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Aside from being the home of Suzhou, Nanjing and Wu culture, 江苏省 (Jiangsusheng – Jiangsu Province) is also renowned for producing 昆曲(kunqu – Kun Opera). This operatic style actually takes its name from the town of 昆山 (Kunshan), which is very, very close to Suzhou. Given Suzhou’s much-espoused status as a cultural interchange capital, it is easy to see how Kun Opera has also become associated with Suzhou. Thus, Suzhou itself has a fantastic 昆曲博物馆 (kunqu bowuguan – Kun Opera museum).

So. On a drenched Sunday in June (the infamous “rainy season”), Wendy and I found ourselves pouring through local tour books and internet guides attempting to locate this fabulous museum we had heard so much about. As is often the case with all the best things in China, it took some serious digging to uncover an address…and, of course, it was in a very hard-to-reach part of town. Anticipating the hassle to come over giving the 师傅(shifu – literally “master worker” but here meaning taxi driver), directions on how to reach a place we had never been, Wendy and I felt the need to fortify ourselves first with dumplings. Oh, but we do love our 饺子 (jiaozi – dumplings) and our 包子 (baozi – steamed buns). :)

We stopped at this chain place in the big shopping district of Suzhou, mostly because we were with someone who was splintering off there but also because this place has these amazing fish dumplings. (Sadly for me, it seems most dumplings are pork or beef mixtures, so I am very excited by seafood dumpling soup.) The best part about these fish dumplings is the spicy chili broth they are in – usually dumplings are accompanied by near-tasteless bowls of what basically amounts to the water that the dumplings are cooking in with some seasonings and scallions sprinkled in. Sometimes it really will be just the water the dumplings are cooking in with no embellishments. I will never understand this, though Wendy has explained on repeated occasions that simply consuming the dumplings alone is considered unhealthy.

While there, Wendy managed to talk me into eating yet another something I would never imagine consuming on my own: duck’s blood soup. According to Wendy, this was a regional specialty and one she had been really looking forward to trying. I am apparently a complete pushover for a dare, so we ordered a bowl.

The duck’s blood is the dark chunks floating in the broth. For those looking to vicariously experience this dish, read on. For those who don’t want to know what duck’s blood is like, skip the rest of this paragraph…ready? It’s somehow congealed (maybe with gelatin of some kind?), and then maybe lightly boiled like an English pudding and sliced into bite-sized strips. It’s definitely unique…has the texture of flan and a dark, salty, metallic taste…I don’t think I’ll be having seconds, though. Ever again. ;) In some places, they serve it in giant, Jell-O Jigglersesque chunks that are a bright, bright red…as it if has barely gelled…

Moving on from lunch…

As it turns out, the 师傅 had no idea where this place was, so it was very fortunate that Wendy: A. had a map; and B. is a native speaker and my Chinese teacher…we were able to work this out. We arrived outside of the museum which, in addition to housing a beautiful display on the history of Kun Opera, also had audio guides to their collection IN ENGLISH (awesome) and a full-sized stage where live performances are held on Sundays and other special occasions.

Here’s some photos from the inside…

At the same time Wendy and I were in the museum, a couple of Kun Opera buffs were getting their engagement photos shot…in costume…I think they looked great, personally, and couldn’t resist snapping a shot or two…

The had miniature models of famous stage designs, too…

The outdoor stage…

Costumes…

And here’s a video…it’s from the 牡丹亭 (Mu Dan Ting – Peony Pavilion), a very famous Kun Opera of which this is a very famous duet…it’s also one of my favorite works, in music as well as in storyline…

So, yeah. Sunday at the Kun Opera Museum.

It would be an inexcusable thing to talk about Suzhou and China without talking also about silk…here’s some photos from our visit to “Suzhou #1 Silk Factory”...I’m not sure how I feel about silk now that I know it’s obtained by boiling the silkworm whole in it’s cocoon, though…it’s a shame, though, because embroidered silk is so beautiful…not to mention there’s a much more humane way to harvest the silk…namely, waiting until the silkworms hatch into moths…

Silkworms chowing down amidst the mullberries…

Sorting out the cocoons…

The sad boiling process…

This machine weaves patterned silk…it’s almost like an old player piano…the wooden sheets folded up like an accordian alongside it play the pattern through the machine, which then appears in the silk…

The finished products…

Yuki and Jillian checking out the merchandise…specifically, the 旗袍 (qipao) or Chinese style dresses…in an interesting side note, if you change the tone of the word qipao from second to fourth, it refers to an air bubble… ;)

On another interesting side note…one of the patterns produced in the factory is on a laptop bag I have at home…purchased, I believe, at TJ Maxx…when I told this to our tour guide, she told me I had to be mistaken…well, what do you think? The first photo is from the Suzhou shop, the second is one of my friend Shari and myself taken at the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC last year. Does the fabric look the same? Anything to make a sale, I guess.

Weeks after my WVU language instructor, Lin Laoshi, suggested it…here is my first post on Chinese gardens.

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Gardens in Asia are very different from gardens in the West. When Westerners think of large, imperial grounds, we generally think of gardens like those at Versailles…places where nature has been trimmed and tamed into defining something obviously synthetic out of a tangle of wilderness. Traditional western gardens usually contain elements (such as ornate fountains, benches and statues) that are meant to stand out in stark relief to the natural world…these focal points are often the centers of our gardens. We adore the beauty of bright flowers so much, many gardens contain large splashes of blossoms in unnatural multitude and abundance. The beauty of many Western gardens is upheld through a rigorous schedule of pruning, trimming, and shaping, often with the goal of turning a natural object into an unnatural shape (such as our predilection with geometrical formations and mazes). Creating an order from the seeming chaos of the natural world is a foremost concern in Western gardens. While certainly these gardens are very beautiful and often elaborate constructions, rarely can we forget that this beauty lies in an intricate carving of the synthetic from the natural, on an imposition of man’s wants onto his surroundings.

