Author Archives: eva

Fresh water Hairy Crab in the golden fall

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There is an old fairy tale about  hairy crab called "Legend of the white snake". This story tells a young scholar named Xu Xian falls in love with a beautiful white snake Bai Xuzhen who has taken on human form. Their love is true and pure; however, their love is forbidden by the laws of heaven.  A sorcerer called Fa hai tricked Xu Xian to be a hostage in Lei Feng Pagoda. Xu Xian and Bai Xuzhen's love moves the heaven. The God sends his man to catch Fa Hai. Fahai sneaks underneath hairy crab's carapace. Since then, Fa Hai's soul is hidden within the crab. So, the more you hate the evil monk, the more crabs you should have. (kidding)

As the autumn wind blows,  the chrysanthemum turns yellow. It's a sign for Chinese mitten crab's time. In ancient times, Eating hairy crabs in the fall is regarded as a high taste, accompanied with watching chrysanthemums and composing poems. Chinese mitten crab is also well-known as "big biding crab" or "Hairy crab". A lot of foreigners were mistaken by Shanghainese liars' saying" Hairy crab is  Shanghai's delicacy". That's totally bullshit. Once on a flight from Vancouver to Shanghai, an editor wrote that Elsewhere except Shanghai's hairy crab is the genuine one. His words pissed me off. I have to clarify this on behalf of Suzhou citizens. Fresh water hairy crab belongs to Suzhou. There are two kinds of Fresh water hairy crabs, one is Taihu Lake hairy crab, the other is Yangchen Lake hairy crab. Fresh water hairy crab's yolk and oil are very rich and tasty; therefore, they are welcome by lots of Chinese people. For most westerners, hairy crab' crust is hard and they don't know how to get started. A traditional way of cooking is steamed hairy crab. Old people say crab has a cooling effect on human body. Don't forget to  prepare minced ginger and spring onion sauce, which  is indispensable. For westerners, an experienced cook will take out the crab meat and roe and cook them with other ingredients. Here, I got three tips for those of you who doesn't know how to eat this dish.

  1. Don't get started with the claws or legs. If you pull the claws and legs off first, the crab meat will come off with the claws and legs. First of all, you take out crab's belly. Female crab's belly is round while male crab's is pointed.
  2. Secondly, you open the  carapace of the crab (casing of the crab)
  3. Use leg's sharp part as a tool to pick out the crab meat.
  4. Dip the crab meat or roe into the sauce.
  5. After you are finished, wash your hands with tea water in order to remove the special odor and smell.
  6. Don't drink tea, cold water or eat persimmons after taking crabs, or you will get stomachache.
  7. There is an old saying:" September Female Crab, October Male Crab". September is the ninth month in the Chinese lunar calendar.

Nowadays it' hard to tell which is the genuine Yangchen lake hairy crab, which is not. But I can tell you if Yangchen Lake's the best, the lotus Island in Yangchen lake town, Xiangchen District is the best of the best. The genuine fresh water Yangchen Lake hairy crab's meat is a little bit sweat. Now the price for each hairy crab (200g) is 100 yuan. It's fair and inexpensive. If you are interested, take a tour to yangchen lake town. Enjoy this dish in the golden fall.

Disabled people need more focus

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In China, disable people are almost ignored in China. Although one out of sixteen is disabled  in China, they are not receiving enough love and care. China has various neighborhoods but have less communities. Across China, there are less disabled equipments for the disabled. For example: accessible elevator, accessible building, accessible route. They don't have a large amount of pension. Fewer job opportunities, crosswalks, ramps etc are available for them.
Now I flash back to my life in Canada. In Canada, I was told there are four classes existing in Canadian society, which is a  common ground to everyone. From the top to the bottom is: disabled people, teenagers, elders, women and men. It is very obvious that men have the lowest status.  However, unlike the disabled  in Canada,  disabled people's status is lower. They  got different looks from majority people's eyes. They are considered as abnormal. Apparently, ordinary people's attitudes towards the disabled was compassion. But this is the last thing the disabled expect from ordinary people.
Paralympics, this sport event, is disabled people's scarce chance to let ordinary people to accept them. They are showing to other people no one is different and nothing is impossible to make. They are fighting against the norms in China.These athletes are respectful. Now it's time to yell: everyone is No.1.
I hope Beijing Paralympic game will be a great success and wraped up well.

