Ice Cream from China – Myth or Fact

October 4, 2010

While researching topics about China, I kept running into claims that ice cream was invented in China, and Marco Polo brought the recipe back to Italy.

To discover the facts, I did some virtual sleuthing and discovered that immigrants arriving in Ellis Island were treated to a bowl of ice cream upon arrival.

I wonder if the Chinese arriving at Angel Island in San Francisco Bay got ice cream. Considering the way the Chinese were treated then—probably not.

Ice Cream History and Folklore says, “Most books are full of myths about the history of ice cream. According to popular accounts, Marco Polo (1254-1324) saw ice creams being made during his trip to China, and on his return, introduced them to Italy.”

In fact, “During China’s Tang Dynasty  (618-907 A.D.) something vaguely on the order of ice cream was made from cow, goat and buffalo milk, flavored with camphor and thickened with flour.” Source: The History of Ice Cream

More details came from Wonderquest. “The first concoction resembling ice cream was made in China during the Tang period…. Ice-cream makers … heated buffalo, cow, and goat milk together then fermented the brew to form yogurt. They thickened the yogurt with flour and flavored it with camphor (an insect repellant, of all things). Refrigerating first, they served the confection to the king.”

______________

Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

Leave a Comment » | America, China, Chinese food, Chinese history, food, history | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

The Ancient Yue – 9,000 Years Old

October 3, 2010

Music in China is traditionally associated with ritual observances and government affairs.

In 1999, Chinese archeologists unearthed what is believed to be the oldest know playable instrument – a seven-holed flute fashioned 9,000 years ago from the hollow wing bone of a large bird.

To establish the age, a U.S. chemist at the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory analyzed data from carbon-14 dating done in China on materials taken from the site.

The 9,000-year-old flutes were “exquisitely-crafted” from the wing bone of a red-crowned crane.


Music from the Book of Songs

In the Book of Songs, an ancient collection of Chinese poetry from the 6th century BC, the three-hole Yue is the most frequently mentioned wind instrument.

By the Tang Dynasty, the Yue had all but vanished.  Source: China Daily

Discover more with The Hsiao (Xiao) – Chinese Flute

______________

Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

13 Comments | China, Chinese arts and music, Chinese Culture, Chinese history, history | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

SONG DYNASTY (960 – 1279 AD) – Part 6/6

September 30, 2010

Movable type printing became widespread in the Song Dynasty and played an important role in the cultural development of the time.

The shape of books also changed. During the Tang Dynasty, books were rolled. However, with movable type, books were printed in volumes similar to modern books.

Han Qi, a research fellow for today’s Chinese Academy of Sciences, believes that the development of Neo-Confucianism during the Song Dynasty was due to the widespread availability of printed books.

Printed book also promoted the development of science, technology and education.

During the Song Dynasty, both private and public school developed quickly. About 300 schools focused on education, teaching and book printing.

Some schools had math and physics departments.

This was also the age of the scholar-bureaucrat. A scholar from an impoverished background could become a member of the higher-social class through imperial examinations.

China was also the first country to introduce bronze-block printing for advertisements.

It is widely believed that without government support for the sciences, it would have been difficult to achieve the progress that took place at this time.

Return to Song Dynasty – Part 5

______________

Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar

2 Comments | China, Chinese Culture, Chinese history, Confucianism, history, science | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

SONG DYNASTY (960 – 1279 AD) – Part 5/6

September 29, 2010

Porcelain from China during the Song Dynasty made China famous.

The invention of movable type also helped make China famous. The “Dream Pool Essays” by Shen Kuo records most of the scientific achievements of the time, which included knowledge of petroleum and geological changes. The most important achievement recorded in the ancient encyclopedia was the invention of movable type by Bi Sheng.

The entire process used in movable type printing was described in detail.

The first printed characters were engraved in tiny cubes of baked clay.

The age of paper in the history of human civilization began in China.

Papermaking had been developed during the Han Dynasty about 2,000 years ago. However, the quality of this paper wasn’t that good and was not ideal for writing.

Later, papermaking techniques were improved to a high level during the Song Dynasty.

Then Song era books were printed in large numbers. Even today, Song Dynasty books tell the world about the innovations and achievements of this era. At the time, Hangzhou was the greatest printing center in the world.

Return to Song Dynasty – Part 4

______________

Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar

Leave a Comment » | China, Chinese Culture, Chinese history, history, science | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Too Much History

September 28, 2010

I’ve read A FEW opinions about iLook China on other Blogs that say I write too much about China’s history.

I’ve also been judged to be a “Panda Lover” and “Pro China”.

I happen to enjoy learning about history and there is a reason that history has been included as a topic in this Blog.


A SHORT HISTORY LESSON

Barbara Tuchman (1912 to 1989) explains it better than I do. 

Tuchman was an American self-trained historian and author, who twice won the Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction.

One of her last books was The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam.

Tuchman says, Many individuals are guilty of folly (Tuchman also calls this woodenheadedness), but when governments persist in folly, their actions can adversely affect thousands, even millions of lives. Folly is a child of power. “The power to command frequently causes failure to think.” (p.32).

I’ve read that historians say an event must be at least fifty-years old to be judged as history. I used that as my criteria.


LEARN FROM HISTORY

I wanted to find out if I was writing too much history about China, so I surveyed all 734 posts that I have written to date.

The first history post I discovered was Foreign Devil Heroes and that was post 49 that appeared on February 13.

An American Genocide (56) and An American Shadow Over the Philippines (57) qualify but those two are about American history, and I have discovered that some misguided American patriots don’t want to learn about the dark side of U.S. history. 

The next history post would be Learning from China’s History (90).

Next was China’s Health Care During Mao’s Time (92)

Post 118 is about The Man Who Made China, which qualifies since China’s first emperor lived more than two millennia ago.

The history of religion in China appears with Christianity and Islam in China (125) followed by Cults and Christian Cannon Balls (126) and The Influence of Confucius (127).

Since so much of China’s history with Christianity and Islam turns out bad, one commenter complained that I was against Christianity.


A LONG HISTORY LESSON

Of more than 730 posts, 107 were on history and 70 of those appeared in the last two months mixed in with more than a hundred posts on other topics—the number of history posts represents less than 15% of the total.

Then I checked statistics for top posts of “All Time”.  If no one was reading history, I decided I would stop writing about it.

Seven history posts were among the top twenty and iLook China has had more than eleven thousand visits since the January 28, 2010 launch. 

That means 35% of the top 20 most-popular posts visited were on China’s history.


A FINAL LESSON ABOUT HISTORY

For individuals who want to avoid history, there are menus on the HOME page that offer choices.

______________

Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

2 Comments | education, history | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »