User Comments - wolson

Posted on: Characters in the Desert and Chinese Kitchens

I have asked but I haven't heard anything. I guess that is a feature that is now gone.

Posted on: Characters in the Desert and Chinese Kitchens

I wonder WHEN they did it as the slogans seem to be from the Cultural Revolution. But THey do not look that old.

Posted on: Characters in the Desert and Chinese Kitchens

Amber said ...

Complete with french press coffee maker ready to be plunged! 

    I will be damned! I lived four years on the German-French border and never noticed this device before. But on a trip to Guangzhou, A host served us tea in these glass bottles with plungers in them (we did have tea cups.)

   Ever since then, I have trying to get my hands on them. So when I arrived in Qinghuangdao, I asked my very able Chinese assistant to go out and buy me one as I thought these were a special Chinese teapot. I happen to drink a lot of tea and enjoy Chinese teas.

   At first my Chinese assistant did not know what I was talking about. But after a short disucssion, he said "OK" and the next day I had one.

   Then when I returned home, I found similar ones in Meijer's, a "box" store here, made in China, of course. So now I have one at home and one in my office.

    But, until you pointed out that this device is a "French coffee maker," I thought it was a very special Chinese teapot! It is very good for maing loose tea and I would not trade it from any other type.

    Thank you for educating me!

Posted on: Characters in the Desert and Chinese Kitchens

There are several more character signs in that area East of Urumqi, in the vicinity of and East of the village of Hami/Karmul. Some are pretty hard to read but they are they. Example, the one located at 42.480770N, 94.237976E. I can not read this one as it is small, about 40 meters long. But this one seems unique in that there are boxes around each character.

Posted on: Instant Noodles

billm says
3 days ago

It's not clear that eating dog is wide spread in China. 

When I was in Qinhuangdao, there was a Korean restaurant close to our campus and several of professors would go there for lunch frequently. But the there was one professor, the Dean of the Department, whould absolutely was abhored that we would go there. He said they eat dog!

And he was a true dog lover: If you rode in his car, there were several stuffed toy dogs (not the real dogs stuffed, mind you,) on the back window and on the back seats. I don't don't know whether he placed them there or his wife did but it was clear that they revered dogs.

Posted on: I Just.... 刚 & 刚才（gāng & gāngcái）

Way to go, Changye: You said it the best!

刚才读了我的词典.

or 我刚读了我的词典。

Posted on: Fortunate Cookies

This weekend I had some surprisingly good Chuan Cai in at the Middle Kingdom in Ann Arbor! It had been recommended to me by a friend when I was in Chengdu. And he was right! If you like mala, this is the place.

If you go, order off the the Chinese menu, not the American one!

Posted on: I Can/Can't Afford it (...得起 & ...不起）

auntie68,

I just read your post here: it is very moving.

      At the time your grandfather returned to China, I was in college learning Chinese. The Cultural Revolution was in full swing then and we wanted to learn everything we could about it but there really was not much information. But it left me with a yearning to learn about the Cultural Revolution.

     So when I traveled in China, I was talked to a number of people my age (~60) about the Cultural Revolution, how it happened, what did they think about it, were there any positive outcomes, could it happen again, etc. The consensus of a number of people in various locations of China was that is was a wasted ten years. But either they do not know how it happened or were unwilling to go there with a laowai.

    I still have many questions about this period and how it occurred in China ... it seems to me that it could occur anywhere in the world, not just China. To me it appears to be the product of zealotry.

     It has never been clear to me why rational people do not act in the face of such zealots. But how did the zealots come to power? That process in China is not something that I understand either.

    Oh, I understand well enough what happened once they were in power and I understand the Mao support for the Red Guards; but what were the early days before they were in power and where did they originate and how did they grow in strength?

    I have read that it started with students at Tsinghua University. Why did Mao support the Red Guard particularly when the government was trying to suppress them? Was this an outgrowth the "Great Leap Forward"? Did Mao use them to further his own political ambitions?

   Still, I want to thank you for sharing the vignette: it reinforces what I have felt that the Chinese people feel about the Cultural Revolution.

Posted on: Missing Luggage

user4318 says

1 day ago

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Hong Kong

     The first 凤爪 I ever had was on a breakfest buffet in Wuhan. At first, I thought they were some kind of deep fried pork ribs by look. However, the taste convinced me otherwise. And my knowledge of anatomy told me what I had just eaten. But, while I would not have ever taken these, I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that I like them!

     Then later, I had the 白雲鳳爪 served to me at a banquest. I found that I like these too!

     But with respect to 粥, forget it! I definitely do not like any that I have ever tasted. But you will find it on every breakfest buffet and in every cafeteria and restaurant in China. I have tried rice, millet, corn and barley 粥 and none of these had enough flavor to make me want to ever eat it again. I have tried it with pickled vegetables, with fish and everything else that I could think to put in it and I still do not like 粥.