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China Great Man in Coins(1993-data)

By SenicYang. Sunday, 30. April 2006, 11:53:28

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宋庆龄 Song Qing Ling (1893 - 1981)

毛泽东 Mao Tse Tung (1893 – 1976)

朱德 Zhu De （1886 - 1976）

刘少奇 Liu Shao Qi （ 1898 - 1969 ）

周恩来 Zhou Enlai (1898-1976)

邓小平Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997)

陈云 Chen Yun （ 1905 - 1995 ）

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The Olympic Emblem

By SenicYang. Tuesday, 7. March 2006, 03:02:02

culture, china, Olympic

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Every emblem of the Olympics tells a story. The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games emblem "Chinese Seal, Dancing Beijing" is filled with Beijing's hospitality and hopes, and carries the city's commitment to the world.

Milestone

"Dancing Beijing" is a milestone of the Olympics. It serves as a classic chapter of the Olympic epic inscribed by the spirit of the Chinese nation, calligraphed by the deeper import of the ancient civilization, and molded by the character of Cathay's descendents. It is concise yet deep inside, bringing forth the city's gradual changes and development. It appears dignified yet bears a tune of romance, reflecting the nation's thoughts and emotions.

In the lead up to the Beijing 2008 Olympics, the emblem will attract more and more people from around the world to Beijing and China to join the great celebration with the Chinese people.

Commitment

"Dancing Beijing" is a Chinese Seal. It is engraved with commitment made to the Olympic Movement by a country that has 56 ethnic groups and a population of 1.3 billion. While witnessing the advocacy of the Olympic Spirit by a nation with both ancient civilization and modern culture, it also unfolds a future-oriented city's pursuit of the Olympic Ideal.

It is a symbol of trust and an expression of self confidence, standing for the solemn yet sacred promise that Beijing - the host city of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games - has made to the world and to all mankind.

"Complete sincerity can affect even metal and stone (literally meaning sincerity smoothes the way to success)." The inception of our ancestors' wisdom and the image of a seal made of metal and stone allow the emblem to present Chinese people's respect and honesty for the Olympics.

The moment we earnestly imprint the emblem with the "Chinese seal", Beijing is about to show the world a grand picture of "peace, friendship, and progress of mankind" and to strike up the passionate movement of "faster, higher, and stronger" for mankind.

Image

"Dancing Beijing" serves as the city's foremost appearance. It is an image that shows the eastern ways of thinking and the nation's lasting appeal embodied in the Chinese characters. It is an expression that conveys the unique cultural quality and elegance of Chinese civilization.

With inspiration from the traditional Chinese art form ¨C calligraphic art, the character "Jing" (the latter of the city's name) is developed into the form of a dancing human being, reflecting the ideal of a "New Olympics". The words "Beijing 2008" also resembles the vivid shapes of Chinese characters in handwriting, voicing in concise strokes of the countless feelings Chinese people possess towards the Olympics.

As people ponder on the rich connotations and charms of these Chinese characters, a "New Beijing" has thus been brought forward.

Beauty

"Dancing Beijing" is a favorite color of the Chinese people. The colour "red" is intensively used in the emblem, hushing the passion up to a new level. It carries Chinese people's longing for luck and happiness and their explanation of life.

Red is the color of the Sun and the Holy Fire, representing life and a new beginning. Red is mind at ease, symbol of vitality, and China's blessing and invitation to the world.

Hero

"Dancing Beijing" calls upon heroes. Olympic Games functions as the stage where heroes are made known, miracles created and glories earned, and where every participant constitutes an indispensable part of the occasion.

The powerful and dynamic design of the emblem is a life poem written by all participants with their passion, affections, and enthusiasm. It is an oath every participant takes to contribute power and wisdom to the Olympics.

The emblem cheers for arts and for the Olympic heroes, who pass down the essence of the Olympic Spirit, which well connects sports and cultures.

Spirit

"Dancing Beijing" extends the totem of the Chinese nation. The form of a running human being stands for the beauty and magnificence of life. Its graceful curves are like the body of a wriggling dragon, relating the past and future of one same civilization; they are like rivers, carrying the century-old history and the nation's pride; they are like veins, pulsing with vitality of life.

The intrinsic values of sports ¨C athlete-centered and people-oriented ¨C are well defined and upgraded in an artistic way in "the dance of Beijing." We sing if words fail to explain it all, and we dance if the singing does not explicitly tell the meaning.

Vigorous Beijing is looking forward to the cerebration in 2008 and the Olympics wait all mankind to dance together.

Invitation

"Dancing Beijing" is a kind invitation. The open arms in the emblem say that China is opening its arms to welcome the rest of the world to join the Olympics, a celebration of "peace, friendship and progress of mankind."

"Is it not a joy to have friends come from afar?" The idiom portraits the feelings of friendly and hospitable Chinese people and expresses the sincerity of the city.

Come to Beijing, take a good look at the historical heritages of China's Capital city, and feel the pulse of the country's modernization;

Come, share every piece of its joy, and experience the vigor of the country;

Come, and let us together weave a peaceful and wonderful dream.

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Chinese Etiquette 中国礼节

By SenicYang. Tuesday, 28. February 2006, 07:47:55

china, culture

面子/Mianzi (Face)

The idea of shame, usually expressed as 'face' could be loosely defined as the 'status' or 'self-respect' in Chinese and by no means alien to foreigners. It is the worst thing for a Chinese to lose face. Never insult, embarrass, shame, yell at or otherwise demean a person. Since all these actions would risk putting a Chinese in a situation that he might lose face. Neither try to prove someone wrong nor shout at him in public. In order to get a successful effect without letting a Chinese lose face, any criticism should be delivered privately, discreetly and tactfully, or else, just opposite to what you wish.

羞耻这个概念，通常被表达为“面子”。在中文中大致的含义是“地位”或者“自尊”，这和外国人的观念并不相同。在中国，最糟糕的事莫过于失了面子。所以，千万不要对一个人进行侮辱、羞辱或者对其大吼，让其尴尬等。因为这样会让一个中国人感觉到失了面子。千万不要证明某人错了，或者在公共场合对其吼叫。为了能有效的传达意见而不让中国人丢了面子，任何的批评都应该私下传递，而且方式要巧妙而谨慎。否则，你将事与愿违。

关系/Guanxi (Relationships between People)

Throughout much of Chinese history, the fundamental glue that has held society together is the concept of guanxi, relationships between people. It is very important for the Chinese to have good relationships. They often regard good social relations as a symbol of personal ability and influence. Someone who has no connections would be despised and is only half-Chinese.

纵贯中国的历史，一个维系社会的基本粘合剂就是关系这个概念，也就是人与人之间的关联。对中国人来说，有良好的关系是十分重要的。他们往往将拥有良好的社会关系看成是一个人能力和影响力的象征。一个毫无关系的人将会被轻视，而且最多只能算半个中国人。

客气/Keqi

Keqi not only means considerate, polite, and well mannered, but also represents humbleness and modesty. It is impolite to be arrogant and brag about oneself or one's inner circle. The expression is most often used in the negative, as in buyao keqi, meaning "you shouldn't be so kind and polite to me," or "you're welcome."

客气并不只是包含考虑周详、礼貌文雅和举止端详，还表现在谦逊和谨慎。对自己或者自己的圈内人表达的傲慢或者自夸都是不礼貌的。表达的时候，通常要以否定的形式，比如“不要客气”，意思是说“你不必对我这么关心、礼貌”或“不用谢”。

Besides, Chinese seldom express what they think directly and they prefer a roundabout way. Neither show their emotions and feelings in public. They rarely greet people with a handshake, though it is very popular among foreigners, say nothing of embracing or kissing when greeting or saying good-bye. Consequently, it is better not to behave too carefree in public, even though you are well-intentioned. Also, it is advisable to be fairly cautious in political discussions. Do not particularly push yourself forward, or else you are unwelcome.

此外，中国人很少直接表达自己的想法，而喜欢用侧敲旁击的方式。从不在公共场合表现自己的情绪或者感觉。尽管在西方握手的见面礼非常普遍，但在中国这样做的人还不是很多，更不用说见面和道别时的拥抱和亲吻了。因此，即使你是出于好意，在公共场合也不要表现的太自由自在。同样，在政治话题上保持相对慎重也是明智的。不要太特立独行，否则你将会是不受欢迎的。

To sum up, do in Rome as Rome does, but you need not worry about these cultural barriers since most Chinese are hospitable and amiable and will not mind your nonproficiency.

