A mother pays tribute to the sons she lost
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Yahoo
06-08-2025
- Yahoo
Find great ‘chai kuih' at Pandan Jaya's Si Xiang Restaurant together with well-crafted ‘tong sui' and various snacks
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 6 — Depending on which part of the city you're located, different food items appear more often as community favourites. Around the Ampang area, the Teochew chai kuih is much loved for a light breakfast or even just as an afternoon snack. This shop located near to the famed Jia Li Mian Noodle House in Pandan Jaya is a wonderland for all kinds of snacks, light bites and even frozen food. It's mainly a takeaway joint but a few seats at the back can curb your snack cravings immediately. Many come here for the chai kuih – steaming away in an enormous steamer fronting the shop – said to be made in-house. Four different flavours – yam bean, pumpkin, chives, taro – can be selected for RM1.20 per piece. Fronting the restaurant is a multi-tier steamer that hides the 'chai kuih'. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi Each plump morsel is wrapped in a translucent skin, pinched in the middle to resemble a leaf-like shape. The skin is thin, slightly stretchy but doesn't break easily as you use your chopsticks to daintily pick up a piece. Each maker has their own proprietary recipe to create that all important skin, which needs to be resilient yet not too thick to upset the ratio of skin to filling, affecting your mouthfeel. This version also feels healthier as it's not slick with oil, as some kuih makers use oil to allow inexperienced hands to handle the whisper thin skin easily. The generous fillings do not disappoint too, each flavour catering to different preferences, from savoury to sweet, or soft to slightly crunchy. Bubur Cha Cha (left) comes with chunky sweet potatoes and mochi for a sweet treat as one can select the Tomyam Fried Beehoon (right) with its light, piquant flavours. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi Traditionally, it's yam bean and this version is slightly sweet with soft-crunchy textures mingled together. Softer fillings are the ones with pumpkin and taro, with a creamier mouthfeel for the sweet pumpkin and a fluffier bite for the cooked taro that has a hint of savouriness. Take away your 'tong sui' to enjoy at home like the thick Red Bean Black Glutinous Rice Dessert (left) and Ginkgo Barley (right). — Picture by Lee Khang Yi Gleaming a vibrant jade green, the Chinese chives with dried prawns has a strong flavour of onion and garlic, a trademark of this vegetable. It comes with an orange coloured chilli sauce. complementing the chai kuih with a zingy flavour rather than heat. Here, the snack game gets better with their homemade tong sui, six varieties prepped daily. Yam Cake is substantial with tiny bits of taro and an aromatic topping of fried dried prawns and fried shallots. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi Bubur Cha Cha was my pick, since it's pretty scarce on menus and this version is heavy on the ingredients, especially the soft chunks of purple and orange sweet potatoes. The purple hued coconut milk was light and easy to drink with the chewy mochi too. Other picks I decided to takeaway were their super thick Red Bean Black Glutinous Rice Dessert and the heat busting Ginkgo Barley, essential for these hot days. The tong sui is priced at RM3.80 for a small portion. Golden, flaky Kaya Kok are a crowd favourite with their regulars. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi On the cards here, expect homemade simple meals, assorted kuih from Aroma Nyonya, baked goods and packed food like nasi lemak Pulau Ketam and mee Siam. Try their Tomyam Fried Beehoon, lightly fragrant with torch ginger flower and chillies, fried with vegetables and omelette strips. Options to add a fried egg or fried chicken are also available. For the nasi lemak Pulau Ketam (RM3.70), it's pretty plain with just a small portion of their trademark tiny prawns and spicy sambal. Go for the hefty Yam Cake (RM5) topped with fragrant fried dried prawns and fried shallots for a more substantial snack, paired with the same zingy chilli sauce used for chai kuih. The shop is filled with all kinds of goodies that you select from the counter or WhatsApp to order for a quick pick-up. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi Apparently the Kaya Kok (RM5) is a crowd favourite, as seen by this lady who took away at least three boxes of the pastry with her! The golden flaky pastry is half filled with thick pandan kaya, making it a good snack on the go. A chicken version for RM7 is also available but less sought after. Orders can also be made via WhatsApp to book the chai kuih and if you want the convenience of dining at home or the office, you will need to arrange for delivery yourself. Previously at another shoplot down the road, this new location puts them nearer to the popular Jia Li Mian Noodle House. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi Si Xiang Restaurant, No. 33, Jalan Pandan Jaya 2/2, Pandan Jaya, Kuala Lumpur. Open: 8am to 4pm. Closed every second Tuesday of the month. Tel:016-4012729* Follow us on Instagram @eatdrinkmm for more food gems.
