SHANGHAI — China has largely blocked the WhatsApp messaging app, the latest move by Beijing to step up surveillance ahead of a big Communist Party gathering next month. The disabling in mainland China of the Facebook-owned app is a setback for the social media giant, whose chief executive,...

At first glance, it could be the courtly maze of an English country manor - albeit with some rather large gaps. But a tech-savvy eye will instantly see the green design for what it is - a massive QR code. These high-tech barcodes are hugely popular in China...

Shortly after North Korea launched the Hwasong-12 in May, the scientists who developed the intermediate-range ballistic missile were honored on the streets of Pyongyang as national heroes. “The buses carrying them went through the streets of the capital full of flowers of welcome,” KCNA, the state-run news agency, reported at...

Chinese vendors are facing backlash for selling customized photos and videos featuring African children via Chinese online marketplace Taobao. As reported by Beijing Youth Daily, these photos and videos have recently become popular as a way to deliver messages for birthdays and other meaningful occasions. They can be purchased...

China is to launch an online version of its national encyclopaedia next year, to compete with Wikipedia. Officials said more than 20,000 people had been hired to work on the project, which will feature 300,000 entries at about 1,000 words each. Unlike Wikipedia, it will be created by...

THE VOORHES FIERY. FIERCE. SINUS-CLEARING.Anyone who’s stood within wafting distance of a marathon knows the smell: Tiger Balm. The classic pain-relieving ointment can be traced to a Chinese herbalist who began selling it in the 1870s; subsequently commercialized by his sons, it’s been sold around the world ever...

If you had invested in gold a decade ago, the value of your investment would now have increased by a substantial 82 percent. If you had chosen to put that cash in the bank instead, then you would have actually lost money. People in the Philippines, Vietnam, and...