Beijing—a Colorful City

AFTER living in Beijing for ten years, I feel more and more attached to it. It is a modern city but also old, bustling yet profound, large yet amiable, where you can not only see the roots of Chinese history and culture, but also feel the pulse of China's development. After I visited historic sites and beautiful scenes in Beijing as a traveler and got to know the customs and the condition of the people, I came to love the city. The first song the current young Chinese generation learns in its childhood is "I Love Beijing's Tiananmen." Tiananmen and the     

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     

Notes on a Trip to Japan

"WHAT'S your impression of Japan? How has it advanced?" I was repeatedly asked the same questions by my friends and colleagues after I returned to Beijing. As a neighboring country of China and a world economic superpower, Japan is still a remote and unfamiliar place to most Chinese. In November of 1996, I was invited by the Japanese government to participate in the Asian-Pacific Journalist's Seminar on Women and Media. My one-week schedule     

信箱(英文)

It brings Chinese culture and history right into our living rooms你们的杂志再现了中国的历史和文化Editor-in-chief Yun Pengju said in his article that the May issue is a tribute to Mother's Day - may I add my congratulations to all mothers out there! I am humbled that you saw fit to include my article in this special edition, though I must say I was caught off I guard.Thanks for capturing the Forbidden City in Motion-quite a fascinating experience we had, and, of course, for all the informative articles about successes and milestones for the Women of China, These make interesting reading from cover to cover. As women, we need to have a vigorous campaign for this very informative magazine, as it brings Chinese culture and history right into our living rooms.Neo Gaseitsiwe, Botswana     

读者来信

Dear Women of China,
What a great list of Chinese proverbs in the Chinese language learning section of the December issue. I have been studying Chinese for a few years now, but I can never get enough of Chinese proverbs. After all, there are so many, and learning them can be really useful. Being able to find information like this in a magazine is a great added value. I look forward to seeing more in the future.     

喝茶不宜过多(英文)

As a traditional Chinese drink, tea is favored by most of the Chinese people. There are a lot of advantages to health in drinking tea, especially green tea. For instance, it is good for digestion; is a source of Vitamin C; is refreshing and helps in the prevention of cancer. Nevertheless, it is by no means the more tea the better. Tea like all things should be drank in moderation and some people are even advised not to drink it at all. The following is some advice for tea drinkers:     

Contrast of Compliments Between Chinese and English

Compliments and their responses are special speech actions which are broadly used in interpersonal communications. And how to give compliments and respond to them constitute a significant part of the communicative competence of every member in a speech community. Complimenting is a particularly suitable speech action to investigate in comparative studies, for it acts as a window through which we can view what is valued by a particular culture. This essay mainly analyzes and researches the differences between Chinese and English compliments, attempting to reveal the contrast between Chinese and English compliments in the aspects of expression, topics and lexical formulas. The comparative study may contribute to understand more about Chinese and English compliment cultures, and furthermore, promote the study of pragmatics and the development of intercultural communication effectively.     

建议

Dear Women of China, I＇ve had the pleasure of having dinner with my Chinese girlfriend＇s family a few times in the past, but each time they urged me to drink lots of alcohol. I understand that it＇s their way of welcoming and encouraging me to feel comfortable around them, but I＇m not very fond of drinking. However, every time I try to refuse a drink, they keep insisting that I drink anyway, until I give up trying to convince them. Now, I＇m uneasy about having more dinners with them.     

Food for Thought Man Ponders Life at the Market

IN the past, Chinese food markets were frequented only by housewives. Today, however, it is not strange to see men buying food for the household. I am one of those men. Actually, I often eat ready-made food. My wife never asks me to buy the vegetables. I have only occasionally helped her with that. At the food market, you can observeall kinds of people within a short distance. The food market provides sights hard to come by in cities. When you first go into the market, it seems like you've entered another world Greenery is everywhere in the form of Chinese chives, lettuce and peas, mingled with violet eggplants, red     

Chinese Tea Drinking Goes Back Centuries

TEA is a necessity in Chinese life. According to historical records the Chinese had already learned how to plant and bake tea more than 2,000 years ago. Sipping tea has always been a favorite Chinese tradition. To the south of the Changjiang River is a region with good irrigation and a climate favorable for growing tea: it is cool at night and often misty. Zhejiang Province is a well-known tea production area, and the famous Longjing Tea is solely produced along the West Lake in Hangzhou, capital of the province. Tea is produced in four areas of China:     

Shooting the Way

LAST November, after working as a picture editor for eight years for China's biggest news agency, I was assigned to Bonn as Xinhua's overseas photography correspondent. When I reported in at the German Federal News Agency, the woman officer in charge of foreign journalists' affairs said to me in surprise: "As far as I know, China has never sent a photojoumalist to Bonn before. Now here comes the first Chinese news photographer, and she's a woman! Tell me, what does it mean for you, as a woman, to be given such a working opportunity?"     

