Meet Fresh: Taiwanese Dessert in Shanghai

A photo of a Taiwanese dessert restaurant in a recent post of scenes from Shanghai's Xuhui district apparently left some readers puzzled. They wanted to know, "What is a Taiwanese dessert?"

I am pleased to say that I had already conducted some research:

Taiwanese dessert making an appearance in Shanghai

The name in Chinese of the restaurant in my earlier post is "鲜芋仙" (xiānyùxiān). In English the name used by the restaurant is "Meet Fresh". The Meet Fresh chain of restaurants originated in Taiwan and now has branches as far away as Malaysia and Australia. One of their specialities is taro balls, included in the dish I tried. Taro is a root vegetable native to Southeast Asia. I would claim that the closest equivalent in Western food is probably the potato or sweet potato. However taro has its own unique taste. It can be included in a variety of dishes and even cooked similar in style to french fries or potato chips. My favorite version, though, is when it is sweetened and used in desserts.

I first tried taro while in Taiwan about 10 years ago. My lack of any Chinese language skills at the time led to some minor chaos while trying to order a milk tea. I was quite surprised to receive a purplish drink and realized there had been a communication problem. But I decided to give the drink a try. I still have no clue why the young employees at the Taiwanese store I visited gave me taro milk tea, but I am not complaining. I immediately became a big fan of taro.

Meet Fresh's Taiwan website can be found here. For those who cannot read Chinese, their Australian website in English here will be more useful. The online menu on the Australian site does not appear to be exactly the same as what I saw at the Shanghai store, but you can find a close approximation of the dish I tried here. Follow that link to see other desserts served at Meet Fresh. There are also some examples of Taiwanese desserts from other restaurants at the end of my post comparing the food culture in Taiwan and Italy. The examples there and on the Meet Fresh site provide a hint of the great variety of Taiwanese desserts. I hope more people will soon hear "coming to a store near you".

In China Even Free Internet is not Free

Upon arriving at Shanghai Pudong International Airport I saw the above scene. The Chinese words "免费上网" on the sign posts were unambiguous in their meaning: no payment was required to surf online. Yet another interpretation of the English translation "Free Internet" still caused a slight glimmer of hope to enter my mind.

So I checked a computer to see whether at this supposedly modern international airport one could access some of the world's most popular websites -- YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. I quickly found that China's Great Firewall was blocking these sites as usual. Somewhat ironically, the vast majority of international flights from the airport could take me to places where I would find no such censorship.

I was not at all surprised by what I found, but nonetheless the experience dampened the excitement of returning to Shanghai. Free Internet at an airport is wonderful to see. If only it were also free.

Scenes of China: Northern Xuhui District in Shanghai

This will be one of several posts of photos from Shanghai capturing a bit of the diversity that can be found there. The following scenes are presented in the order I encountered them during a winding walk last week in Xuhui district (map). The walk from Tianyaoqiao Road to southeast of Shanghai Stadium covered just a small part of Xuhui and does not include a number of regions such as a portion of the former French Concession or the contrasting residential areas near the Shanghai South Railway Station. It began near a popular shopping district with several malls and department stores, but I will share more "ordinary" street scenes instead.

And my choice of this region is not random. The first few scenes are just minutes away by foot from where I previously lived for several years.

A new outlet for the Wall Street English school

There certainly was not a Spanish Restaurant around when I first moved to this area.

Years ago I would sometimes come here for a spicy soup.

A new Taiwanese dessert restaurant

Just a few more blocks from my old home

Farther away south of Lingling Road

I had suspected that the fascinating local market once here would not exist much longer.

The Diversity of China, Shanghai, and Xuhui

During my 6 years in China I gained a deeper appreciation of something.

China is big and diverse. If one wants to better understand China, it is important to not only consider well-known cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.

The city in China with which I am most familiar is Shanghai. And from my explorations there I learned something else.

Shanghai is big and diverse. If one wants to better understand Shanghai, it is important to not only consider well-known districts such as Pudong and Huangpu.

The district in Shanghai with which I am most familiar is Xuhui. And from my explorations there I learned yet something else.

Xuhui is big and diverse. If ones wants to better understand Xuhui, it is important to not only consider well-known subdistricts such as Xujiahui and Longhua.

Of course, for most purposes there is no way possible to understand all of China down to the level of subdistricts. My point is simply that at whatever level I have looked I have found incredible diversity in China. Better appreciating this diversity improves the chances of conducting research, whether about China or Xuhui, that leads to meaningful results.

Shanghai can range from the skyscraper views that I have shared here & here to the Xiaonanmen area in the disappearing "Old Town". For some of my upcoming posts I will share sets of photos from other areas of Shanghai. They will provide a taste of how in its own way Shanghai, like many other places in China, is indeed big and diverse.

