'Chin chin' is a Mandarin toast that became popular in Europe

Toasting with ‘cheers!’ comes from Anglo-French

Etymologists trace the word back to about 1200 CE, when Anglo-French became the vernacular after the Norman Conquest of 1066. “Chere” meant “the face,” or an expression, often of joy. After that, it was used in the 18th century as a form of encouragement before becoming a common toast in the 20th century.

Many early Chinese restaurants were aimed at travelers

As trade expanded throughout China's north and south in the 12th century, restaurants opened to offer traveling tradesmen their home region's cuisine while they were on the road: southern cooking for people visiting the north, and northern cooking for people visiting the south.

'Salud!' is a toast to one's health

The word is a shortened form of “para tu salud,” or “for your health.” The toast has become popular in Spanish-speaking countries as a shorthand for good health and general well-wishing. In Peru, the toast is usually made on New Year’s Eve with a sparkling wine, like Champagne or pisco sour.

The Irish 'sláinte!' spread outside the country thanks to immigration

The toast has spread globally because of the waves of Irish immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries. It’s not uncommon to find an Irish pub outside of Ireland, and if you step inside, you’re lucky to hear someone offer a hearty “sláinte!”

The Lunar New Year was widely celebrated until Mao Zedong and the Communist Party

In the 1960s, Mao ushered in the Cultural Revolution, an attempt to make China a more modern, industrialized nation. In keeping with this, he banned traditional holiday customs in favor of “revolutionary” actions like chanting Communist Party slogans and engaging in a “self-criticism” ceremony. These changes weren’t very popular and were quickly reversed after Mao’s death.

Danish cookies became a treasured Lunar New Year gift, thanks to their unique tin container

Hong Kong experienced an economic boom in the 1970s, which led to snacking, including on Western foods, becoming a cultural norm. Kjeldsens butter cookies became a popular treat, and their packaging, a distinct tin container, presented them as more refined than a simple snack. Instead, they were considered a worthwhile present for Lunar New Year.

How Tencent's QQ penguin became a national mascot

Created when Tencent launched the first version of its internet messaging platform, the company's winking penguin has become a ubiquitous cultural presence in China. The mascot has become a revenue generator, with Tencent licensing the character for cross-promotion with KFC, Midea Group, and more.

‘Namaste’ was popularized in the English language after India gained independence

The word, which roughly translates to “I bow to you,” is a greeting often used in yoga. The word began appearing in American publications more frequently following the country’s liberation, and was standardized shortly thereafter.

'The Chinatown Sting': Unraveling an international drug smuggling ring

In the late 1980s, a group of women connected through the mahjong parlors in Manhattan’s Chinatown were caught in a massive undercover drug bust. But this bust was just the beginning of an even bigger case.

A brief video explainer on the US 'One China' policy

Wondering what the "One China" policy means? This four-minute explainer video delves into which nations recognize Beijing as the seat of the Chinese government and which recognize Taiwan as such. Meanwhile, the United States of America views Beijing as the true government while maintaining relations with Taiwan, including selling them arms to protect themselves.

The long history of an ancient Andean beer made from corn

And often chewed before brewed. From dank chicherias in small towns to gourmet big-city restaurants catering to tourists, the traditional fermented-corn beverage chicha is still being drunk throughout the Andes. Read more here.

19th-century Americans discovered tipping in Europe

Tipping waiters was a custom in medieval Europe, where masters gave their serfs money for exceptional work. Wealthy Americans vacationing in Europe in the mid-1800s discovered the behavior and brought it back to the US.

Chinese citizens express both support and frustration toward smart city surveillance

Although surveillance is viewed as necessary for enhancing morality and enforcing regulations, many citizens adopt mental tactics to distance themselves from it. Surveillance is linked to China's historical "century of humiliation," following the Opium Wars and Japanese invasion.

A list of one guy's hundreds of fortune cookie fortunes

Simple idea: Eat lots of Chinese food, collect wisdom in the form of fortunes. Josh Madison held onto hundreds of these and lists them here, noting the ones he received more than once with a number.

Understanding the structure of the Chinese phonetic alphabet

Translating Chinese names from Chinese to English characters is a complex process, one in which the original name’s meaning can become muddled. This article uses graphics to explain the structure of Hanyu Pinyin, the most commonly used Chinese phonetic alphabet. Visualize how the Pinyin romanization system can lead to name ambiguity, and therefore make it challenging to identify individuals based solely on Pinyin.