Mother—My First Teacher

MY first teacher was my mother. It was she who taught me to read. It was she who planted in my heart a profound love of Chinese literature. She was also the one who set me on the road to independence. Today, I am teaching others—I am an associate professor of Chinese language and literature at the Central Institute for Finance and Banking, a member of the Chinese Poetry Society, a member of the     

来信

Dear Women o f China,I am interested in the traditional Chinese art form of paper-cutting.I've read several articles about it on your website.The paper cuts,in different shapes,are vivid and charming.Jessie/the United States。Dear Women o f Chinaf I am a high school student who is interested in gender studies.I hope to learn more about women's development in China through your magazine and website.Jane/Canada。     

THE SITUATION OF CHINESE WOME (Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China)

On June 2. the Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China issued a White Paper in Beijing about the situation of Chinese women.The 20, 000-word white Paper consists of a foreuord and eight parts. Through a large number of facts and data, it introduces in details hou' Chinese uomen obtained historical liberation during the new' democratic rerolution and socialist rerolution led by the Chinese Communist Party, and how under the socialist system Chinese women hare stepped onto the path of equality and derelopment and become an important force in China's construction, derelopment and progress.In Seplember 1995, the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women is to be held in Beijing. To satisfy our readers' desire to knou' about the situation of Chinese women, we will publish the excerpls of the White paper, "The Situalion, of Chinese Women," in this and the Norember issue of our, magazine.     

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.     

My Nepalese Friends

NEPAL and China are good neighbors. In the 1980s many Chinese technicians went to Nepal to help build roads and other projects. As an interpreter with a Chinese construction cooperative, I worked there from 1993 to 1994. During my stay in Nepal, I met many different Nepalese women who impressed me deeply. My landlady Sumiyala, was the first Nepalese woman to come into my life. She was over 40 years old, a healthy and good-humored housewife. Whenever Ⅰ had time, I liked to chat with her and gradually we became friends. I remember my landlady was busy in and out of her house all day long— cleaning, cooking and taking care of her grandchildren and her parents-in-laws.     

简易气功健身法:易筋经(英文)

Qigong (an ancient Chinese exercise that focuses on breathing) is a way to balance body and mind. Qigong's long history makes it a Chinese cultural treasure, but it is also an important aspect of Chinese traditional medicine. It has a valuable role in preventing and curing illness, strengthening the body, prolonging life and even increasing intelligence. Qigong has made a great contribution to the Chinese nation health both in the past and today. Yijinjing is a Qigong exercise passed down from ancient times, which strengthens the physique and adds muscle tone. This exer cise couples hard movement with soft move ment, like 'yin'and 'yang'. Loose clothing and flat, cloth shoes should be worn before doing exercise. Try to regulate your breathing     

Chinese New Year's Prints Endure

BEFORE coming to China in 1986, I had spent months collecting all sorts of information on China and asking Chinese friends of mine about their everyday lives. So I felt fairly well informed before my trip. But when I landed in China, I was a bit disappointed. Everyihing looked so Western here. Of course, in Germany you never see a man kill a hen in the street for lunch or cabbages stacked on the sidewalk to dry in the sun. But overall, China's streets resemble those in big cities all over the world. Looking at Western-style clothing, vehicles and modern buildings, somehow I missed the Chinese flair. I knew about China's modernization drive, but I was obviously     

Women Want to Hold Up Half the Sky

OVER the last few years more and more people have shown a strong interest in Chinese women's issues. At the University of Oriental Studies of Naples, Italy, where I come from, many students and teachers are researching and writing about the transformations of women's position in Chinese society. The policy of reform and opening to the outside world sponsored by Deng Xiaoping in 1979 has brought many changes to the country, not only in the     

煲出冬日的暖(英文)

Our ancestors discovered a long time ago that it is necessary to give the body extra nourishment in winter. Without a doubt, soup is one of the best choices, as it can enrich the body's vital energy, qi in Chinese, and the blood. When it gets cold, people do less exercise, but because of the