Chinese gardens, on the other hand, are designed to highlight the best expression of the natural world in a way that facilitates connection with nature. They were often the sheltering place of those seeking refuge from the problems of the world, and were thus designed to provide a kind of spiritual and poetic catharsis to their inhabitants. Essentially they were to symbolize all the necessary and good things to be found in a return to nature, and were meant to serve as reminders of such. Many plants (such as pine and bamboo), represented esoteric concepts such as purity, longevity, faithfulness, persistence and strength of will. This focus on the natural, however, did not preclude its own thorough version of planning. The following is excerpted from a Wikipedia entry on Chinese Gardens:

“To be considered authentic, a garden must be built and planned around seventeen essential elements: 1) proximity to the home; 2) small; 3) walled; 4) small individual sections; 5) asymmetrical; 6) various types of spatial connections; 7) architecture; 8) rocks; 9) water; 10) trees; 11) plants; 12) sculpture; 13) jie jing (borrowed scenery); 14) chimes; 15) incense burners; 16) inscriptions; 17) use of feng shui for choosing site.”

It’s an amazing feat to make something so rigidly planned appear so effortless and natural, as Chinese gardens do when you walk through them.

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So. That’s all well and good, right, but what does it have to do with Suzhou?

To borrow once more from Wikipedia (I do love that site, don’t I?):

“Gardening in Suzhou reached its height during the Ming and Qing dynasties. There were over 280 private gardens then in Suzhou and landscaping became an art with established masters…sixty-nine gardens in and around Suzhou are still in good condition. In 1997, UNESCO added four of the private gardens of Suzhou to the World Heritage list, extending this in 2000 to include the historic section of the city and five other gardens in the area.” It is also worth noting of the four most famous gardens in China (Lingering Garden and Humble Administrator’s Garden of Suzhou; Mountain Resort of Chengde; Summer Palace of Beijing), two are located in Suzhou.

Suzhou, therefore, is renowned for its gardens. Which I spent ample time exploring. Here’s some photos of one of the most famous gardens of all, the Humble Administrator’s Garden

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Julia in the garden…

I love the way gardens and scenic spots are named…

Wendy by a lotus pond…

Graham literally hiding in a pile of rocks and reading…

This bonsai tree is older than the US Constitution…

Aka conquers the rock maze…

Matt in the garden…

Most Americans who have traveled abroad can probably relate to this…there you are in a foreign country, dazzled by all the new sights and sounds, so you find yourself wandering the city streets when suddenly…you turn a corner and are confronted with what I like to call McCulture Shock.

I call it that because, for me at least, it usually involves a McDonald’s, although I have had the same experience with KFC and Pizza Hut.

The first time I experienced McCulture Shock was in France, I think…that was the first time I had ever entered an American fast food chain in another country…I went up to the counter to order and discovered that the McDonald’s Francais menu carried not only McChicken sandwiches, but also espressos and that quintessential French sandwich, the croque monsieur…or, as it is known in McSpeak, Croque McDo…(excuse my borrowed photo, I don’t have any France pics on my laptop…this is from CNN.com)...

And then at a later date in Spain…McGazpacho…

There are few things I feel I really have a bead on in life, but what to expect at a McDonald’s is generally one of them. Upsetting those assumptions makes my world tilt off-kilter.

So. I thought I was prepared for China…I’ve been abroad many times before, I’ve had culture shock and I know what it feels like, I’ve been to Asia before so I know how different it can be from Western nations (even Europe was still reminiscent of America in many ways to me)...I was mentally geared up and it was just not going to happen in China…until there I found myself, wandering the streets of Suzhou, only to turn a corner and be confronted with this…

A little something I can only call a McRickshaw.

我就喜欢 (wo jiu xihuan) means “I really like it”...or, in McSpeak, “I’m lovin’ it!”

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Other things that catch me unawares…

Often in cities people will carry giant water thermoses to a water heating station once a day, instead of boiling their own water, using their thermoses to make things like tea and noodles…

Traffic is always surprising to me…especially the conspicuous absence of traffic police and the fact that cars do not slow down for pedestrians in crosswalks, nor are bike lanes solely relegated to bikes (ever see a bus zip down a lane 1/2 the size of the vehicle?)...apparently, neither are sidewalks solely for pedestrians (bikes are very common, cars and vans are not unheard of)...walking in China is a bit weird at first, because you have to learn to walk exactly in a straight line and to look backwards before moving in any other direction (mostly because of motorbikes speeding up behind you)...you also have to learn to listen for bike horns and to quickly sidle to the edge of the sidewalk when you hear one…no joke, this will happen over and over and over again each time you go out…anyway, here’s hour two of a huge traffic jam in Xi’an, which basically occurred because the drivers inside of this roundabout wouldn’t allow others to go first, so a complete state of gridlock was achieved with our bus caught directly in the middle…now, nobody would back out or move, either, until each driver got out of his/her vehicle and consulted with all the other drivers at length over who should go first and who should do what…I don’t know how it ended because I was heading to the train station, so we just got out and walked sometime into the second hour…

Pulling an animal head out of a cooked dish also gets me every time…hello, chicken!

Clothing habits get me too…for example, there’s a big trend of women wearing nude ankle-high stockings (AKA footies) with highly ornate heels and clothing that does not cover their ankles, leaving the band of the stocking visible…

...then there’s the traditional way of dressing potty-training children…crotchless pants…

...and there’s the habit of men folding their shirts up around their midriffs…

...all those take some getting used to and are usually when I realize I’m not in Kansas anymore…and the culture shock starts setting in.

So, yes. McCulture Shock. Somebody should write a book about it before McDonald’s licenses it.

