at home… in China

They say that, if you sit by the river long enough, you’ll see your enemy’s body float by… checking out the trailer, it looks like some corpses get re-animated, though:
After a dumbfounded but fascinated Westerner went on a fantastic journey to a mythological China (in “Forbidden Kingdom“), now – 26 years after the original – a new Karate Kid makes his way to China.

I have to admit to a fascination with rather simple-minded movies, sometimes I will go so far as to hold the likes of Karate Kid or Kung Fu (the TV series) responsible for setting me on the path that led me here.
High theory be damned; shallow movies and TV series can be fun and they tell the world more – and more about the world, I sometimes think. They are certainly received better than high-brow theories.

So, let’s have a look…

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Just a note: The new semester is about to start, but I’m embarking on new writing.

First up: ChiliCult’s “Chilli-Laboratory” will get Chinese cooking class (or at least notes about cooking in China) added; a quick introductory post is online

Finally got finished with some of the clean-up, in time for Chinese New Year, so:

Decided to discover the decade by making a clean slate… removed most of the earlier posts I had on here, from the time I used this blog to chronicle my time with Campus Europae in Latvia (see my write-up of experiences here), ending with my participation in the Bergmarathon 2008 (mountain marathon).

Now, for a focus truly on my experiences in China, seeking to become at home in this fascinating country.

One cannot escape the importance of food in China, whether it be as a foreigner seeking well-known comfort foods from home (poor bastards), a Chinese steeped in culinary traditions of one region to such a point that food from another part of the country is outright exotic (and not necessarily if that part is Xinjiang), or this eco-anthropologist on the hunt for chile peppers and their meaning.

One of the troubles with modern eating habits is that it is just too easy to go to a supermarket and buy meals which require not much more than to put them in the microwave. My personal béte noir for this is the “just add water”-pancake batter in a bottle.

Excuse me? Pancake batter?
That’s a cup of milk, an egg, and enough flour whipped in to make it a batter of desired consistency!

China, in this regard, fascinated me from the first day on.
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As the winter is at its peak, China experiences a mass migration compared to which even the great migration of peoples is but a shadow. The trek home for a family reunion at Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) is one of those things that have to be experienced, and which are pertinent reminders of cultural values.

Here at university, the importance is easily apparent.
In contrast to Europe and the USA, where spring break is also important, but has nothing to do with that “family” festival of Christmas (let alone New Year’s), Chinese students’ spring break can end up being as long as summer break; it is the time for family reunion in celebration of the new year, and marks much more of a turning point in the annual cycle.
A small sign of that is how students can get train tickets to get back home a bit more easily than others. This is what we can see in the “20 sec China” video: As the local train station is not in operation now, ticket booths were opened on campus itself.

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