Chinese Dinner Table Culture

An old Chinese saying goes: "People regard food as their prime want." The greeting words of Chinese people are so distinctive and well-known around the world: “have you eaten?” People often greet their friends or acquaintances in this way in China. Though this custom has changed among young people and is most prevalent in rural areas, it shows how Chinese people attached great importance to their food.

In China delicious food is often linked with festivals and celebrations and has a great deal of symbolism. For instance, Jiao zi (dumpling with meat and vegetable stuffing) eaten during the Spring Festival is said to bring wealth to people, because the shape of Jiaozi resembles the ancient Chinese currency which is called “jin yuan bao” in Chinese.

Nian gao, a kind of rice cake eaten during the Spring Festival connotes a better life, for the Chinese pronunciation” nian gao “is the same with another phrase which means getting higher and higher in Chinese.(everything is getting better every year.)

Moon cakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival have become an indispensable part of the life of Chinese people. The moon cake is like a full moon. In Chinese, a full moon stands for reunion. So the Mid-Autumn Festival is usually for a family reunion in China.

“Tang Yuan”, otherwise known as rice dumpling also symbolizes family reunion, for the Chinese “Yuan” means reunion. Tang Yuan are usually eaten during the Spring Festival when family members gather for a reunion.

Fish is another auspicious totem for Chinese people. In Chinese, the pronunciation of fish “Yu” is the same as another word which means more than enough. That is why a fish is an indispensable dish for the Spring Festival. People hope that they always have more than enough every year.

China is a vast land with a large number of minorities. The culture connected with food varies from region to region, and from minority to minority as well. You are sure to find more symbolism on the Chinese dinner tables the longer you spend travelling in China.

Douhua Mixian - Tofu pudding and rice-noodles with sauce

(Chinese:豆花米线; Pinyin: dòu huā mǐ xiàn)

Kunming is located in South-west China, where rice is the staple food, so Kunming folk love to eat foods made of rice. As a result, Mixian (rice noodles) have been popular in Kunming for centuries.

If you go to Kunming, you shouldn’t miss tasting Douhua Mixian. Created by a military attaché’s wife hundreds years ago, Douhua Mixian has become a famous and featured snack of this city. The taste of Douhua Mixian is similar to the fantastic climate of this Spring City —- a little spicy, a little sweet and a little sour with a delicious smell.

The ingredients:

Mixian (rice noodles), tofu pudding, bean jam, meat paste, bean sprout, leek, green onion, local dry sauerkraut, sesame oil, chili oil and sweet soy sauce.

Douhua Mixian can be found all over Kunming but listed below are 3 authentic restaurants serving this popular dish.

凤翥小吃 (fèng zhú xiǎo chī)

Fengzhu Road, Kunming.

得胜桥豆花米线 (dé shèng qiáo dòu huā mǐ xiàn)

92#, Nanxiang St, Kunming.

美琼豆花米线店 (měi qióng dòu huā mǐ xiàn diàn)

285#, Tuodong Road, Kunming.

Shadow Show

Chinese Pinyin: Pi Ying, literally translation: Leather Silhouette

You may have heard of the Chinese traditional handcraft of paper-cutting and you may have even watched Chinese local operas. What I am going to talk about is an ancient dramatic art form that combines these two significant Chinese elements. This is known as Chinese Shadow Show.

Shadow Show, also called “Shadow Play,” has a history of more than 1,000 years. It uses light to cast the shadow of leather-cut figures (Piying) on a white curtain. Its repertoire and tunes are interrelated with local operas. The artisan operates the Piying while singing. Under the influence of different regions, many styles of Shadow Show have appeared, mostly in northwest of China.

   The most popular material of such leather puppets is donkey skin. The images painted on the Piying are usually figures coming from historical plays or myths. Despite its differences in style from diverse areas in China, Piying has the following characteristics in common: highly precise carving, simple shapes and exaggerated decorative patterns. These together form an artistic charm.

It is not difficult to find these shadow puppets to bring home from China as souvenirs. Many shops have Piying on sale which have already been framed. However it is also possible to find the original Piying and move them around into your chosen position for framing.

