Chinese Culture
Thanks to my new "say yes to everything" policy I have been SUPER busy the past two weeks and have taken part in loads of different cultural activities here in China, each one of them being fun in different ways! Two of which have involved being followed around by various reporters/photographers (we essentially have an entourage) haha!
UNNC Mandarin Corner, Wanton Making Activity:
Last Thursday I got the chance to watch a professional Chinese cook making some wantons. We then got the opportunity to try and make our own, and whilst they weren't all the best, they tasted delicious!
Wantons are a traditional dish in China. They are like dumplings in soup, the wanton is made from thin pastry and usually pork meat, or you can have green vegetables as the filling. They are then cooked and put into soup to eat.
Niangao Festival at Cicheng:
I thought I was going on a trip to learn about making Niangao (sticky rice cake) but when we arrived it turned out to be a proper little town festival for the promotion of niangao. It turns out that Zhejiang province is one of the very few provinces in China that have preserved their special custom of hand-making niangao.
Within about 30 seconds of arrived we were surrounded by photographers, who then followed us for the rest of the day! However we did get to watch a professional making decorative niangao and were given some free ones to try and extra to take home, so kind.
We have a small feature in two articles, although in Chinese, you can see more pictures of the event. Article 1
Volunteer Conference:
I got an email about going to a volunteer conference and I thought yeh why not? Volunteering is a really good thing to do and I may find some kind of opportunity for the summer. It wasn't exactly what I had expected, but then again I wasn't 100% sure what to expect anyway! Despite being the only international out of 36 people going, it was a really good afternoon.
This was made by rubbing charcoal ink over stamps and then pressing the paper on top. The poem is an ancient Chinese poem called 'When will the moon be bright?'. When translated it reads as follows: "When will the moon be clear and bright? With a cup of wine in my hand, I ask the blue sky. In the heavens on this night, I wonder what season it would be? I'd like to ride the wind to fly home. Yet I fear the crystal and jade mansions,
Are much too high and cold for me. Dancing with my moonlit shadow, It does not seem like the human world. The moon rounds the red mansion, Stoops to silk-pad doors, Shines upon the sleepless, Bearing no grudge, Why does the moon tend to be full when people are apart? People have sorrow or joy, be near or far apart, The moon may be dim or bright, round or crescent shaped,
This imperfection has been going on since the beginning of time.
May we all be blessed with longevity,
Though thousand miles apart, we are still able to share the beauty of the moon together." By Su Shi
I got to practice my Mandarin and visited a stand about traditional Chinese culture where I made my own lantern, learnt how to tie a Chinese knot, did a rubbing of a traditional poem and also made some traditional tea.
My lantern has two excerpts of two traditional Chinese poems: “但愿人长久 千里共婵娟。” meaning, "Though thousand miles apart, we are still able to share the beauty of the moon together." This is taken from the above poem by Su Shi.
The second extract is "举头望明月，低头思敁乡", it is from a famous Chinese poem called 'Quiet Night Thoughts' by Li Bai and the translation is "Upwards the glorious moon I raise my head, Then lay me down and thoughts of home arise."
Ningbo Botanical Gardens:
So today I went to Ningbo Botanical Gardens, we paired up with some Chinese students from another nearby university, and then grouped up with some Chinese families. In these families, the parents are migrant workers who have brought their children with them to Ningbo. We spent the day walking around the gardens together teaching the children some English and then at the end of the day taught them the song 'heads, shoulders, knees and toes'. It was a really nice day (and weather was perfect) and I felt so fulfilled on the way home. The children (some shy at first) but were all so lovely!
I was interviewed by a journalist will share the articles here once they are sent to me. Again, although they are written in Chinese you will get to see more pictures of the children and our day out! Article 1 Article 2
What events have you been a part of recently? Have you ever done volunteer work before?
