We Chinese like the number 10. We even have a term, 十全十美, also commonly used as a Chinese New Year greeting. Transliterated, it says “ten complete ten beauty”, and it is possibly the inspiration behind the retail phenomenon in Asia known as 10.10 – and yes, my Shopee and Lazada carts are stacked with discounted items ready to go when the sales drop.
Now, being the practical and efficient Chinese people that we are, my partner and I decided two years ago that the last couple of weekends in September were too close to my sibling’s birthday and my parents’ anniversary, so we’d wait to declare the 10th of October our official anniversary. 10/10 would keep, as we said to each other. And since she reads my Substack and points out my occasional, embarrassing typos or missing links, today’s Monday Briefing is dedicated to you, love.
A crash course in early Chinese food culture – and yes, dogs feature prominently. trigger warning content warning etc.
Oldie but an absolute goodie by Venkat on How to Name Things, thanks to Ben @hiredthought for initiating the conversation.
My partner and I were initially sceptical of this “award-winning” Singaporean TV series, now available on Netflix, but Joanne Peh acquitted herself admirably. The English dialogue is anachronistic, of course, but the Cantonese terms of address are spot on. We recommend the Last Madame for a weekend binge.
Borgen, that sleeper hit that crept up on me, and the political lessons we can glean from it.
The Chinese have long thought that the nature of mental health is communal.