Tofu

February 26, 2010

China was making tofu from soybeans more than two thousand years ago. But mention it to most Americans and it is “yuk” time.  American prejudices for tofu are so strong, most will not taste a morsel.  Horror fills faces and complexions turn green.

That’s why we never mention to the beefy McDonald’s, Burger King, Pizza Hut, KFC, cancer and heart attack  generations that eat at our house that the ice cream we serve is made from tofu or the chocolate pie is made from tofu or that …

They never know the difference. We reveal the truth after they eat and offer praise. Got the idea?

In China, I get up early to go the the nearest market that makes fresh soy juice and I buy it without sugar or sweetener added. There is no comparison. It’s warm. It’s fresh. It’s China. It’s different from the genetically altered, American, factory-farmed soy juice sold in American markets. That stuff is “yuk” and I don’t touch it.

There are thousands of foods that humans eat. Most Americans eat about a half dozen. Maybe soy and tofu is the secret explaining why there are more than 1.3 billion Chinese.

To read more about Chinese food visit I Ate No Dog – I Ate No Cat.

And, if you are curious enough to overcome your prejudices, visit one or all of these Websites and Blogs to learn more —

Tofu

tofu and soymilk

Tofu or Not Tofu

History of Tofu

Gluten-Free and Sugar-Free Ginger-Baked Tofu with Agave-Peanut Sauce

10 Comments | China, Chinese Culture, tourism | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Respecting Cultural Differences Out-of-Focus

February 26, 2010

I read at Crooked Timber that three Google executives were convicted of violating Italy’s privacy laws. That taught me that China is not alone in having laws different from other countries that limit activity on the Internet.

When China censors the Internet, or hires mothers to go after on-line pornographers, the family centered culture drives those actions. Most of China’s arrests of dissidents and executions of criminals are also driven by the family centered culture influenced by Confucian, Taoist beliefs.

Confucious

A few years back, a Japanese citizen, wife and mother attempted suicide in the United States and killed her children in the attempt, but the mother was saved by bystanders. She tried to kill herself and her children, because she had lost face when it was discovered that her husband had an affair with another woman.

When the American legal system was going to try her for murder, the Japanese government protested and said her actions were driven by her culture. Respecting the differences between the two cultures, the United States allowed her to return to Japan.

If we really respect the differences between cultures, why does the Western media and American politicians go out of their way to treat China without respecting the cultural differences that explains why China’s government acts the way it does?

To understand China more, I recommend piety, face and heroes.

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of The Concubine Saga. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. This is the love story Sir Robert Hart did not want the world to discover.

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1 Comment | Chinese Culture, media, politics, religion | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Facts About China that will Blow Your Mind

February 25, 2010

From Business Insider, comes 15 Facts (actually 17) About China that will Blow Your Mind. Here are five of them. Visit Business Insider to see the rest and the details.

1. By 2025, China will build TEN New York-sized cities.

Shanghai river waterfront

2. China already consumes twice as much steel as the US, Europe and Japan combined.
3. If the Chinese, one day, use as much oil per person as America, then the world will need seven more Saudi Arabias to meet the demand.

Note:  Another reason why China NEEDS to go Green with their power. See my piece about this topic at China Going Green. The growing crises with industrial pollution linked to oil is another reason.

4. Chinese Internet users are five times as likely to have blogs as Americans.
5. Chinese GDP (Gross Domestic Product) could overtake the U.S. as soon as the early 2020s.

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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.

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2 Comments | America, business, China, Chinese Culture, economy, education, government, politics | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Hangzhou Mansion

February 25, 2010

After cruising on the West Lake at Hangzhou with Bob Grant, you may want to see this government run tourist attraction in the city. Before the Communists claimed China, this mansion was owned by a family that made its money first in the silk industry and then banking.

rock art in garden with tunnels

There’s more to the mansion than this example of rock art in the garden.  These rocks were not here when the mansion was built. There was a time in China during the Imperial era where rock art was popular.

Pond with carp at Hangzhou Mansion

For a few yuan, you will be able to tour most of the mansion and the gardens (yes there is more than one garden area beyond what you see in these two pictures).  This mansion was in the city but once inside you have no sense of the crowded city surrounding the high walls.  Once the owner was home and the gates locked at night, this home become another world apart.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

My Big Day Off – In China

February 25, 2010

This guest post from Bob Grant is a long piece with a lot of pictures.  If you want to see more of  Hangzhou and the Westlake, I recommend that after you read the first two paragraphs, you click on the link and visit “Speak Without Interruption.”  My wife and I have visited this city and lake several times over the years and I enjoyed Bob’s piece about his visit and had a few good laughs.

Originally published at Speak Without Interruption on February 11, 2010 by Bob Grant — publisher/editor for Speak Without Interruption

Below is something that I sent to my family and they all said they liked it.  However, they are family and what else could they say?  I have a manager/partner in China whose name is David – we have associates named Eric and Uncle Wong.  I live in Missouri and my relatives live in Wyoming.  This sets the stage for the following recap of My Big Day Off – In China:

We found ourselves on a Saturday in a city I have visited before named Hangzhou (Han-Joe) with no appointments and time on our hands before our plane departed for Shenzhen (Sin-Gin).  There is a lake in Hangzhou named West Lake.  Not a very original name for the Chinese, but using Chinese logic, I am certain – somewhere – there is a North Lake, South Lake, Southeast Lake, Southwest Lake, South South Lake – you get the picture.  The possibilities are endless.
 
David said, “Let’s take a boat ride.”  Great – sounded like a good idea.  Sitting quietly in a boat watching the countryside and relaxing – NOT.  Think Progressive Dinner.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

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