Saturday, June 13, 2009

Chinese Terra Cotta


The Chinese Terra Cotta is treated as the 8th World Wonder. Although I had never been there, my husband and I are so fascinated by its greatness. We wish that we would be there one day.


I just read a Chinese newspaper about the thrid excavation which is about 24 years after the last one. The Chinese government hopes to have some mysteries solved through this event. They are:


1. The figurine of the general

2. Any variegated colored army


After traveling in Shaanxi, my mom bought me a book from the Terra Cotta museum (see the cover of the book). What impressed me was that a lot of them had color. It was the oxidation that made all of them look greyish. Hopefully, after 24 years of excavation, the technology is advance enough this time that the color can be preserved.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Chinese Herbal Tea

Walking in the busy streets of Hong Kong, you may see some stores putting out several bowls of soup covered with lids. Or you may see an 8-feet tall steam metal pot.

These stores specialize in the traditional Chinese herbal tea, called “Leung Cha” (directly translated as “Cool Tea”). It is very popular in the southern China due to the hot and humid climate. The ingredients are mostly herbs and sometimes with tortoise shells. They may sound scary to you. To prepare it, it usually takes from 4 hours up to 3 days of simmering. Although it takes a while, the tea is awesome to neutralize the “poison” inside your body.

I read the Hong Kong Chinese newspaper online on a daily basis to keep track of what is going on in my hometown.

There was a recent article about the Hong Kong government is going to list this traditional Chinese herbal tea as non-material cultural heritage. In 2006, the Chinese government had already completed the process.
I always heard the Chinese said that beer has the same function as the Chinese herbal tea. I had never tested if both work the same. But if you drink beer once in a while, pay attention whether your pimples and/or constipation getting better or not after that.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

"HSBC" Bank

Have you ever heard of HSBC Bank? Did you wonder what "HSBC" Means? Do you know that this bank was founded and once headquarted in Hong Kong, my hometown?

You may be surprised this bank which claimed one of the largest in the world coming from a city about a little bit over 1,000 sq. km. (less than 400 sq. miles).

"HSBC" means The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

But why is "Shanghai" part of the name? This involved the history of China and Hong Kong.

Shanghai has been a prosperous city for years. When the communist came to China, many riches migrated to either Hong Kong or Taiwan.

For those decided to stay in Hong Kong back in the mid 1940s founded this bank. When China and Britain were negotiating the handover of Hong Kong to China, HSBC decided to move its headquarter to England.

Believe it or not, this is the story about this largest bank in the world and I am so proud of it coming from my hometown.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Garage Sale

I was never big on buying or using 2nd hand stuffs. I think there are 2 reasons:

1) My parents had never bought anything 2nd hand, including cars.
2) There is never a garage sale in Hong Kong.

What did I just say? Yes....there is no or never a garage sales in Hong Kong. So, what do people do with the stuffs that they don't want?

Here are the 3 common ways to get rid of your "junks":
1) If you happen to know some friends or relatives not to mind 2nd hand stuffs, you can give to them.

2) Donate to the charitable organizations.
Some of them have scheduled collections throughout the years in each district. You can drop your "junks" at their collecting centers any time. A small portion of them will be on sale for collecting more fund for the organization. Most of them will be sent to the third world countries.

3) Last thing you would want to do is to throw them away.

Unfortunately, this mindset is heavily rooted in the Asian countries. Some people do make a lot of money in the garage sale, but not in Hong Kong or other Asian countries.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Hong Kong's Fund-Raising in the Street

This is the lable I got, during this past trip back to Hong Kong, after approached by a student and the money donation.

During the weekends in Hong Kong, you may be approached by a or a few students in school uniform with a small stack of labels and a bag for collecting money. They are doing the fund-raising.

This kind of activity started since when my parents were in high schools. The charitable organizations would submit their request of fund-raising to the government. Once it is approved, these organizations would request the volunteers from the high schools. Each volunteer would receive a small stack of labels which is about a couple hundreds of them and a bag for collecting money.

Each student or volunteer will approach each passer-by and ask him/her if he/she would be interested in buying a label. You can donate whatever you want to get a sticker. Once the money is put into that bag, there is no way for that volunteer to take it out. So, it is very secured. This weekends fund-raising activity always ends by noon.