总之，入乡随俗，但你也不必对这些文化障碍担心，因为大多数中国人都是好客和和蔼的，他们不会介意你的不熟悉。

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Light refreshments

By SenicYang. Monday, 20. February 2006, 17:09:13

china, food, culture

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Light refreshments and pastry of great variety and meticulously made have a long history in China. The origin of Chinese pastry can be traced backe to the Neolithic Age when the stone grinder was invented to make the grinding of grain possible. During the Spring and Autumn periods, there were oil-fried pastry and steamed pastries such as honey cake, Yishi, Shenshi (made of grounded grains of cereal crops) , and junu (a ring-shaped oil-fried food). Later, with the development of cooking utensile and kitchen ranges, Chinese pastry gradually enriched its raw materials, techniques and varieties, and many popular local light refreshments appeared. In North China, there are dumplings, noodles, hand-pulled noodles, pancakes and steamed stuffed buns; in South China, there are shaomai, wanton, spring roll zhongzi( pyramid-shaped glutinous rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo leaves), yuanxiao (glutinous rice dumpling with special fillings)and youtiao (deep fried dough stick). In addition, many light refreshments with local characteristics have been created making use of particular local products and customs. Below is a list of places giving some of the most famous local pastries and light refreshments to be found there:

Beijing: jiaoquan(slightly browned dough ring), mimahua ( honeyed, twisted fried dough), wandouhuang (peaflour cake), aiwowo (steamed corn bread flavored with atomatic herbs), and quick- fried pig's liver and stomach.

Shanghai: xiekehuang(fried ovary and digestive glands of a crab) , Nanxiang steamed bread, and Shaoxing chicken porridge.

Tianjin: Gabacai(a kind of crisp cake with vegetables), Goubuli steamed stuffed buns, ear-shaped fried cake, bread stewed with minifish, Bangchui pancake, Guifaxiang twisted fried dough, and spiced donkey meat.

Taiyuan: kaolao, knife-shaved noodles, and jiupian.

Xi'an: dried bread soaked in mutton (or beef)soup, and Qianzhou cake.

Lanzhou: hand-stretched noodles, and oil-fried large pancake.

Xinjiang: roast pancake of wheat or corn flour, roast mutton ( or beef) slices, rice to be eaten with the fingers.

Shandong: oil-fried stuffed buns.

Jiangsu: baked wheaten cake with sesame and chopped scallion, steamed stuffed buns filled with three kinds of diced delicacies, shaomai with the ovary and digestive glands of a crab, and tangbao.

Zhejiang: buttered pancake, Double Ninth chestnut cake, zhongzi stuffed with fresh meat, noodles with shrimp and eel, Ninbo glutinous rice dumpling, eight treasures in black rice.

Anhui: Nuts and dried fruit laba porridge, Dajiujia, Huizhou cake, and rice with bean curd peel.

Fujian: oyster pancake, noodles to be eaten with the fingers, spiced pork trotters, and Dingbian thick paste.

Taiwan: Du Xiaoyue Danzai noodles, noodles with sliced eel, and jinzhao rice-flour noodles.

Hainan: jiandui, and rice cooked in bamboo.

Henan: bread with jujube, bread browned with white sugar, budai with egg, xue tea, and shredded chicken roll.

Hubei: bean curd peel with three delicacies, Yunmeng fried noodles with fish flavor, hot dried noodles, and Dongpo cake.

Hunan: new rice, brain roll, rice-flour noodles, eight treasure soup with tortoise and mutton, and Huo Palace strong smelling bean curd.

Guangdong: chicken cake, preserved egg shortbread, a-thousand-layer shortbread with frozen meat, Guangdong mooncake, lotus seed paste in crisp pastry, steamed hedgehog stuffed bun, fenguo. dumpling with fresh shrimp filling, examination success porridge, steamed shaomai with the ovary and digestive glands of a crad, and white rabbit shaped dumpling.

