Miao Costumes And Music From Guizhou

By CCHQ Team

A man dressed in a traditional costume walks to the centre of the stage. In his hand he carries a leaf, and when he blows through it he is able to draw out musical notes. Suddenly the audience recognises the tune. It’s Auld Lang Syne.

Shaolin Circus - Kung Fu Spectacle

By CCHQ's Fraser Newham

Government civil servants taking a look out of their office windows must have wondered what they were puting in the canteen coffee. For there, on the neat lawn next to the Scottish Government building, a pack of Shaolin warriors were lining up ready for battle, striking with their shaved heads and bright yellow robes and armed with swords, halberds and all the tricks of the world’s most famous school of kung fu.

Cixi Part 1 : Mistress of The Forbidden City

By CCHQ's Fraser Newham

By all accounts the Empress Cixi loved to have her picture taken, but by the time the camera arrives in China she was an old woman and, inevitably, that is how history remembers her. In fact though she had arrived at the Forbidden City in Beijing in 1851 as a fresh faced girl of 16 – and, with the exception of occasional trips to imperial resorts, that is where she would remain for the next 57 years.

The Gaokao - China's National University Entrance Exam

By CCHQ's Fraser Newham

In the UK teenagers and more than a few adults too have nightmares about their A levels, Highers and GCSEs. In the US, it’s the SATs. In China it’s the thought of re-sitting the ‘ gaokao ’ that wakes up successful professionals in a cold sweat in the early hours – the national college entrance exam, sat by high school graduates in early June each year and the basis on which places are allocated at Chinese universities.

Behind The Scenes At The Beijing Olympics

By CCHQ's Fraser Newham

Involving 11,000 athletes from 204 countries and watched by an estimated 4.7 billion people worldwide, the 2008 Beijing Olympics were, no question, the biggest party in the world that year – in fact, with costs according to some estimates reaching a staggering $40 billion, they might just have been the biggest party of all time.

Hole In One : Chinese Golf Tourism

By CCHQ's Fraser Newham

China’s crowded cities may not be the easiest place to find space to open a golf course but China’s new rich are discovering the sport in increasing numbers and since 1985 the country has witnessed the most ambitious golf course building programme the world has ever seen. The country now has around six hundred courses, many of them world class – and in the home of golf, Scotland’s tourist industry has honed in on what just ...

Belfast's Healthy Chinese Takeaways

By CCHQ's Fraser Newham

For many in the UK a Chinese takeaway is a guilty pleasure – tasty, convenient but not exactly a healthy option. Now however thanks to an innovative city-wide programme and with the help of celebrity chef Nancy Lam, the citizens of Belfast really can have their egg roll and eat it – great tasting Chinese food that’s healthy too.

2 Chinese Fashions In The 20th Century - The Cheongsam And Samfu

By CCHQ's Fraser Newham

Fraser Newham interviews Valery Garrett, a Hong Kong based fashion historian, about her collection of traditional Chinese fashion (a significant part of which is now in V&A) and her recent book Chinese Dress : The Qing Dynasty to the Present, in which she charts the historical evolution of Chinese fashion from the flowing robes of the Qing dynasty to the skinny jeans and designer labels of China today.