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5 days ago | 
tolerance.ca | Ming Gao
By Ming Gao, Research Fellow of East Asia Studies, Lund University
One of the most sought-after items of 2025 isn’t a designer handbag or the latest tech gadget. It’s a plush elf with a snaggle-toothed grin. Labubu (拉布布) is a global sensation.
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5 days ago | 
theconversation.com | Ming Gao
One of the most sought-after items of 2025 isn’t a designer handbag or the latest tech gadget. It’s a plush elf with a snaggle-toothed grin. Labubu (拉布布) is a global sensation. From David Beckham and Rihanna to Dua Lipa and Blackpink’s Lisa, celebrities – and even members of the Thai royal family – have been spotted showcasing their Labubu collections.
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3 weeks ago | 
theconversation.com | Ming Gao |Joanna Elfving-Hwang
Liberal candidate Lee Jae-myung has won South Korea’s snap presidential election with a clear lead. With all of the ballots counted, Lee won almost 50% of the vote, ahead of his conservative rival Kim Moon-soo on 41%. He takes over a country that is deeply divided along gender lines. Lee’s campaign effectively channelled voter anger.
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3 weeks ago | 
onlinelibrary.wiley.com | Chengjie Wei |Xiaomin Hou |Xuelu Jiang |Ming Gao
1 Introduction Hair greying, also known as canities, is one of the most common phenotypic and apparent ageing-associated occurrences in humans [1]. Typically, the onset of hair greying happens at the ages of 34.0 ± 9.6, 43.9 ± 10.3 and 39.0 ± 9.0 in Caucasians, African Americans and Asians, respectively [2]. Scalp hair is vital for sustaining individual self-confidence and self-esteem [3].
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4 weeks ago | 
theconversation.com | Ming Gao |Timothy Amos
Japan’s agriculture minister, Taku Etō, resigned on May 21 just six months into his term, following a public backlash to his joke that he never buys rice because supporters give it to him for free. Gaffes are by no means uncommon in Japanese politics. Controversial remarks by one former prime minister, Tarō Asō, were routinely followed by retractions – and the ruling Liberal Democratic party (LDP) even distributed a gaffe-prevention manual to its members in 2019.
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1 month ago | 
onlinelibrary.wiley.com | Xuewei Wang |Ming Gao |Hongxin Li |Congyang Jia
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST The authors declare no conflict of interest. Supporting Information Additional Supporting Information may be found online in the supporting information tab for this article: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jipb.13930/suppinfo Filename Description jipb13930-sup-0001-Supplementary_Figures.docx1.4 MB Figure S1. Relative expression levels of SlRAE1 and predicted conserved domain of SlRAE1 Figure S2.
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2 months ago | 
theconversation.com | Ming Gao
China has spent much of the past two months shoring up friendships both near and far. Two rounds of ministerial meetings with regional rivals Japan and South Korea took place in Tokyo and Seoul at the end of March. And earlier in April the red carpet was rolled out for the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, for his second visit to Beijing in less than seven months.
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Mar 28, 2025 | 
mdpi.com | Yujia Wang |Wenfu Wu |Jie Xu |Ming Gao
All articles published by MDPI are made immediately available worldwide under an open access license. No special permission is required to reuse all or part of the article published by MDPI, including figures and tables. For articles published under an open access Creative Common CC BY license, any part of the article may be reused without permission provided that the original article is clearly cited. For more information, please refer to https://www.mdpi.com/openaccess.
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Mar 20, 2025 | 
bworldonline.com | Ming Gao
CHINA’s marriage rate is in steep decline. There were 6.1 million marriage registrations nationwide in 2024, down from 7.7 million the previous year. This decline has prompted Chen Songxi, a Chinese national political adviser, to propose lowering the legal marriage age from 22 to 18. The drop in China’s marriage rate has been driven by a combination of factors. These include increased economic pressures, evolving social attitudes towards marriage, and higher levels of education.
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Mar 19, 2025 | 
thehansindia.com | Ming Gao
A shrinking and ageing population is often cited as the greatest challenge for Chinese economic growth and social stability. Human Rights Watch says that women and girls in neighbouring countries are typically tricked by brokers who promise well-paid employment in China. They find themselves at the mercy of the brokers once they reach China, and are sold for between US$3,000 (£2,300) and US$13,000 to Chinese men China’s marriage rate is in steep decline.