Guangxi: Guilin rice-flour noodles with horse meat, pyramid shaped meat dumpling wrapped in bamboo leaves, and fried earthworm-shaped noodles.

Sichuan: roast cake with egg, Long's chaoshou, Dandan noodles (a kind of noodles with peppery sauce), Lai's tangyuan (glutinous rice dumpling) , cold noodles with shredded chicken, transparent shaomai, Yibing ran-noodles, Fuqi(meaning "hushand and wife", the inventor of this dish being a couple) sliced pig's lung, steamed beef with corn powder, and Dengying(meaning "shade of a lamp")beef.

Guizhou: noodles with intestines, siwa wa, Yelang dough fish, and steamed ( or fried) glutinous rice paste wrapped in lotus leaves.

Yunnan: Guoqiao rice-flour noodles, pot stewed beef with pastry.

Apart from those enumerated above, many light refreshments with national minority characteristics have been introduced into the daily food of the ordinary Chinese to greatly enrich the contents of Chinese culinary science.

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Drinking Gongfu Tea

By SenicYang. Monday, 20. February 2006, 16:56:44

china, culture, history, tea

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It is a Chinese custom to treat guests with tea. However, people in east Guangdong and south Fujian have a special way of preparing tea, called gongfu tea.

The tea sets from making gongfu tea are very small. The pottery teapot is as big as a fist and the white and transparent teacups are as small as tiny liqueur glasses. In addition they use a small charcoal stove, a small water kettle and a porcelain base for holding tea sets. Spring or well water is the best for making gongfu tea. Water is boiled with olive stones, which give out high flames and the delicate fragrance of olives. Before making tea, first the teapot is cleaned with boiled water to get rid of the remaining tea flavor in the pot and make better tea with a warm teapot. Then a big handful of tealeaves is put into the teapot till they almost reach its rim.

After the water is boiled, one must lift the kettle high to pour hot water into the teapot. The water is continually poured even when it overflows, so as to get rid of impure materials and foam, and to make mellow tea. After the lid is put on the teapot, boiling water is poured onto the teapot. In this way, the tea will swell in no time. A few minutes later, the tea can be poured into the cups, which are arranged in a circle. The way to pour tea is special. It is poured with a circular motion into each cup. In this way, the color and consistency of the tea in all the cups are the same. To avoid creating foam and scattering the fragrance of tea, the teapot should be held close to the teacups. When the tea is ready, the teacups are presented to guests and elders with both hands.

It is mentally refreshing to see the yellow and limpid tea and smell its delicate fragrance. The first sip seems slightly bitter, but a while later, the sweetness of the tea can be savored.

Wulong (black dragon) tea is the best variety for making gongfu tea. Half fermented, Wulong tea is as mellow as black tea and as refreshing and sweet as green tea, complete with lingering
aftertaste. According to research, Wulong tea helps prevent and cure illnesses, prolong life and prevent arteriosclerosis and cancer.

Guangdong's Wulong tea comes from Anxi in Fujian Province. Legend has it that the first cultivator of the tea as named Wu Liang. One day, Wu Liang went home after he had picked several pounds of mountain tea and caught a river deer. In the evening, he was busy with killing the river deer, and didn't have enough time to dry the green tea. The next day, he found the tea in the basket had fermented on the way back and after having been stored in the basket the whole night. He fried the tea at once. To his surprise, he found that the tea tasted very mellow, with no bitter and astringent taste. Soon Wu Liang taught his fellow villagers how to make the tea. Almost everyone in his village liked the fermented tea and they named it Wu Liang tea. In the south Fujian dialect, liang and long are two homophonic words. As time went by the tea was called Wulong tea by later generations.

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Xinjiang-Style Cuisine

By SenicYang. Monday, 20. February 2006, 16:55:16

china, culture, food

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Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is inhabited by many ethnic groups, and Xinjiang-style food is characterized by roast mutton, kebabs, roast fish and rice to be eaten with the hand.

Roast Meat

Xinjiang roast mutton is as famous as roast duck is in Beijing and crispy suckling pig is in Guangzhou. A two-year-old sheep is slaughtered and skinned, daubed with salt inside and outside, and then coated with a mixture of eggs, chopped ginger and scallions, and pepper. The sheep is put into a stove to roast for about an hour until it turns golden brown.

