Tianmu Lake in Jiangsu

January 6, 2009

Tianmulake is 30 minutes outside of Liyang, 2 hours southwest of Dagang where the Winters have a manufacturing facility.

While Ling was having the board of directors meeting in Liyang, Mr. Shi Ming, a partner, asked the driver to take us to Tianmu Lake for a tour. It was a wonderful drive out to the lake. We saw many large apartment complexes the government built for the farmers since the land was taken to make room for buildings. Most farmers were able to get 2 or 3 apartments depending on how much land they were allocated to farm. A lot of them kept one apartment for themselves and rent or sold the others. You'll see the apartments in the slideshow below. We also saw many crab farms along the way. Tianmu Lake is beautiful. Many resorts or villas were built along the lake which cost around 300,000 USD each. There are many rich Chinese around now a days.

Tianmu Lake, Liyang, Jiangsu Province - The charms of Tianmu Lake extends far beyond its water and tea. Tourists will also be enthralled by the historical buildings here, such as the Zhuangyuan Pavilion (Pavilion of the Number One Scholar).

The Zhuangyuan Pavilion received its name from the fact it bore the recordings of the details of 763 No. 1 scholars from the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Their names are posted on beautifully crafted bamboo plates. It made me realize how much China revers their scholars. Of course, I was glad that these records survived the Cultural Revolution.

Zhuangyuan Pavilion,Tianmu Lake, Liyang, Jiangsu ProvinceThis pavilion occupies an area of over 350 square metres, rising to a height of 22 metres. The three-storey pavilion, is built on a basically octagonal pattern, with its eight corners symbolizing flying. The pavilion has a base in the shape of the Chinese character "Ya" (second) and represents an ancient Chinese architecture style.

As the highest building in the Tianmu Lake Tourist Area, this pavilion provides a great view over the whole lake. Standing on the Zhuangyuan Pavilion, you can marvel at the enchanting views of lakes and hills.

We took a boat ride and noticed the water was quite clear, not much pollution was in the air either. This is a place worth coming back in the spring when the flowers bloom.

Cooking with Xiao-ping

Day 2, 4, 5, 6 and more (January 3, 5, 6, 7 and beyond)

Xiao-ping showed us how:

Cooking with Xiao-ping has been a very interesting experience. Xiao-ping used to be a cook for a restaurant until she came to work for the Winters as an Ah-yi, or domestic help. Her cooking was unbelievable and was kind enough to let us observe her cooking. She shared tips and tricks of her dishes. Many steps were missed in the "cookbook" style Chinese cooking. We were delighted that she shared and we'd like to share the recipes below. May be we can do some demonstrations as it is difficult to write down everything Xiao-ping was doing to make food so delicious.

Cold Cucumber Salad

Use long skinny Chinese cucumbers. Peel, wash, slice and put in bowl. Put in salt, freshly minced garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, sugar and chicken powder. Toss.

Braised Fish

Use tilapia, cod, or any frozen fish fillets. Boil water, drop fish in the water and cook for 3-5 minutes. Sautee garlic, ginger, green onion, chili sauce, sugar and cilantro. Then add water. Put cooked fish in the sauce for a few minutes. Add cooking wine to taste.

Roasted Pork

Use lean pork (chops, tenderloins, etc), cut in 1” cubes. Cook in boiling water to clean. Put small amount of oil in the frying pan, sautee port, garlic, ginger, green onion. Add soy sauce, wine, chicken power. Let cook in a pot with low heat for 45 minutes to an hour.

Potatoes with peppers

Slice or shred potatoes. Pan fried with pepper, red onion. Sprinkle some chili powder and add sesame oil.

Mapo Tofu

Cube tofu and boil for a few minutes to take out water in the tofu. Sautee mushrooms, sliced or shredded carrots in a little oil. Add Hoi Shen sauce, chili powder, 三 fragrance powder. Add tofu to the sauce and cook for a few minutes. Add a few drops of sesame oil.

for the Posse

Our 2nd day in Dagang, an hour and half southeast of Nanjing, we went hiking at the north end of town. There is a pagoda on top of the mountain, with literally thousands of steps leading up to it. Ling and I decided we should give it a try. It was hard, but we MADE it. We were able to see a small tributary of Yangzhe River below. It was beautiful. Would love to take the Posse from St. George for a hike up there.

Tours around China

Day 1 (Jan. 2):

We arrived in Nanjing w/o any problems after 5 hours of smooth ride. The bullet train traveled at around 100-120 miles per hour. My sister Ling picked us up at the train station in Nanjing. It was so good to see her.

We went to the Confucius temple, Fuzi Miao, a modern version, I might add, to browse around. It was so beautiful.

