Editorial Mailbox

Attending the Fourth World Conference on Women held in China in 1995 was indeed a wonderful experience. The lingering excitement of the event continues to bubble over each and every time I recount the excitement of the trip to my students and friends. Most questions, however, are not about the Forum itself, but instead about China. Everyone is amazed to hear that people living in a communist country are living a much better life than ever before. In fact, very few people from my country have visited     

What Has the Marriage Law Done for Women?

"LAW" has been drawing closer to the lives ofordinary Chinese people since the 1980s. Overthe past 10 years or so China has issued manylaws in rapid succession. "Governing the statebased on law" was put into the Constitution of thePRC in March 1999, laying a solid foundation forthe realization of the nation's four modernizations. I became a lawyer in 1985. Since becoming astaff member of the All-China Women'sFederation (ACWF), I have consulted on theMarriage Law and other regulations and clausesrelated to it.     

A Chef for 34 Years

FOREIGNERS who have been to Beijing are probably familiar with the Beijing International Hotel near the main railway station. It's the four-star hotel where I work as a chief cook. My job is to manage nine kitchens—both Chinese and Western. I have been a chef for 34 years. After graduated from school in 1964, I studied Chinese cuisine for three years. I believed that it was a job worth doing. In the past, people looked down on this occupation; they thought it was a low-class job because cooks were always serving other people. I, however, found the job very interesting. After all, I reasoned, everyone needs to eat. If we could make eating into a kind of art or a science, eating could become an act of culture. People engaged in the food industry treat the act of eating with a respect that most people cooking at home do not feel. But for those of us who work in prestigious hotels whose guests come from all over the world and have different customs and tastes, it is our job to put the Chinese cooking cultu     

Rural Girls Seek Education in Beijing

SINCE the policy of reform and opening was implemented in China, the Chinese farmers who toiled in the fields for thousands of years have been awakened. They have surged into large and medium-sized towns and developed areas. Now they earn more money than ever and have a chance to see the world. Many of these people are women. A new trend is quietly emerging among young women from farming communities who have traveled to the     

Pasta, Shanxi Style Hand-pulled Noodles Loved by Tourists and Residents Alike

I had my most delicious meal with noodles in a small village along the Yellow River. It was on a March day a decade ago, when I had just moved to Shanxi Province. I was out in the field as a reporter, and was exhausted and starving after traveling more than 50 kilometers on foot and by bus. A middle-aged man, whom I did not know, was standing in front of his dugout cave, the traditional dwelling of the Shanxi people." He called to me and invited me to have a meal in his home. Upon entering the cave, I was asked to sit on a kang, a brick bed, while the man's wife busied herself with cooking my meal. In no time a huge bowl of youpomian, noodles with Chinese prickly ash oil, was on the table in front of me. My nostrils were immediately filled with the strong and delicious smell of chili and prickly ash.     

"Lan Ji" Gree-White Porcelain Case

The invention of porcelain is one of China's greatest contributions to world civilization. Many people have gotten to know China through its porcelain. As we all know, zhongguo and ciqi have the same spelling in English. Green-white porcelain represents a typical style that was fired in the Jingdezhen china kiln which represented the features of the Song Dynasty china kilns. The glaze is a mixture of white and green. The white can be     

Visiting a Family of Chaoxian Nationality

THE Chaoxians are a minority nationality which inhabit northeast China. The Chaoxians are a homogeneous people. Besides living in the same region, they speak the same language, work and live in the same style and have the same mental patterns which represent the same culture. Once I was lucky enough to be     

Hani Women Gear Up for Opening

Most of the 1.253 million Hani people live in mountainous areas between the Honghe and Lancang rivers in the south of Yunnan Province. The Hani language, with a Latin alphabet similar to the Yi language, was formulated in 1957. Both the Hani and Yi nationalities evolved from the ancient Qiang people. The tribe, called Heyi 300 B.C., is said to be the ancestors of the Hani. The tribe moved south to Mount Ailao and Mount Wuliang, the present home of the Hani. The social development of the Hani was unbalanced at the founding of New China in 1949. The area inhabited by the Hani nationality belonged to the feudal society, with some areas still at the end of the primitive society. The Hani people tend to live in the mountainous areas at between 1000- 2500 meters above sea level. The Hani, who have engaged in agriculture for generations, have mastered method for reclaiming the terraced fields, which was included in the "Agriculture Encyclopedia" by Xu Guangqi, a scientist in the Ming Dynasty. The Hani have a long h     

