Holiday in Beijing
At Mr. Jiang's, Friday, October 6 - Day of the The Mid-Autumn FestivalTop Photo: Mr. Jiang playing the accordion
Bottom Photo:
Top Row: Forrest, Tim, Mr. Jiang's niece and daughter, Mrs. Jiang
Bottom Row: Natalia, Mr. Jiang, Judy, Ashley
The October National Holiday week has just ended, and it's been a treat for us. Because of the way the Chinese calendar intersected with the modern calendar, the week began with the National Holiday on Oct. 1 (the anniversary of the declaration of the republic in 1949) and included the Mid-Autumn Festival on Oct. 6 (a traditional holiday that is supposed to fall on the October day with the biggest moon). Mr. Jiang, the liaison for foreign students at Beiwei, offered to host students at his home to learn how to make jaozi, ravioli-like dumplings. This is a typical invitation and a way to introduce foreigners to the way the Chinese cook at home. Some of us went to his apartment on Oct. 6, the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, where he and his wife and niece had prepared all the ingredients for jaozi, in addition to preparing enough dishes to feed an army. Dinner included a dish with chicken, mushrooms, and starch (clear) noodles which Mr. Jiang told us is characteristic of the cooking in the province he's from, which borders Russia.
The filling for jaozi is made of pork, vegetables, and seasonings. Our jaozi looked pretty lame at first (one trick is to keep the filling to a small mound, so it won't squeeze out when you pinch the sides). Mr. Jiang managed to rescue the jaozi we made that were listing to one side or another: when made properly they should stand up so they can be neatly lined up on a tray. After dinner he played the accordion for us, an instrument he learned as a junior-high age student during the Cultural Revolution when he needed to keep occupied during a time when the schools were closed. His mother had played the organ and he was familiar with a keyboard, so he learned the keyboard half of the accordion first. You can click on this link to hear Mr. Jiang playing the accordion for us. Mr. Jiang has also composed the school song for Beiwei and conducted it during the school's recent 65th Anniversary celebration.
posted by Judith Brodhead at 10/09/2006 04:36:00 PM
1 Comments:
A cultural comparison of hollidays:
In Taiwan, we also had a lard holliday last week, but the days do not correspond. We began with having Friday off school for the celebration of moon festival. However, Taiwan's bit national day was not until Oct. 10, so we had off from 10/6-10.
Something else interesting: We were originally supposed to have school/work on Monday 10/9, but a week before, the government made an announcement that everything was supposed to be cancelled that day in order to have a more continuous holliday...BUT in return, we had to do work/school make up days on Sat. 10/14. So strange, but the holliday was wonderful here as well.
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