Sometimes, you may see the elderly as volunteers.

If you travel in Hong Kong one day and approached by a person as described above, please extend your helping hands.

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Refund and/or Exchange Merchandize

I just came back from the trip of visiting my hometown, Hong Kong. When I lived there, I didn't pay attention to some of the places and people around me. I thought that it was just a normal life. Living here in the States for a few years, I realized that how big the difference of the culture and people from where I came from. So, I want to share with you some of my experience from this trip. Hope you enjoy it.

In the western countries, we take refund or exchange any purchased merchandize for granted. But it's not in China and Hong Kong.

In essence, anything purchased cannot be refunded, returned or exchanged. Once you checked out at the cashier, you, being the customer, have 100% responsibility. If you find out that the cloth you bought was torn right after stepping out of the store, you are not allowed to take it back. It's too late.

Once in a while, a mom-and-pop store may offer for the exchange of sizes. But this is very, very rare. It also depends on at what time you bring in for the exchange. If the store just opened for the day without any sales yet, the owner will tell you either to buy something more or come back later during the day. Otherwise, it will bring her/him a bad luck.

Also, the merchandize you are going to exchange must worth the same or more than what you purchased before because they will not give you back the refund of the amount difference.

So, we live in the place that allow us to do the exchange, return and/or refund should be grateful.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Chinese Bridal/Baby Showers?

My friend's, Valerie, son is going to marry an Asian girl soon. Her future daughter-in-law, Maggie, is partly Japanese and partly Chinese. And Valerie wants to host an Asian-themed bridal shower to give Maggie a surprise.

So, Val called me and asked for the opinions and advice. One thing she mentioned to me that, being an American, she had never been to any Asian shower so she really doesn't know where to start.

My mission is not only give the advice to Val, but also give her some cultural and historical background to understand the Asian cultures.

First of all, I told her that there is NO shower in most Asian countries, especially in China. All the expenses are paid by the newly wed or parents-to-be. Unlike here in America, everybody gets together and buy everything for the newly wed and/or the baby. But that is not the way in China. Some friends or relatives may buy some gifts. But no one is obligated to buy something or give money in the showers like here.

I even told Val that when I first heard my husband, my boyfriend back at the time, tell me about the baby shower, my first response was thinking people getting together to see the first shower the baby has. It sounds funny...hehehe....But for an American, you may know from this example about the Asian reaction.

Another advice I told Valerie that she has to make sure that where her future daughter-in-law exactly came from. 'Cos we sometimes mix up China, Japan or other Asian countries easily. But their cultures are very different even though a lot of them originated from China. You don't want to mix in something and do it wrong to cause any bad feeling. If she can't find out or be sure, she may want to skip the Asian theme part to avoid the mistakes.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun talking with Val and help out my friend to understand more about her future daughter-in-law. :-)

Sunday, January 11, 2009

The Busiest Stores in Hong Kong and China before Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year (the year of ox) comes very early this year. It is going to be Jan 26. Almost everybody in Hong Kong and China is very busy in buying different things for this BIG festival, such as gifts, new clothes and new shoes. You will see people everywhere.

But among all the stores, comparatively, shoes stores and hair salons are the busiest places. During the month of the Chinese New Year, their business is almost dead. Why? This is because the Chinese superstitions about shoes and hair.

Shoes in Cantonese are called “hai” which is very similar to the exclamation or complaint. If anyone buys shoes during the Chinese New Year, he/she will pick up some bad luck.

Hair symbolizes prosperity and wealth. Nobody wants to cut his/her wealth. Therefore, no one would go to have hair cut during the first month of the Chinese Lunar Calendar.

There is one thing that I have to share with you which was “invented” by my mom. If anyone wants to buy shoes during the Chinese New Year, buy a pen first. Yes….buy a pen first because it is called “bat” which pronounces the same as the word “no” or “not”. Then, shoes are no longer bad luck. It’s funny. I usually wait after the first month of the Chinese New Year.

But if you happen to travel Hong Kong 2 weeks before the Chinese New Year, you will find some awesome deals. Good Luck!

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR.