China, Part 3

In the mood for food?  This post focuses on that burning question that all you foodies out there have been wondering: How does a vegetarian fare in China?

You may or may not know this, but the Chinese are very fond of their meat, and pretty much any meat will do, depending on which part of China you're eating in. Pork is one of their favorites, showing up just about anywhere. But seafood is popular, too--shrimp, oysters, fish.  I haven't seen much beef, but lamb and chicken would be considered tasty morsels.

Having been brought up vegetarian in Malaysia, with a number of Chinese people living in our town, I knew that vegetarian food might be a challenge in China.

Not so.  There was certainly plenty of meat to be had, but if you looked closely or asked for a dish to be prepared differently, eating in China was a delightful gastronomic experience for a vegetarian. For example, the above meal, one of my first, came from a buffet line--the longest buffet with the most options I've ever seen--at the World Expo in Shanghai.  Clockwise from the top left is a salty broccoli-stem type of vegetable, then rice noodles fried with vegetables (I asked them to leave off the meat), then bean curd wrapped around some kind of mushroom filling, and finally soybeans fried with onions and vegetables.  A tasty treat!

At a Taiwanese restaurant in Shanghai pedestrian district, there was also a delicious spread to be ordered:  sweet potato balls fried with sesame seeds, a multi-mushroom hot pot, onion pancakes, rice, and bubble tea. I was full and ready to walk the Bund after that meal!

On Sunday, in the Old Shanghai district after our visit to the Yuyuan gardens, I spotted a dumpling shop off the busy inner square. I asked Cherry, my guide, if vegetarian steamed dumplings might be available. She asked the worker, who said yes and pointed out these delectable spinach and onion dumplings.  It was like a Chinese version of spanikopita...without the feta cheese! Yum. To accompany that, we got black rice balls, which were slightly sweet.

At the dumpling shop there was another delicacy with which I'm familiar: bau.  Bau (or pau) are a Chinese steamed bread around a filling of meat and vegetables, somewhat congruent with the idea of a pot pie. I've had bau with vegetables, gluten bits and eggs inside, or with a sweet bean paste inside (which is a flavor I don't much enjoy).  Sadly there were no vegetarian options available at the dumpling shop in Old Shanghai.

I did have a question for Cherry, though: why are the straws stuck into the bau?  I had never seen that before.  She explained that as the mixture heats up, a broth forms from the liquids in the vegetables and meats. They put a straw in so that you can sip the broth out before breaking open the bau and eating the rest of the treat.

There are a number (maybe 5-10) of vegetarian restaurants in Shanghai, and we sought one out in Pudong after a day of walking.  I didn't get a photo of all the delicacies there, but this one shows you the "Golden Pockets" made out of bean curd.  You would bite through the little bag into a filling of vegetables and nuts and mushrooms.  Yum!

Finally, we had a lovely meal by a canal at Zhouzuang waterside village, which was built along canals 900 years ago. Having passed many stalls with the most revolting-smelling pig knees along the walkways, I wondered if good food was possible in Zhouzuang. We settled in at a table on one side of the canal, and the restaurant and kitchen on the other side.  We ordered our food and the waiter pulled it across the canal to us on a little boat!

Here it is, nice and hot from its ride across the canal:  soft bean curd, and a nicely seasoned egg-and-tomato dish that was hard to stop eating!

So can a vegetarian get food to eat in China?  Certainly!  And it's mighty tasty.

China, Part 2

One of the many things that the Chinese do well is gardens. I have tended to think of gardens in terms of the Botanical Gardens on Penang island, where I grew up, with it's spacious lawns, bits of jungle, monkeys, and streams running through. Or as the British gardens with their close-cut lawns and beds of flowers, or the immaculately trimmed French gardens, or the flower-filled Butchart gardens in Victoria, British Columbia.

The Chinese gardens I visited were different.  They had no lawns, but the paths meandered by pavilions,

ponds,

and over rocky promontories with layer after layer of plants, walls and buildings to please the eye.

The Chinese work from a philosophy of having their gardens mimic the features of the land, but at the same time I think they create their gardens as a miniature of what is big in the land. There were no mountains near the gardens I visited, and no rocky outcroppings, but they were featured in miniature in the gardens.

And the pavilions and bonsai-trimmed trees lent to the harmonious effect when it was all put together. "Harmonious" is an important Chinese word, used quite often to refer to design.

