Year of the Dragon Predictions

We are only four days into the Year of the Dragon, and many predictions about what this year will hold have already been made. 

(In China, dragons are a symbol of power, strength, and good luck. In imperial times, they were also a symbol of the emperor's power. Dragons were embroidered on the robe worn by the emperor and were a common theme throughout the imperial palace.)


Since dragons are considered to be the most auspicious of the zodiac signs, many view 2012 as a good year to have a baby, get married, and start a business. According to a BBC report, China is bracing for a baby boom as parents rush to give birth to a “dragon baby” before Feb 9, 2013, when the Year of the Dragon ends. Others are predicting natural disasters and economic instability, because the dragon is also associated with rapid changes and unpredictable events.

What will the Year of the Dragon hold for the Cheng family? A new successful business venture? A dragon baby? A flood? (Though I hope we can avoid this one!) Part of me (the impatient part) would love to find out right this minute, but I also know that waiting for the year to unfold is part of the excitement. And this year promises to be just that, exciting!

What are your predictions for the new year? 

Preparing for the Year of the Dragon

The Year of the Dragon is less than one week away! In years past, my preparations have included decorating the house, shopping for new outfits for my kids, and planning a feast for family and friends.

(The Chinese character for “fortune” is hung upside-down as a play on words. Fu daole, "fortune upside-down," is a homonym for fu daole, "fortune arrives.")

This year, I decided to research traditional preparations for the Lunar New Year. I was curious to know what other people did to prepare, and how they celebrated this all-important Chinese holiday.

  

FamilyCulture.com lists the following things to do before New Year’s Eve: 

Clean the whole house.

Put away brooms and brushes.

Pay all your debts.

Resolve differences with family members, friends, neighbors, and business associates.

Cleaning the entire house, though an ambitious goal, is a good idea—especially after the long month of December, and I can certainly put away my broom (or vacuum) afterward.  But paying all of my debts? I love this idea, in principle, but it's really not a possibility for us in the near future (school loans, mortgage...you know what I'm talking about).  Now I find this last preparation interesting: Resolve differences...It's certainly seems like a good thing to do at least once a year, if not throughout the year.  I wonder how many people actually follow this tradition and how “resolving differences” takes place in China--an apology? a gift? a meal shared together? 

FamilyCulture.com also suggests buying red envelopes (hong bao), oranges, candy, flowers, (red or orange) new clothing for children, and getting crisp new dollar bills from the bank to put in the hongbao.  These material preparations are no doubt the easiest to incorporate into our family holiday “routine,” but I think that Cheng family will also have a "pre-New Years" house-cleaning party this year. And personally, I'm going to try to resolve any differences that may arise before the New Year.

How are you preparing for Chinese New Year? 

Guilty Pleasures: Books about China

When faced with an unexpected fifteen minutes of free time, many of my friends turn to a book:  the newest young adult vampire novel, a historical fiction that has received rave reviews, or the latest best seller.  I gladly walk past all of these sections in the public library to the sparsely populated shelves of the newly-acquired non-fiction books.

I am in search of a new read in the travel genre, and if possible, a book about travel and life in China.  I confess that I relish in living vicariously through other’s adventures: hiking to ancient Buddhist temples nestled in mountains that touch the clouds, or eating food drowned in mounds of chili peppers. These are things that I’m either unable or unwilling to experience, at least at this moment. 

But lately, I have been searching for myself and my own experiences within these texts.  What did they discover teaching English in rural China?  What unexpected adventures did they encounter driving on the country’s highways?  What difficulties did they face raising their children in another country?

All this to say that in February, I will begin a new thread, Reading China, in which I’ll review books about living and traveling in contemporary China that fall in the travel or other non-fiction genres.  I’ll review newly-published books as well as some favorites from years past. 

If you are itching to get a head start, here are a few names from the reading list: Peter Hessler, Alan Paul, J. Maarten Troost, Jan Wong, and Leslie Chang.  Curious?  Check back in February for my review of Peter Hessler’s Country Driving (Harper Perennial: 2011).  

From One New Years to the Next

Four days ago, we prepared to celebrate the start of a new year--the first day of 2012, according to the Gregorian calendar.  My six-year-old was beyond thrilled, "Last week was Christmas, and tomorrow is Chinese New Year!"

Well, not quite. I explained to her that the next holiday was New Years according to the Gregorian calendar.  Chinese New Year would not be celebrated until the first day of the Chinese calendar.  

Huh? 

I told her that the Chinese calendar is lunisolar, based on the phases of the moon and time of the solar year (or at least Wikipedia tells me this). 

"So what do you do on regular New Years?" she asked.  

"Well, you stay up late and watch a ball drop from a tall tower," I began.

"That's it?"  She did not seem impressed, and I couldn't blame her.  Usually, by New Years Eve, our family is so exhausted from numerous family get-togethers and holiday events that we let the transition to the new year slip by unnoticed.  

Chinese New Year, on the other hand, is celebrated in our house like another Christmas.  We drag out beautiful red decorations to hang on our doors and windows, the kids are given gifts of money and clothing from their Chinese relatives, and we feast on rich and savory foods.  

Feeling bad that we had not adopted any particular traditions for "regular" New Years, I decided that we'd start an annual tradition of throwing ourselves a tropical party.  We grilled shrimp and chicken on our tabletop griller, ate fruit from South America, and wore kooky party hats designed by my daughter.

All in all, it was a great New Years, and in nineteen days (or fewer, according to the countdown clock), we'll celebrate it again--but this time, with the food, decorations, and activities from China!

Happy 2012! 

Keeping in Touch: Thank you Steve Jobs!

Yesterday we witnessed our own small Christmas miracle when we video chatted (through FaceTime) with my husband's family in China.  Small potatoes?  Not to us.

