07 July 2017 (Friday) – online

Dr Lisa Lim, Associate Professor in the School of English, talks about how 'kowtowing' acquire a negative connotation in English, in her fortnightly Post Magazine column: Language Matters.

"The practice dates back to the Qin dynasty, when subjects prostrated in front of the emperor as an act of respect, but it was only after foreigners visiting China found the practice disdainful that the word came to mean ‘submissive’"

Please click on the following link for the complete article:

http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/2101547/how-kowtowing-acquired-negative-connotation-english

Source: SCMP