Woman Sends Regards to Family and the Loess Plateau

WITH a population of ouer 8 million, the Hui nationality liue ouer the largest area of any other minority nationality in China. The Hui reside in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Gansu, Shaanxi, Guizhou, Henan, Qinghai, Yunnan, Hebei, and Shandong provinces, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and the Beijing and Tianjin municipalities.The origin of the Hui people can be traced back to the end of the seventh century, when Arabs and Persians often came to do trade in China along the ancient Silk Road. Some stayed on and started families. Their children have been traced to Guangzhou and Quanzhou. At the beginning of the 13th century, more Arabs, Persian and people from Central Asia came to China, where they married into the Han, the Uygur and the Mongolian nationalities. Gradually a new nationality—the Hui—was formed.With the founding of New China in 1949, the NingxJa Hui Autonomous Region was established. The industrial and agricultural output in the region in 1990 was 12 times that in 1957, when t     

Cultural Imports

FOREIGN commodities have flowed into China since the country opened its doors to the outside world. China is an expansive territory with a huge population offering a vast potential consumer market. There are absolutely no limits to the world of culture in China, with Chinese people having access to foreign films, dramas, music and books, all of which have helped to strengthen exchanges between Chinese and Western cultures.     

Grandmother, Mother and Me

MY nationality, the Zhuang nationality, has the largest population among the minority nationalities in China, the population being 15.49 million. In my hometown the Zhuang people still keep their own culture and a strong sense of the nationality. Since 1949, great changes have taken place in the families of the Zhuang people, including the life of women. The different experiences of my grandmother, my mother and myself reveal the changes of this ethnic group. My grandmother was born at the beginning of the century, when the bourgeois democratic revolution led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the Revolution of 1911, was undertaken in China to overthrow the Qing Dynasty. This revolution didn't influence my grandmother's life much, for during her time the Zhuang people didn't have much contact with the Han     

来信

Dear Women of China,Happy New Year.I hope you are doing well.I recently saw your great magazine for the first time,in Beijing,when I went to the US Embassy.It is really well done.It was a great read while I waited.I am a writer and entrepreneur involved in fashion,education,and sustainability,and I wan ted to reach out and get more information about your publication.I have worked most of my life involved with many women's organizations,and I have recently begun working with a company doing some research on women in business.In addition,I have had the honor of interviewing many amazing women and men from around the world.I look forward to hearing back from you.Thank you so much.     

My Ping-Pong Family

WHEN I was born, my father was 40 and my mother was 36. Father is a man of few words and an introverted nature. He belongs to that type of people who are very tough and strong-willed; he has worked hard all his life. Mother, on the other hand, is extroverted and eager to excel. My personality is a combination of both of their characters. Father loves playing ping-pong ardently. He used to be a top player of the Henan provincial team and won the men's singles championship in a contest of five provinces in central and southern China. Mother, a worker at the No. 4 National Textile Mill in Zhengzhou, also loved to play ping-pong when she was young. It was because of the sport that she and Father were brought together and got married. When the Henan     

Health Consultation in China

ONE Sunday morning, I noticed some people gathered at a clearing outside a school in which my family had an apartment. Feeling curious, I joined them to find that some young dentists, wearing their white coats, were offering free consultations for people. They were selling toothbrushes and dental floss at the same time. One of my teeth was bothering me. It always felt odd when I bit something cold. I consulted with a young dentist, who was wearing a pair of glasses. He asked me many questions like when had it begun to hurt, if I felt the pain, how long it had been since I had it filled the previous time. He asked me to open my mouth and checked the tooth carefully. "You should have your     

The Call for Peace

THE war left a deep impression on people. I was still a child then and what I remember most was fleeing from the war and the air raids. During the eight years of the war I went with my mother to Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macao Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou. We fled to literally every part of the country in the south. Now and then I was able to go to school, but I never stayed in any one of them long before we had to flee again. By the time I was supposed to graduate from middle school I had been to five different middle schools, but because of the constant changes of schools I never obtained any graduation certificate. In my research work I see some materials on the war, and     

读者来信

Dear Women of China, I saw a post on your Weibo account, in which you reported that foreigners who intend to work as teachers in China may face a higher threshold, as employers nationwide will require teachers to have previous teaching experience. I worked as a trainer and head teacher. I wouldn＇t mind if new teachers did not have experience as long they were willing to learn, and as long as they loved the trade. I would never consider the race or place of origin, but only the teaching quality and proper language skills, of a potential teacher.     

The Golden Fall

ON a windy evening, I rode my bicycle past the newly-built Guangming overpass in Beijing and heard sounds of gongs and drums. Through the haze I saw a group of people dancing yangge(the most popular folk dance in Northern China) against the wind. Walking more closely to observe, I saw a group of old women     

信箱(英文)

Helping Me to Know More about China帮我了解中国It is my first time in China. I have been here for only two weeks as an exchange student. I got your February issue from one of my friends. I was absorbed by the cover, which was so colorful. I couldn't help but read the inside. I found some of the pictures so impressive, and very helpful to me in understanding Chinese women and China.