Shrimp Chang Fen 虾仁肠粉

The other day I had a hankering for chang fen; pronounced ”Chong Fun” in newspaper-phonetics. It’s not the cleanest option for eats in the neighborhood, but it tastes awesome. Getting good chang fen in China is like getting good pizza in America – the most dilapidated pizza dive is usually the best.

Basically, chang fen is made of rice flour that starts out quite runny- kind of like very runny pancake mix. It gets spooned into a steam tray and spread around as you can see in the photos below. Eggs, meat, chives, etc. are tossed on randomly and then the tray gets put in the steamer. After a couple minutes the tray gets pulled out the the contents get scrapped out. I chose extra egg because I don’t trust the meat in these places…

Others call this simple dish a “noodle”, but that’s hard to justify in my opinion. It often gets scraped in a smoother way which makes it look more like a noodle. My favorite is Shrimp Chang Fen, which you get at morning tea(早茶) in Guangdong (Canton province). Similar versions of this dish are made at chinese restaurants around the world, but I really enjoy eating it in mainland China. Like most ethnic cuisine, it’s better to eat it in the country of origin.

Enjoy!

Steps to Making Chang Fen

Related posts:

1. Asian Secret #1: Rice Cooker as Steamer! I’m not sure if this is a big secret, per...
2. Steamed Eggplant (vinegar + garlic) One type of cooking that has always worried me is...
3. Rice or Bread? Ah, another timeless rivalry! Why are Asian people so thin...
4. Ben’s Trip to Thailand: A Surprise in Phuket If Phuket was a sound it would be “Ngaaaaa,” which...
5. The Italian Noodle Finally Comes Home Any discussion about Italian food in China is bound to...

The Flowers of War 金陵十三钗

Just watched this Zhang Yimou film in a local theatre today with a Chinese friend. It was so powerful that I had to step out about halfway through to calm myself down. The last movie that brought tears to my eyes was probably The Game, which was a completely different type of movie, but a psychological thriller none-the-less. I was speechless after that movie and I feel the same with this one.

Since my friend was a woman whose mother came from Nanjing it was extra moving for us. All I could do was give her a shoulder and a hug at the moments when we both wanted to close our eyes.

I’m sure this movie will get mixed reviews, but I would say that a movie which can twist the audience in so many directions is truly a piece of work. There are reasons to feel love, hate, sorrow, and joy in this tri-lingual film. And the subtitles are as important to the experience as the blood that is spilled on the ash-covered Nanjing city streets; as searing as the colorful church glass that shadders from a heroic snipers bullet; as garish as the bodies mutilated by acts of inhumane terror.

The hatred many Chinese have for the Japanese is excusable after watching such a film based on the stories of survivors. But certainly there can be no repeat of such an event. And to see an American opportunist caught in a moral dilemma was also intriguing… I do wonder how he had the courage to protect the women as he did.

Certainly, my modern life here in China is no where near comparable to 1937, but I feel rather uncomfortable at the moment. In about 1 hour, I will teach my Japanese students online. I wonder if they’ve seen this movie. I wonder what they have been taught of the Nanjing Massacre. I wonder if the memories of their retired soldiers are as visceral as those of my friend’s parents. Either way, the Rape of Nanking is certainly one of the darkest stains on the scroll of  modern history and occasional reminders, such as the Flowers of War, are valuable to us all.

If you are interested in more movies about this subject, watch Nanking! Nanking! which was filmed in 2009.

Related articles

• Christian Bale in China to promote Nanjing movie (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Christian Bale discusses Nanking-set film Flowers of War (cbc.ca)
• Christian Bale defends Nanjing massacre film (guardian.co.uk)

Related posts:

1. From Chinese Public School to University to Workforce It’s common for us to praise countries like China, Japan,...
2. To MBA or not to MBA, there is no question. My Chinese friend had a notice under her username recently...
3. My Journey with Chinese Chiropractic (Part 1) Although holistic medicine is generally frowned upon in the US, I have...
4. Which would you choose? Dinner for $1.69 or $.79 Good food on a budget is a specialty not only...
5. The China Guan: Shanghai “The China Guan” is my way of calling this amazing...

~Pure Relaxation~

What is the first thing you think of when someone suggests getting a massage? For those who haven’t tried a genuine massage, it probably sounds dirty, but don’t let the negative press fool you. Massage is genuinely useful and even plays a substantial role in Traditional Chinese Medicine techniques. After a long week of work on my computer or dealing with university stress, I find that a professional body massage really helps. If you play sports regularly or receive an injury, a mix of acupuncture and light massage can bring your muscles back to their healthy state much faster[*]. People with poor circulation can get blood moving again with regular medicinal massage too. My mother often reminds me of the benefit her legs received in 2008, the last time she was in China.

Choices: While in China, you can pay between $10-15 per hour for a quality, full-body massage. Aroma therapy oil is a nice option and it’s great for your skin. (Don’t shower it off immediately… the oil should stay on your body for the rest of the day or through the night.) An inexpensive leg and foot massage costs about $4 per hour (2011). Fire cupping is a great 20 minute procedure  and only costs $5. And the choices don’t end here, but these are the ones I usually get.

In the US, I’ve seen masseuses advertise services for $30-40 per half hour. It can cost more in bigger cities… Maybe this is one reason we misunderstand it, because most people choose not to spend money on it… or just equate it with prostitution. My first visit to Thailand made that assumption brutally clear for me after seeing the line-ups outside massage parlors in touristy beach towns there. But with all of these reasons to avoid massage, is there a time when it might be appropriate to get a massage in the US?