Chicago Tribune
12-07-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Biblioracle: Yiyun Li writes about life after her sons' suicides in ‘Things in Nature Merely Grow'
When I heard what Yiyun Li's new book, 'Things in Nature Merely Grow,' was about, my first thought was that I could never read it. The book was written in the aftermath of the suicide of her son James in 2024 at age 19, which followed the previous suicide of her son Vincent at age 16 in 2017. These plain facts seem unbearable, a loss beyond comprehension, and I could not imagine an encounter with this kind of grief. But soon I could not shake the idea that if someone had been able to write through these circumstances, I had to read it. 'Things in Nature Merely Grow' is, in fact, not a book about grief. Li writes, 'I am against the word, 'grief,' which in contemporary culture seems to indicate a process that has an endpoint: the sooner you get there, the sooner you prove yourself to be a good sport at living and the less awkward people around you will feel.' Li goes on to say she is not interested in such endings. 'I don't want an endpoint to my sorrow. The death of a child is not a heat wave or a snowstorm, nor an obstacle race to rush through and win, nor an acute or chronic illness to recover from. … Thinking about my children is like air, like time. Thinking about them will only end when I reach the end of my life.' The book then is about what Li calls life inside an 'abyss,' the abyss marked by the deaths of her children. This is very much still a life filled with activities like gardening, piano lessons, time with friends, and of course writing because Li is a writer. Writing is her work, but it is also more than that. The chapters are organized as brief essays extending from an event that triggers thoughts and associations which Li gathers, not necessarily to make sense of — because this is sometimes not possible — but to notice. This starts with the opening chapter as she explores the words the authorities used both times she and her husband were notified of a child's death, 'There's no good way to say this.' This sentence becomes both a warning to the reader, and by the end, a statement of triumph. There is no way to say this, except over the course of these 23 chapters, many things have been said. We come to see James, a savant-like genius who speaks and reads half a dozen languages and is bringing up the Higgs-Boson particle at the dinner table as a grade-schooler. He is shy and kind and we learn that he and Vincent seemed to take a particular delight in each other, brothers and best friends. It feels tragic that these marvelous young people are not in the world, but also miraculous that they had time in the world together. Li resists becoming the sage or offering advice. She is living in this abyss, writing from this place that she cannot and in many ways does not want to escape because it is where her children remain. After reading the book, I do not know if I truly have any better understanding of what it means to live with this loss, but perhaps this is Li's point. 'Things in Nature Merely Grow' suggests a fatalistic worldview. There is no purpose beyond growth and this growth ends with death. These things have happened. Lives continue. What is the alternative? John Warner is the author of books including 'More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI.' You can find him at Book recommendations from the Biblioracle John Warner tells you what to read based on the last five books you've read. 1. 'Original Sin' by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson 2. 'Scoop' by Evelyn Waugh 3. 'Stella Maris' by Cormac McCarthy 4. 'The Passenger' by Cormac McCarthy 5. 'Turning Life into Fiction' by Robin HemleyI'm going to take a shot with a book I think Mike won't know, but should have a pretty good pull in terms of plot and action, 'The Devil All the Time' by Donald Ray Pollock. 1. 'Dream State' by Eric Puchner 2. 'The Names' by Florence Knapp 3. 'Murder in the Dollhouse: The Jennifer Dulos Story' by Rich Cohen 4. 'The World Played Chess' by Robert Dugoni 5. 'The Berry Pickers' by Amanda PetersFor Audrey, I'm recommending a great mix of drama and mystery, 'So Much Pretty' by Cara Hoffman. 1. 'Innocent' by Scott Turow 2. 'Presumed Innocent' by Scott Turow 3. 'Blood Brotherhoods: A History of Italy's Three Mafias' by John Dickie 4. 'The Red Sparrow Trilogy' by Jason Matthews 5. 'Moscow X' by David McCloskeyI'm hoping Nate has not yet dipped into Mick Herron's 'Slow Horses' series because he's in for some pleasurable hours of making his way through. Get a reading from the Biblioracle Send a list of the last five books you've read and your hometown to biblioracle@
