Minor Issues: Are ghosts real? And other pesky questions kids ask
These spirits are a hungry lot and, upon arrival, will feed on the offerings laid out by humans. Offerings such as sugar-laden cakes, breads and biscuits, as well as incinerated joss sticks and charred joss paper, all of which leads me to suspect that these poor souls have no fear of diabetes nor taste buds.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
11 hours ago
- Straits Times
Dog abandoned inside train in India stokes outrage amid crackdown on strays
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox A dog was found abandoned inside a train at Raxaul city in India's eastern state of Bihar. A dog was found abandoned inside a train at Raxaul city in India's eastern state of Bihar, reigniting public outrage sparked by a Supreme Court order to round up tens of thousands of stray dogs in New Delhi. A video that has been seen over 200,000 times on one Instagram account shows a white dog sitting alone inside a train that had just stopped at the Raxaul junction, panting, its chain leash tied to a seat. A report on said the dog was intentionally left behind by someone who boarded the train at a previous station early on Aug 16. Passengers boarding the train at Raxaul were surprised to see the dog that news reports described as 'clearly distressed and frightened'. They tried to unleash the dog, but it was by then already a nervous wreck. It was behaving aggressively. It kept barking and growling, and tried to bite those who got near. The train was held at the station for about 30 minutes. Station officials decided to let the dog stay inside the coach alone and let the train move on to the next station. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Emergency broadcast system to alert S'pore public of disasters on their mobile phones: Edwin Tong Singapore New annual course will groom future leaders of Singapore's Chinese community Singapore Grab users in Singapore shocked by fares of over $1,000 due to display glitch Singapore Singapore indie cinema The Projector owes over $1.2m to creditors Life Five things to do at Singapore Night Festival – from kampung chilling to spotting luminous crabs Asia Calls to cut ties: Malaysia flag furore tests PH-BN relations Singapore Proposals sought to develop Changi East Urban District next to T5 Business New CDC job-matching drive may bring overlooked front-line roles closer to applicants: Experts The dog was eventually safely removed from the train and turned over to the Animal Welfare Board. The video of the dog sitting alone and abandoned on the train set off a lot of hand-wringing on social media, mostly directed at the dog's erstwhile owner. 'Karma is watching and waiting,' commented one user on Instagram. Another chimed in: 'You can't escape your bad deeds.' 'Where is the Supreme Court?' one asked, referring to an issue that has riled animal rights advocates across India in recent weeks. 'Where's the Supreme Court' India's Supreme Court on Aug 11 ordered the removal of tens of thousands of stray dogs from the capital, citing public safety concerns after a surge in dog bites. India is home to millions of stray dogs, and deadly attacks – particularly on children and the elderly – are regularly reported by local media. At least 60,000 stray dogs live on the streets of Delhi, according to India's Livestock Census of 2012, the most recent data available. The court asked the city authorities to set up dog shelters within eight weeks, and maintain daily records of the canines captured. The order naturally led to an outcry among animal rights activists who staged rallies and lobbied politicians to get it rescinded. Many of Delhi's strays are beloved in middle class neighbourhoods, where they are even clothed in special canine jackets to keep them warm during winter. But these strays are also a hazard to humans , with the Indian media regularly reporting on the mauling of young children by aggressive dog packs. Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi in a social media post described the court's order as a step back from decades of humane, science-backed policy. Several Bollywood actors also joined the debate. 'Yes, there are problems – bites, safety concerns – but caging an entire community of animals is not a solution. It's an erasure,' posted actress Janhvi Kapoor. Peta India said in a statement that 'displacement and jailing of dogs is not scientific and has NEVER worked'. The chief justice of India's top court said on Aug 13 he would re-examine the order handed.
