Chinese food
How do you eat soup inside a dumpling?
Xiaolongbao are little steamed parcels with hot broth inside. There is a reason people pause before the first bite.
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Chinese food
A rice parcel with a leaf wrapper
Zongzi look like little leaf parcels. Inside, a cook might put pork, egg yolk or something sweet.
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Chinese food
What would you put in a wonton?
A Shanghai wonton can carry pork, greens and a bit of local history inside its wrapper.
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Everyday China
Can you collect stamps at a science park?
A Beijing programme turned technology parks into a trail with activities and stamps. The best question is what visitors learn between the checkpoints.
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Places & Regions
Why put insects next to jewellery?
A Beijing insect museum pairs specimens with jewellery, asking visitors to see how natural shapes become human designs.
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Everyday China
Would you try a citywide navigation game?
A Shanghai sports programme included orienteering through the city. It makes a familiar street feel different when finding your way is the challenge.
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Places & Regions
Can a skatepark change a riverfront?
Shanghai's West Bund has space for skating and other sports. The interesting question is who gets to use a city when a riverfront changes.
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Everyday China
What would you ask at a friendship camp?
A Shanghai youth camp brought students from many countries together. The most interesting part might have been the questions they asked one another.
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Language & Meaning
Can a verb stay the same yesterday?
An English verb changes for yesterday or for “she”. Mandarin often keeps the verb's form and uses other clues to show time and meaning.
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Language & Meaning
Why does a word not need a space?
Chinese text can look like a continuous row of characters to an English reader. Readers still recognise words; the spaces simply work differently.
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Language & Meaning
Is every Chinese character a picture?
Some characters began as pictures, but treating every modern character as a drawing makes reading harder, not easier.
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Language & Meaning
Typing Chinese without thousands of keys
A Chinese keyboard does not need a key for every character. Typing can begin with how a word sounds.
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