American Military News
04-07-2025
- American Military News
Censor-busting dissident shines light on overworked Chinese students
This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission. An 8th grader from Hunan province was 'extremely stressed' — for good reason. His top-ranking middle school demanded he study 85 hours a week, with just two days off a month. 'Teachers threatened us that if we reported it, we would be expelled from school,' the student wrote. His story and more than 4,000 like it have been submitted anonymously to a crowd-sourcing website that is shining a light on overworked Chinese students who are nervous about speaking about their plight to authorities. The site is called The creator says that is a dark reference to the brutal schedule common at Chinese middle and high schools: classes from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. which leaves students 'sick in ICU' – or 'intensive care unit.' And while it's not state-sanctioned, the site appears to be having an impact. Within two months of its launch, many Chinese schools have announced a return to regular class schedules. is the brainchild of an exiled Chinese pro-democracy activist, Li Ying, better known by his handle on the social media platform X, 'Teacher Li is not your teacher.' Li, 32, is a former artist turned dissident influencer. He has become one of the most prominent voices challenging Beijing's censorship. He's best known for reposting online content that is too sensitive for China's social media platforms, such as public protests. Li innovates not just in promoting the free flow of information but also in funding it. In December 2024, he launched a meme coin, or form of cryptocurrency, called $Li. With the proceeds from coin sales, Li says he wants to build a decentralized youth community that promotes democracy, free speech and positive change in China. The $Li community has also focused on the plight of China's overworked labor force, but the biggest impact to date has been with Climb over the firewall Li said he did not expect so many Chinese students to be willing to 'climb over the firewall' and report to him on X, which is banned in China. Mainlanders need to use virtual private networks, or VPNs, to access and comment on his posts. Li, who is based in Italy, has more than 2 million followers on X and is one of the most influential young Chinese dissidents overseas. During the pandemic, when many citizens chafed against authorities' 'zero' tolerance of social interactions, people sent him videos and photos of protests against Chinese policies. At first, he reposted them on Chinese microblogging platform Weibo, but after his Weibo accounts were deleted by Chinese authorities multiple times, Li migrated to X. Since then, he's served as a hub for sensitive news about China, putting him firmly in the crosshairs of Beijing. Li recounted to Radio Free Asia his epiphany in how he could help publicize the concerns of citizens that go unaddressed by authorities. He received a video showing petitioners lining up outside the State Bureau for Letters and Calls in Beijing at midnight, where they hoped to submit their grievances when the office opened the next day. He said he was struck by how difficult and exhausting the petitioners' journey must have been. 'Many people jokingly say that petitioning inside China doesn't solve their problems, and it's only after I post about them that things actually get resolved,' Li said. This inspired him and his team to develop the concept of a 'China Overseas Petition Bureau' — a virtual platform where people wouldn't have to queue, and one that operated beyond the reach of China's censorship. The goal was to present Chinese citizens' appeals in full, without filters or restrictions. In January, after receiving several messages from high schoolers complaining that they were being forced to return to school too soon after the winter break and were feeling overwhelmed — Li decided to first apply the 'China Overseas Petition Bureau' concept to students, which led to People can anonymously fill out data through the website, including daily and weekly school hours, days off each month, reports of suicides, and other information about their school – such as extra costs for after-hours classes. These submissions are then reviewed multiple times by content moderators who flag suspicious entries. The website also provides data analysis based on the submissions. It shows that 56% of students reported spending 60 