Little Eats 小吃

The Chinese word 小吃 (xiao3 chi1), literally "little eats," is usually loosely translated to mean "snacks," but it really refers to so much more. 小吃 can be appetizers or snacks that you have at home, but the word really brings to mind the small - and usually very yummy - bites of street food one can find at stalls and stands everywhere in China. There are some standards (the supposedly Arab, Turkish, or XinJiang style grilled meat kabob with hot pepper, for instance), but every place in China has its own local specialties as well. I wouldn't exactly say 小吃 are healthy for you, as they nearly always involve a substantial soaking in oil (and that's not extra virgin olive oil) but they are cooked right on the spot with local ingredients.

Monday night, Alan and I visited the 小吃 night market street near the busy WangFuJing area. Due to my lack of vocabulary about all things marine, Alan ended up eating shark fin soup (鱼翅汤). It was a small bowl, and now he can impress Chinese people with the fact that he has eaten one of their most prized traditional banquet dishes. So, as the Chinese would say, 黑暗中总有一线光明, "in the darkness there is always a ray of light," i.e. every cloud has a silver lining. And with any luck at all - this is China, after all - they were lying about the shark's fin really being in there, so eating the soup was not actually contributing to the decimation of the shark population.

I was fully capable of identifying the rest of the treats, which ranged from the delicious to, well... check out the images below!


The first plate, in case you don't recognize it, is caterpillars. After that, you've got your standard cockroach and scorpion option, then some sort of sea creature. Needless to say, we didn't eat these particular snacks!

Once again, thanks to Alan for the photos.

Prize-Winning Visitor, Prize-Worthy Photos

Alan Isaac has just achieved a status no one else will have the opportunity to seek for over three years: my first visitor at a particular overseas post. For those of you who follow my Visitors Point Tally, this gives Alan a total of 2 points (1 visit point + 1 "pioneer" point for being the first at this post). For a complete rundown of the Tally, please see the Comments section of this posting. To dispute your or anyone else's score, please leave a comment.

In addition to his adventuresome spirit and easy-going personality, Alan also possesses a very nice camera and a great eye for pictures. He has also been kind enough to agree to make the photos he takes on this trip available on the web through Picasa web. Pictures from his first day are already there, and we will add more over the next week and a half.

Alan's pictures in Beijing

I will be posting several of Alan's pictures directly on the blog, but you can see the whole album by clicking the photo of me above. I ordinarily would not slap a picture of my face right up here, but Alan swears this is the "perfect picture for a blog." So, here you go.

Arbor Day in China

Chinese mobile phone customers received the following broadcast text message today (both of the mobile phone companies in China are state-run, which makes text messages an extremely effective way for the government to inform The People):

国家林业局提醒您：今天是植树节，请您积极参与义务植树活动。

The National Forestry Office reminds you: Today is Tree Planting
day. Please energetically participate in voluntary tree planting activities.

Beyond the green-for-the-Olympics hysteria that resulted in a mountain being painted green, the Chinese government is quite seriously and realistically concerned with the destruction of China's forests and the spread of the Gobi desert. Ask any Beijinger about Arbor Day, and they will immediately mention the intense sand storms that sweep into the city because there is no significant forest between the desert and the city to stop the wind and sand.

This Chinese article about Arbor Day and the tension between economic development and forest protection also mentions that Arbor Day in China is the anniversary of Sun Yat-Sen's death. As the founder of the Republic of China in 1911, Sun Yat-Sen is known as the "Father of Modern China." Although his Nationalist Party later fought against the Communists and set up its own government on the island province of Taiwan under Chiang Kai-Shek (leading to the current issues of cross-straight relations, "One China" policy, etc...), Mao Tse-Dong believed in Sun Yat-Sen's political message and praised him for bringing China out of its feudal past. Thus, both Mainland China and Taiwan honor Sun Yat-Sen on the anniversary of his birth and death. Apparently, Sun Yat-Sen initiated the tradition of planting trees on a day in March back in 1915.

You'll be glad to know, Arbor Day was a gloriously clear blue sky day!

The Hoyas are Back!!!!

First Big East Men's Championship Title since 1989. NCAA Tournament, here we come...

The Georgetown Fight Song
(aka "There Goes Old Georgetown")

It's been so long since last we met,
Lie down forever, lie down;
Or have you any money to bet,
Lie down forever, lie down.

There goes old... Georgetown
Straight for a... touchdown
See how they... gain ground
Lie down forever, lie down,
Lie down forever, lie down."

Rah! Rah! Rah!
Hurrah for Georgetown
Cheer for victory today
'Ere the sun has sunk to rest,
In the cradle of the west
In the clouds will proudly float
The Blue and Gray."