Xinjiang kebabs are a snack which is popular nationwide in China, Kebabs can be found in the streets and bazaars throughout Xinjiang. Chunks of mutton are strung on a skewer and roasted over charcoal. The kebabs are turned continually, and when they are almost done, salt, pepper and other seasonings are sprinkled on them. Kebabs are crispy outside and tender inside, slightly salty and hot. They are not greasy and have no unpleasant smell.

Meat is also roasted in an oven pit 120-150 degrees Centigrade. Cubes of mutton coated with a mixture of eggs, ginger, pepper, salt and flour are placed in the pit, and the firewood is removed. The mutton is left for 30 minutes.

Stewed Mutton Cubes

This is a Xinjiang dish prepared especially for festivals. Cut mutton into cubes of 500 grams apiece and boil them in a big pot. When they are half done, remove the foam; and when they are 80 percent done, ass onions, pepper, ginger slices, carrots, turnips and tomatoes. Then remove and place on a big plate. Put some salt in the stock and remove to a bowl. Before eating the mutton, dip it in the stock.

Roast Dumplings

First chop the mutton, beef and sheep's-tail fat into small cubes. Add chopped onions, salt and pepper to make the stuffing. Wrap the stuffing in dough, and put in an oven to roast for 20 minutes. The dumplings are thin-skinned, with tender meat stuffing and very delicious. The Uygurs often eat these together with nang (crusty pancakes) and rice to be eaten with the hands.

Rice Eaten with the Hands

The materials are fresh mutton, carrots, onions, vegetable oil, melted sheep's fat and rice. There are more than 10 kinds of this rice dish, mainly mutton, chicken and vegetarian, but the most common is the one using mutton. This food is soft, delicious and nutritious. It is a feature of festivals, funerals and weddings.

Pulled noodles are liked very much by people of various ethnic groups. To go with the noodles, deep-fried mutton, stir-fried eggs and tomatoes, and stir-fried chillies and mutton are prepared. The noodles are pliable and tough, smooth and delicious. Another method is to cut the noodles into four-cm sections after boiling, and then stir fry together with fat, mutton, tomatoes and chillies. The taste is totally different from that of boiled noodles.

Oily Pyramids

This food is a favorite of the Uygurs. First, add lukewarm water to flour to make dough, and mix in a little yeast. After one hour, add some water, knead the dough and let it stand for a while. Then divide the dough into several pieces, daub some vegetable oil on the outside, and roll it out piece by piece. Then daub some sheep's tail fat and sprinkle a little salt and pepper on it, and roll the dough. Cut it into sections, and twist the sections into pyramid shapes. Steam the pyramids are eaten together with soup or noodles in soup.

Nang (Pancake)

Nang is a staple food for the Uygurs, just like steamed buns in northern China, rice in southern China and bread in Western counties. Making a nang is similar to making a pancake. The materials include wheat flour, corn flour or sorghum flour, with such seasoning as sesame seeds, onions, eggs, vegetable oil, butter, milk, salt and sugar. With a golden yellow surface, nang are crispy and delicious.

Sanzi (Deep-Fried Dough Twists)

Sanzi is one of traditional snacks of the Moslems. To make sanzi, use wheat flour mixed with vegetable oil and juice of the Chinese prickly ash. Knead the dough repeatedly, and then divide it into several pieces. Pull the dough into thin noodles and deep-fry in oil until golden yellow. During festivals, every Uygur family makes sanzi to treat guests.

Ququ (Boiled Dumplings)

Ququ is similar to huntun, but is unique in materials. First, chop up the mutton. Then mix onion, salt, pepper and a little stock to make the stuffing. Wrap the stuffing in dough wrappers in the shape of squares. After boiling, add some coriander. Ququ have thin skins and tender stuffing. They are delicious and nutritious.

Roast Fish

Remove the internal organs and cut the fish into two halves. Use several wooden skewers to penetrate the fish horizonatally, and then use a wooden skewer slightly longer than the fish to penetrate the fish vertically. Roast the fish in a semi-circle over firewood. While they are roasting, sprinkle them with salty water, pepper, and other seasonings. When one side is done, turn them around to roast the other side. Then put the fish on a plate and eat them with the fingers.

