User Comments - jennyzhu

Posted on: Traditional Chinese Paintings

Most Chinese don't know even the basics of traditional Chinese painting. They don't teach it in school. What a shame...

Posted on: A New Jug for the Water Cooler

The 'housework fairy' is a character from an old Chinese story. The girl's name is 田螺姑娘/tiánluó gūniáng /Miss River Snail.

Posted on: Nearby Tea House

君山银针茶 (Jūnshānyínzhēn chá) Junshan silver needle tea is Mao Zedong's favorite tea, which brings up an important point about tea in China: it tends to be very regional. Almost every locale in China has its own tea, so people from that place would normally stick to their own tea unless they are tea connoisseurs. For example, people from Hunan probably rarely drink any Longjing (which is from Hangzhou) and vice versa. This is also what makes learning about different teas in China so interesting.

Posted on: Nearby Tea House

Many high-end tea houses in Shanghai are done like a traditional Chinese house. You will find traditional  furniture inside with a miniature pond, a small bridge and some bamboo, etc. These tea houses charge over 100 RMB for a bottomless cup. But the price includes buffet snacks. It's a nice place to hang out and read a book, given that it's not too crowded. Otherwise it will be like a noisy market filled by customers chatting, playing chess, cards or even mahjong!

Posted on: Food Flavors, Shanghai Style

Braised pork has to be done with fatty pork, or five-layered meat (五花肉/wu3hua1rou4) as we call it, referring to the interplaying layers of lean meat, fatty meat and skin. Of course, you can discard the fatty meat and skin while eating. But they give the dish so much flavor, which is essential to the cooking.

Posted on: Shanghai Expo Pavilions

Shanghai is so nervous about whether the Expo will hit the 70-million-visitors target that there is an hourly-updated tally of the number of visitors everyday on TV and radio.

Posted on: Food Flavors, Shanghai Style

红烧虐/braised fatty pork is heavenly. But I haven't met too many foreigners who like it.

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Yunnan

婴儿 is similar to 'fetus'. Thus, less used.

Posted on: Working at the United Nations

Great to hear that. Learning English, I've always had an obsession with specific terminologies, e.g. 'Security Council', 'General Assembly'. I even had a pocket book that included all of these things.

We can definitely do a lesson on NGOs.

Posted on: Mother's Day

Mother's Day is quite big in coastal cities in China. For example, here in Shanghai, shops are all over it. Bakeries do Mother's Day cakes, department stores push for cosmetics, clothes and shoes, even car dealers have Mother's Day promo.