It was a swelteringly hot Wednesday morning during June school holidays last year. Mother was reading the newspaper while Grandmother was preparing to go to the market. I sat on my chair with the fan blowing against my face while reading a book. Despite my best efforts to seek respite from the heat, beads of perspiration were trickling down my forehead. “This must be how hell feels like,” I thought. At this moment, my handphone vibrated on the table next to me. I instinctively grabbed it and read the message, “Happy Duanwu Festival!”
“It’s Duanwu Festival? What’s that?” I asked aloud.
Mother put down the newspapers and explained, “The Duanwu Festival is an annual festival that commemorates a patriotic Chinese statesman and poet named Qu Yuan. When his state was conquered by a neighbouring state, he committed suicide by jumping into a river. Out of respect, the local people tried to rescue him by racing along the river in their boats. However, they could not locate him. They threw glutinous rice dumplings, also known as zongzi, to distract the fish in the river from eating Qu Yuan’s body. Since then, in many countries with Chinese communities, people hold dragon boat races and eat zongzi during this festival.”
Upon hearing our conversation, Grandmother said in Mandarin, “Mingqi, I’m going to the market to buy the ingredients for zongzi. Would you like to come with me?” This sounded like a great opportunity to escape this greenhouse of a living room. “Sure!” I readily agreed.
After a short walk, Grandmother and I arrived at the supermarket. Grandmother carefully selected Chinese mushrooms and chestnuts while explaining how to pick the freshest ones. She bought glutinous rice, five-spice powder, pork, garlic, onion and salted duck e...
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...wrapping the zongzi incorrectly! My miserable zongzi was lopsided and utterly pathetic compared to their beautiful creations. Upon looking at my despondent face, Grandmother chortled with laughter and came to my rescue.
She taught me the right technique to wrap the zongzi and my zongzi finally looked acceptable.
Soon after, we put the zongzi into a gigantic pot of boiling water and cooked them under low heat. Once the cooking was done, I leaped for joy. The savoury zongzi melted in my mouth and I was in seventh heaven. I finished every single bit of the luscious zongzi with relish. The zongzi were the fruits of our labour.
As the Chinese saying goes, “Only when all contribute their firewood can they build up a strong fire.” Looking back, I am glad to have played a part in preparing zongzi. Working with my family has truly been an accomplishing experience for me.
This story follows Wang Lang a poor young farmer in rural China that is forced by his father to marry a slave that belongs to the powerful local Hwang family. The Hwangs sell Wang a 20-year-old slave named O-lan who becomes his wife. O-lan and Wang Lung are pleased with each other, although they exchange few words and although Wang is initially disappointed that O-lan does not have bound feet. Together, Wang Lung and O-lan have a cultivate, beautiful and profitable harvest from their land. O-lan becomes pregnant, and Wang Lung is overjoyed when O-lan’s first child is a son. Meanwhile, the powerful Hwang family lives decadently the husband is obsessed with women, and the wife is an opium addict. Because of their costly habits, the Hwangs fall
... foods are new concepts that they have not heard of before; the older residents have grown up without them just fine. They are content with what they already have and do not see the need to expend the efforts to understand the new things. Most importantly, however, they must think about the financial costs. For New Chinatown residents, bringing in alternative, generally more expensive sources of food is not totally relevant to their needs. We may speculate that the produce sold at these farmers’ markets are not aligned with those used in the cultural diet.
Fresh ingredients are a vital part of Cantonese cuisine. The dishes that are prepared are cooked in the absolute minimum time possible. Seafood such as fish goes from the tank to the table in a short amount of time that sometimes they are served while the fish is still alive (Huffington Post; 2014). It is called Ying Yang fish. It is a great delicacy in Cantonese cuisine.
chinese mothers are all one-dimensional, superstitious and ignorant. their chinese phrases are delightful italics with quaint meanings. of course, what chinese comedy would be complete without a couple of garbled english words? when tan was late for her berkeley reading, her white husband directed the audience to mimic her mother's amusing syntax: "why so late?" rimshot.
rice which are left over from the season. When the food runs out and the
In a village left behind as the rest of the China is progressing, the fate of women remains in the hands of men. Old customs and traditions reign supreme, not because it is believed such ways of life are best, but rather because they have worked for many years despite harsh conditions. In response to Brother Gu’s suggestion of joining communist South China’s progress, Cuiqiao’s widower father put it best: “Farmer’s have their own rules.”