But I think they really do have the idea of what goes together to make a harmonious whole, when it comes to gardens.

The geometric or curving lines of a path,

the view out a pavilion window,

the repeated lines of screen carvings and roofs--they all lend to that feeling of harmony.

And the imagination is put to work.  A pavilion can be placed in a pond, surrounded by water lilies, and give the impression that it's a boat tied up at the edge of a lake.

A real sampan tied up at the edge of a short waterway gives you the idea that you really could go somewhere, and your imagination takes you there while you stand looking at it.

A little gazebo in a quiet corner of the garden, with stepping stones around it, provides a world of exploration all its own, a little hideaway where you might want to tuck in with a good book.

Inside the pavilions, the windows frame a scene.  It may be banana trees,

or bamboo, or some other delight for the eye.  But you may at each window sit or stand and meditate on something that somehow gives rest to the soul.  Did I mention "harmonious?"

Let me bring you to the end of this short stroll through the gardens by walking through the moon gate, and seeing a blessing for you in the cobblestone path:  the Chinese cranes, representing long life. Take some time soon to rest in whatever gardens are near you. It's a good thing.

China, Part 1

As I write this, I am in transit on my way home from China. I went there on a work-related trip for a week, and have come back with so many visual images and bits of information to process. I thought my blog readers might appreciate a few entries on the topic.  So here's the first one.

The introduction is a no-brainer: China is a land of contrasts, a land that is quickly changing. On one hand you have thousands of years of history that has left its evidences. From my visit these are best depicted in the photo above from Zhaozhuong, an 900-year old village I visited, and in the next picture which shows one of the bridges Marco Polo may have crossed as he entered Suzhou, a city of many canals.

On the other hand, for being a communist country, China is fast becoming blatantly capitalist. The question is who is doing the capitalism. Some of the richest entities are the government, and government officials. And then there are the Taiwanese, Japanese and Korean investors...

Even in the "old Shanghai" section, amid all the souvenirs and walking streets among buildings that are hundreds of years old, you'll see the signs of capitalism and trade.

Right now the World Expo is underway in Shanghai.  The Chinese are succeeding in making their point that they are a significant, if not intimidating player in world trade. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese, as well as foreign tourists, are coming to walk through the various pavilions depicting the countries of the world and what they have to offer in trade. The pavilions also represent the culture and style of the countries they represent.  Here's Thailand's pavilion, which had a three-hour line of people waiting to go in. I didn't bother to join the wait.

Ten years ago, they told me, it was not like this. Even last year it was different.  Change is underway, even galloping along in China. Business is booming, the streets are lighting up with foreign storefronts, and the bullet train to Beijing goes into action next month, cutting the commute between the cities from 26 hours by road, to 8 hours by train. It was a privilege and an opportunity to see a little week-long window into the life and times in one little corner of that huge country.  Stay tuned for more.

Honors

Our university runs graduate program campuses in Missoula and Billings, Montana.  Because of the work I do, I get the privilege of visiting these campuses from time to time for their graduation ceremonies.  This month it was a trip to Missoula to see about 30 students celebrate the attainment of their masters degrees.

As we were getting ready to march in with the robed faculty, the site coordinator made a slightly nervous remark to me about the fact that several individuals had asked, at the last minute to give "honors" as part of the graduation ceremonies. The Native American culture, she explained, considers it important to show honor to those who have accomplished a significant feat.  The problem is that she never knows how many of these will be requested in the days leading up to the ceremony. But they accommodate all who ask.

So, after the very typical commencement address by a local dignitary, the honors began, each introduced by the graduate being honored. A teenage son sang a Native American song/chant in honor of his mother, the graduate who stood by him as he sang.  Then a circle of children and their 70-some year old mentor drummed a couple of pieces for a male graduate. And then another graduate, a mother, came to the microphone and said that her children had come to honor her.  She went down to a cleared place on the floor next to the platform, and her children bowed around her.  Then the music began.

There was a beautiful fluidity to the dancing of the three teenagers. As her mother watched, the "butterfly" daughter hopped and twisted, spreading the "wings" of her colorful cape.  The older son, representing a bird of prey, danced nearby, his path weaving in and out between his sister and brother. His yellow-painted face was at once both scary and dignified, his feather headdress bobbing and swaying and his feather tail twitching like that of a bird.  The second son's outfit looked a little more like that of a wild turkey, with it's fantail.