Jan. 2, 2009

Then, we went my sister's house in Dagang, 1.5 hours south east of Nanjing. She has a car and a driver at her disposal when she comes to China (about 2-3 times a year, but others in the office use the car, I'm sure). We drove to their house in Dagang that night. Wow, holy cow, I thought our house in St. George was nice, until we saw Ling's. They even have a built-in smoothie maker in the kitchen. It's totally amazing. The apartment complex here has a security guard out front. The buildings are brand new (Dagang is a newly designed town in Chiangsu Province), with single homes, duplexes, and condos. Ling has a condo on floors 3, 4 and 5. In China, when you buy a condo, or a house, it's just a building. You have to go in and do everything, including drywalling, electrical wiring, and anything in between to make it a place to live. Stan is a detailed man, so he took care of every detail. It has recessed LED lighting in almost every corner. The dining room is right next to the living room and has the circular thing in the back with lighted glass look. Around the circle is hand carved wood with Chinese characters and flowers, animals...everything is exquisite. The house is cold, but didn't take too long to warm up. Each room has a heater built-in, so we slept comfortably. They have a wooden bathtub on the top floor which is beautiful. The picture of the bamboo tree was weaved together (a real tree) into a topiary. The pond is in the entry way with vines. It's been interesting to see all these things.Living room

Dining Room


Best of all, their office is only across the way in a different building. The maid does all the cleaning and cooking. Each meal we ate here was cooked by Xiao Ping. Boy, she is a good cook. We'll share some of her cooking in the next blog. There are about 8-9 people working in the office, so she cooks a 9-10 course meal for lunch. Then she does special orders for us depending on what we would like to have for dinner. We can get spoiled very quickly. I'll post the recipes shortly.

Christmas in Shandong

Friday, Dec. 26 was our last day of teaching for the fall 2008 semester. Even though we had to teach on Christmas day, we felt fortunate to be able to spend this special holiday with our Chinese students. We discussed the symbols of the holiday, the customs, and traditions. We found our students to be very curious about the American culture. We put lyrics of Christmas songs on PowerPoint for the students to sing along and they all enjoyed that. We even invited Santa to visit one of the classes. Sitting on Santa's lap was most amusing. These were 18 & 19 year-olds, and they were so excited to see Santa, but were embarrassed to sit on Santa's lap. Our Santa's helper was 75-year-old Brother Forbes. So, the students would come up to him to give him a big hug. Well, Shandong kids are big tall kids. Most of them almost knocked Santa down to the floor. Then, Santa would set them on his lap and give them a treat. It was really cool. I forgot to bring my pictures with me. But may show them later when we get back to Jinan from our trip.

We participated in many celebrations of Christmas and New Year's, even more so than we did in the States. Here are all of the events:

1. Dec. 20: Jinan city Christmas and New Year's Gala with Dinner and Acrobatics Show (pix posted below)

2. Dec. 25: Shandong University Foreign Teachers' Christmas Party

3. Dec. 25: Jinan LDS Group Christmas Party

4. Dec. 27: a Visit to the Jinan Orphanage (pix posted, we fell in love with all the little ones, don't be surprised if we come home with more than just the two of us.)

5. Dec. 27: Shandong University Symphony Orchestra Musical

6. Dec. 31: Jinan LDS Group New Year's Eve Party

That was a lot of parties for us. It made away from home a little bit easier, but we can't help missing our family and friends.

Semester Break

Friday, Dec. 26 was our last day of teaching for the fall 2008 semester. Even though we had to teach on Christmas day, we felt fortunate to be able to spend this special holiday with our Chinese students. We discussed the symbols of the holiday, the customs, and traditions. We found our students to be very curious about the American culture. We put lyrics of Christmas songs on PowerPoint for the students to sing along and they all enjoyed that. We even invited Santa to visit one of the classes. Sitting on Santa's lap was most amusing. These were 18 & 19 year-olds, and they were so excited to see Santa, but were embarrassed to sit on Santa's lap. Our Santa's helper was 75-year-old Brother Forbes. So, the students would come up to him to give him a big hug. Well, Shandong kids are big tall kids. Most of them almost knocked Santa down to the floor. Then, Santa would set them on his lap and give them a treat. It was really cool. I forgot to bring my pictures with me. But may show them later when we get back to Jinan from our trip.

We participated in many celebrations of Christmas and New Year's, even more so than we did in the States. Here are all of the events:

1. Dec. 20: Jinan city Christmas and New Year's Gala with Dinner and Acrobatics Show
2. Dec. 25: Shandong University Foreign Teachers' Christmas Party
   
3. Dec. 25: Jinan LDS Group Christmas Party
4. Dec. 27: Shandong University Symphony Orchastra Musical
5. Dec. 31: Jinan LDS Group New Year's Eve Party

That was a lot of parties for us. It made away from home a little bit easier, but we can't help missing our family and friends.

Dinner Ettiquette

Several students come to visit us on Sunday nights since we arrived late August. We thought we'd do something special for them for Christmas. We decided to have them come to a spaghetti dinner with Elwin and me as servers.

First, Elwin showed them a PowerPoint show on table manners while Shirley finished up cooking. We then invited each of them to the dining room for the dinner. The dining room is a 9' X 12' room with a table and 4 chairs. We brought in an additional three chairs to accommodate all of them. They all sat crowded around the table, and we busied ourselves explaining how to eat spaghetti and the other items. We also politely pointed out etiquette "errors" for them to correct.

Oddly, none of these students are "ours", or, rather, none of them are students we have in classes that we teach. Four of the students were associated with the Leavitts who were in this apartment prior to us. One of the new students came with one of the original four that night. Another two we picked up are younger students; one is a young man who went to pick us up the night we arrived in Jinan, and the other is preparing to go to Australia and is the son of a lady doctor who has been helpful to us on occasion.

We all had a good time enjoying serving and being served. Of course, the Chinese students were kind of uncomfortable for a while as they kept on saying to us: you sit down and we'll serve you.