The New York Times in Chinese with Twitter & Facebook

The New York Times has unveiled a new Chinese-language web site at cn.nytimes.com. As Christine Haughney reported, the Times will not adjust its news coverage despite targeting readers in a place where there is significant censorship, mainland China:

The Times Company, which is well aware of the censorship issues that can come up in China, stressed that it would not become an official Chinese media company. The Times has set up its server outside China and the site will follow the paper’s journalistic standards. Mr. Kahn said that while the Chinese government occasionally blocked certain articles from nytimes.com, he was hopeful that the Chinese government would be receptive to the Chinese-language project.

“We’re not tailoring it to the demands of the Chinese government, so we’re not operating like a Chinese media company,” Mr. Kahn said. “China operates a very vigorous firewall. We have no control over that. We hope and expect that Chinese officials will welcome what we’re doing.”

Although the Times claims it will not be "tailoring it to the demands of the Chinese government" there are several signs that design changes have been made to better suit Chinese readers. One obvious example is the ability to easily share articles on popular online services in mainland China such as Sina Weibo, QQ, and Renren.

As seen in the above example (from the article here), options are also available to share on Twitter and Facebook -- notable since both of these services are currently blocked in mainland China. If either of those options are selected while behind China's Great Firewall it is not possible to post the article. It is also notable that there does not appear to be a button to share articles on Google+, an option that is readily available on the main www.nytimes.com site.

However, people in mainland China may not be the only Chinese readers being targeted with the site as evidenced by the option for displaying the text in Traditional Chinese. That is the style of characters commonly used in a number of Chinese-speaking areas outside of mainland China, such as Taiwan and Hong Kong. In those places Twitter and Facebook are freely available.

I tested posting articles onto Twitter while using a VPN in China to get through China's Great Firewall and had no problem. However, I ran into a problem when I tested the Facebook option. For any article I tried I was brought to this page:

I have never heard of Paulie Sharer, and I wonder whether his last name is somehow tied to this obvious error. A quick online search suggests that the problem is not specific to me nor the Times, but at this point there is not much more I can say definitively. Although I am sure this is not the result the Times desires, I can only imagine whether Paulie Sharer is noticing an unusual number of friend requests.

Regardless, I consider it a positive that The New York Times will be able to reach more readers in mainland China. And many will be watching to see if China later blocks the site -- just like what recently happened to Bloomberg's news site (H/T Edward Wong).

Foot Massages and Marriage in China

A foot massage at a cheaper location in Shanghai (not the one mentioned below)

After moving to Shanghai many years ago, I became exposed to the pleasure of foot massages. Although my feet at first proved to be overly sensitive, typically to the amusement of those who provided the massages, I slowly grew to appreciate the experiences and found them to be an excellent way to relax. They were also an opportunity for me to practice my Chinese and learn something about the various people I met who typically came from regions far away from Shanghai.

On one occasion at my once favorite and now long-gone place for foot massages the topic of marriage happened to come up in an informal discussion. At the time I was particularly interested in how Chinese viewed foreigners so I asked the young woman massaging my feet, "What would your mother think if you married an American?"

She replied, "If he is rich, she would not care."

Based on prior discussions, it seemed likely that she pictured a Caucasian when I said "American". So I asked her, "What if he were black?"

Without hesitation she said, "It doesn't matter if he is rich."

I found her reply striking since, similar to many other places, race can matter in China. But in addition to race, nationality can matter as well.

So I asked her, "What if he were from India?"

Seeming to want to make sure there was no misunderstanding, she looked me square in the eye and said with emphasis, "As long as he is rich."

In China I have often found that the perceptions of different races and nationalities are not equal. For that reason, at the time the young woman's responses surprised me. I was also struck by her openness regarding the importance of money in regards to marriage. But a conversation I would later have in a far less developed region of China provided me a new perspective on an issue that had once seemed so black and white. I will share it in a later post. Like the experience of a young woman sharing her excitement over her first payday in Shanghai, it gave me a deeper appreciation of the challenges faced by many in China and the hopes they hold.

A Scene of Erhai Lake in Yunnan, China

There is much I have to share and say, especially after having just attended two stimulating talks about China. I am now pondering how what the two writers discussed meshes with what I have seen and heard across China regarding innovation, development, and more.

For now, here is a scene from Xizhou, Yunnan province. It is quite unlike either of the cities featured in my previous two posts -- no skyscrapers or castles. But it is still one of the places I would most like to visit again (for a third time).

Erhai Lake

More scenes from Xizhou here and here.

A Bit of China in Europe

In the previous post I identified the city -- Shanghai -- in the first of two photos I shared in an earlier post. The second photo may have presented an even greater challenge to recognize. I visited the city where it was taken two years ago to present a talk about conducting research in China. Despite being in Europe, at times I could still feel a small touch of China.

After flying from Shanghai with a connection in Dubai, I arrived late at night. The next morning I left my hotel to take a walk, and one of the first sights that caught my attention was this:

Although I was curious whether the "Restaurant Shanghai" served truly Shanghainese cuisine or a more generic form of Westernized Chinese food, I decided to take a pass. After all, I preferred to save myself for some of the local-style dumplings:

Related to Chinese dumplings or just an example of "convergent evolution"?

