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Chinese master director Zhang’s latest is more style over substance as spies hunt a mole providing the West with intelligence
Back in the 1980s and 90s, Zhang Yimou (Ju Dou, Raise the Red Lantern) was acclaimed as one of the most talented directors to emerge from film-makers whose work broke with the socialist realist style of their predecessors. While still working within the establishment industry, the fifth generation – including Chen Kaige and Tian Zhuangzhuang – were considered to varying degrees if not quite dissident, at least somewhat heterodox and anti-authoritarian. Either way, having started out as a cinematographer, Zhang quickly became an arthouse darling abroad, feted for his lush visual style, his command of highly kinetic action sequences (as seen in wuxia extravaganzas like Hero and House of Flying Daggers) and eye for spotting and showcasing great female actors, such as Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi.
Today, in a very different political and national landscape, Zhang doesn’t have the same heroic, darling-of-the-west aura anymore. He’s become an establishment figure and chief engineer of state-sponsored spectacles like the opening and closing ceremonies for the Beijing Olympics and Winter Olympics. If, , you can’t entirely separate politics from art, then Zhang’s latest, Scare Out, looks like pro-state propaganda, given it is about spies trying to flush out a mole among their ranks who is smuggling super-secret tech to nefarious western rivals.

Donald Trump says deals ‘end our foolish dependence on foreign sources’, while Japanese PM hails enhanced economic security
Japan has drawn up plans for investments in US oil, gas and critical mineral projects worth about $36bn under the first wave of a deal with Donald Trump.
The US president and Sanae Takaichi, Japan’s prime minister, announced a trio of projects including a power plant in Portsmouth, Ohio, billed by the Trump administration as the largest natural gas-fired generating facility in US history.

China seems to be winning more hearts and minds abroad. Has it gotten better at soft power?

Eye-catching martial arts performance at China gala had viewers and experts wondering what else humanoids can do
Dancing humanoid took centre stage on Monday during the annual China Media Group’s Spring Festival Gala, China’s most-watched official television broadcast. They lunged and backflipped (landing on their knees), they spun around and jumped. Not one fell over.
The display was impressive, but prompted some to wonder: if robots can now dance and perform martial arts, what else can they do?

China Media Group's 2026 Spring Festival Gala drew widespread attention with a performance of humanoid robots that appeared to do martial arts alongside young performers. However, as the videos spread, viewers expressed both admiration and unease over the accelerating development of the machines. Experts have mixed views.

CEO said services have restarted after termination of grants led to criticism that US was ceding ground to China
Radio Free Asia has resumed broadcasts to people in China, its chief executive said on Tuesday, after Trump administration cuts last year largely forced the US-funded outlet to cease operations.
For years, RFA and its sister outlets, including Voice of America (VOA), had been financed with funding approved by the US Congress and overseen by the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM).

From the heart of Beijing to far-flung Manila, Panama, Moscow and New York, communities around the globe ring in the lunar new year

Interim president José Jerí voted out by country’s congress amid scandal concerning secretive meetings
Peru’s interim president has been forced out of office in an “express impeachment” after a political scandal over his .
Lawmakers voted by 75 votes to 24 to proceed with the removal of José Jerí, who had been at the helm for just four months.

Diners rarely question the price of French food or Japanese omakase. Chinese American chefs want their cuisine at the same table.

My group, Swim Deep, plays to crowds of hundreds across the UK – but in China, we play to tens of thousands. And we’re not the only ones
When I joined the band Swim Deep 13 years ago, my dreams were much like those of any young musician: to play Glastonbury, to tour America and to hear our music on the radio – all of which we’ve managed to achieve. But what I hadn’t counted on was finding a fanbase in China. Despite us never having knowingly released our music there, Swim Deep recently returned triumphant from our fourth run of shows on Chinese soil in barely 10 years, and we’re not the only British indie band benefiting from this unexpected opportunity.
China has had an enthusiasm for British and Irish pop acts for years, long before its ¥500bn (£531m) music industry overtook France to become in 2023. Jessie J became a phenomenon after winning the country’s premier singing competition in 2018, while Westlife have spent decades playing to thousands in Chinese arenas and stadiums. But less heralded is a growing interest in grassroots UK indie bands, for whom the unexpected demand – and promise of excellent pre-gig catering – presents a financial and spiritual lifeline as returns increasingly diminish on home soil.

The New York designer Kim Shui may be best known for her elevated club goddess looks for Hailey Bieber and Dua Lipa—or for showing up to fashion events like the CFDA Awards looking like an ...

Japanese prime minister’s refusal to back down over Taiwan comments brings more criticism and travel warnings from China
Chinese tourists are continuing to shun in large numbers, with the country falling out of the top 10 destinations for those celebrating the lunar new year with a trip abroad.
Japan has had a dramatic drop in the number of Chinese visitors since the end of last year as a between Tokyo and Beijing over the security of continues.