Kofi Ampeah Woode
GLIMPSE OF FAMOUS CHINESE CULTURE
Chinese are believed to be generally practical & hard-working (started from a farming culture), not rigid in religion, moderate, never going to extremes, living a balanced and harmonious life, expected to be Self-disciplined, Family-centered/collective-centered, Socially orderly.
Belief and lifestyle system of the Chinese is mainly based on Confucianism. Basic Confucian Beliefs are that; 1) Man is good, if good examples are set for him, 2) Filial Piety – devotion, loyalty to family, and 3) Obedience and respect for authority, with the core ideology of Confucian being i) benevolence to others — the root, ii) righteousness by justice — the trunk, iii) moral ways of conduct— the branches, iv) wisdom — the flower, and trustworthiness— the fruit. These are a set of moral and social values designed to bring ways of man and government in harmony with each other and with the universe.
Confucius (first given name was Qiu, and social or academic name was Zhongni) was born in a poor family in the year 551 and lived to 479 B.C. He was a great thinker, political figure, educator, philosopher, and is a symbol of Chinese culture.
There are about seven traditional festivals celebrated national festivals, namely; Spring, Lantern, Dragon Boat, Qiqiao, Ghost, Double Ninth festivals, and Mid-Autumn Day. During such times, the people engage in a variety of activities which include eating dumplings, drawing New Year picture, Spring Festival Couplets, Paper-cuts, lantern, set-off fire crackers, etc.
There is a monster called Nian who is said to fear the color red, the light of fire and loud noise, hence during some festivals, many paste red paper couplets, light torches and set off firecrackers throughout the night.
During the Chinese New Year celebrations, almost every Chinese family will eat ‘jiaozi’, a name which means the happy get-together of family members and connection of the New Year and the past old year.
Chinese Traditional Food
China covers a large territory and has many nationalities, hence a variety of Chinese food with different but fantastic and mouthwatering flavor, avail. Here are a list of some ten popular Chinese noodles: Wuhan hot noodles, Beijing noodles, Shanxi sliced noodles, Henan Xiaoji stewed noodles, Lanzhou ramen, Hangzhou Pian Er Chuan, Kunshan Aozao noodles, Zhenjiang pot cover noodles, Sichuan spicy dandan noodles, and Jilin Yanji cold noodles.
Chinese food can be roughly divided into four regional cuisines: 1) Shandong Cuisine, 2) Sichuan Cuisine, 3) Cantonese Cuisine, and 4) Jiangsu Cuisine.
Shandong Cuisine: explosion, fry, roast, fired, clear, fresh, crisp, tender Sweet and sour carp Saute sea cucumber with scallions Braised prawns.
Sichuan Cuisine Dishes: Sichuan hot-pot stew, twice-cooked pork, fish-flavored shredded pork with garlic sauce, Ma po Tofu, Kung Pao chicken.
Cantonese Cuisine: Siu mei is essentially the Chinese rotisserie style of cooking. Unlike most other Cantonese dishes, Siu mei consists only of meat, with no vegetables, creating a unique barbecue flavor that a sauce is usually added, but a different sauce is used for each meat. Noodles are either in soup broth or fried, served with a variety of toppings such as fish balls, beef balls or fish slices.
Jiangsu Cuisine Introduction: also called Huaiyang Cuisine, is popular in the lower reach of the Yangtze River, with aquatics as the main ingredients, and stresses the freshness of materials.
QINGDAO
Qingdao – the third largest city in the North after Beijing and Tianjin – is a port city with about 6.1 million population. It is a vast city and beautiful city carefully built with beautiful sceneries. It played a key role in the 2008 Beijing Olympics at the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Centre, which is also known as the May Fourth Square. Besides the usual very high buildings of accommodations and offices, some of the remarkable landmarks of the city are the 38 kilometer Jiaozhou Bay Bridge bridge over deep sea, even with the audacity of an interchange in deep waters to the peninsula of West Coast New Area, where the famous Bandao Urban Daily, and the Dazhong Daily are based in an extraordinary edifice. The people are hospitable, kind and courteous.
Qingdao is the birthplace of Taoism, is noted for a special brand of beer, hosts the Naval Museum of the People’s Liberation Armed Forces. The beautiful city also hosts the mighty Shandong Foreign Trade Vocation College, whose Dean – Professor Diao Jiandong – has nurtured thousands of entrepreneurs, many of whom are now giants and captains of the commanding heights of various industries, and are contributing gigantically to economies in China in particular, and Asia generally.
KUNMING
Kunming (I call The City of Art) is a straightforward beaut, at peace with itself, and musical as the mention of its name sounds. A random visit to the Central Business District, and one would sight artists picking on objects and sketching them, photographers taking spectacularly smashing photo shots of patrons for free, musical artistes playing live instruments to entertain guests, persons of all ages aggregating at parks to practice dancing skills, the architecture, and as a Ghanaian, I took special notice of how free and almost impeccable the market floors were of dust and dirt. One cannot easily forget Kunming after any visit. K-u-n-m-i-n-g!
It is the Capital of the Yunnan Province and the seat of the Provincial government. It is famous for its climate – an average temperature of around 20 degrees Celsius throughout the year – for it is known as the Spring City.
With a population of about 4.86 million, it is located in the middle of Yunnan Province – Guizhou Plateau, at an altitude of 6234 feet above sea level, Kunming was named as Kunzhou in the Sui Dynasty (581-618), renamed as Tuodong City in the Nanzhao Kingdom, and became an independent area in the Tang Dynasty. Kunming is a multi-ethnic city with 26 ethnic groups.
It also has Dian chi which is the largest freshwater lake in Yunnan Province, and serves as a tourist attraction. Being close to Myanmar – which is the biggest source of jadeite – there are many jade shops in Kunming, and it is also known for its variety of flowers, being the largest flower market in Asia – the Dounan Flower Market. Kunming is an important city to PRC’s Belt and Road Initiative, due to its closeness to neighbouring Southeast Asian countries, thus an important bridge of communication.
As for almighty and ancient Peking (Beijing), it needs no writing about in this piece, except to mention its skyrocketing skyscrapers and media offices, 22 million and 4 million, human and vehicular populations, respectively. Kudos to my Sister Hellen “Yaa” Wong, Brother “Kobina” Zhang and Mr Zhanglei.
In-depth gratitude credited to the Ambassador and Staff of PRC Embassy in Accra, Ghana; the Chief of the Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces – Lieutenant General Thomas Oppong-Peprah; Chief of the Naval Staff – Rear Admiral Issah Adam Yakubu; Commanding Officer, Forces Pay Regiment – Colonel Miki Adusei Nkrumah; Professor (Prof) Wang Baohang – Director, China Aid Office, SFTVC; Prof Yi Xianfang – Program Officer, SFTVC; Prof Wang Yingxi – Director, SFTVC; Prof Zhan Ning – Shanghai International Studies University; Liu Yinqing – Deputy Director, Dazhong Media Group; Xiao Fang – General Manager, Dazhong Daily, Qingdao Station; Prof Wu Chuanwei – SFTVC; Prof Wang Yinhong – Ocean University of China; Zhou Xuemei – Director, Museum, Communication University of China; Wang Diangang – Former President, Xinhua News Agency, and Qingdao Information Agency; Yunnan Radio and Television Station; and Ms Liu Xiaojun Semine. I CANNOT THANK YOU ENOUGH! 我对你感激不尽
By Kofi Ampeah-Woode, Ghana