Flour-Filled Lungs and Rice-Filled Sausages
These are traditional snacks of the Uygurs, using sheep's internal organs as raw materials. Since the materials are uncommon and the cooking is time-consuming, this dish is a rare delicacy.

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Roast Duck(Kaoya)

By SenicYang. Monday, 20. February 2006, 16:54:04

china, culture, food

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The Beijing roast duck is a dish well-known among gastronomes the world over.

To cook ducks by direct heat dates back at least 1,500 years to the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, when "broiled duck" was mentioned in writing. About eight hundred years later, Husihui, imperial dietician to a Mongol emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, listed in his work Essentials of Diet (1330 A. D.) the "grilled duck" as a banquet delicacy. It was made by heating the duck-stuffed with a mince of sheep's tripe, parsley, scallion, and salt-on a charcoal fire.

Today the Beijing roast duck (or "Peking duck", as it has been called) is made of a special variety of duck fattened by forced feeding in the suburbs of Beijing. After the duck is drawn and cleaned, air is pumped under the skin to separate it more or less from the flesh. And a mixture of oil, sauce and molasses is coated all over it. Thus, when dried and roasted, the duck will look brilliantly red as if painted. Perhaps that is why it is known among some Westerners as the canard laqué or "lacquered duck."

Before being put in the oven, the inside of the fowl is half filled with hot water, which is not released until the duck has been cooked. For oven fuel, jujube-tree, peach or pear wood is used because these types of firewood emit little smoke and give steady and controllable flames with a faint and pleasant aroma. In the oven, each duck takes about fourty minutes to cook, and the skin becomes crisp while the meat is tender.

In the restaurant, the roast duck, after being shown whole to the customers, is served in slices, which are eaten rolled in thin pancakes with a dish of tianmianjiang (a sweet sauce made of fermented flour) and scallion (or cucumber) cut in thin lengths. Few people, if any, could resist the temptation of the crisp and delicious taste of the Beijing roast duck.

Before the duck appears, however, various warm or cold dishes are often served, made of kidneys, hearts, livers, webs, wings and eggs, all from the duck. Even duck tongues can be
prepared into very tasty dishes, and the skeleton of the eaten duck normally goes into a soup which finds few equals. A highly experienced chef of a duck restaurant can produce an "all-duck banquet" of over eighty dishes made of different parts of the fowl.

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Noodles (Miantiao)

By SenicYang. Monday, 20. February 2006, 16:52:48

china, culture, food

Noodles are a form of staple food very popular among the Chinese. They can be made either by hand or by machine and, by the way they are made, are divided into "cut noodles" or "dried noodles." Made in whatever way, they may be of different widths, varying from ribbons to threads. As a prepared dish, they can be served warm or cold, dressed with chilli oil or not, eaten with fried bean sauce, port or chicken sauce, duck chops, soup of any concoction and what not.

There is also a variety of "instant noodles", which are precooked, dried and commercially packed. Before eating, all one has to do is to soak them in hot, boiled water for a few minutes. They are very handy for a quick lunch in the office or on a journey.

As noodles are always in the form of long strings, they are symbolic of longevity and are therefore indispensable at Chinese birthday parties.

Two types of noodles stand out among the rest and require professional skill. The "hand-pulled noodles" are probably unique to China and can be made only by a trained cook. He prepares the paste by stretching it in his hands and, holding it stretched and shaking it gently up and down four or five times, lets down the middle of the long paste and swings it in such a way that it twists around itself. He repeats the stretching, shaking and twisting many times until he feels the paste is firm enough. Then, on a work board he starts pulling the paste with his arms stretched. He folds the thick string of paste into two, pulling again. This he repeats many times over and the strings of paste become longer, more numerous, thinner and thinner, turning finally into very fine noodles. The whole process of making "hand-pulled noodles" is done with such magical dexterity that to watch an experienced cook at it is like enjoying a juggler's show.