Sometimes it’s OK: Friends of mine who have had sports injuries were later told by doctors to get physical therapy. Massage seems to be acceptable at this point because it has scientifically-proven benefits; although, paying a physical therapist $75+ per hour seems pretty outrageous to me. Depending on the price you are quoted at the hospital, you may want to consider flying out to an Asian country for 1-2 week resort stay. You could even get your physical therapy treatment next to the pool sipping a Margarita. Now that’s a treatment plan worth the money!

If you have experience cutting the cost of physical therapy by travelling to the Far East, please share your story with us. Thanks!

Related posts:

1. My Journey with Chinese Chiropractic (Part 2) Chinese Chiropractic (Part 1) started here… When I came back...
2. Ben’s Trip to Thailand: A Surprise in Phuket If Phuket was a sound it would be “Ngaaaaa,” which...
3. Medicinal Use of Tea A popular request I get is related to the medicinal...
4. My Journey with Chinese Chiropractic (Part 1) Although holistic medicine is generally frowned upon in the US, I have...
5. Staying in China and Facing the Dip What may come as a surprise for some friends, family,...

Gao Kao: Chinese SAT

Today I asked students in a “Listening and Speaking” course what their future career holds for them. Most of them said they would become translators and interpretors, which matches their degree title. Others said, “I don’t know…,” which many American students would probably say too. But there was a small percentage of translation majors who said, “I’d like to study biology” or “I want to be an economist.” Their preference for a different major, and future, was clear as day for them; but, unfortunately, their Gao Kao score wasn’t high enough to choose that major. Think about it: their score was high enough to enter this university, but not high enough to choose a field of study they preferred.

My first reaction was as knee-jerked as, perhaps, yours just was. How could you be smart enough to enter a university, but not good enough to join certain fields of study? Gao Kao, the Chinese SAT or A-Levels, was the single thing standing in their way. So, I probed a little more about their alternatives, since there must be a loophole somewhere…

What if you drop out this year? Couldn’t you just choose a lower-ranked university next year and begin studying the courses you prefer? They said… “it’s not that simple.” If you want to change universities in China you need a well-connected father or uncle who will get it done. Otherwise, you will have to take the Gao Kao again, and who knows the changes that will have happened to the test… Perhaps the exam will be more difficult the next year…

SAT Prep

Before we get lost, let’s dissect what “changes” in this “standardized” exam they are talking about. Every year in China the content of the national exam for higher education changes. The exam might be “easier” or more” difficult” in any given year, which I’m told leads to an adjustment in the total score possible. ALSO, every province has their own test and grading scales depending on factors such as economic prosperity. (Poorer areas are allowed to boost their students’ total Gao Kao score or make the exam “easier”.) AND according to the ranking of individual universities, their lower-limit acceptance scores change EVERY year. The result: acceptance scores  dramatically swing up or down every year, making comparisons among students from different graduating classes impossible.

Phew… That was a lot for me to digest too- but can you imagine? (No wonder suicide rates among teens increase every year around Gao Kao time.) It’s a standardized test, which changes standards across all provinces, every year.  Messy.

But this is the way things are. From a Chinese standpoint, if the test was the same every year then students would cheat. If our requisite courses contained the same information every time we taught them, the students would cheat. If we prepared the students for all the content that would be expected of them to know, they would cheat. There must be a strong presence of unknown for any exam or course to be “credible” here.

When you make things so unpredictable what are the standards? Is the SAT or A-Levels like this?

Articles leaving AL.ME:

• Visiting China – College Entrance Examination (smearedtype.com)
• Chinese Students Go Extreme for College Entry Test (newser.com)
• Nine million Chinese sit dreaded ‘exam of destiny’ (telegraph.co.uk)

Related posts:

1. HSK: Certify Your Chinese For the past few weeks I’ve been away from AsianLiving...
2. Chinese Education in 2011 The New Year has passed in the West, but we...
3. From Chinese Public School to University to Workforce It’s common for us to praise countries like China, Japan,...
4. The Chinese Way to Get Hit by a Cement Truck When someone says “I feel like I got hit by...
5. My Journey with Chinese Chiropractic (Part 1) Although holistic medicine is generally frowned upon in the US, I have...

Are you in China and looking for a way to get over internet censorship which blocks you from not only social media, but also productivity tools such as Google Docs? Well, you’ve come to the right place. Just follow the next few steps and you will ALWAYS have a secure internet connection, for FREE, FOREVER!

Step 1: Go to Ninjacloak.com, which allows you to get over the wall anyway… but sadly, you can’t use all of the functions of websites requiring javascript. Most social sites and productivity tools require this, so you’re out of luck by using Ninjacloak alone.

After downloading the most recent update of FreeGate you’ll see this:

Step 4: Change the file name by hand. “Rename” the file to something like “fg.zip” which will make the file active. The icon should change to zip and then be clickable.

Step 5: Open the “fg.zip” file and drag the FreeGate executable file (ex: fg719.exe) out onto your desktop. That’s it!

You can now use the most recent FreeGate without any worry about updates being blocked down the road since you’ll ALWAYS have access to them.

You’re welcome

Your Zip file

If you found this useful, please share it with your friends!

Related posts:

1. YinDo Hotel’s Invisible Wall March 8, 2007 – 9:30am Meeting with Zhou Laoshi. (HR...
2. Great Proverbs for a Rough Day Some days are tough; personally, socially, professionally… the easy out...
3. Great Food for $1 I would be lying if I said that eating well...
4. Fire Cupping and Back Scraping Could Save Your Life! Back in 2005 I thought I was going to die…...
5. New Threat! Water Armies All Across China Although they  sound like a new villain from a Hollywood...