Patrick Boehler

Journalist | Blog | Twitter | Weibo

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Maricel: A Maid’s Tale Kristine Servando and Robin Fall produced this year-long multimedia project documenting a domestic helper's journey from Manila to Hong Kong and back.

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Whatever the Distance My report from Male' for the magnificent Caravan magazine in India on how Maldivians are coming to terms with their government's and economy's complete embrace of China.

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China Venture Investing, Driven by Mobile, Soared to Record Level in 2014

China Venture Investing, Driven by Mobile, Soared to Record Level in 2014

Venture capitalists opened up the spigot in China in the fourth quarter of 2014, blowing away the previous record for yearly total investment.

Investors poured $15.5 billion into deals during the year, more than twice the previous record of $7.3 billion set in 2011 and the highest amount since VentureSource began collecting data on China in 2006. Dow Jones VentureSourceis a database from Dow…

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The Maldives - a new place in the sun for China's tourists

On the last day of her holiday in the Maldives, Zang Kun and five fellow travellers from China splurge on imported tofu at the newly opened Beijing Restaurant near the white-sand beach on the island of Hulhumale.

Zang travelled to the remote Indian Ocean destination in search of a quiet place to rest, far from China’s hectic tourist spots.

(more…)

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Tigers and Flies: the Chinese Communist Party's anti-corruption campaign

Tigers and Flies: the Chinese Communist Party’s anti-corruption campaign

How two years of graft probes have shaken China’s political élite… Visit SCMP.com for the full data visualisation.

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Q&A on segregation in China’s privatised cities Researcher Luigi Tomba talks about how China's cities have turned to gated communities to keep their residents in check.

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Chinese traders flog Colombian cocaine, crystal meth and fake identities in ‘deep web’ markets

Chinese traders flog Colombian cocaine, crystal meth and fake identities in ‘deep web’ markets

Chinese underworld traders are now making inroads into “crypto markets”, the notorious trading places of contraband goods and untraceable digital currencies,  in the “deep web” where sites are not reachable by search engines.

The South China Morning Post has found several traders on crypto-markets operating from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong.

  Read more on SCMP.com.

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Record censorship of China's social media as references to Hong Kong protests blocked Censorship on Chinese social media has reached a new record this year as the mainland’s editors of public debate rushed to quell conversations on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests.

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Hong Kong’s back-room bookies go global thanks to online betting Online gambling has transformed back-room Hong Kong bookies into global business behemoths, many with worrying links to organised crime.

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Q&A: The fates of 200,000 Chinese workers in Russia during the first world war

Q&A: The fates of 200,000 Chinese workers in Russia during the first world war

Labourers met tragic ends, while others went on to build an Arctic railway or joined the Soviet Red Army – which preceded even China’s Communist Party, says author Mark O’Reilly. (more…)

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‘It’s wildly absurd’: Son of two Canadians in China spying probe dismisses allegations The son of two Canadian citizens detained in China over alleged espionage has spoken out to dismiss the allegations against his parents.

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Myanmar court slaps prison sentences on eight Chinese militants accused of murder A court in Myanmar has sentenced eight Chinese nationals to lengthy prison terms for transporting an arsenal of firearms and hand grenades while they lived in the country illegally.

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Timeline: Zhou Yongkang's fall from grace

Timeline: Zhou Yongkang’s fall from grace

An interactive timeline tracing China’s disgraced security czar’s career from his ancestral home in Jiangsu to the Zhongnanhai Communist Party leadership compound in Beijing.

(more…)

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Peking University students win bittersweet victory against ‘elitist’ academy Student campaigners have reacted with mixed feelings after the success of a rare public protest against a proposed “elite” training school at China’s most prestigious university. 

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Macau gambling kingpin facing charges in the US was an envoy for San Marino Asian gambling kingpin and alleged triad member Paul Phua Wei-seng was San Marino's ambassador to Montenegro for more than three years until the tiny city state revoked his diplomatic status shortly after his arrest in Las Vegas earlier this month on illegal betting charges

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Big fish of online gambling snared

Big fish of online gambling snared

A private jet sits on the runway at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. For its owner, Paul Phua Wei-seng, the US$48 million plane with the registration number N888XS, may not be as lucky as its number sounds.

The 50-year old Malaysian is one of eight people, three from Hong Kong, who are accused of operating an illegal soccer gambling ring in Las Vegas hotel suites that United States…

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The forgotten army of the first world war Our latest SCMP interactive on how Chinese labourers helped shape Europe. Read more on SCMP.com.