We've tried to video chat with my mother-in-law and her family since before my son was born--three years--with no success. We've tried AOL, Skype, and AIM, Chinese computers and computers purchased in the United States, but each time faced a breakdown of technology, insurmountable user error, or just plain bad luck:  no internet connection.

Enter the iPad.  When my mother-in-law visited this year we gave her a refurbished iPad. To my surprise, she was sending email and chatting with her relatives in Germany via FaceTime within two hours of receiving the gift.  Soon after, she returned to China, and we tried to video chat, but could not connect due to a poor internet connection.  Sigh.

I thought all was lost until yesterday morning when we were able to connect for the first time with my mother-in-law, her sister, and her sister's family.  Yeah!  We had not seen many of these people for more than two years. Children had grown, and elders had aged.  We spoke Chinese and English, and laughed with each other.

I have big hopes for this little piece of technology in 2012. I hope that it will help my kids stay connected with their Nainai for as long as she stays in China, and that it will help them build relationships with their other Chinese family members who we only see every three years.  Little piece of technology...big hopes!

Merry Christmas!

(This is not a shameless promo for Apple or any of their products, but an honest-to-goodness story of how the iPad helped a family in the United States connect with their relatives in China on Christmas Day.)

Weekly Jiaozi Night

When life gets hectic--especially in these weeks leading up to Christmas, we are often forced to choose between cooking a meal or sitting down at the table to eat together. Some families turn to weekly pizza night as a solution, but our weekly “go to” when life gets busy is jiaozi (Chinese dumplings).

Jiaozi can be found in the freezer section of most Chinese grocers. I buy the Wei-chuan brand because they taste good, and because they have a seal (lower left corner) assuring they've been inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

   

Jiaozi are very affordable (I get mine for around $3.50 per bag), and they come in a many flavors:

  

Pork, scallops, and shrimp                 Pork and Chinese spinach

Chinese Celery and Shrimp               Pork, Leek, and Shrimp (my fav!)

Lotus Root and Chicken                    Green Onion and Beef

Leaf Mustard and Pork                      Seafood and Cilantro

According to Andrea from Viet World Kitchen, Wei-Chuan also makes a MSG-free brand, their Shandong Dumpling series (look for 山东 on the wrapper).  I haven’t seen this in the stores, but intend to keep my eyes open for it!

Jiaozi can be steamed, boiled, or pan-fried. 

Boiling Jiaozi

When boiling jiaozi, make sure to follow instructions on the package.  Jiaozi should come to a boil four times, and each time this happens, 1 cup of cold water must be added.

Here's how this works: after placing the frozen jiaozi into the boiling water, wait until the water begins to boil again.  Next, add one cup of cold water to the pot, and wait until the water comes to boil again.  Do this two more times.  When the water boils after the third cup of water is added, it’s time to take the jiaozi out.  You can dump the pot into a strainer (like pasta).  I use a slotted spoon to take the jiaozi out, because the noodle “skin” can be fragile.

Pan-frying Jiaozi

Turn burner to medium heat.  Cover the bottom of the pan with oil, and arrange the frozen jiaozi in the pan.  Add approximately 1/2 cup of water to the pan, and cover with a lid.  Cook until the water in the pan cooks off. Add around 1/3 cup water and cook for one minute.  This will keep the jiaozi from sticking to the pan when you remove them.

Next, dipping sauce!  Here is my all-time favorite recipe--a slightly spicy and sweet vinegar-based sauce.  Please alter and swap out ingredients according to taste.

Sweet, Spicy, and Sour Dipping Sauce

1 tbsp Chinkiang vinegar

¼ tsp Kadoya sesame oil

¼-1/2 tsp Guilin chili sauce

pinch of sugar

Serve with salted edamame (which can be bought in freezer section of stores like Whole Foods or Trader Joes) and enjoy!

These gifts=my love for you

One of many cultural (and family) traditions that I’ve struggled to understand over the years is the annual inundation of gifts every time my in-laws visit. This visit my kids were inundated with gifts twice: once when Nainai arrived and again when Yeye arrived.  For those of you who have not experienced this, let me give you the play-by-play. 

My mother and father-in-law bring two bags when they fly.  The smaller of the two contains their clothes for the week, while the larger bag is stuffed with gifts for my kids (their only grandkids). The first order of business when in my in-laws arrive--no matter how late--is the distributing of gifts (toys, school supplies, clothing for the next three years, shoes, underwear, socks, books, movies, CDs, and pretty much anything else you can imagine.) 

In the middle of the gift-distributing process and about the time our kids’ eyes were beginning to glaze over, my husband and I realized that we should confiscate and hide some of these gifts to use as Christmas gifts from Nainai and Yeye (since they probably hadn’t thought about Christmas yet).

Well, our plan caused great strife for both generations. My son saw my husband carry a load of toys upstairs, and then later re-traced dad’s steps to look for them.  My daughter saw everything, and later asked me why Yeye and Nainai hadn’t wrapped the gifts. And my in-laws were just plain mad that we prevented them from giving these gifts to their grandchildren right away.

Days later, the kids had forgotten about the gifts, and my in-laws had wrapped the confiscated items.  I felt only marginally pleased with our solution, feeling like--in attempt to keep our kids from becoming spoiled brats--we had offended some deep-seated belief about how Chinese grandparents were supposed to show their love for their grandchildren.

In Chinese culture, love is communicated in ways that I’m not used to, through gift giving, food, and scolding.  I’m trying hard to be understanding of this cultural difference, but my pragmatic Western self just wants to tell my in-laws to save their money, give their grandkids a hug, and tell them, “I love you” instead. My in-laws are learning how to hug, though, so I’m trying to learn how to be understanding of their need to give gifts.

May the gifts you give this season be filled with love!