Archive for March 6th, 2008
Chinese Character – 好 Good;Fine;Nice
Thursday, March 6th, 2008
Chinese Culture – Nut carving
Thursday, March 6th, 2008Nut carving, known as Hediao in Chinese, generally refers to two kinds of carvings that respectively use fruit stone (also known as the fruit’s pit), like olive or peach stone, and walnut as the raw material. The art form is acclaimed for its delicate carving skills on the small fruit stones or walnuts, and is known as an “uncanny work of art” among the people.
Nut carving generally uses relief and three-dimensional carving skills due to the materials’ limited surface area. To produce a fine piece of nut carving, one has to make good use of the shape, grains, and texture of the material; a blueprint also has to be made before the actual carving can begin.
Nut carving prospered in the Song Dynasty (960-1279), and by the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the art form had already attained very high achievements, with many of the rich and high officials considered it fashionable to wear a piece of nut carving around. Up to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the carving artists upheld the notion of nut carvings requiring more delicate and refined skills.
Ancient traditions
The ancient artists left their consummate skills on those small works, which featured human figures, various utensils, and some even with lines of poems. Such legacies inspired many ancient literati to record them with passages, with one of them known as Nut Carving Boat, which has been included in Chinese middle school textbooks.
Many people came to know the art form beginning from this passage, which describes the nut carving work by Wang Shuyuan in the Ming Dynasty. The work, carved on a peach stone, features the scene of Su Dongpo (an influential poet and essayist of the Song Dynasty) going boating at night in Chibi in Central China’s Hubei Province.
Modern development
Han Zhiyao, a modern carving artist from Dalian of Northeast China’s Liaoning Province who has a special interest for calligraphy and painting, began learning carving boats at the age of eight. Over time, he perfected his skills and has created some high-quality ship nut carvings.
Author: Jeff
（Source: chinaculture.org）
Beijing Olympic – Nanlaishun
Thursday, March 6th, 2008Nanlaishun was first opened in 1937. The original restaurant was located in the Gongping Market, Tianqiao. The boss, Shi Kunsheng, whose nickname was ‘quick-fired tripe Shi’, had but a dozen or so employees. He made a roaring business selling a limited variety of quick-fired, roasted, or instant-boiled Muslim dishes with a distinct flavor.
In 1956, when the whole trade was converted into joint state-private enterprises, all the well-known snack stall owners were merged into the Tongfuhe Tea and Cookie Shop. In 1961, it was merged with Nanlaishun Snack Shop to form the Nanlaishun Restaurant. Since then, the restaurant has been a showcase of the skills of the best Muslim food chefs and snack chefs in the city, and a constant source of delight for its distinct Beijing style.
The restaurant offers the following famous snacks:
Merry laughter, honeyed fried dough twist, sweet bee cake, sliced cake, salty short cake, sesame-seed baked flat cake, twist, big/small fried dough twist, roast spareribs and ginger shreds, doughnut, thin and crisp, jellied beancurd, almond tea, bean porridge, steamed cake made of corn flour, mashed pea cake, almond and beancurd, bean jelly, lotus leaf porridge, a variety of rice cakes, mutton instant-boiled in hotpot, quick-fried tripe, white soup and chopsuey, stir-fried dough balls, spicy beancurd, quick-fried paste, and roll.
(Source: ebeijing.gov.cn)