Throughout the dance, the graduating mother stood expressionless and straight-backed, watching her children as they presented this beautiful gift of experience for her, one that she could carry with her only in her memory, but somehow even more precious for that.

After the program was over, I went over to look at the garb the young people had shucked off in their sweaty minutes following their performance.

The handmade tail and headdress were beautiful, intricately and carefully crafted.

As I was looking over the pieces, the younger son came up.  "Can I take your picture?" I asked him, seeing that he at least had his headdress still on. He gave me a somewhat sheepish "Yes," and I took his photo.  His sister came up as I was asking him, "What kind of feathers are in your headdress?"

"Hawk," he said.

"He can't wear eagle feathers yet," said his tell-all sister.  "He hasn't earned them."

"Oh," I said. "What do you have to do to earn eagle feathers?"  I remembered young adult fiction I'd read, and imagined a pilgrimage into a canyon, an out-of-body experience on a mountaintop at night, or some other dramatic event.

"He has to show respect," said the sister, haughtiness mixed with a twinkle as she revealed her brother's shortcomings.

And I smiled. Some commonalities still exist for adolescents across cultures and countries.

Neapolitan

When I was a child, ice cream was not so very easy to get. The local import supermarket, Cold Storage, brought in British brand ice cream, which my mother bought for special occasions. We could also buy ice cream on occasion at the local swimming club, as I recall. There was no such thing as Baskin Robbins and thirty-one flavors. Our choices were four: vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, ... or a combination of all three called "Neapolitan."

Neapolitan ice cream came all in one container, with strawberry, vanilla and chocolate right next to each other so that if you scooped across the container you could get all three of them in one scoop. Or if you cut down through the ice cream you could lift off a slab with the three flavors represented more-or-less-equally in the slab.

I liked chocolate the best. But often the hostess would serve Neapolitan, so I developed a system for making my way through all three. I remember eating the vanilla first, then the strawberry, and finally finishing off with the best of all--the chocolate part. Although ice cream itself was a treat, when there was chocolate to be had, eating the other two flavors was simply doing my duty on the way to the best part.

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It's graduation weekend, and at our school that always begins with a vespers for families on Friday evening.  Traditionally several seniors will give short talks at the vespers, typically along devotional lines. It is there that we hope that the growth and maturing in their faith journey is evident to their fellow students, their teachers and their families. I hadn't been to the Friday vespers on graduation weekend for some years, but this evening I went. And what do you know?--I tasted Neapolitan tonight.

The first student spoke about the school's mission statement, which lifts high and celebrates our four values: Excellence in thought, generosity in service, beauty in expression and faith in God. She spoke with eloquence about how the school had succeeded in helping students develop these, and in what ways they could stretch further. But when she got to the "faith in God" part, she let me down as her listener. She copped out by defining faith in God simply as inherent in the other three values. In other words, she believes that if you think well, give well and express yourself well, you are living out faith in God.

Imitation Vanilla?

The second student also spoke of the mission statement. He referred to the church which supports our institution, claiming that the church had not stayed true to its beginnings. He described a reinterpretation of church history that was new to me, a sort of "libertarian, come-one-come-all" twist on what I would agree was a very lively start to this movement. His point was that we should focus on what we are rather than what we aren't (which I would agree with).  However, he urged that in doing so we should rule nothing out, censor out no competing interests, and simply let the strong pull of Good be the energy that drives us to live out our Mission. Censorship, "thou shalt nots" and boundaries are clearly to him the Great Evil.  Sigh.

Overripe Strawberry?

And then the third speaker rose, and she prayed. She opened her Bible and preached from a passage that tells how the servant of the prophet Elisha had his eyes opened as the Arameans attacked.  "Those that are for us more more than those that are for them," Elisha had told his servant. Then Elisha prayed for his servant, and the servant's eyes were opened, and he saw for the first time that they were surrounded by the armies of God, by the "horses and chariots of fire."  It's all in our perspective, the young speaker emphasized. God is there with us through the good times and the bad. There is more to our story than what we see. Let us not misinterpret our world when we cannot see the whole picture. Let us take heart, let us live with joy, and let us journey in hope.

Ahhh.  Then it was that I tasted the chocolate. But after getting through the first two flavors, it was bittersweet.

**Disclaimer: No, I'm not thick-headed. I realize that others could label the flavors of the three talks differently, and indeed could prefer a different flavor than I.