Kau Kee, a Hong Kong beef brisket noodle joint on Gough Street in Sheung Wan, complained about the experience they had while patronising the tiny venue.The negative comments ranged from the noodles and brisket being hard and inedible to dismissive staff who ignored the frustrated guests’ complaints.It seems enough users concurred with the reviews that a local news site reporting on the social media controversy called it a “firestorm”.People ...

The thumbs up gesture has long ruled the internet and has had a major impact on social media engagement – so who came up with it and why?

K-pop girl group I-dle, formerly known as (G)I-DLE, are starting a new chapter.Their latest album, We Are, was released this week, their first since the group renewed contracts with their agency and officially changed their name.The five-member act – Soyeon, Minnie, Yuqi, Miyeon and Shuhua – debuted in 2018 with the breakout hit “Latata”. The group reaffirmed their future in 2024 when all members renewed their contracts with Cube Entertainment.On May 2, the band announced they would drop the “(G)” from their name in time for their seventh anniversary.“The group will no longer be defined by ‘girl’, ‘gender’ or any other label,” Cube had said, promising “limitless” music and concepts moving forward.The members say the change was long overdue. Miyeon recalled that the members had long discuss...