Protesters in Boston tossed chests of a type of Chinese black tea called Bohea

There were hundreds of chests of loose tea dumped into Boston Harbor on Dec. 16, 1773, in protest. The tea was not bagged (tea bags were not invented for another 150 years), and they were not bricks, either, a common way to pack tea elsewhere in the world. The tea was mostly Bohea tea, a common Chinese blend of black teas originating from southeastern China.

What it means to call a bracket 'chalk'

If the tournament is rather boring, you might hear a curious word getting thrown around: "chalk." In short, it means that the favorites have been winning. The word's origins go back to horse racing and its sportsbooks, where bookies would post odds on chalkboards. Over time, the bookies came to be known as "chalk" and, years later, tournaments (and their brackets) that seemed to favor those bookies earned the name, too.

China is producing many peptides or peptide components sold in the US

In Silicon Valley, in particular, peptides have taken off, and are often coming from China—even though many of the products are unproven for their purported uses.

The ‘three-martini lunch’ was popularized on Madison Avenue

Advertising executives working on Madison Avenue in the 1960s and ’70s popularized the so-called “three-martini lunch” between businesspeople during the work week. Admen of the time supposedly believed alcohol brought more creativity to the second half of their workday. This article explains why three-martini lunches are no longer commonplace.

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

The simple melody in 'Auld Lang Syne' has led to the song’s repurposing

In addition to becoming a standard tune to ring in the new year, the song has been reworked as a Dutch soccer anthem, a Japanese standard, and the South Korean national anthem. A significant part of its widespread use is that it has no copyright limitations. It helps, too, that it's simple melody is easy for even the most amateur singers to tackle.

'Keep Calm and Carry On' was long-forgotten World War II propaganda

The British Ministry of Information developed the stoic phrase ahead of German attacks at the start of World War II in 1939. It was never officially released on posters and then lay dormant until 2000, when one of the remaining posters was discovered at a bookstore in the UK. It has since been adapted into countless memes.

See what people around the world eat for Christmas

Christmas meals vary widely around the world: the British serve roast turkey and Christmas pudding, many Italians celebrate with seafood-only feasts, Filipinos eat whole spit-roasted pigs, and Mexican families enjoy tamales.

Essential Catalan phrases you’ll need in Barcelona

When you go to a restaurant in Barcelona, you’ll probably get offered a menu in three languages: Spanish, English and Catalan. Catalan is one of the four official languages of Spain and the primary language schoolchildren learn in Barcelona. The language has become a source of pride and unity throughout the Catalonia region. So, here are some phrases you might hear and want to use in Barcelona.

Tinnitus is derived from the Latin verb tinnire, meaning to ring

Read the entry in The Physical Dictionary by Stephen Blankaart, from 1693, where the word first appeared in English.

A chopped cheese sandwich is a New York culinary staple

The sandwich is a cross between a hamburger and a cheesesteak, featuring ground beef, cheese, and seasoning on a roll. Its fans add whatever other fixings they like, including lettuce, tomato, onions, mustard, and more.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

The word 'jazz' evolved from 'jasm,' 19th-century American slang for 'energy'

El Niño, Spanish for 'the boy,' was named after Jesus Christ because the phenomenon resembled the weather changes observed around Christmastime.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.

After the Boston Tea Party, colonists switched to coffee, which became the main morning drink for revolutionaries.

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

The identity of the Tank Man in the iconic photo from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests remains unknown and was possibly killed.

A small portion of The Winstons' 'Amen, Brother,' an obscure '60s gospel record, is the basis for thousands of hip-hop tracks, making it one of the most sampled records ever that's informally known as 'the Amen break.'

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

The Mona Lisa's celebrity status and repeated restorations have obscured what made the painting so revolutionary for its time

In 2018, 26-year-old missionary John Allen Chau was killed by tribesmen after attempting to reach and evangelize on India's isolated North Sentinel Island

During the French Revolution, a botanist's letter asking about "dear Rhus" (poison ivy) was intercepted, leading authorities to suspect he was conspiring with the Russians.

The term 'algorithm' originated from the Latinized name of al-Khwārizmī, a 9th-century mathematician whose works introduced Arabic numerals and the decimal-based numeral system to Europe and whose treatise 'Al-Jabr' gave algebra its name.

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

The Brothers Grimm were lawyers before they were storytellers, and became interested in fairy tales as they began investigating how rules and customs had been passed down through cultures.

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

Objects can be 3D printed with light by projecting 2D computerized tomography (CT) scans onto rotating cylinders of resin, which solidify upon exposure.