Michelle Ng

1 month ago | straitstimes.com | Michelle Ng

BEIJING – Back in mid-2024, instead of selling her 180 sq m home in Beijing at a loss of 100,000 yuan (S$18,400), communication manager Emily Wang decided to rent it out. “At that time, the resale housing market was declining month by month, and the price that the unit could fetch was lower than expected and kept dropping, so I thought it was not worthwhile to sell,” she told The Straits Times. Instead, the 34-year-old collects 11,000 yuan monthly for renting out the unit.

1 month ago | straitstimes.com | Michelle Ng

ZHECHENG COUNTY, Henan – There is no airport and the nearest high-speed train station is an hour’s car ride away, through the vast fields of red peppers that are used to make the popular chilli crisp Lao Gan Ma.In the heart of the sleepy county, there is just one unassuming four-storey mall, where the most well-known brands are Haidilao and Huawei. Food is cheap here – a hearty bowl of noodles costs around 10 yuan (S$1.80).

1 month ago | thechasernews.co.uk | Michelle Ng

Recently, a student from a well-to-do family – her parents spend a million a year sending two kids to boarding school in the UK – confessed to me what she really wanted to do was to study music at university. Mindful of the mentality of Chinese parents as implied in this joke – “I’ll push my kid to practice the violin, but if she wants to be a violinist I’ll do everything in my power to stop her” – I shared with her the realities of working in the arts.

1 month ago | straitstimes.com | Michelle Ng

BEIJING – China continues to face difficulties in stabilising its employment situation in an uncertain external environment, but will promote entrepreneurship to create jobs, a top Chinese official said on March 9. As a record-high 12.22 million college graduates are expected to flood the job market in 2025, stabilising and expanding employment remains “an arduous task”, said Ms Wang Xiaoping, China’s Minister of Human Resources and Social Security.

1 month ago | straitstimes.com | Michelle Ng

BEIJING – Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi spoke on a range of topics on March 7 on the sidelines of the Two Sessions, China’s most important political event of the year. Here are six key highlights from his 90-minute press conference during which he answered questions posed by both international and local media. 1. China will “provide certainty to this uncertain world”China has positioned itself as a firm supporter of multilateralism.