We've heard those loyal fellows up at Yale
Brag and boast about their Boola-Boola
We've heard the Navy yell
We've listened to Cornell
We've heard the sons of Harvard tell
How Crimson lines could hold them
Choo Choo, Rah Rah, dear old Holy Cross
The proud old Princeton tiger
Is never at a loss
But the yell of all the yells,
The yell that wins the day
Is the 'HOYA, HOYA SAXA!'
Of the dear old Blue and Gray.

It's been so long since last we met,
Lie down forever, lie down;
Or have you any money to bet,
Lie down forever, lie down.

There goes old Georgetown
Straight for a (rebound)
See how they gain ground
Lie down forever, lie down,
Lie down forever, lie down."

Diplocat Promotes Cross-Cultural Understanding

General Tsao, the rags-to-riches cat who lives with me since being rescued from the streets of Shanghai 2 years ago, likes to chase coins when I toss them. Sometimes General thanks me by picking up the leftover coins while I'm out and depositing them in my shoes or my bed as a present.

Unbeknownst to me, General Tsao found a new hiding spot for his coins in our apartment: under the edge of the area rug in the living room. When I came home from work today, my ayi asked if putting small change under rugs was an American custom. In response to my "huh?" reaction, she folded back the edge of the rug and told me, "I've never seen this in other American homes where I've worked, but I know all American families have different cultural backgrounds, so I realized this might be your tradition."

After I got control of my laughter, I explained that the custom came not from my own culture, but from my Chinese-American cat's.

The Drawbacks of Blue Sky Days （蓝天的坏处）

I looked out the window Monday morning, and thought, "Beautiful!" It was so clear, and the sky was a sparkling blue - not the sun-reflecting-off- strange-chemical-dust sparkle of a Beijing sunset, but a true blue. I was so excited, and rushing out the door of my building I noted how refreshing it was to be able to breathe easily.

But ask yourself, what makes a Beijing morning clear? The answer is wind. Oh, yes, wind. I should have realized this, because the night before was Lantern Festival, and the wind battering the apartment building was so loud it drowned out the sound of the fireworks.

It was 18 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday and the wind was only about 1000 miles an hour from every direction. Despite my religious and extensive morning moisturizing routine, my face and hands were stinging dry within minutes. And I was out in the freezing wind for many minutes, because taxis in Chinese cities magically disappear in any sort of bad weather. Although the minimum taxi fare (10 RM/ $1.25) is more than 20 times the price of a bus ride for a holder of a public transport card (4 mao/ .4 RMB/ 5 ¢) - I have one! - it is still cheap enough that Beijingers jump into them at the slightest spot of rain or apocalyptic gusts of wind, thus exhausting the supply.

One poor foreigner at the front gate of my building waited for 1 hour for a taxi. My fearless neighbor Mark and I were not that patient and chose instead to dive in front of a 67-pound Chinese girl who was also racing for the one available taxi we saw after about 20 minutes of searching.

Later that evening, a taxi driver went through a very convoluted string of logic to try to convince me the sudden onset of chilly blasts was good for Beijingers' health. Something along the lines of, if it were too comfortable this early in Spring, people's bodies would get accustomed, and sprout like young shoots too early in the season. Then, a stiff chill could be lethal. So the cold weather now prevents that situation by sending people back into their homes to nurse their windburn. I fully allow that my Chinese language skills might have made this even more confusing than it already was, but this guy was talking for a while, and he was pretty adamant about his opinion. I left the cab wondering if perhaps a serious but subtle Chinese political commentary had just gone over my head.

Here is the view from my apartment on the blue sky day:

In & Around Beijing 2007

There Goes Old Georgetown, Straight for a Rebound

Ahem! Georgetown's first win over UConn since 1997 locked the Hoyas into the Big East top seed. Man, am I sorry I couldn't make myself stay up past midnight to watch this!! NCAA March Madness on Demand bball games over the internet starts soon, though, and then I will be able to watch and re-watch momentous events like this all March long.

Speaking of Weather...

I guess I forgot an entry in my guide to weather forecasts for Beijing:
Light Snow = light snow

I was surprised to wake up this morning and see snow! It's so dry in Beijing that snow is pretty rare, despite the cold climate. So, although it is still not a clear, blue sky day, here is what my apartment complex looks like in snow.

Beijing Weather Euphemisms

For those of you who love The Weather Channel as I do, here is a guide to understanding TWC's weather reports for Beijing, China, on www.weatherchannel.com.

