Feature Stories

Utterly Loathsome Announcements

Q: What’s the first thing people do after stepping onto the escalator that leads to Suguo and upon hearing the instruction not to look at their phone while on the device? 问:人们踏上通往Suguo的自动扶梯后,听到指示不要在设备上看手机,首先做什么? A: Look at their phone. A:看看他们的手机。 My teenage daughter has a...

An Ambivert’s Guide to Announcements

Ambivert: someone with qualities of introversion and extroversion, finding comfort and energy in both social interaction and solitude depending on the situation. Ambivert:具有内向和外向特质的人,根据情况,在社会互动和孤独中都能找到舒适和能量。 Growing up with the internet, as my generation did, I should be comfortable with knowing when to make...

Phones, Phears & Phriends: Announcements through the Ages

Sharing is caring, as the old adage goes. Communication is at the heart of what it means to be human. Sharing stories, experiences, and information brings us closer together, allows us to progress as a species and keeps us...

Plotting & Revenge; English Teachers vs. AI

Despite all the talk of AI replacing human beings in the job market, it had seemed like a concern for a distant time. Perhaps this was the main reason the principal’s announcement still had her reeling.  “As of this semester,...

Nature, Nurture, Psychopaths; Made or Born that Way?

The dichotomy of the “nature vs. nurture” debate has been a key topic of conversation within the realm of psychology and philosophy for centuries on end. How, you may ask, do genetics and/or our environment contribute to the development...

Looking up; At China’s Cultural Incongruities

It seems almost unfashionable now to point out that China's rapid modernisation over the past few decades has led to some intriguing cultural incongruities, where ancient traditions coexist almost symbiotically with contemporary lifestyles. But it’s still one that fascinates...

Theories of Humour; Incongruity Resolution

Have you ever asked yourself, “What’s the funniest joke in the world?” 你有没有问过自己,“世界上最有趣的笑话是什么?” Well, Richard Wiseman, holder of Britain’s only Professorship in the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire has for his experiment Laugh Lab, 2002. He created the...

Welcome to Incongruous, with Terry Pratchett & John Keats

The idea of incongruity carries a bad rep. It's right there, in the word itself. “In” often implies something ineffective, inefficient or incompatible. But the picture becomes muddier when we consider inventiveness, ingenuity and incredibility. Hold that incongruity in...

Latest News

Iranians in China become more Visible than Countable

These things often start, not with a statistic, but with a voice; Persian heard in a lift, a WeChat...

Why Chinese Men Can’t Quit; Smoking, Face and the State

China has 300 million smokers, nearly a third of the world's total. The imbalance between the sexes is stark:...

US Dept of Justice Says Nanjing Firm Hacked NASA, Senate & More

A sharp new cyber case has put a Nanjing company at the centre of a much wider political row....

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