to 100 hours at school per week, and 35% reported studying more than 100 hours per week. Sixty percent reported that their classes start before 8 a.m., which violates regulations from the Chinese Education Bureau that prohibit middle and high schools from starting classes before 8 a.m. On Feb. 1, shortly after went online, information began to circulate on Chinese social media platforms indicating that schools listed on the site were delaying the start of the spring semester. In mid-March, Li posted two photos on his X account that purportedly showed Beihai middle school principal Wang Jiangang publicly denouncing him during a school assembly. In a message on a large screen, Wang alleged that students unwilling to study were 'being brainwashed into feeding information' to Li. The school had restored a two-day weekend after winter break, and according to the message, the principal said this was due to the impact from Li. Li's opponents downplay his impact in this instance and say the photos of the school principal's message were doctored. They also say that education bureaus across China already had plans to reduce students' workload, and that the emergence of around the same time was just a coincidence. Alang, a staff member of who is being identified by a pseudonym for security reasons, disputed that version of events – as do other supporters of Li, who hope that ordinary citizens might be able to push the Chinese government to make policy changes through collective action. 'I'm not saying the two-day weekend policy was entirely pushed by Li,' Alang told RFA. 'But I do think Teacher Li played a certain role in it.' Breaking through China's information blockade team includes a dozen young Mandarin speakers scattered across the globe, including in mainland China. The project coordinator, identified using the pseudonym Jiangbu due to safety concerns, knows only the time zones and internet identities of the interviewees. To ensure team safety, applicants must pass security tests, including proficiency in using Telegram groups and in using two-factor authentication for their email accounts. Raised in Hong Kong, Alang, a design college student responsible for creating graphics for was always curious when his relatives in mainland China talked about the intense academic pressure there. Alang says his family members remain unaware of his association with Li. Despite security measures, Jiangbu revealed that some team members, including himself, have had their identities exposed. Their parents in China were questioned by authorities in China, who labeled them as 'foreign anti-China forces.' According to Li, the website faced serious cyber attacks in May, with 'dozens of AI-generated deepfake submissions flooding the site every second.' Despite the intense pressures, the team members said they're committed to what they are doing and to combating what Jiang calls 'this greatest and most authoritarian empire.' 'Everyone knows about the problem of overtime studying in China,' a staff member using the pseudonym Aaron Zhang for security reasons said. 'But there was no way to understand how severe it really is, or its regional distribution.' For Zhang, the far-reaching significance of the ICU project lies in overcoming China's control of official data, to which the public has gradually lost access. At the same time, the Chinese government has tightened restrictions on third-party data providers working with foreign entities. Researchers warn that these moves will make it increasingly challenging for companies, governments and academics to assess China's future developments in key sectors. Li's projects attempt to overcome the information blockade by prompting citizens to submit data voluntarily, although there is a downside. When data is submitted anonymously it's hard to verify its authenticity. Not long after the overworking student project took off, Li and his team launched another initiative: a crowdsourcing project targeting workplace overtime in China. At the time of publication, it has collected data from 4,962 entities across China, including responses from state-owned enterprises and government departments. The statistics show that 79% of respondent entities work six to seven days a week. Nearly 40% reported working more than 12 hours per day. In a flagging Chinese economy, has not created the kind of stir that has. Li attributes that to the benefit that the government derives from the status quo where few workers enjoy a two-day weekend. 'The more intensely factories exploit workers, the more profit the [Chinese] government can extract from it,' he said.