Maybe it’s the Olympics and the season (or maybe my blog is just that fascinating), but I have been receiving a lot of e-mails lately asking for travel advise about China. So I sat down this morning and came up with a rambling list of the things I think are most important. This is based solely on personal opinion and experiences, though, so take it with a grain of salt. I hope this helps point interested parties in the right direction, if nothing else.

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ERIN’S UNSOLICITED ADVICE AND TO-KNOW LIST ABOUT TRAVELING IN CHINA

1. Be Adventurous

Do not hermit away in your dorm room/hotel room and do not spend all your time at KFC/Pizza Hut/arcades/clubs or only hanging out with other international students/fellow travelers. Basically, do not create a Little America during your stay in China. Don’t get stuck in the tour group mindset where you have a carefully coordinated and chaperoned experience of the largest tourist spots only. Go out walking without a plan. Stop at places along the way. Stop at that cruddy dive restaurant. Go into the clothing store. Don’t fear getting lost or being unable to communicate so much that you spend your time in China staring at the same four walls, or solely interacting with fellow travelers. Do your own research and plan your own stay. Make friends and go places with them. Take the initiative and invite them out somewhere. Be curious – if you see a food that interests you and you don’t know what it is, taste it. Ask your new friends what they enjoy doing around town, what restaurants are good and what KTV places are the best. Go to the night markets and buy DVDs and CDs of popular movies and music, even without knowing what they are about or what they sound like. Ask questions. As permission if you are unsure. As my mother used to tell me when I was growing up, “The worst they can do is tell you no.” You will look silly sometimes, you will probably get lost, get sick or make some ridiculous verbal mistake…but that’s all part of life and all part of international travel. If nothing else, think of the good story that experience will make (for example, I have had some ridiculous transit-related escapade in every country I’ve ever visited, much to the amusement of my friends and family).

2. Really Try Chinese Food

Odds are if you live in the West, unless you are the exception, the food you refer to as Chinese is anything but. Actual, honest-to-goodness Chinese food is very different what you get at the buffet or the take-out up the road. In fact, many of our “Chinese” dishes were actually modified or created outright to suit Western tastes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Chinese_cuisine

It will be different…it will contain vegetables you’ve never seen and animal parts you would not find on the menu on Texas Roadhouse. There will probably be bones in everything, including fish (which are usually served whole). You may not have any idea what comprises the food you are putting in your mouth…dish names do not indicate the cooking method and the ingredients (for example, one of the most popular eggplant dishes has a name that is something like “almost as good as fish”, and yet contains no ocean flora or fauna)...be adventurous, take a guess and try something new. Try something you’d never imagine eating in a million years…chances are, you’ll be very surprised…just don’t seek out General Tso’s, Fried Rice and Sesame Chicken in every restaurant you come across.

3. Chinese Restrooms

Not all rest areas in China have toilet paper and/or sinks to wash your hands in. Seriously. In fact, depending on where you are, many don’t. It was by far the norm during my travels to come across a place that didn’t rather than a place that did. Also, there’s a little something up with Chinese toilets that you will probably come across sooner rather than later…

This is a Chinese toilet. No, I will not describe it any further and, no, I will not explain how to use it. ;) That can be part of your own travel research and experiences. The only thing I will say about these is something a friend once told me while I was visiting Kyoto many years ago as a high-school exchange student…”there’s only one rule for using a squat toilet – exhaust all other options first.”

Usually these are tucked inside of ceiling-high stalls, affording privacy while you navigate with difficulty something 5-year-old Chinese children do with ease…sometimes, though, you will come across what is known as a 你好 (ni hao) bathroom…ni hao being Mandarin for hello...see if you can figure out why they would be called this from the photo below…bear in mind – Jillian, Yuki and Natalie are all standing straight up in their stalls and they all are between, maybe, 5 foot 2 through 5 foot 4 inches tall…

Don’t get flipped out just yet, though. Western-style toilets are by far the norm. Just don’t be surprised to encounter one of these every now and again…especially in older districts and establishments.

A WORD OF SERIOUS ADVICE: Bring toilet paper/hand sanitizer/personal hygiene products with you wherever you go. Seriously. Just do it.

4. Be Prepared To Be Close

As one of my professors is fond of telling me, the idea of personal space is somewhat foreign to most Chinese. It is, after all, one of the most populous countries in the world…one that has a social structure emphasizing social relationships and obligations…so it should come as no surprise that Chinese people are close, physically and emotionally. It’s not considered rude to ask questions about someone’s weight, income, age and marital/romantic status. People will touch you, move you and brush against you without apology on the street in a way that doesn’t even happen on the NYC Metro (it’s not considered a violation, so it’s not exactly rude). For example – I was on a flight from Shanghai to Tokyo where my seatmate (a 50+ professional on a business trip), began asking me detailed questions about my income and my personal expenditures in the course of a routine conversation about the American versus the Chinese economy. In Suzhou, shopkeepers would often hold clothing up to my body and begin checking for fit in a way that only my mother and my grandmother have ever done to me. New acquaintances would ask me about marital and childbearing prospects…it’s all part of the territory. Offering advice or taking on the role of a go-between in some problematic situation is also common (less so among the younger generation, though). If this happens to you (as it likely will), don’t be offended or put off – just realize this is a part of Chinese culture and that you’re just having a culture shock moment. After the shock passes, you may find the honesty and the forthrightness behind those gestures to be very refreshing.

5. Language, Language, Language

If you are traveling in the mainland, the lingua franca there is Mandarin as we call it, 普通话 (putonghua) as they call it. This is also true for Taiwan. However, in places like Hong Kong and Singapore, the spoken word is generally Cantonese (AKA yue). All this in addition to the numerous方言(fangyan), or regional dialects, within China. On top of this, in the mainland a simplified character system is used in the written language (where strokes have been streamlined and condensed to aid retention), whereas traditional characters are used in other places (like Hong Kong). How different can this be? 国 (S) versus 國 (T) indicate the same word.

