Dear ST reader, 

As we hop into the Year of the Rabbit, or Cat if you're in Vietnam, the region is welcoming travellers from China and the tourism dollars they bring even as it worries about a surge in Covid-19 infections. 

This week, we feature a dying trade in East Asia and look at what’s being done to keep it alive.

Homecoming for millions

This year is the first time in three years that millions of Chinese migrant workers can head home for Chinese New Year after strict Covid-19 curbs were lifted last month. But some employers are dangling freebies – from money to movie tickets – to entice workers to stay put as they ramp up production to make up for lost time, correspondent Aw Cheng Wei reports.

And as correspondent Danson Cheong finds out, the sudden lifting of Covid-19 restrictions have caught Chinese drugmakers off guard, as demand for fever-related medicines surged.

Read also: China’s ancient capital Xi'an tiptoes out of Covid-19’s shadow 

Commentary: How I ended up being one of China’s last ‘quarantinees’ 

Opinion: Why the Chinese lunar calendar’s animals pop up across the region

Women of the sea

For centuries, women divers in South Korea and Japan have collected shellfish for a living by diving to the sea floor just by holding their breath. They are a dying breed but efforts are being made to keep their trade alive.

Correspondents Chang May Choon and Walter Sim look at who the modern haenyeo and ama are and what keeps them going.

Watch: In South Korea, from hairstylist to haenyeo

Watch: In Japan, from mermaids to mermen

Strategies for multiracial societies

Learn tolerance and acceptance. This is Singapore veteran diplomat and professor Chan Heng Chee's advice to young people living in a world of increasing identity politics, in the latest episode of Conversations on the Future with host US bureau chief Nirmal Ghosh. 

Watch: What makes Singapore’s multiracialism and multiculturalism work

ICYMI: US entrepreneur Sara Menker on challenges facing food and energy supplies

Relook sarong kebaya?

National carrier Malaysia Airlines' plan to change the sarong kebaya of its air stewardesses has met with criticisms. Some say the airline should improve its customer services and focus on employees' welfare instead, reports correspondent Zunaira Saieed.

Read also: Malaysia's deputy youth and sports minister is an activist at heart

Also in the news: Malaysian scam victim's ordeal

Survival game plan

Taiwan appears to have shifted the emphasis from the numbers game in diplomatic recognition to more informal means of raising its profile. Success, though, carries the risk of escalating cross-strait tensions, writes Taiwan correspondent Yip Wai Yee.

Assembly line dangers

Several thousand workers lose their fingers every year in automobile manufacturing hubs across India due to unsafe working conditions. India correspondent Debarshi Dasgupta delves into the dark side of India’s booming auto sector.

Moonlight clan

Young Taiwanese who spend their entire wages by the end of each month are known as the yue guang zu, or literally “moonlight clan”. Find out how this Chinese term came about and why it is so hard for these young people to save in Yip Wai Yee's Letter from Taipei.

Also in the news: S’pore company throws lavish $4.35m staff dinner for 26,000 in Taiwan