Also apparent in the above photo is the appropriately-sized glass containing a most glorious liquid. I enjoyed similar glasses at a variety of locations, such as this popular site with a "Chinese Tower":

I did not recall seeing a pagoda quite like that anywhere in China, but the excellent beer (in appropriately-sized glasses) kept me from deeply pondering the issue.

But my focus was not always on the local food and drinks. During one of those moments I saw this display in front of a museum:

The Chinese word "欢迎 "(huānyíng) means "Welcome" in English.

I imagine any visitors from China would have been even more surprised than me to see such a greeting.

Finally, if the above photos are not enough clues, maybe this photo of one of my favorite castles in Europe, Schloss Nymphenburg, will do it:

Will this castle someday meet the same fate as an Austrian village which has been copied in China?

Ah... München. Many years ago, the city known in English as "Munich" was the first place I visited outside of the U.S. (excluding an hour or two in Canada at Niagara Falls). It remains one of my favorite cities, and I have had the pleasure to visit a number of times. My most recent visit was the only time I arrived from China, so some of the above scenes particularly caught my attention.

However, Munich's art, music, people, food, drinks, and more have typically connected with me in ways that have little or nothing to do with China. As has some of its history. Some of it is a bit too heavy for this post, so I may touch on several assorted topics in the future. For now, I will leave you with a photo of one of my favorite snacks at Munich's Viktualienmarkt:

A delicious herring and onion sandwich

Of course it was accompanied by yet another appropriately-sized glass of beer.

Back to China soon, unless someone needs me to pay another visit to Munich.

Back In Shanghai

Earlier I posted two photos. One was of a scene from the city where I was headed next. And now I am there -- Shanghai. The photo was taken from the popular Qipu Lu Street shopping area.

Here is a photo I took last year of a scene that many who have lived in or visited Shanghai would be more likely to recognize:

Skyscrapers in Shanghai's Lujiazui financial district

I have been rather occupied since returning to this rapidly changing city, so I have not had the opportunity to do any posting until now. More is on the way, including identifying the location of the second photo in the earlier post.

Scenes of China: People in Xining, Qinghai province

In a previous post, I shared photos of taller buildings in Xining, Qinghai province. I have already mentioned a few of the people I met in Xining in my post about several personal experiences of Chinese people being friendly towards me. Now I would like to share some more photos of Xining's people.

The following scenes are meaningful to me not just because they capture everyday Chinese life far away from China's better-known cities, but also because the photos highlight some of Xining's ethnic diversity, such as its Tibetan, Muslim Hui, and of course Han people. As I expressed when I shared some photos of youth in Chengdu, Sichuan province, looking at these photos of ordinary scenes can inspire questions and ideas that are not at all ordinary.

What do you see?

Chatting at a street market

Taking a break

Drinking tea outside

Fortune telling near a temple

Qingke Highland Barley For Sale in Qinghai

In earlier posts (see here and here), I have referenced qingke (青稞) -- a highland barley which is "the main grain plant for people living on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau". Although I have experienced two of its popular uses, for qingke wine and the traditional Tibetan dish tsampa, I had not seen qingke in a purer form until I met this street vendor today:

One could buy the fresh & raw qingke ground or unground (cheaper). I was encouraged to try some, and it had a very crisp and light "green" taste.

Nothing deep here, just interesting to see a bit more of Tibetan culture. For more about qingke and its uses check out the previous two links.

Tibetan Monks, iPhones, and Luxury in China

Yesterday, I visited this mobile phone store in Xining, Qinghai province:

It included a variety of mobile phone brands commonly seen in China, such as Nokia, Oppo, K-Touch, and Apple. It also included some lesser-known brands, some with curious names such as Samzong. The most remarkable experience I had in the store, though, was meeting these three Tibetan Buddhist monks:

In the photo one of the monks can be seen holding an iPhone. In fact, all three had iPhones. To be clear, many Chinese could not afford an iPhone. If monks with iPhones come as a surprise, it is worth noting that some of the store's employees appeared to be surprised as well. The monks were in the store so they could upload new apps to their phones. Behind the monks is a computer where for 60 yuan (about U.S. $10) one can purchase a set of apps for either Apple or Android mobile phones.

In various regions of China I have often seen monks using mobile phones. For example, four years ago in Yangzhou, Jiangsu province, I had an excellent vegetarian dinner with this (non-Tibetan) Buddhist monk:

However his mobile was not an iPhone, and not I do not know for sure whether iPhone usage amongst monks is now widespread (I doubt it).

Although they may not be representative of other Tibetan monks, the three men I met in Xining highlight that more and more people in China have an iPhone. This is obviously a good sign for Apple. But some consumers in China (and elsewhere) are at least partly motivated to buy an iPhone due to a desire for "luxury" items that are fashionable. It will be interesting to see whether the iPhone's more widespread adoption impacts their choices.

Finally, the monks' iPhones were not the only thing that caught my eye:

His newly purchased DVD of Colombiana is probably pirated.

iPhones and DVDs of Western movies -- both part of these modern Tibetan monks' lives in Qinghai, China.