However…don’t allow the intricacies of Chinese to scare you off from delving deeper. Chances are very high (especially in the mainland), that you will be placed in situations where the other communicative party does not speak English…after all, you are in a different country and English is your tongue, not theirs…what to do?

Well…I would recommend learning at least a few key phrases…here’s a site with good information and good links:

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/chinese_spoken.htm

The largest part of making yourself understandable in Chinese involves pronunciation and tone (for example, the words for mother and horse are the same…the tone with which they are pronounced is what determines their meaning). This obviously presents a problem to the beginning language student, especially if you are studying on your own. If pronunciation and memorization turn out to be real problems, I would recommend purchasing a photo dictionary. These are small books that contain a variety of simple photos and drawings which can be quite simply pointed to. It’s surprising how effective that kind of communication can be.

6. Planes, Sleeper Trains, Public Transport and Taxis

Getting around China is easy with a little know-how. Obviously, the quickest way to get from city to city is by plane. However, flights are by far the most expensive option for travel…in addition to the fact that you miss out on the experiences and scenery of these other methods…so, do as most Chinese do. Take a sleeper train.

Tickets for these trains can be bought at train terminals . Hard sleepers are the cheapest…but, honestly, these things are incredibly crowded and small (6 small cots per space, 3 per each wall)...it’s basically a series of small metal cots studding open alcoves, more like storage then bedding, with no privacy…expect to be sharing space with families with small children and, on occasion, animals (I traveled for 36 hours on one in the company of chicks and ducklings, believe it or not)...if you are traveling in a group, pay the extra money and get a soft sleeper. These are individual compartments on the trains (4 beds per), usually with individual TVs or radios per bed (which are softer, larger, couch-type beds). These will have individual hot water carafes to hold your boiling water, in addition to being much quieter.

Soft Sleepers:

Hard Sleepers:

Feathered Traveling Companions:

There are also sleeper buses…these are cheaper than trains and will take you through many tiny little cities and on many strange roads. These can be kind of a scary experience, as it’s almost guaranteed to be a Chinese-language only trip through what will appear to you to be the middle of nowhere. And you’ve never seen a roadside dive until you stop at a “bus stop” during one of these rides (packed earth courtyards with open water spigots and doorless urinals, anyone?) Unless you are traveling with some friends and speak a fair amount of Chinese, don’t do it. If you meet those conditions, it can be quite an interesting way to see parts of the countryside you’d never see from a train.

Remember, also, to bring food with you on the trains and buses. The trips can be long and there are no vending machines. There’s usually hot water on the trains to make noodles and tea, but bring whatever you want to eat with you. (Some trains have dining cars, but don’t hold out for it…they’re not open 24/7, and the food can be kind of mediocre and expensive). At many train stops, there will be sellers with carts of fruit, vegetables, drinks, foods, magazines and cigarettes. There’s also often stores or restaurants in the train stations.

Taking a taxi from place to place will usually be relatively reasonable…just remember that your driver most likely doesn’t speak English…minimum fares vary from place to place, usually starting no cheaper than 10元 for a short hop…the only problem with this method is that often taxi drivers will note that you are not Chinese and will try to inflate the rates. This is so incredibly common, especially around tourist areas and travel hubs. They do this usually by immediately quoting a price that is 5 or 6 times what the actual cost is or by not turning on their meters once you are inside and then charged you an inflated rate upon arrival. There’s no full-proof method for avoiding this difficulty (off-duty taxis do the same thing), but if you avoid taxi hawkers and go to taxi stands (located outside of airports and train stations), queue up with everyone else and look for an official-looking taxi that quotes their price per kilometer on the side, in addition to having a meter installed in the front dashboard. This photo is from the Shanghaiist (great blog) and is what a meter generally looks like:

That paper sprouting out of the top is the receipt. The meter is generally on if the little flip sign above it that indicates the taxi is available is pushed down. You’ll hear the buzzing, printing sound of the receipt being readied and the meter kicking on once its been started. Do not be afraid to barter or argue with these drivers, or to insist that they turn on the meter (请打表 – qing3 da2 biao3). Don’t be afraid to simply get out of the taxi if you feel uncomfortable, either. Just don’t do it on the middle of nowhere. ;)

Jitneys are also very common and should be avoided unless it is absolutely not possible to do so (these rates will always be hugely inflated.)

Public transport is dirt cheap…usually 1元 a ride, or some such…obviously, subways are nice because they’re quick and universal…public buses are good, too, although this form of transport can become ridiculously crowded. Just remember that on a Chinese bus, etiquette demands you turn your body away from the aisle and the people across from you and look out the window of the side of the bus you are on. In the West, we tend to turn away from the people we are hovering over and to look out into the middle of the aisle or on the ground, maybe out a window further up or on the other side…this is considered weird in China. If you walk onto a crowded bus in China, expect to see a row of standing passengers presenting a line of backsides all the way down the aisle. Do the same.

Or, you know…do what most people do. Walk or, like Yuki and John, ride a bike.

A WORD OF SERIOUS ADVICE: If you are traveling in China, you MUST get the addresses of the places you will be going to/staying at written in Chinese characters for you. If you can’t do that, at least get a working telephone number for your destination. Do not expect your taxi driver or passersby to recognize an address written in English. First of all, the pinyin (if it is correctly translated, which it often is not), will not contain those essential accent marks so you will not be able to decipher it to pronounce it correctly…(we’re all guilty – I don’t use correct pinyin on this blog when I type, either)...also, pinyin requires training to read for the native speaker as well as the foreign student (it’s a transliteration system, not a writing system), so many people just will not know how to read what you’re showing them…on top of all this, places and streets are often “Westernized” for hotel/hostel/tourist reservations and information…Phoenix Banquet can actually turn out to be something completely different in Chinese. :( I cannot tell you how many times I have come across a group of tourists/students waving a guidebook or a printout of with a Westernized address in the face of a completely bewildered taxi driver.