While working at the silk factory he would notice a very pretty woman whom worked at the little snack shop. He noticed her because every time something happened to her she would let out a little cry of “Aiya!”. This woman’s name is Xu Yulan, also known as “The fried dough queen” (Hua 21). She was well known around the town for always changing her outfit three times a day. One day Xu Sanguan finally go the nerve to talk to Xu Yulan. Xu Yulan noticed that Xu Sanguan was talking to a man about a show and when she turned back around he was still there staring at her. She said “Why are you staring at me like that? And smiling that way to! (Hua 23) The reason he was staring at her that way was because he wanted to treat her to a treat. Even though the fried dough queen didn’t know Xu Sanguan the next day she let him treat her to a nice meal. A meal at which cost Xu Sanguan eighty-three fen. After totaling the price of the meal up Xu Sanguan asked Xu Yulan when they were going to get married. She was quick to reply in telling him that they could not get married, and if she knew that he was going to want her to marry him because of how much he spent she would have never ate (Hua 24). “I cannot
The parallel between Du Wanxiang and Ding Ling must first begin with a historical analysis of the writer’s troubled life. In 1904, Ding Ling was born Jiang Bingzhi into a prominent gentry family in Hunan Province (Barlow 17). Her unconventional early life greatly contributed to the ideology she would eventually term “anarcho-feminist.” Ding Ling’s relationship to her mother figured especially prominently in the development of her political philosophy. Ding Ling’s father died when his daughter was just five years old, a situation that, under traditional circ...
Wang Lung needs a wife so saves up the little money he has and buys a woman who is a slave named O-lan. O-lan is sold to Wang Lung so she can take care of the home, cooking and bear children. Wang Lung is disappointed when he first sees O-lan because she does not have bound feet which was a desirable quality at that time but he does enjoy when O-lan has the food ready when he comes in a night from the land. Wang Lung is very proud when O-lan makes cakes that no one else in the village knows how to makes and when his family comes to feast for the new year at their house.
Compared to company produce that has been picked from the farm a long period before purchase, the fruits and vegetables one finds at a farmer’s market or the local grocery store are fresh (Maiser 3). When one eats locally,one gets the freshest fruits and vegetables available - and with the price of produce, one does not want to buy something that is not
From the beginning of Wang Lung’s marriage to O-lan, she saved him time, money, and effort without complaint. She offered wisdom when asked and was smart in the ways of the world. During the famine, when the family went south in search of food, O-lan taught her children how to beg for food, “dug the small green weeds, dandelions, and shepherds purse that thrust up feeble new leaves”(p. 128). She raised her children prudently. She knew how to bind her daughter’s feet, and she gave them a better childhood than she had had. O-lan knew that the land was the only consistent thing in her life, so she willingly helped Wang Lung as he bought more and more land. O-lan knew her place in the family was as a wife and mother. As a wife, she fe...
On Monday March 25, some members of the baseball team, my girlfriend, and I traveled to Murray State University to watch a concert performed by Nelly and the St. Lunatics. It was a terrible night to go anywhere because it was raining and storming the whole way, but there was nothing that was going to stop us from going to the concert. We where all so hyped up about it and couldn’t wait to head out. My brother, who attends Murray State, had gotten us excellent seats about seventy-five feet away from the stage.
Shortly after coming to the hotel, she has an intimate dinner with her father and Syan Yen. She feels the familiar taste in Chinese foods. After dinner, she asks her father consecutive questions about her mother’s untold story. ”What was that pork stuff she used to make that had the texture of sawdust? What were the names of the uncles who died in Shanghai? What had she dreamt all these years about her other daughters? All the times when she got mad at me, was she really thinking about them? Did she wish I were they? Did she regret that I wasn't?” (Tan 128). Jing-Mei's dad uncovers that the names of her two stepsisters, Chwun Yu and Chwun Hwa, signify “Spring Rain” and “Spring Flower”, which mirrors their cozy relationship as twins. Through her own name, Jing-Mei likewise shares a unique association with the twins as "Jing" signifies "superb" or 'immaculate substance', and "Mei" signifies 'younger sibling.' In picking the name of her most youthful little girl, Suyuan trusted it spoke to the purest pith of the main conceived she needed to abandon. As Jing-Mei mulls over the significance of her mom's name, which signifies “Long-Cherished Wish”, she understands that she has a much more grounded association with her Chinese roots and her mom's past than she ever suspected. "Your name also special," he says. I wonder if any name in Chinese is not something
A defining trait of every country, whether it be Italy or India, is the type of cuisine that they serve. One of the best ways to gain an understanding of a country’s culture is through their food. While some people would deem other aspects of a culture as more important, it is a feature easiest to explain and relate to. A distinguishing fact is that food is both physical and mental in that its creation takes dedication and effort; food is able to create emotions given the proper setting. As cooking traditions evolved throughout the years, to fit people’s ever changing tastes, so does the culture. They are parallel to each other in that as one aspect of culture changes, so does the food and vice versa. Two of the most popular types of foods in society today are American food, and Chinese food. The typical features of how food is prepared and made, the tastes preferred, the utensils, and the beliefs about the food's properties are all reflections of the American and Chinese cultures.
Soon, we all sat around the dinner table enjoying my grandma’s culinary specialties. There was one dish that had stuck in my mind though, possibly because it was the last dish served that night.