Xiamen (Amoy, Southern Fujian or Min Nan) Dialect and English

Xiamen (Amoy)

Xiamen, also known to the West as Amoy, looks out to the Taiwan Strait; many of its old colonial buildings have been carefully restored and its clean, well–kept streets and lively waterfront make it rank as one of the most attractive cities in China.

Xiamen was China’s main port for exporting tea. The Portuguese arrived in the 16^th century and followed by the British in the 17^th century, and later by the French and the Dutch. Xiamen Port remained closed from the 1750s until August 1841 when a British naval force of 38 ships carrying canons and soldiers forced the port to open. Western powers and Japanese followed soon after to establish consulates and made the island of Gulangyu a foreign enclave. Nowadays，Xiamen port is one of the trunk line ports in the Asia-Pacific region, it ranks the 30^th among the world’s top 100.

Amoy in the 1890s

Amoy dialect is the local vernacular and highly similar to Taiwanese or Teochew. As a port used by Europeans for many centuries, Amoy dialect had a major influence on some Chinese translated into English or other European languages. For instance, the words “Amoy” , “tea”, “Ketchup”, ”kowtow”, “cumshaw” and “Japan” all come from the Amoy dialect. If you’re a fan of Kung Fu, the iconic Kung Fu star Bruce Lee’s favourite weapon is “nunchaku”, which also originated from Amoy.

A project named Greetings to the Universe in 55 Different Languages was launched almost two decades ago: one of the purposes was to send a message to extraterrestrials who might find spacecrafts travelling through interstellar space. In addition to pictures and music and sounds from earth, greetings in 55 languages were included. Amoy dialect was one of these. Click Here to hear the greeting in Amoy.

Red Brick House, founded in the 1900s. (Vernacular Dwelling of Min Nan or Southern Fujian)

Family Temple (Founded in the 15^th century and restored in 1990s)

Altar in the Family Temple

Protestant Church, Founded in the 1840s and one of the Old Villas (Founded in 1920s).

Interview with Greg Sinclair on GoKunming

Chris Horton from GoKunming interviewed me a couple of days ago about chinaONEcall, running a call centre in Kunming and the challenges facing the telephone interpreting industry. The story appeared today.

Earthquake in China: assistance from chinaONEcall

Following the recent earthquake in Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province, chinaONEcall is offering free help for victims of the Chinese earthquake, and for anxious family or others needing to contact them or the victims doctors / nurses in the affected area.

Just telephone the service direct within China to 4006 88 66 99 or from overseas to +86 871 805 8503 , quoting “earthquake crisis” and the chinaONEcall team will do their best to help. They operate a 24/7 interpreter service for travellers ( business or leisure ) and are making available their 15 strong team to give interpreter support to those on this present crisis.

Please note we will do our best to help, but cannot locate victims, doctors etc as this will be done by the relevant governmental and aid agencies.

chinaONEcall on Fox Business Network

Michael Sinclair recently appeared on the Fox Business Channel talking about chinaONEcall.

Speech to Business Referral Exchange

Michael Sinclair (Marketing Director of China One Call Ltd) was recently asked at short notice to give a speech on ‘Doing Business in China’ to the Business Referral Exchange (BRX) at a breakfast meeting at HSBC, Fleet Street, London.

To see the full text of the speech please click here.

Financial Times article about Language Services

After the lengthy description of an alternative service there is a interesting anecdote given by Michael Sinclair in this Financial Times article about Language Services.

I think the key distinction may be that chinaONEcall’s local knowledge and affordability makes it something to use regularly throughout a trip to China and not only for emergencies. Infact Michael describes how the service can be used spontaneously to create new and exciting opportunities.

Michael Sinclair, marketing director of chinaONEcall says: “A customer of ours was on holiday in a Chinese village full of jewellery shops and thought some of the products would be of interest to a friend who ran a jewellery business. He called us and arranged to have samples sent over. Now the friend is importing from the business.”

http://tinyurl.com/4tj5pe

Corporate Travel & Technology World

chinaONEcall will be at the Corporate Travel & Technology World at Shanghai’s Regent Hotel on 8th-9th April. Come and visit us at Booth #12 for a free trial.