7. Learn To Barter

You just will not be able to get away without doing this. Very rarely will a price in a store not be negotiable, unless it’s a department store or convenience store or some such…most of the tiny little boutiques/stands/shops you come across will have negotiable prices, so you will be expected to barter. Also keep in mind that many of the goods you are buying are most likely knockoffs…and that the shop clerks will lie outright to your face if it means you will buy something. I had a shopkeeper in Guilin try to tell me that this BOX OF JAPANESE YOMOGI MOCHI she was peddling was a Chinese regional specialty only produced in this one place in all the world…even though the lettering on the box was in Japanese, of which I read some to her…even though it had a photo of Mount Fuji under an embossed print of cherry blossoms on the back of the package… ::sigh::

I’m going to have a separate post on this later, so that will contain more detailing tips and information…in the meantime, just realize that you need to be willing and able to negotiate, and to call somebody’s bluff.

8. Pack Wisely

With one of the few highly favorable exchange rates left to US wallets, not to mention with so many interesting and valuable goods available for purchase, you WILL buy something while you are in China. Even if you aren’t a big shopper. Even if you only have thismuch room left in your suitcase. Even if you only have 5 bucks left to your name. So pack as lightly as you can. Airlines are restricting weights and bags more as each day passes, so every pound counts. You can buy many personal care products for the equivalent of nickels and dimes once in China – about the only thing you can’t buy is clothing/shoes if you are tall or larger than a women’s size medium. (The same goes for men.) Chinese sizes are very, very small – a women’s size 12, for example, hovers somewhere between a 1X and a 2XX in the Chinese market…if you are of a more diminutive size, you can find many great bargains and deals that double as souvenirs. Otherwise, bring everything you think you’ll need with you, because you won’t be buying it once there.

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That’s about the most I can think of at the moment, so I hope that helps any of you looking to travel in China. Completely seriously, going to China was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I really encourage anyone interested and able to do the same, and would be more than happy to answer any other questions about China through e-mail.

In the words of my friend and instructor, Wendy, I am “completely obsessed with tea”. (Note that this is often said in a tone of exasperation.)

She teases me a lot about this because, as my final project in her Chinese Culture class last semester, I researched an incredibly detailed and…okay, I’ll admit it…LONG…project on the politics and cultures of tea in China and its effect on international relations. (I think it says something when your professor tells you it’s too long.) As part of my presentation, I even brought thermoses of tea into the classroom with plastic cups and tea snacks (imported by Vonson’s from a Suzhou bakery for the occasion)...ever since then she’s been accusing me of a fixation. Which is a blatant untruth. I just really, really, really, really, really like tea. A lot.

As I wrote about in an earlier post, one of the first things that Wendy and I did upon arriving in Suzhou was to partake of a very pricey tea ceremony at a teahouse outside of the Cold Mountain Temple. I was completely ecstatic and had to restrain myself from constantly clicking away with my camera…not so successfully, as it turns out…

At home I think I have 23 varieties of tea from 8 different countries, 7 teapots and innumerable teacups, tea scoops, tea strainers and other tea accoutrements (Western and Eastern). I have a set of silver demitasse spoons I picked up in Northern Ireland, 3 complete cream and sugar sets (matched to specific teapots), hand-molded cups from Zenclay in Morgantown, a set of Moroccan teacups a friend brought me from Spain…this list could actually go on for quite some time. Now I also have a suitcase full of 碧螺春 (biluochun) and 龙井 (longjing) teas, not to mention various 乌龙 (oolong) and 普洱 (pu’erh) varieties, to drag back home stateside. There’s also the small matter of a complete gongfu cha tea service set that Wendy haggled down for me that comes with a bamboo serving box/tray, tea scoops, towels and picks, plus a Yixing teapot and teacup set to serve six. That’s taking up some space. That and the 5 books on tea culture that I have also purchased while here.

On second thought…maybe Wendy has a point…

Regardless.

Here is the second in my three-part postings about tea! Suzhou teahouses and Suzhou pingtan, to be specific.

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Suzhou is known for a very special type of green tea…it is, as I’ve expressed before, my favorite…碧螺春 (biluochun). Instead of talking further about it here…here is a link to an excellent e-Report on how biluochun is harvested and made. The author presents a much clearer depiction than I ever could, in addition to detailing a step-by-step photographic journal of the process itself that he/she was very lucky to have been able to document…basically, I just think this article is really cool…

http://chineseteas101.com/articles/biluochun.htm

Partly because of this fact and partly because of Suzhou’s position as a cultural epicenter for artists and the literati, Suzhou has a very well-cemented reputation in southern teahouse culture.

In the north of China (like in Beijing), when you visit a standard teahouse (not the giant extravaganzas like Lao She’s…also in Beijing…), you will probably witness the Chinese ritualized tea preparation in varying degrees of elaboration (depending on where you are, what you’re drinking and how much you’re paying). These steps in a Chinese ceremony are all to increase the pleasure of consumption, but they can still become pretty elaborate. Even sharing a cup of oolong with a friend can become an event. However, in the south, you are much more likely to have your tea brought out to you in the teahouse already prepared and waiting for consumption. Instead of the tea ritual being central to the event, southern teahouses often offer music and performances.

What you will no doubt be treated to in Suzhou is a special type of performance composed of Suzhou pinghua and tanci (storytelling and ballad-singing), known collectively as Suzhou pingtan.

