December 2008 Archives
I always joke that Chinese people think everything comes from China. From porcelain (ok, they can have that one) to pizza and soccer (hmmmm) there is no doubt that Chinese people think they live at the centre of the world. Furthermore, every family thinks that their version of whatever is being done (playing mahjiang by their family rules) or made (any meal at all) is the best version and no other families in the area know how to do it as well as them.
In the case of Michelle's family, they are from Northern China, and 饺子 is a traditional Norther Chinese dish. Thus, Michelle's parents were not shy in touting that their 饺子 was much better than any other 饺子 in Wuhan. Furthermore, no one in Wuhan even really knows how to make real 饺子. Therefore, I was learning from real pros!
Roll up your sleeves and wash your hands.
It all starts with filling and dough. Chinese dumplings to me are almost exactly like perogies. When I began to tell them that Perogies are common in Canada and come from Northern Europe, I was quickly silenced with a comment about how they come from China.
Ha ha ha. I love Chinese pride!
The filling is usually a combination of green onion and pork. But in my case, we added green onion, cooked egg, and a bit of shrimp. The dough is made of rice flour and water and a bit of baking powder. Michelle's dad, whom I call 'baba' (chinese for dad) kneeded the dough to perfection while I sat wide eyed and regressed back to being a 7 year old.
准备好了啊！ Let the games begin.....
First you take the dough and roll it into long cylinders about 1.5cm in diameter.
Then you cut each cylinder into 1cm pieces. BUT you HAVE to turn the cylinder 90 degrees with every cut. There are many essential small details that must be followed.... this is about the part where I begin to fail. I missed the class on details in grade school.You then take each little 1cmX1.5cm cylinder and sprinkle a bit of flour on them and stir them around. This step is crucial, of course. Then you squish each piece down.
At this point, baba took over. I must not have impressed him thus far with my skills. So he showed me how to properly roll each piece out. It is a long and arduous ordeal and I will not explain it here. I think if you just roll them out like you would roll out pie crust you'd be alright. Baba would ardently disagree.
The meticulous way in which this entire process occurred was unbelievably endearing and quite a family bonding event. IN addition, each individual dumpling takes at least 15 minutes to prepare from start to finish. Wow does that ever make them taste better in the end.
Once baba felt I was ready to jump into the line again, he showed me how to fill the dumpling. Jeeze Louise.
我覺得我很差。 不過他是很好老師。
Although my folding, nipping and tucking skills are not yet honed, I think I did ok for a white girl....
Baba, on the other hand, repeatedly showed me how to improve. Perfection is something that really does exist in Chinese culture. (Y'all know I'm not too big into that.) But I persevered and tried to make baba proud.
And finally, I think maybe my attention to detail paid off. I made one that made baba smile!
The history of the jiao zi dates back to the Northern Song Dynasty. During this time, merchants in Chengdu distributed one of the earliest known paper money. The currency was called 'jiao zi.' With the high circulation of the currency, the local government of Chengdu established the earliest administrative and savings bank known as the Office of Jiao zi (Chengdu Government). The word jiao zi then began to be used as a general term for money.
In ancient China, yuan bao was used as currency before the use of jiao zi paper money. P.S. Chinese people think they invented money. Back in the day, jiao zi looked like shoe shaped gold and silver ingots known as yuan bao. In the Chinese culture, jiao zi are made during the New Year to resemble the gold and silver ingots. Eating the dumplings during the New Year is a metaphor for eating money; when people eat jiao zi during the New Year celebration, they hope that it will bring prosperity and good luck for the forthcoming year.
The term
jiao zi has multiple meanings, one of the meanings means "midnight
or the end and the beginning of time." This is why the jiao zi are
made the midnight of the last day of the passing lunar year. Another meaning
of the term comes from the literal translation to "sleep together
and have sons" which is a long lost good wish for a family.
Not only does the shape of the jiao zi resemble the golden ingots, it
also represents a crescent moon and symbolizes the hope for a year of
plenty. Occasionally people will add specific fillings to
select dumplings in order to symbolize certain wishes. Those who receive
sweets will have a sweeter life, peanuts symbolize long life, and dates
and chestnuts represent the imminent arrival of a son. Because the word
"dates" is homonymic with the word "early" in
Chinese, so are chestnuts (zhenzi), the syllable "zi" is homonymic
with children.
The tremendous amount of food prepared at this
time was meant to symbolize abundance of wealth in the household. Rich families
in ancient times added gold, silver, and other precious stones in their
dumplings. To get one of these dumplings was considered good luck. Later
this transitioned to adding coins in the dumplings. Copper coins, for
example, meant that one would never lack money.
