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     

总算交流了(英文)

Many women dream that one day they will have a wedding ring slid onto their finger by someone they dearly love, and they will happily spend the rest of their days with that person. My wife was no exception. When wewere preparing for our marriage, I asked what she wanted most. "A ring, an exquisite ring, for sure," she said excitedly. Taking her into my arms I said, "You'Ⅱ have it." Unfortunately I failed to keep my word. When we were just about to get married, my father contracted lung cancer. I spent nearly all of my savings and got into debt because of the hospital bills. Ten days after my father's death, my wife brought her luggage to my room. We pasted the character “喜”(double happiness) at the bedside and in the living room. It was autumn. "Now let it be the time to harvest our four years'love. "said she. Without any ceremony or guests, we got married. Thinking that my wife couldn't get the ring she craved for filled me with regret. That evening I held her tight, gently stroking her delicate     

Marshal's Wealth Left to His Children

FOR commemoration, for passion and for belief-I wrote this article to dedicate to my father Zhu De's 110th anniversary of his birth. I did not meet my father until I was 14. I had no memory of him in my mind. The first time I saw him was in Yan'an at the end of 1940, where my memory of him became clear. But because our time apart was so much longer than the period of our reunion, the memory actually only became a dim     

Having Xie Youyu With Us Again

XIE Youyu went to Antarctica in November, 1985. It was the second time that China sent a scientific expedition to the South Pole. On the eve of her Antarctic trip, my colleagues and I visited her. On behalf of all the staffers of Women of China, we presented her with a flag bearing the words "Bring Credit to Our Country" and asked her to plant the flag at the South Pole which expressed our concern for China's research in Antarctica, as well as our respect for Xie and her brave venture. Xie spent four months at the     

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     

轻松学成语(英文)

"Idioms and Stories" provides our readers with an opportunity to get acquainted with the living Chinese language. An absorbing way to study China's culture and language, it is also a good way to learn more of the long Chinese history.     

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.     

At the Window of the Old House

ONE winter, my mother told me that the old house had to be sold. Among us children I was the one who most bitterly opposed the scheme to sell because of reasons that were hard to explain. But my mother's words seemed to be irrefutable: "Nobody has been living in the house for years and we should sell it before it collapses. You have always cherished your feelings for the house, so go there and stay for one last time." Our family's old house was a two-     

Common Themes——Equality,Development and Peace

Women are a great power to create human culture and to promote social development. So long as we ourselves, all our sisters and all people make an effort to understand this point, we can make more of a contribution to the advancement of mankind and the     

Where Is My Home?

WHEN I was asked where my home was the name of the unknown county would always escape my lips. By then I had been in this fancy metropolis for quite a few years. It had accompanied me to do everything and my family, my habits and whatever I had had all been merged with the city. But still I didn't know why I believed that remote and nameless village     

Participating in Poltics

NOW that I am a member of the Ninth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), I feel the heavy weight of responsibility on my shoulders. As an editor of Women of China, however, I feel honored to have been chosen for this role. The CPPCC is an important institution which gives people from all walks of life the opportunity to participate in state     

I Return to my Second Home

LAST September, Chai Ran, my classmate and roommate in Shanxi, and I took a train to Yuanping to visit our second home. Twenty-five years ago, we 31 students from Beijing went to live in the Xiadalin Village in Yuanping, Shanxi Province, where we lived and labored for seven years. In our railway car, Chai told me that Yuanping, to which the Xiadalin Village belonged in the past administration, was celebrating its emergence as a city. Chai had married a villager and had returned to Beijing only two years ago. Her son and daughter, who were both born in the village, had just visited there and had brought her the news. Although I knew that Yuanping had changed a great deal, I was still unable to imagine what it had become, since I had left eighteen years ago. In my memory, it was only a series of streets with a     

Lessons from China：America in the Hearts and Minds of the World＇s Most Important Rising Generation

In August 2011, Fulbright Scholar and American Studies Professor Amy Werbel embarked on a yearlong journey to and around Guangzhou, in southern China＇s Guangdong Province, to teach American history and culture to a new generation of Chinese university students. Open, aware and hungry for knowledge, this generation of Chinese is unlike any that has come betbre.     

Nine Weddings in Half a Century

THERE is a Chinese saying the sentimentof which I am sure you all know: "Themore children you have, the greater your goodfortune and happiness." Here we see a mind-set that existed in China for generations, thebelief that having more children will not onlysafeguard your well-being and care in old agebut will help the healthy development of theclan. My parents belong to a generation whooft stated this philosophy. My mother married young (she was not yetsixteen) and managed to fit in nine children inall - eight boys and one girl, me. When mymother reflects on the past she says that shedid not experience much of the luck the     

Studying in France,Serving at Home

DEAR EDITOR, I am a 75-year-old retired primary school teacher. I published my new work The Work-Study Movement of Young Chinese in France (1912-1930) three years ago, expressing my fondness of history, especially China's history. Currently, I pay more attention to the Chinese women who came to France for studies in their early years, Could you publish some precise information on their situations before and after returning to China? GABRIELLE REYGNER FRANCE     

来信

Dear Women of China,1 read on your website that villagers in East China's Jiangxi Province celebrated a harvest festival in September 2019.China has so many interesting festivals,and Chinese celebrate them with various activities.They are really interesting.Hathaway/India Dear Women of China,I think you have done a good job in introducing Chinese culture and women to the world.You have informative and in terest ing con tents in your magazine.I hope the layout design will be more vivid and creative in the future.     

My Family Loves Fish Dishes

HAVING meals together could be regarded as one of the most important aspects of family life. My husband, my senior high school-age daughter and I have meals together only in the evenings, so we pay close attention to what we eat. We usually talk about what we will have for supper in the mornings. As a housewife, I want to cook a supper that is rich and appetizing, so my husband and daughter will enjoy it more.     

Fun in Ornithology

The earth, with its diversity andvariety, is a total ecology that has givenlift to and sustains the lives of all ofhumanity. Protecting that ecology hasbecome a major concern for peoplearound the world. With an eye towardsenvironmental protection, the Chinesegovernment and tourism agencieslaunched Ecotour China '99. Thetheme of this year of environmentaltourism is "Walking Towards Natureand Protecting the Environment." To match this theme, we havepublished here a story introducing twonuture preservation zones for birdhabitats in China and with publishmore stories of this sort in the futurealso. We believe that these stories Willlend our readers majestic scrolls ofimagery as well as pass on a commonfeeling of humility towards nature.