Suzhou pingtan are these local ballads and stories, which may or may not be accompanied with music, performed in the Suzhou dialect. (For those of you unfamiliar with the dialects of China, in addition to what we call Mandarin and Cantonese each town has its own local dialect that can be completely unintelligible for outsiders. China is a very large landmass with very, very many towns…so you can imagine how many dialects there are. Pretty daunting, isn’t it?)

There seems to be some established ritual for these events…every time I’ve seen it performed, there seems to be at least two people (generally a man and a woman to sing duets), each playing an instrument (usually the woman plays lute-like instrument called a 琵琶 – pipa and the man plays what I think is called a 双清 – shaungqin)...the stage is generally set with a table and chairs where the performers sit virtually motionless while they perform…there are also these long, embroidered silk cloths that are draped over the chairs and tables, which is often the only decorative touch aside from screens or paintings towards the back of the stage…in this setting, the focus is solely on the sound and the music…

Here’s some photos of a night out in Suzhou at a teahouse…

I particularly enjoyed the tea snacks at this teahouse…pistachios, fresh fruit, melon seeds…in addition to how kind and informative the other visitors were. This teahouse is owned and operated by a former Suzhou pingtan performer, so night after night the place is packed with his friends and coworkers, singing together and just enjoying tea and music. It was nice to hear him take the stage, because he had a beautiful voice and it was obvious how deeply he enjoyed music…he also spoke very good English and spent some time with us of his own accord during and after the show chatting about pingtan and Suzhou’s musical culture…he was so good and so full of information, it was almost like having an expert guest lecturer just pop out of the shadows…

Here’s a photo of him (obviously, if you can’t tell, I have no idea how to write his name), the female singer (another person whose name I don’t know how to write), and some of the group that was there…there were actually a couple shots like this, taken by kindly strangers in the audience, but unfortunately nobody else had brought a camera to the show and my camera is difficult at best to maneuver (it doesn’t have very many automatic settings)...this is the best of the bunch (even though Natalie has been cut off at the arm) and even this is after Photoshop…but here we all are…I’m at the far right in the back, towering once again over most everyone…

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One of my (many) recent purchases was a DVD of famous Suzhou pingtan and an accompanying book describing famous songs, singers, history and musicians…surprisingly for me, after I brought the DVD back I noticed that some of the scenes from it are available on Youtube…so, here you go. Brew yourself a cup of tea and press play.

The Ballad of Du Shi Niang

An excerpt from Dream of the Red Chamber…if you go to Youtube, click on “More Info” to get an English translation of this one…I should also explain that this clip contains magic, because there are times when she quits playing but the music continues on… ;)

There are two famous sayings that I have encountered numerous times during my stay in Suzhou, each also pertaining to Hangzhou…

“Be born in Suzhou, live in Hangzhou, eat in Guangzhou, die in Liuzhou.” (生在苏州, 活在杭州, 吃在广州, 死在柳州) – Suzhou being renowned for its beautiful, highly civilized and educated citizens, Hangzhou for its natural beauty and scenery, Guangzhuo for its culinary accomplishments and Liuzhuo for its nanmu wooden coffins which supposedly slowed decay.

“Above is Heaven, below are Suzhou and Hangzhou.” (上有天堂，下有苏杭) – Paradise on Earth, my friends.

In my mind I have thusly linked the two cities together and was therefore very excited to learn that our class would be taking a trip to Hangzhou of a sunny June weekend.

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Hangzhou…what to say about Hangzhou. Well…it was formally founded during the Qin Dynasty, about 2,200 years ago. It was one of the 8 ancient capitals of China (the others being Beijing, Xi’an, Nanjing, Luoyang, Kaifeng, Anyang and Zhenzhou). Like Suzhou, it was notable for being an ancient center of culture in addition to diplomatic interchange between various Asian nations. It was the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty from the early 12th century until the Mongol Invasion in the mid-13th century. In modern days it has earned a well-deserved reputation as a tourist mecca…hundreds of thousands of visitors a year flock to Hangzhou to taste regional specialties and take a boat ride on the famous West Lake, not to mention partaking of the famous Hangzhou tea and visiting famous sites like Ling Yin Temple. I was more than happy to be milling about with the throngs of Chinese families and business vacation groups (companies do actually go on vacation together…retired people even go on vacation with the companies they used to work for…)

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The first order of business in Hangzhou was to take a boat ride on the 西湖 (West Lake). To paraphrase Wikipedia (no complaints – I love that website!), West Lake “is not only famous for its picturesque landscape, it is also associated with many scholars, national heroes and revolutionary martyrs, thus embracing many aspects of Chinese culture. In addition, many ancient buildings, stone caves and engraved tablets in surrounding areas are among the most cherished national treasures of China, with significant artistic value.” This is certainly apt – I had been reading about West Lake in my various literature and culture courses long before setting eyes on it, feeling as if I had come to know portions of its physical and spiritual geography through the poetics of others.

...Graham on the West Lake…

...John on our boat…

...The West Lake is also pictured on the back of the 1 yuan note (1 RMB)...

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The boat ride itself was sweetly uneventful and slow. I had my first experience with frozen sweet red bean paste during the ride – both the signs at the booth and the vendor swore it was ice cream, which was a huge lie. The other students were experimenting themselves with frozen treats – someone else had taro ice cream (taro, for the uninitiated, is a root vegetable) while another was responsible for passing around a wretched stick of green bean ice cream. The lucky ones were those consuming delicacies like peach juice and mango Popsicles. As for me, frozen pureed red beans will always remind me of the hum and sway of a lazy morning on West Lake, and thus hold a special place in my memory.

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...Red carp in the pond…

An amazing street snack sold in a tiny woven bamboo basket…八宝饭 (Ba Bao Fan – 8 Treasure Rice Pudding)...

