What Hong Kong cinema can take away from a popular Chinese war film

South China Morning Post - Sep 20, 2026

In late August, I took my parents to see Once Upon a Time in the Middle East in their small-town cinema on the mainland. Built around an unnamed conflict widely understood to be the US-led Iraq war, the film has become the kind of phenomenon no marketing budget could buy, projected to reach 2.5 billion yuan (US$372.5 million) largely through word of mouth. Its Hong Kong and overseas release will revive geopolitical arguments over a Chinese commercial film entering a narrative world long...

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Shark sightings draw crowds at Busan's North Port

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Repeated shark sightings at a waterfront park in Busan’s North Port have drawn crowds of curious visitors, prompting city authorities to step up safety measures while monitoring the sea creature’s return to open waters. A shark estimated to be at least 3 meters long was first spotted at around 8:57 a.m. on Friday in a waterway at the port’s Waterfront Park, according to city officials. Another shark sighting was reported at around 1:05 p.m. the following day. The creature was believed to be a basking shark, a species found in subtropical waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans, including waters off the Korean Peninsula. Although the species is not known to be aggressive, city officials said it could still pose a danger if provoked or approached too closely. The Korea Coast Guard initially tried to guide the shark out of the narrow waterway. But it suspended the effort after the National Institute of Fisheries Science advised that forcing the animal away could trigger defensive or aggressive behavior. Instead of deterring visitors, the unusual sight quickly turned the park

BTS performs at iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas

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BTS has performed at a major U.S. music festival, appearing as a closing act, its label BigHit Music said Sunday. The septet performed four songs — "Swim," "2.0," "Mic Drop" and "FYA" — at the 2026 iHeartRadio Music Festival at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Friday. The annual festival also featured Cardi B, Snoop Dog and Benson Boone alongside the K-pop superstars. It marked BTS' first appearance at the festival in six years. BTS is set to begin the Latin American leg of its "ARIRANG" world tour on Oct. 2 in Bogota, followed by stops in Lima, Santiago, Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo.

BTS, BLACKPINK lead K-pop charge in Best Group race at MTV VMAs

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K-pop-linked acts make up half of the Best Group race at this year's MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), with BTS seeking to reclaim a title it held four years running and BLACKPINK looking to defend the trophy it took home last year. MTV announced nominees for four social media vote categories Friday (local time), naming BTS, BLACKPINK, rookie boy group CORTIS and global girl group KATSEYE for Best Group. They will compete against British girl group FLO and U.S. acts Fuerza Regida, Geese and Twenty One Pilots. The addition brings BTS' nomination tally to three for the event, following earlier nods for Song of the Year and Best K-pop for "SWIM," the lead track of its fifth studio album, "ARIRANG." The septet won Best Group four consecutive times from 2019 to 2022, the most by any act in the category's history. CORTIS also has three nominations. Last month, the group earned its first-ever VMA nods for Best New Artist and for Best K-pop with April's "REDRED." The five-member group, which launched just over a year ago, is the most recently debuted act in the Best Group lineup. KATSEYE received f

Hong Kong’s first 5-year plan to give firms more long-term certainty: Paul Chan

Hong Kong’s first 5-year plan to give firms more long-term certainty: Paul Chan

Hong Kong’s first five-year plan will give businesses greater certainty to make long-term investment decisions amid a volatile external environment, the city’s finance chief has said. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said the plan’s targets and timelines would allow companies to see the city’s direction over the next five years and better align their plans with the government’s. “The significance of planning lies not only in the document itself, but also in looking at today from the...

Reporter’s note: two Delhis, one weekend – when the world came to dinner

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I grew up in Delhi. Not Lutyens’ Delhi, that quieter, greener stretch of tree-lined avenues and high-walled colonial bungalows where the VIPs live. But close enough to know that two cities share one name. One Delhi is generally messy. Rubbish piled into small mountains by the roadside. No footpaths to walk on. Narrow streets marked as one way, with every kind of traffic coming at you from every direction, and then simply stuck. And the dust. Not a film on the windowsill, but something you...

Chinese team fixes panda's crooked jaw in first-of-its-kind procedure

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Chinese lawyers offer coaching for when corruption busters come knocking

Chinese lawyers offer coaching for when corruption busters come knocking

Zhang Dongdong has been fielding ever more requests for legal advice from jittery entrepreneurs, nervous government officials or their desperate relatives. They usually do not tell him the whole story, and sometimes say it happened “to a friend”, but most want to know the same thing: what to do when they are targeted by China’s corruption busters. “Some had received a tip-off that they were being investigated, some got a call from disciplinary inspectors asking them to cooperate, but in most of...

China advances lunar spacesuit, bed rest research for moon landing

China advances lunar spacesuit, bed rest research for moon landing

China advances lunar spacesuit, bed rest research for moon landing

Xi sends condolences as Hong Kong’s first leader Tung Chee-hwa honoured in state funeral

Xi sends condolences as Hong Kong’s first leader Tung Chee-hwa honoured in state funeral

Hong Kong is bidding farewell to its first post-colonial chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, on Sunday at a state funeral – only the third time a Hongkonger has received such an honour since the 1997 handover. Tung, who died at the age of 89 on September 8, led Hong Kong through a series of ups and downs, including the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the 2003 Sars outbreak and the V-shaped economic recovery that followed. Sunday’s funeral follows a vigil held the previous day at the Hong Kong Funeral...

Analysts tip a stronger hand for China ahead of Xi-Trump summit in Washington

Analysts tip a stronger hand for China ahead of Xi-Trump summit in Washington

When the presidents of the United States and China meet in Washington, the world will be watching to see whether their two countries can make good on their agreement to work towards “constructive strategic stability”. In the second part of a series, Fan Chen looks at Beijing’s stronger position going into the high-stakes visit. Beijing is poised to begin this week’s summit with Washington from a position of strength, bolstered by a flurry of recent diplomatic outreach. Chinese confidence could...

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