A sleepless night- Beijing Olympic Game

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On Friday night, the Beijing Olympic opening ceremony's curtain was pulled off. I don't have the tickets, so I sat in the sofa and wait in front of the TV to watch this sparkling sports event. This Olympic game is spectacular, not only large on the stadium's size, but also on the size of people accomodated in the stadium. Last night, almost every single Chinese' eyes are on the Olympic game.

olympic bird nest

olympic bird nest

I assume the host city- Beijing has had a sleepless night. All the Chinese people were cheering and clapping inside and outside of the National Stadium-bird's nest, expressing their excitement and expectation about the Beijing Olympic game. The fireworks light up the Beijing sky and the impressive sky is full of colorful lights, which symbolizes China is hoping to show to others that Beijing is embracing all the people around the globe and China has become a global community. Beijing Olympic committee has accomplished its promise and presented us-a green Olympic, Hi-tech Olympic, People's Olympic. I know it's hard to put China's 5000 years' culture in a stage opera. I think Zhang Yimou has done a good job. I hate the most is CCAV's lines, full of empty talks, which made me have goose bumps all the time. Here are some of my comments about this festival:

  1. At the beginning of the opening ceremony, I was so confused about the old musical instrument-fou. What the hell is this? I know Zhang Yimou wants to promote traditional Chinese culture. But how do you expect a foreigner to understand this while a Chinese local is confused about this musical instrument.
  2. I was worried about those girls on white A-line skirt standing there and cheering for the athletes' parade for almost two hours. What if they got heat stroke and fainted on the spot? Can Chinese people get more human rights? They are not props, but young girls.
  3. The oil painting scroll was a spotlight last night. However, it reminds me of Stephen Chow's classic film, the beginning scene of "Tong Bohu dian Qiuxiang".
  4. The subtitles on TV screen were so tinyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. They were like white dots far away which can not be seen. My grandma failed to read.

Adorable pandas(multiple pictures kill your modem)

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Source: Maopu Forum

Nowadays panda has become more and more popular as a national treasure of China around the globe. Even though they dig their nostril in front of you, you won't think it's disgusting. (oh, what a lovely baby).

Have you guys watched "kungfu panda"? It's an awesome movie. You can tell from the movie the director loves the Chinese culture. He respects Chinese culture and a lot of scenes are done in watercolor and ink wash. I don't know why Zhao Bandi boycott "kungfu panda" but loves giant panda. He likes to make dissident comments to attract public's attention? Panda doesn't belong to you. It belongs to the world. The only great cartoon moves left us are Monkey King, Prince Nezha's triumph against Dragon King made long time ago. Why can't Chinse film makers make such kind of animated comedy for us? Why can't we watch western movies while Chinse cartoon movies disappoint us?

Anyway, let's take a look at these pandas.

I'm stuck in the tree. Help me out!

Am I scary? I'm mirrored.

Left hook, right hook, hei hei ha hi!

Leave me alone.

I'm a shy girl.
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Are people of Wenn'an mafia?

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Have you guys ever heard of mass incident happened in China? I haven't.

On Joooun 29th, 10,000 local people in Wann'an county gathered in front of public security bureau office building and set it on fire. However, the mass's outrage can not be soothed by attacking the public security bureau.The residents attacked pulice vehicles and smashed county government The pulicemen can’t handle this violent attack and this incident was finally quelled by the armed pulice. I don't know what is the truth and what are rumors because of many unidentified sources on the internet. Here is the story: The son of Wan'an county deputy mayor and his buddy friends forced a female school student named Li Shufei to help them cheat on a test. The victim Li Shufei was not willing to give out her answers to them. They raped and killed this lovely young girl. Afterwards, her dead body was found in a river. Are those young boys murderers? It hasn't been confirmed yet. But this is not the end of story. The autopsy report says that Li Shufei was not sexually assaulted by the suspects. She jumped into the river and killed herself. Her relatives didn't believe this result and her uncle was attacked on his way to the public security bureau. What are the odds? I don't know how to comment on this story. While her uncle was in the hospital, “6·28” incident happened.

The official xinhua net says Li Shufei drowned herself and committed suicide. xinhua net's story doesn't make any sense to me. This is the first time I know the push-ups are preparations for suicide. I don't believe either of them until the final results come out. I just have several questions to ask: Why did 10,000 residents prefer to believe so called "gangs" instead of government officials? Why are the residents easily taken advantage by the gangs? Is this just a riot resulted from incitement? Why is a county's public security bureau office building like a district public security building? What is underneath this turmoil?

Ps: 1. This is my first post on this blog. My name is Eva from Suzhou. If you want to know more about me, here is my personal blog: http://www.caixiaoeva.com

2. Some of the words are not typos, they are corrected because of internet censorship.