COLD MEAT 2 It was a sunny morning, but I seemed to be suffering from stomach problems. I still don’t know if it was because of the excitement, or because of the extravaganza of a dinner I had last night with my Chinese friends. [ + ]
COLD MEAT 2
It was a sunny morning, but I seemed to be suffering from stomach problems. I still don’t know if it was because of the excitement, or because of the extravaganza of a dinner I had last night with my Chinese friends.
I arrived at the piazza in front of Shanghai Railway Station: a huge, bare piazza. I turned my head to the left, and there was a clock; I looked further to the left still, and there was a huge electronic billboard, displaying everything from advertisements for watches to the weather, as well as the departures and arrivals of trains. The rest… was just people – people everywhere – and a selection of their belongings.
I thought I might need water and something to eat for the road. I decided, for the first time in my life, to buy a Coke. My dad always said that in case of stomach troubles, the best solution was to drink some Coke and relax; cola is even good for repairing cars. In the store, I found the Coca-Cola; however, finding something to eat was proving more difficult than I thought. I just couldn’t find something I was able to, or wanted to, eat. In most cases, this was because I simply couldn’t understand what was inside the plastic wrappers containing edible material.
CHILLIES My friend arrived and I was keen to show her around: the street food first of all, available on every street corner, and then we decided to try a new restaurant located at the top of a tower. That way, we would be able to discover Shanghai from every direction. [ + ]
CHILLIES
My friend arrived and I was keen to show her around: the street food first of all, available on every street corner, and then we decided to try a new restaurant located at the top of a tower. That way, we would be able to discover Shanghai from every direction. Steffi loves spicy food, so we went to a Sichuanese restaurant. In the entrance, we could see chillies hanging from the ceiling, all bright hues of red. Finally, her dish arrived: it was a bowl full of chillies, and not much else, as far as we could tell. We ordered rice. And then she went for it. It was magic; she didn’t go red, or anything like that, and she ate every last morsel.
Shanghai is a metropolis that is very proud of the fact that embedded within it are all the secrets of this bountiful culture. Everywhere you sit in Shanghai, you have the opportunity to learn not just about the city, but also about China and the rest of the world. Shanghai is the head of the dragon, and it attracts anyone who wishes to discover it.
SHARING FOOD A dear friend came to Shanghai to visit me. Over the previous couple of months, I had been seeing such fast development, not just in terms of buildings going up and coming down, but also in the choice of restaurants available. [ + ]
SHARING FOOD
A dear friend came to Shanghai to visit me. Over the previous couple of months, I had been seeing such fast development, not just in terms of buildings going up and coming down, but also in the choice of restaurants available. Not only were international restaurants starting to appear but, more importantly, Chinese cuisine was becoming more prominent in restaurants. This made my life in Shanghai even richer. Although food unifies this country, the variety of options available in China is endless. Different food customs are passed down through the generations, whether regional cuisine or food associated with certain rituals. For every ritual and custom, there is something to be eaten at a specific time and in a specific place. In particular, there are daily rituals – the familiar rituals of day-to-day life. Sharing food, sharing the same food from the same plates at the same table, for instance. The moment when Chinese people eat together is a moment of joy. The Chinese will hold meetings with business partners around a dining table. The difference in the West is that we would often rather go somewhere for a drink. The Chinese, on the other hand, go somewhere to eat. Of course, you can drink while eating. But the importance of the restaurant must not be ignored.
[ - ]GESTURES Every culture has its own gestures. Indians constantly move their heads while talking. [ + ]
GESTURES
Every culture has its own gestures. Indians constantly move their heads while talking. Similarly, Japanese use their heads to indicate that they have understood the subject. As for Italians, they have a whole array of hand gestures that form a sort of language of their own. Shanghainese, on the other hand, don’t have all that many gestures, probably because of the embedded notion of yin and yang within Chinese culture and, consequently, their conception of healthiness. No one should be too happy or too sad. Equilibrium shall always prevail.
Nonetheless, when there is a crowd of Shanghainese watching a group of people playing mah-jong or carrom or any other table game, they will cross their arms, and some will smoke a cigarette without even touching it, as they do when they ride a bike, take a break at work or have a meal in a restaurant. What’s more, they will often do this while adopting the “crouching-on-heels position”. Since the very beginning of time, it has been shown that this is the best posture for the human body; however, in the West, most of us can’t really do this anymore, or at least not if we have to put our heels on the ground. But the Chinese can, and do, all the time, and hold this position for a very long time – while working, eating, waiting for public transport, going to the toilet, or simply talking to each other in the park or in the street.
HOROSCOPE Tell me which animal you are and I will tell you what kind of person you might be. Being a pig has been proven to open Chinese doors. [ + ]
HOROSCOPE
Tell me which animal you are and I will tell you what kind of person you might be.
Being a pig has been proven to open Chinese doors. Whenever I mention my horoscope sign, it always elicits one of two reactions:
– Ohhh, good!
– Mmm, you are lucky!
EIGHT “Luck” is probably the best translation of the word for “eight” in Chinese culture. It has many interpretations and can be used in many different ways. For example:Bā sounds like the word for prosperity and wealth. [ + ]
EIGHT
“Luck” is probably the best translation of the word for “eight” in Chinese culture. It has many interpretations and can be used in many different ways. For example:Bā sounds like the word for prosperity and wealth. In different rituals, one can use the power of the number eight in a date to multiply good fortune.
There is also a visual resemblance between the digits “88” and 囍, the shuāng xĭ, meaning “double happiness”. Furthermore, when turned on its side, the number eight resembles the mathematical symbol for infinity. My impression, therefore, is that eight is the number of infinite luck and happiness.
The number eight is viewed as such an auspicious number that even being assigned a number containing several eights is considered very lucky. Chinese people devote a lot of money and effort to having the figure eight in their telephone numbers and car registration numbers.