Jillian, in her ever-patient state of modeling things for my lens…

Chinese gardens are strange and interesting places. Since the emphasis seems to be on cultivating nature rather than taming it (as appears to be the case in Western gardens), you may find yourself winding down a stone maze and coming face to face with nature in the most immediate and surprising of ways. For example – I was attempting to take a photo of the West Lake from one of the islands when I came thisclose to tripping over a peacock that was promenading down the walkway. Here’s the photo I accidentally snapped as I was still regaining my balance. The peacock, of course, was completely unaffected by imminent crushing…the fact that I was swaying from foot to foot overtop of it did nothing to hasten it’s departure…

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One of the most well-known Chinese poets, Su Shi, has strong ties to Hangzhou….the poem I should put on here is one of his most famous, comparing the beauty of West Lake to the beauty of a famous Chinese courtesan, but my favorite is one he wrote about his wife after her death.

(江城子) – Jiang zhenzi

Ten years living and dead have drawn apart
I do nothing to remember
But I cannot forget
Your lonely grave a thousand miles away …
Nowhere can I talk of my sorrow—
Even if we met, how would you know me
My face full of dust
My hair like snow?
In the dark of night, a dream: suddenly, I am home
You by the window
Doing your hair
I look at you and cannot speak
Your face is streaked by endless tears
Year after year must they break my heart
These moonlit nights?
That low pine grave?

蘇東坡 (Su Dongpo) was one of his pen names…there happens to be a famous dish from Hangzhou called Dongpo Pork attributed to his hands…whether or not that is true is anyone’s guess, but I like the sentiment of that thought…

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Longjing Tea, or Dragon Well Tea, is probably the most famous and most popular green tea in China. Like most teas, there are various grades of Longjing ranging in price from well-that’s-pretty-affordable! to am-I-drinking-liquid-gold?!?...it is known for its flat, needle-like shape and is often served to visiting foreign heads of state. Along with Suzhou’s awesome 碧螺春 (Biluochun – Green Snail Spring), this is my favorite green tea. I do admit, though – Biluochun ranks higher in my universe as long as its of higher quality. For everyday drinking, nothing beats Longjing.

One night around midnight in my dorm room, as I was lounging on my floor giving myself a pedicure and contemplating life to a background of CCTV, I happened to catch the end of what must have been either a tourism commercial for Hangzhou or a tea company advertisement that featured groups of frolicking, cavorting “peasants” throwing handfuls of Longjing into the air like confetti while dancing amidst the ensuing green blizzard. Strangely unforgettable.

Anyway. There was no shortage of street vendors selling this fabulous tea anywhere they could set a basket. This photo was taken in an alleyway beside Ling Yin Temple.

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After a morning spent nibbling on 8 Treasure Rice Puddings and Red Bean Ices, everyone found themselves in varying states of hunger at lunch. I personally wasn’t up to a 10 dish meal then, but I couldn’t justify going to Hangzhou without trying at least one of their local specialties.

西湖粗鱼 (West Lake Fish in a Sweet and Sour Vinegar Sauce)...

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灵隐寺, or Ling Yin Temple (Temple of the Soul’s Retreat), one of the most amazing places I have ever visited.

Everyone agreed on an amount of time to wander at will through the temple grounds and a meeting place for the end of the day, so quickly I found myself splintered off from the others and exploring on my own. I had heard something about rock carvings but didn’t realize the scope or extent of them…or that they were inside the caves themselves, carved into the milky jade of the cave walls…

I found myself walking alone into a cold underground cavern that was completely dark…no artificial lights or illumination…but I could hear people walking in front of me, so I pulled out my camera and used the flash to get my bearings…this is the first photo I took…

And these are some of the rest…

There was just something about being down in the dark, inside the damp chill of the mountain caves, surrounded by these carvings and feeling them pressing against the air that was, in turn, pressing against myself. I’ll never forget it.

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And, on a completely random note…a statue we saw driving through Hangzhou (photo taken from the bus window) that is a rendition of one of my favorite literary characters, the Monkey King from the classic epic Journey To The West…

Awesome.

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So, yes…Hangzhou. And for those of you wanting a taste of Hangzhou at home…as promised in my previous post, here’s the first recipe of my blogs…

龙井虾仁 (Longjing Xiaren – Fried Shrimp in Longjing Tea)

http://appetiteforchina.com/recipes/dragon-well-shrimp-longjing-xiaren

Serves 2 to 4

1 pound fresh shrimp (peeled, deveined, and rinsed) or frozen shrimp (rinsed)
2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine for marinating, + extra splash for cooking

1 tablespoon cornstarch for marinating, + 1 teaspoon cornstartch dissolved in 1 teaspoon of water
2 cup Longjing tea, leaves strained out
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons minced ginger
Salt to taste (optional)
Longjing leaves for garnish (optional)

In a medium sized bowl, combine the shrimp, Shaoxing, and cornstarch. Marinate in the fridge for 15 to 20 minutes.

(Now is a good time to steep the tea, if you haven’t already done so. You can always brew extra tea to drink with dinner.)

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok or large skillet. Quickly stir-fry the shrimp until half-done, about 1 to 2 minutes, then remove and set aside.

Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil. Stir-fry the garlic and ginger until just fragrant. Return shrimp to the wok, give a quick toss, and then a light splash of Shaoxing. Pour in tea and cook until liquid is reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Stir in the cornflour mixture to thicken the sauce. (I personally don’t think this dish needs any salt, but you can add a pinch if you deem necessary.) Transfer to a plate, garnish with optional dry leaves, and serve immediately.

It should be noted that some versions of this recipe add egg white to the shrimp just before frying, lightly coating the mixture before tossing in the hot oil.

I would be very interesting in feedback on your culinary attempts here, ladies and gentlemen.