Straits Times
3 days ago
- Straits Times
Mandarin with Taiwanese characteristics: Taipei leverages language as soft power tool
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox – How do you say 'MRT' in Mandarin? In this particular Chinese language class, the correct answer is 'jieyun' – a Taiwan-specific term – and not 'ditie', which is used in mainland China. Reading comprehension exercises here can be about Taiwan's night markets, with references to stinky tofu and bubble tea; and writing is done in traditional Chinese characters instead of the simplified characters preferred across the Taiwan Strait. Finally, students might be prompted to practise saying where they are from with the following phrase: 'Wo shi tai wan ren, ni ne?' – I am Taiwanese, how about you? The scenes described above provide a snapshot of what lessons are like at a Taiwan Centre For Mandarin Learning (TCML) – the Taiwan government-funded overseas learning centres which, as they admit, offer Mandarin education with 'Taiwanese characteristics'. Since their introduction in 2021, Taiwan's Overseas Community Affairs Council has set up 88 centres across Europe and the United States, in major cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, London and Paris, as part of Taiwan's efforts to use Mandarin to promote cultural diplomacy. These centres are typically established within existing language schools or community associations, which receive Taiwan government funding and resources to cover operating expenses. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore I want to divorce my husband and be a single mother: More victims speaking up on emotional abuse Asia Dozens injured after magnitude 6.0 quake strikes Sulawesi, Indonesia, official says Singapore Buying hope: Inside S'pore's love affair with the lottery Singapore She won big in Genting, but getting $240k winnings back to Singapore was dicey World Trump drops Ukraine ceasefire demand after Putin summit Singapore Motorcyclist dies after multi-vehicle collision on TPE An estimated NT$541 million (S$23.1 million) so far has been spent to fund the programme. The programme is set to significantly extend its reach: In 2026, new centres will be established in Australia, Canada, Japan and New Zealand. Dr Elaine Chung, a Chinese studies lecturer at Cardiff University in the UK, told The Straits Times that it was unsurprising Taipei had selected those countries to set up language centres. 'These nations share democratic norms and are likely seen by the Taiwanese government as providing a favourable context for cultivating long-term international goodwill and political support amid intensifying cross-strait tensions,' she said. Taiwan faces the constant threat of invasion by China, which views the island as its territory and has in recent years ramped up its military and diplomatic pressures against it to assert its sovereignty claims. In a July speech addressing TCML's expansion plans, Taiwanese Deputy Foreign Minister Chen Ming-chi said that Mandarin education served as one of the island's most effective diplomatic tools. 'Mandarin language exchanges have brought Taiwan to the world and the world to Taiwan,' he added. If the TCMLs sound like Taiwanese counterparts to China's dwindling government-funded Confucius Institutes (CIs), that is because they were designed to be that way. Founded in 2004, CIs are language and culture education centres embedded in overseas universities and colleges, whose stated purpose is to promote Chinese language and culture. But as tensions between Washington and Beijing intensified in recent years, concerns have grown over the alleged use of CIs as tools for Chinese propaganda and espionage in American educational institutions. Critics have accused CIs of censoring discussions on issues sensitive to the Communist Party of China, such as the Cultural Revolution and alleged human rights abuses in Tibet. From a peak of roughly 100 CIs in the US in 2018, fewer than five remain operating in the country, according to a 2023 report by the US Government Accountability Office. A similar wariness about the rise of China's influence in parts of Europe has also led to rapid closures of some CIs in countries such as Sweden, Spain and Germany. Taiwan saw a chance to fill the void, teaching adult students its version of Mandarin – along with its democratic values – as Beijing's threats against the island have become increasingly aggressive. In 2021, Taipei launched the TCML programme and marketed it as an alternative source of Mandarin instruction that was open and democratic. Besides the programme, Taiwan also runs a long-running scholarship programme offered to international students, including from Singapore, to travel to Taiwan to study Mandarin. Another scheme involves sending Mandarin language teachers from Taiwan to teach in US universities. Dr Chung said: 'Taiwan's active promotion of Mandarin reflects its ambition to mobilise the language as a cultural resource that projects value-based soft power, emphasising its democratic and liberal identity as distinct from China on the international stage.' At London's Hua Hsia Chinese School – a TCML centre – some 70 students have signed up to master basic Mandarin while picking up factoids about Taipei 101 and how to identify cities and counties on a Taiwan map. Many students have some kind of connection to Taiwan, either by marriage or business ties. Ms Katja Ting, who runs the school, said she felt heartened by the show of interest in the course, despite the significant challenge in learning to read traditional Chinese characters versus simplified script. 'One of our students said that it has always been his dream to learn traditional characters because he thinks they're more beautiful,' she told ST in a video call. 'Our Japanese students also prefer it because the same characters are used in their Kanji writing system.' Experts noted, however, that the promotion of traditional Chinese script as a unique feature of Taiwan could also be its drawback. 'The education system in most countries teaches Modern Standard Chinese as it is spoken and written in China, which is 'putonghua' with simplified characters,' said Dr Jeffrey Gil, who has researched extensively on the topic. 'That means that TCMLs are teaching a kind of Chinese that most students haven't studied and which doesn't match their prior learning experiences,' said the lecturer from Australia's Flinders University. 'This raises questions about if and how TCMLs can connect with and contribute to existing Chinese language education programmes abroad,' he told ST. Dr Chung noted that despite the political controversy surrounding CIs, international students see the appeal of learning a version of Mandarin that is usable in China due to perceived academic or career advantages in the long run. After conducting interviews with 30 university students in the UK majoring in Chinese studies, she found that even as students were critical of China's political system, many preferred to learn the version of Mandarin as written and spoken in China. 'While Taiwan works to brand its Mandarin education as a progressive, liberal alternative, it struggles against the gravitational pull of China's global economic and political dominance,' she said. For Ms Ting, who heads the TCML centre in London, Taiwan's Mandarin education strategy should be seen as offering students an additional choice. 'That's better than thinking of it as a competition with China. Students will want to learn Taiwan's version of Mandarin for specific reasons, and it's good that they have this option,' she said.
Straits Times
4 days ago
- Straits Times
Minor Issues: Are ghosts real? And other pesky questions kids ask
SINGAPORE – The annual Hungry Ghost Festival is nearly upon us. Some quarters of the Chinese community believe that during the seventh month of the lunar calendar – between Aug 23 and Sept 21 in 2025 – the gates of hell will be thrown open and unleash a host of ghosts into the human realm. These spirits are a hungry lot and, upon arrival, will feed on the offerings laid out by humans. Offerings such as sugar-laden cakes, breads and biscuits, as well as incinerated joss sticks and charred joss paper, all of which leads me to suspect that these poor souls have no fear of diabetes nor taste buds.
