· February, 2014

Stories about History from February, 2014

Myanmar's Last Remaining Synagogue

  24 February 2014

Built 120 years ago, the Musmeah Yeshua synagogue in Yangon is the last remaining Jewish synagogue in Buddhist-dominated Myanmar. Aside from being a tourist attraction, it is also listed as an archaeological heritage building in the city.

Assessing Myanmar's Democratic Transition

  19 February 2014

Tomás Ojea Quintana, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, concluded his mission by assessing the country's democratic transition: For the time being, the military retains a prevailing role in the life and institutions of Myanmar. State institutions in general remain unaccountable and the judiciary is not...

Revisiting the Era of Foreign Domination in Cameroon

  16 February 2014

Dibussi Tande revisits the era of foreign domination in Cameroon in the context of the Guiness Mount Cameroon Race: The first three editions of the Guinness Mount Cameroon Race were won by local Bakweri runners. By the time of the 4th edition in 1976, an aura of superstition had already...

Why It's Hard to Say “I Love You” in Chinese

  16 February 2014

Roseann Lake from ChinaFile explores why it's hard for Chinese to say “I Love You” in their own language from historical and sociological perspectives. The piece has also introduced an experiment about Chinese brain and its relation to love and romance. 

PHOTOS: Saigon in the Past 50 Years

  14 February 2014

The Saigoneer features several photos published by the French Consulate in Saigon, Vietnam that highlight the changes that took place in the city between 1955 and 2005. Slideshow: How Saigon, #Vietnam Changed from 1955 – 2005 http://t.co/mdfjPyQGgz pic.twitter.com/Z6teefeXLo — Saigoneer (@Saigoneer) February 12, 2014

When Genocide is, apparently, a Laughing Matter

  7 February 2014

French humorist Nicolas Canteloup has come under fire for a sketch making light of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda [fr]. Following the outrage,  Mr Canteloup has yet to apologize for the sketch. Audrey Kucinskas, a blogger for the Plus asks the logical question: “can anything be a laughing matter?” [fr]:  Rire du...

French Influence on Vietnamese Cooking

  6 February 2014

Writing for The Culture Trip, Melissa Pearce reviews the French impact on Vietnamese cooking: The French brought many ingredients and flavours to Vietnam, most popular and noticeable upon entering the country is probably the baguette, which the Vietnamese adapted and today create their own style of baguette using rice flour.