Smoky = Beijing wrapped in a warm blanket of pollution
Foggy = fog trapping pollution in the city; result: same as "smoky"
Light Rain = clouds and light mist trapping pollution in the city; result: "smoky" + damp
Heavy Rain = acid rain and liquid coal dust pouring down on Beijing
Sunny = visibility unknown; possible "blue sky" day!
Windy = wind may blow pollution out of city, possibly resulting in "blue sky" day!
Windy = wind may blow pollution and sandstorms into the city, preventing "blue sky" day
Clear = please confirm you have actually searched for Beijing, China

The Dolls Formerly Known as Friendlies

Below are the 2008 Olympic Mascots, the FuWa (福娃). Fu (福) means good fortune, and Wa (娃) means baby or doll, making these "little good fortune babies," indeed a good choice for Olympic Mascots.
There are a lot of reasons why the Fu Wa (there are no plurals in Chinese, so it's one FuWa, two FuWa) make good mascots, and a lot of reasons why FuWa is a great name for them. Before I get to that, though, I'd like to ask, do you think FuWa is a better name than "The Five Friendlies"?

You see, the FuWa were originally announced with an English name, the Five Friendlies. Each Friendly had a different name, and they represented the Olympic flame plus four popular China animals (the fish, the panda, the chart-topping Tibetan antelope, and the summer sleeper hit swallow bird).

If you go to the official 2008 Beijing Olympics website and click on "Image & Look" then "mascot" now, the name Five Friendlies is nowhere to be found, and the good fortune babies are called only, "FuWa." Someone on the Chinese Olympic Committee realized (imagined?) that foreigners - foreigners, mind you, not Chinese people with hastily acquired Olympic English skills - would misread the word Friendlies, which has a very positive meaning, as Friend Lies, which has a decidedly negative meaning. China would not want to be the Friend Who Lies, nor would it want to propagate the belief that Friends Lie, thus the name had to be changed. Apparently, they did not consult any foreigners on this change, since foreigners certainly would have pointed out the potential mis-readings of a name that starts with F-U.

So, the Friendlies are now the FuWa, still a group of small children each representing a different animal/ symbol and the color of a different Olympic ring. I have to say, although I think the thought process of ditching the name "Friendlies" is laughable, I think the result is a good one: the Olympic mascots for the Beijing Olympics should have a Chinese name, or at least a name that reflects China in some way.

In case anyone out there doubts the Chinese are capitalists to the core, I assure you, these dolls were made to sell. Not only are they charming, but there are five different ones, forcing the enthusiastic consumer to purchase five times as many products. Some previous Olympics have had bi- or tri-mascots (Athena & Phevos from Greece, for instance), but leave it to the Chinese to have the most ever. I believe there are also plans to have a mascot image for each sporting event, for instance, YingYing the Tibetan antelope playing table tennis, and Nini the swallow kite diving for a volleyball. I know I will not be able to resist buying several (how on Earth to choose between HuanHuan, the Olympic flame whose name also means "welcome", and JingJing, the panda with a lotus flower on his head?).

I definitely recommend anyone with even the slightest interest check out the Beijing Olympics official mascot page. There is a lot of information there, and like so many things in China, a mind-boggling amount of reflection went into the design for these little stuffed animals. The selection of their names really illustrates a lot about Chinese language and culture. Most notable:

• Each FuWa has a double character name: Beibei, JingJing, HuanHuan, YingYing, NiNi. Chinese love 2-character words, especially nouns, and particularly when referring to cute or familiar things. Thus, "Thank you" is "xie xie" 谢谢, a repetition of the same word, because to just leave a single "xie" hanging out there would be somehow incomplete, lacking. Likewise, nicknames are rarely ever a single-character name. Addressing a friend with a single word might sound harsh. Soft, round, 2-character words sound much nicer to the Chinese ear.
• Take the sound of the first character of each of the FuWa's names and string them together, and you get the sentence, "Beijing welcomes you!" The actual characters don't have that meaning (the "bei" in BeiBei the fish's name for instance, actually means treasure or baby, not "north" as in Beijing), but as I mentioned when talking about tigers, a symbol that looks or sounds like the real thing is often as good as the real thing in Chinese traditions.
  
• The stringing together of the FuWa's names also brings up another point: Chinese often refer to groups of things or complex concepts by abbreviating each component from it's 2- or 3-character word to it's first character. For example, the administration and policies of President Hu JinTao and Premier Wen JiaBao is called the Hu-Wen Xin Zheng (胡温新政): Hu 胡 is short fo Hu JinTao, Wen 温 short for WenJiaBao, xin 新 means new, and zheng 政 is the first character in the words for government, politics, and policy. So four syllables represent several concepts and a very long English phrase.
  

As Professor Yu, my first Chinese teacher, would say, "Chinese is so elegant, so logical!"