Another speciality that one cannot make at is longxu mian (dragon beard noodles). Commercially they are available fried, so they are golden in colour, crisp to the bite and with a distinctive flavour. "Dragon beards" are also hand-pulled but are made extraordinarily fine. It has been calculated that a piece a paste prepared with 1.5 kilograms of wheat flour can make 144,000 hair-thin noodles, each 0.17 metres long, which means a total length of 2 kilometres.

At the beginning "dragon beards" were simply called "beards," but since they caught the fancy of an emperor and as the dragon was the symbol of all emperors, they have come to be known as "dragon beards."

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Chinese Tea Guide

By SenicYang. Monday, 20. February 2006, 16:51:57

china, culture, tea, 観光

Tea is made from the leaves of the Camellia Sinensis plant, native to China and parts of India. Tea was supposedly discovered by Shen Nong (the Divine Farmer), sometime around 2700 BC. First mention of tea is found in the famous herbalist's "Book of Plants," which says: "When the Divine Farmer was tasting the plants of the kingdom, each day he would eat 72 kinds which were poisonous, but when he had tea, he was cured."

Tea was used as offerings in the West Zhou, vegetables in the Spring and Autumn period, and medicine in the Warring period. Later in the West Han dynasty, it became a main commodity. During 300 years between the Three Kingdoms period and the Northern and Southern Dynasties, especially latter, Buddhism was popular and Buddhists applied tea to relieve sleep in Za-zen, so tea trees spread along valleys around temples. That is why people say tea and Buddhism accompanied each other in their development. Till the Tang dynasty tea became popular in ordinary people. In the Ming dynasty, tea trade began to play an important role in the social economy, the "Tea and Horse Bureau" was set up to supervise the tea trade.

In the 6th century, a Buddhist monk introduced tea to Japan and in the 16th century to Europe by a Portuguese missionary. And tea became an international drink.

Now in China, tea family not only consists of traditional tea, but also tea beverage, tea food, tea medicine and other tea products.

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The Cooking Techniques of Chinese

By SenicYang. Monday, 20. February 2006, 16:50:40

china, culture, food, 中国 ...

Stir-frying

Stir-frying is the classic Chinese cooking method; quick cook over high heat in a small amount of oil, toss and turn the food when it cooks. In stir-frying, the food should always be in motion. Spread it around the pan or up the sides of the wok, then toss it together again in the center and repeat. This method allows meats to stay juicy and flavorful, vegetables to come out tender-crisp.

There are variations, of course, but the basic pattern for many Chinese dishes is to pre-heat the pan or wok ( a drop of water will sizzle when it's hot enough), add the oil and heat it, stir- fry the meat, remove it, stir-fry the vegetables, return the meat to the pan, add sauce and seasonings, thicken the sauce and serve. Since stir-frying is a last-minute operation, don's plan one more than two stir-fry dishes in one meal.

Steaming

The Chinese steam food in woven bamboo trays that stack one atop the other. The beauty of this system is that several foods cook at one time , saving fuel. All sorts of foods are steamed:meats, fish, dumplings, buns stuffed with meat or a sweet bean paste-bread! For best results, the water should be boiling when the food goes into the steameer and the flame should be high enough to keep it boiling. Have a kattle of boiling water nearby so if water in the steamer evaporates you can add more without reducing the heat. (Be cautious; steam is hot. ) Try to keep moisture that condenses inside the lid from dripping on the food when you remove the lid. See that the water level stays an inch or so below the food, or you will boil it.

Deeping-frying

Some of the most delectable Chinese horsd'oeuvres are deep- fried. Certain main dishes also call for meats to be deep-fried for a crunchy coating, then stir-fried to combine them with vegetables and flavorings . The oil must be at the right temperature---360°to 375°--- to cook food properly. The most food-proof
method is used to a thermostatically -controlled electric fryer. If you deep-fry in your wok or pot, use a frying thermometer, or test the oil before adding food by dropping in a small piece of meat or vegetable. If it sizzles and skates around the surface of the oil, the temperature is right. If it sinks, the oil is not hot enough. If it browns too quickly, and the oil smokes, the temperature is too high. Oil can be reduced if you strain it and add fresh oil each time. Keep a separate batch for frying fish and seafood.

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