The Mid Autumn (Moon Cakes) Festival (Sept 15)This festival dates back to some 3,000 years and has many origins. Folklore attributes this festival to the worshiping of the moon (xi yue) during the ancient Xia and Shang dynasties (2000 B.C.-1066 B.C.). There are many beautiful legends about the moon in China. The most popular one tells how a goddess named Chang'e ascended to the moon. If you want to know more about this festival, click here.
One would know that this festival is fast approaching when moon cakes start appearing in stores. At Carrefour (pronounced: sha-lah-fooh), right across my office, a whole section is devoted to the cakes. Yes, they have many, many different moon cakes - from small ones to large pizza-sized ones. It is difficult to figure out which ones to buy, as the labels are all in Chinese. Anyway, it does not matter, as I have yet to meet a moon cake I did not like.
Alysia Zhang (The Master Spy) & the Missing Moon Cakes
Zhang Ting aka Alysia, my lovely friend thinks I eat too much of the moon cakes (she actually said, "You eat too much". Period.). I asked her how she knew this. She said she scavenged the trash can and counted the number of wrappers in it. Well, she is from Dalian, a former Russian seaport in the northeastern part of China. So, they know how to spy. But, I have wised up. Now, after eating moon cakes (which is quite frequent), I shred the wrappers, then scatter them into the wind through my 8th floor window. No evidence. No crime. Here she is in her military outfit:
Alysia Zhang, aka Jane Bond
Another Ting 'smartness' story: A few weeks ago she went home to Dalian for a week. As she is concerned about my being over weight (at least she did not use the "f" word), she told me not to spend too much time at the bars. I, of course, promised as told. For some strange reason, she did not believe me. So she ordered me to call her every night and on real-time send her photos of the show on Channel 44 (a Dalian station). This way she can check if I indeed was at home. And to make sure that I do not cheat (where is the trust here?), she said to have the camera on timer and take the photo of the TV with me in the background. She should have been named Jane Bond.
The Tsingtao Beer Festival
(Sept 19 - Oct 5)Now, here is a real festival. Although not a national holiday, it is quite famous in this part of China. It is similar to Germany's Oktoberfest and is mainly held at a park called, guess what? - "Beer City'. The park is deserted (fenced in) the whole year except for this 16 day holiday. I will tell you more and post some pictures as soon as I emerge from the big tents next week.
For this festival, I have appointed myself the 'lagermeister' and as such I am organizing a group of expats to go on one (or more) evenings together. This way we can protect ourselves from the rowdy Germans. Oh, I wonder if they sell the beer in plastic bags over there?
Hocks and Feet
In Bavaria, a traditional dish during the Oktobefest is Schweinsaxe - roast pig hock glazed in beer. I heard the Qingdao-rens have their own version but made of chicken feet
instead of pork feet. Clever, these Chinese. Hock. Feet. What's the difference?hock (dictionary meaning)
| 1. | the joint in the hind leg of a horse, cow, etc., above the fetlock joint, corresponding anatomically to the ankle in humans. |
| 2. | a corresponding joint in a fowl. |
