The Uniquely Southeast Asian Sport of Sepak Takraw
Sepak takraw may have been around since the 15th century, but it’s no forgotten relic. Find out more about the history of this fast-growing sport – and its bid for Olympic recognition
Asia’s Age-Old Beauty Trends
Across Asia, women throughout the ages have decorated their faces in pursuit of specific beauty ideals
Entering the Yali Tribe
Where waters run wild and forests grow free, there are groups of people who live alongside Nature in perfect harmony. Tribes across the world...
The serenading suitors of the Philippines
Under a courtship ritual called harana, it was compulsory for Filipino men to sing to their sweethearts
Spiritual Skin
For centuries, indigenous tattooists working across Asia have marked human skin with powerful designs and symbols in their quest to signal ethnic identity and render the body sacred. Carried through life and onwards into death, these marks of humanity testify to an ancestral legacy that is in danger of gradually fading away.
China’s Attempt at Mitigating Plastic Waste
Text: Sitaraah Joshi
Imagine looking over an endless sea of overcrowded, cluttered waste. Such is the plight of the heaps of rubbish that have been...
The Politics of Sports in the Asian Games
Sporting competitions conjure images of athletic prowess and physical feats, with all the fanfare hiding the deft political manoeuvring required to bring these events to life. A closer inspection of the Asian Games reveals a political tapestry reflective of the deeply complex relations of the member states.
Tribal Wedding Customs Across Asia
Text by Simon Koh, Joan Koh, Selina Tan Illustration by Richard Cagomoc
Mention weddings and what comes to mind is the father of the...
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Asia’s Sweet Success: The History of Ice Cream in Asia
by Selina Tan
The concept of a frozen dessert is one that goes back thousands of years. By pouring a mixture of salt and ice over containers of liquid syrup, the Chinese were creating a rudimentary form of ice cream as long ago as 2000 BC. The resulting frozen product...
The Pyramid of Gunung Padang
Megalithic site in Indonesia could be the oldest in the world
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PeruGunung Padang is once again making headlines as the first pyramid in Southeast Asia and the oldest megalithic site in the world.Recent discoveries as deep as 90 feet found the hill-pyramid to contain...
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
(Photo: Graphicaartis/Corbis)
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon has captured the imagination of historians worldwide for centuries. Yet, its existence remains a debate as years of digging have turned up nothing about the lost Gardens.First described in a book called Babyloniaca by a Chaldean priest named Berossus in 280 BC, the...