Earlier this week, someone told me that my posts were chock full of foodstuffs. And it’s true. I am so incredibly taken by Chinese cuisine, which is different from anything to be experienced outside of Asia, that I am chronicling it like food is going out of style.

Of course, this habit can also be explained by my heavy predilection towards all things culinary. My absolute favorite way to relax is to cook and I routinely helm large dinners for family and friends. There’s something so energizing about the creativity and rhythms of food preparation for me that almost every night finds me in my kitchen for an hour or so.

Preparing and sharing food is a strong bond between people, nowhere more so than in China. Eating is serious business here and people treat it accordingly. There are strong views on the best way to prepare and showcase special ingredients and it seems almost everyone is familiar with the various regional specialty foodstuffs. Whenever you enter a location-specific gift shop in China (of which there are more than plenty), the first thing you generally see are the regional delicacies stacked like gifts on the shelves. Giving gifts of food are standard etiquette, as is fighting over the right to pick up the check for the rest of the dinner party. Thanks and respect are extended alongside a dinner invitation. When I asked the Chinese students in my ESL class what they most missed about China, every single one answered food.

Now, I have been accused on more than one occasion of showing love through food, a crime for which I find no fault. It was something special for me to be able to make my grandmother’s pie crusts for my grandfather long after she was no longer with us. It was special to be able to let my brothers know what my favorite Japanese food tasted like days after returning from my high school study abroad by serving it to them. It’s a special sign of regard and affection that my boyfriend’s great-grandmother’s pierogi recipe is now sitting in a card box in my kitchen, presented to me by his grandmother with the utmost of ceremony late one night in her kitchen. There is more being shared in these encounters than simple nourishment.

My wonderful language teacher (Li Laoshi) and I have traded several of our respective ancestral recipes and have exchanged mailing addresses to continue to do the same. On the day I gave her my grandmother’s treasured pie crust recipe, she brought a selection of traditional baked and boiled sweet edibles to me, which were gratefully and happily passed around the classroom. On a boat in Guilin, my seatmate and I couldn’t have been more different. I speak limited Chinese, she spoke no English. She was a 60-something Chinese housewife, I was a 20-something American student. After 5 minutes of conversation we had run out of things to say to each other. But, after sharing my melon seeds with her, reciprocated on her part with some smoked meat, we found ourselves laughing together on top of the boat as she told me in very slow and careful Chinese about “apple rock” and how her mother had taken her here years before as a small child. I seem to have similar stories from everywhere I have visited in China. A handful of shared peanuts lets me know the person beside me wants to start a conversation. Gifts of maple candies from home are treasured so much and given such attention that my new friend forgets her umbrella on the bus. Culture-shock induced tiffs are smoothed over by a bowl of spicy fish dumplings. My “buddy” Natalie expresses her concern for my allergic reaction to Suzhou dustbunnies by bringing me breakfast of fresh baozi and pineapple juice in bed days after we first connect over melting honeydew ice cream on a sunny canal bridge. A friend goes completely above and beyond the call of duty one day in helping me organize my stay to China; in fact, acquiring and paying for train tickets on my behalf. When I try to pay her back, she refuses. “Just take me to dinner one night,” she says. And I will.

Part of why we exchange students have been asked to blog about our experiences is to share them with those who are curious about what visiting another country is like, perhaps even this country in particular. And while I can bring you the sights of China, I cannot share the sounds, the scents, the physicality of this experience in any way other than the visual and the verbal. Perhaps through including, as I am about to from this moment on, special recipes in some of my posts, you can travel alongside me in another, more tangible way through the realms of your senses. Perhaps we can bridge the gap of location and experience through the sharing of these things.

On June 29, at home surrounded by friends and family, my grandfather passed away after a brief illness.

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Fortunately, in an unusual moment of internet connectivity in Xi’an, I was able to log onto Skype…sitting in the cold corridor outside of a closed bar, I talked to him one last time. Being the man he was, even in this situation he had me laughing as we said goodbye.

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His name was Raymond Walsh…

...and he was very much loved.

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The man who taught me how to dance…

...who gave me all the pralines, chocolates and the fruits from his ice cream…

...who taught me how to throw a punch in kindergarten under the suspicion that little boys might try to steal a kiss…

...who was still giving me stuffed animals even after I was legally old enough to drink…

...my grandpa. There will never be anyone like him in the world again.

COLUMN: WVU standout Raymond Walsh dies at 76

It’s been some time since I last posted…several weeks, actually…

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The reason why I haven’t posted lately is mainly because speedy and workable internet access has regularly been an issue in China. When I first set up my internet in Suzhou at the dorm, it took several days to move forward from that initial thought to final networthiness. I won’t go into all the details, but suffice it to say that a screwdriver, old Cat5 cables, a pair of eyebrow tweezers and a fruitless visit from an abrupt technician were all involved in the final process.

Hong Kong had quick and excellent internet, but unfortunately we were so busy the entire time we were there that there was barely enough time to book our flight to Guilin and our hostel hours before leaving. Now we are back in the mainland and I can’t help but mourn this most recent loss of relative ease and internet freedom.

I was worried about possible government censorship issues when I first arrived…and it is true that there are certain websites that I cannot and have not been able to access since leaving the States…such as my own website and my own personal blog, unfortunately…but, overall, things have been okay.

However.

Sometimes…like tonight…it seems that any US-based website that is not a search engine, a government site or a school just will not work. I haven’t been able to check my e-mail or surf the web for travel recommendations for days now. Other guests at the hostel where we are staying have reported the same problem from other cities and Universities…it seems to be a country-wide occurence…

Fortunately, tonight this blog site is working, which means I will take the opportunity to get a bit up to date on things. Bear with me while I get things up and running. I’ve had a lot of adventures to share since my last post.