The entire world was shocked when a magnitude-8 earthquake hit a large part of Sichuan Province, China and rocked half Asia on May 12, 2008. The death toll could reach 40,000 to 50,000. Although not the deadliest, it is one of the dozen strongest earthquakes in China’s recorded history. From my satellite TV, I felt the pain of the affected people and the resolve of those who came to their rescue. I mourned for the dead and was profoundly moved by the choice some of them made in face of death. Their images are deeply etched in my mind and, I am afraid, will never fade: a teacher threw himself upon his lectern before tugging as many students as possible beneath it; a mother used the last bit of energy she had left to breastfeed her baby; another mother knelt on the floor and supported her body with her hands so her two-year old girl survived her in the safety of her bosom…… I wish I were an artist so I could made these images into sculptures. I wish I were a playwright so I could immortalize the images in a script. But I am none of them. What I can do is to remember them and to value life. While living my life, I must do what I can to make life better for my family and others.
May 19th, 2008
Hi, I am back. Sorry for the long absence!
I have been working on my second book titled Princess Peacock: Tales from Other Peoples of China, a companion to my first, The Magic Lotus Lantern and Other Tales from the Han Chinese.
What about the second book? Let me copy what my publisher says, “China, the most populous country in the world, is also a nation of great diversity. In addition to the majority population of Han Chinese, there are some 56 officially recognized national minorities–including Tibetan, Mongol, Manchu, Zhuang, Dai, and Gaoshan. The folklore of these minorities is often obscure and difficult to find, as is information about the people, their cultural histories, and their traditional customs. This book fills a gap by offering more than 50 representative folktales from China’s minorities, as well as background information on each of the ethnic groups.”
You may find a mistake on the Amazon web site: They mistook the writer of the foreword to my book as my co-author. But who cares.
May 13th, 2008
Indiana University at Bloomington is my Alma Mata. I graduated from her School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) in 1995 and have become a SLIS alumnus since. Recently, the web version of SLIS’s newsletter featured me as the author of my new book The Magic Lotus Lantern and Other Tales from the Han Chinese. It’s so gracious of them! I am grateful for the care they show for their alumni! Here’s the link to the article: http://www.slis.indiana.edu/news/story.php?story_id=1347.
November 11th, 2006
Someone asked me today how to make jiuniang or fermented glutinous rice wine. Here’s a recipe:
Ingredients (both available in Asian groceries):
5 lb glutinous rice
1 package distiller’s yeast (two balls)
Procedures:
- Soak glutinous rice for half a day, rinse till clean and drain;
- Add water to steamer, spread sanitized linen on the steamer’s lattice and turn on the heat till steam comes out of the steamer. Spread drained glutinous rice over the lattice and steam for about an hour. Taste the rice to see if it’s cooked.
- Crush a ball of distiller’s yeast into fine pieces;
- Empty steamed rice into a container and let it cool till room temperature (86 F). Sprinkle a little cold water on the rice and loosen it with a spoon. Spread crushed distiller’s yeast onto rice little by little and mix evenly. Leave a little of the yeast for use later;
- Empty the mixed rice into a container where it will be fermented. A rice cooker will do. While emptying rice, press it till it’s a bit firm. Spread the rest of the yeast over surface. Sprinkle a little water and press the rice till surface is smooth;
- Cover rice with clear plastic wrap and cover the rice cooker. Keep the fermenting process at room temperature (86 F);
- The rice wine is ready in three days. It will smell mellow and taste sweet.
Note:
- If the rice mixture dilutes, the grains become empty and the wine smells pungent, then it is over fermented.
- If the rice tastes raw and the wine is not sweet enough and smells blank, then it’s under fermented.
October 25th, 2006
I’d like to bring your attention to one of my web sites, an audio tutorial of basic Chinese. Those of you who have adopted or plan to adopt children from China may find the “Parenting” unit interesting and helpful. It has such phrases as “You are safe with us,” “Come to Mom,” “Go potty?” and more….
You are welcome to give ideas on how to improve the site. Thanks!
October 23rd, 2006
On the evening of September of 21, I gave a presentation on Chinese culture to the Bowling Green community, including my university students and faculty. The title of my presentation is “What Do the Han Chinese Tales Tell Us?” The podcast of the presentation is finally ready. It is at It is at http://www.wku.edu/Library/podcast/index.html. You may subscribe to it and listen go the go. Thanks!
October 23rd, 2006
Today, as Chinese economy is booming and people’s life standard improving, eating itself is no longer a problem. The question is how to eat. These photos show how the Chinese want to stay closer to nature as they eat.
September 6th, 2006
Finally I have selected less than a hundred photos of my trip to China and put them up in Flickr, the photo blog. You may view the photos and give your comments by visiting the link http://www.flickr.com/photos/82268473@N00/sets/72157594236343326/.
August 15th, 2006
Dear everyone! I am back from China. I also miss you all very much! Terribly sorry for the slack during my trip to China. I will let you know the stories of my trip in my blog.
I arrived in Bowling Green at midnight on August 8th and have been recovering from the jetlag. There is a thirteen-hour difference between the States and China. As I am writing this entry, it is 10:05 a.m. Central Time here in Bowling Green, KY. But it is already 11:06 p.m. in my hometown Tianjin, a large city close to the capital Beijing. Or rather, it is 11:06 p.m. now all over China, even though the country covers four time zones. Yes, China has only one time zone, which is the Beijing Standard Time.
My trip was mainly to Xishuangbanna in Yunnan. For your information, here’s an introduction given by Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xishuangbanna. Here are some pictures of the Water Splashing Festival, peculiar to the Dai people in Xishuangbanna: http://www.china.org.cn/english/MATERIAL/126924.htm.
I will sure put up my photos, tons of them, gradually on the blog to share with you. Stay tuned.
August 11th, 2006
Dear all,
I will make a trip to China presently. Sorry that I have to skip this week’s proverb podcast and lag in posting to the blog. However, I will keep you undated with my trip in China. I believe it will be an exciting one that deserves sharing with you. At the same time, I will try to blog and podcast when and where internet connection is available and my time allows.
June 28th, 2006
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