A man in southwestern China has sparked widespread criticism after holding a wedding with one woman and a celebration for his baby with another at the same venue on the same day. According to The Beijing News, Wu Linfeng, from Liupanshui, Guizhou province, held a wedding ceremony with Kong Sihan on the first floor of a restaurant while hosting a 100-day celebration for his son with his former girlfriend, Lin Si, on the second floor. One poster at the venue showed Wu and Kong in wedding attire...

A mainland-produced film about a Chinese restaurant in Baghdad that became a wartime refuge has been selected as China’s entry for next year’s Oscars, bringing global attention to untold stories from the Iraq War. Directed by Wen Muye and starring Shen Teng and Jiang Qiming, Once Upon a Time in the Middle East became a box-office hit after its domestic release in China in August, earning more than 2.3 billion yuan (US$344 million). The film follows Xu Fu, a chef who travels to the Middle East to...

Across China, a new breed of freelance “robot trainers” are wearing motion-capture gear to turn everyday household chores – picking up cups, opening bottle caps and washing dishes – into data that will teach tomorrow’s machines. The data is later converted into training sets to help robots work in settings ranging from kitchens and factories to supermarkets. Such roles are increasingly advertised on mainland social media and job platforms. They reportedly pay trainers between 4,000 yuan and...