My ex-husband is in town to visit our son this weekend. He brought us these bags of snacks from Shanghai.The Chinese characters on three of the bags translate to "I'm happy. I'm healthy".The bag on the bottom left has candied walnuts. The bags on the bottom right and … [Read more...]
Qingming Festival
Around April 5th every year, Chinese communities around the world celebrate the Qingming Festival (pronounced Ching-ming). It's also called Tomb Sweeping Day, Ancestors' Day, or Clear Bright Festival.Qingming has long been observed as a public holiday in Hong Kong, Macau, and … [Read more...]
Borscht and pastries, Hong Kong style
I've become a little obsessed with Tkachenko's Restaurant and Confectionery, formerly of Hong Kong.It's popped up in literature: Martin Booth's Golden Boy (Picador, 2006) and Janice Y.K. Lee's The Piano Teacher (Viking, 2009) mention it in a 1950s setting. So I thought I … [Read more...]
Eight kowtows
Wow. In the month since I launched this site, people have viewed it in 20 countries. I am humbled.These countries include:Australia Canada China Costa Rica FranceGermany Hong Kong* India Indonesia Israel JapanPoland Portugal South Korea … [Read more...]
Book of the week–Shanghai Shadows by Lois Ruby
Last week I revisited young adult fiction, a genre I hadn't read in decades.I learned of Shanghai Shadows (Holiday House, 2006) by Lois Ruby last year when a friend was preparing for a trip to China with her 9 year old daughter. She asked friends on Facebook for names of … [Read more...]