In contemporary times, only a few coins were washed and add to the batch of dumplings, the person who discovers the coin would enjoy good luck and make a lot of money in the coming year.
for more info on jiaozi, check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JiaoziP.S. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
My understanding of it is that humans must have their basic needs met prior to being in a position whereby they can begin working towards meeting more complex needs. There are five main levels of needs: Physiological, Safety/Security, Love/Belonging, Esteem, and Self-Actualization. Furthermore, one's childhood and the feelings of safety and love or belonging during this time of intense development are correlated to the needs that they will work towards attaining in adulthood.
For example, a poor child in Tibet has never thought of traveling or getting an education - he is only worried about what his next meal will be and whether he will be sick after it. He is at the first level.
The average person in Western countries (you) is mainly driven by money in order to fulfill their need for security. Only once this security is truly felt can they move up in the hierarchy. In many cases, this may manifest itself as belonging or purpose through a family unit of sorts. (Do not confuse this with people who get married and have children because they think is is what they are supposed to do, for this person is simply trying to attain security through means other than purely financial resources.) They are at the second level.
Moreover, although it may seem so to you, it is incorrect to think an average Joe that goes to church is trying to attain self-actualization through his version of morality. Rather, this person is trying to attain safety through his religion and is still sitting at the second level.
The majority of the world currently resides at the bottom two levels. I would hazard a guess that possibly 20%-30% of populations in wealthy/western countries have met enough basic needs that they have moved towards attainment of love and esteem. And I would be shocked if more than 1% of the world's population had sufficiently met their basic needs such that they are in a position to attain self-actualization.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is taught to Psychology students during motivational theory courses; Education students such that they can relate to a variety of their future students; Business students aimed at understanding how to motivate staff; and it is a pinnacle in political studies where it is essential to learn to understand one's audience and the discrepancy between values and goals not only within individuals but also between countries.
I learned it while reading a book in my early teens - but have since learned it a few times in higher education - and obviously re-learn it as I live life in the 'real world' now.
I don't know when or why it comes up in my life constantly. I suppose I have a tendency to try to understand human behavior (though I seem to consistently manage to fail at this and disappoint myself....I guess some things just can't be answered by google, afterall). In large part, my mind striggles over this world and the virus living on it know as the human race - it makes absolutely no sense to me. The illogical sequence of behavior and desire are both front and centre in the most 'colourful' city I have yet to explore - Hong Kong.
After a very long battle with China Southern Airlines, I arrived into Shenzhen on the border of China and Hong Kong at 3am last Friday. Gemma and I busted over the boarder with our white skin passes later that morning. In typical Maslow's Hierarchy fashion, our first step was to look for a place to leave our stuff and sleep. Notice I didn't mention values such as clean or safe. The room we chose (it was $10USD a night!) may be a reflection of where Gemma and I both currently sit within Maslow's Hierarchy. Or maybe we're just young and traveling on a shoe string.
Regardless, it served it's purpose well.
This is the view from our door. The deluxe suite...
And the view from our window. Not sure what this is or what it once was. We were on the 15th floor.
Hong Kong is part of China when it is convenient for China. However, after it's 99 year lease to Britain was up in 1997, it has been allowed to maintain a status as a "Special Administrative Region" (SAR) and thus been allowed to develop as it once had; therefore it goes without saying that it is so much more like the 'real world' than China. In fact, there was nothing more Chinese about it than the Chinese restaurant in Salmon Arm (a bit disappointing in this way). This is to say that China town in Vancouver is a few hundred times more (mainland) Chinese than Hong Kong!
Once lower levels (more basic needs) are met (and then taken for granted), we move into attainment of more complex needs. In Hong Kong, (as well as most Western cities) this can manifest in the form of selling sex.
The Chung King Mansion (our humble abode) sold the South China Morning Post in the lobby...
As well as pimped out a variety of girls who are paid on a per-hour-per-race-basis. 
After getting over some initial shocks and fueling up on homemade pakoras and other Indian goodies (The Mansion is owned and operated by Hong Kong's large Bombay population) we set out to see Victoria Harbor. Here it is looking South, from Kowloon over to Central.
And then here is me up on the Peak Tower looking North: from Central over to Kowloon.
Providing an environment for education, art, a healthy lifestyle and the self-actualization of it's people should be priorities for a city that has itself been able to move high up in this hierarchy. This can also be seen in Hong Kong through the plethora of propaganda regarding taking care of the environment as well as other people. 
In addition, the art, science and sports scenes are quite prominent -
in particular when comparing this city to other Chinese cities. Hong Kong's main festival is the Dragon Boat Festival in May every year.
We spent our first two days in the thick of the city but on the third day managed to venture to an outlying island and the Norther territories for a refreshing reminder of what life is about.
I was also reminded of how I love China. In fact, by my second day in HK I already wanted to get back to the Mainland. There is just so much beauty in simplicity. 
