Skip to content Skip to sidebar Skip to footer

Emily Zhou

67 articles published

Actually, the Chinese have eaten bread for thousands of years

MOST PEOPLE AROUND the world likely assume that China’s main carbohydrates are rice and noodles, with bread being seen as a relatively recent import from the west. But the truth is that there are a number of different breads in the country, and the consumption of wheat can be traced back to some 4,500 years…

January 10, 20230Comments ByEmily Zhou

Culture

Friends who tamed the Yellow River, source of life and death

THE YELLOW RIVER (黃河) is hailed as the great mother of China. It rushes out from the high plateau in the west to flow to the east with its silty water, and on the way, it feeds hundreds of millions of people, and also provides hydro-electricity to the north parts of the country. The river…

December 30, 20220Comments ByEmily Zhou

Chinese food Culture

The Hui people’s delicious halal food in Beijing

NIUJIE ("OXEN") STREET in Beijing is home to a long-standing ethnic Muslim community. Visitors will find mosques in which to pray and many halal restaurants in which to eat. The aroma of mutton hotpot and other Islamic dishes drifts over the area. In the late 13th century, 60 years after the mighty cavalry led…

December 15, 20220Comments ByEmily Zhou

Chinese food Culture

The man behind Hong Kong’s busiest restaurant

HONG KONG MASTER CHEF HU ZHU has become a legend for his knowledge about the Manchu-Han Imperial Feast of 1720. More than 40 years ago, in 1977, he presided over a multi-day recreation of the event in Hong Kong. And even today, he gives talks and hosts dinners recreating dishes from the famous menu of…

December 12, 20220Comments ByEmily Zhou

Culture

The greatest feast in history

STORIES SAY THAT on his birth anniversary in 1720, Emperor Kangxi (康熙皇帝) held the most spectacular banquet of all time in the Forbidden City, Beijing. The “Manchu-Han Imperial Feast” (满汉全席) has become a legendary event, featuring in books, movies, TV shows, and even as the inspiration for the plot of a Kung Fu Panda film.…

December 12, 20220Comments ByEmily Zhou

Culture

Ancient figurines reveal ‘unibrow’ was once height of fashion

IN 1928, RAILWAY WORKERS were digging deep into the ground in Luoyang during the construction of the Longhai railway (隴海鐵路). They uncovered a large Tang Dynasty tomb, more than ten centuries old. The diggers unearthed a large number of pottery items. Many were delicate figurines, with unusual colors: mostly creams, browns and greens. Hong Kong…

December 2, 20220Comments ByEmily Zhou

Culture

Classic Chinese garden in Hong Kong hides architectural treasure

AT THE FOOT of Diamond Hill in Hong Kong, an elegant public park called Nan Lian Garden (南蓮園池) is a rare tranquil place nestling in the busy metropolis. Neat paths paved by smooth cobblestones connect a variety of elements of wooden architecture in classic "oriental garden" style. At the centre is an orange-red bridge,…

November 30, 20220Comments ByEmily Zhou

Chinese food Culture

East Asia’s tender white chicken has a complex, disputed history

FOR HALF A CENTURY, Malaysians and Singaporeans have been fighting over the ownership rights to a dish called Hainan chicken rice, the star element of which is chicken lightly poached in a way that makes the flesh very white and tender. And of course the people of Hainan also stake a claim to it, noting…

November 29, 20220Comments ByEmily Zhou

Chinese food Culture

Chaoshan cuisine: a distinctive culinary style

GUANGDONG IS WELL KNOWN as the heartland of the Cantonese-speaking peoples, with their love of barbecued pork and dialects from the root known as Yue. But there has always been an area of the province which has been different on multiple levels. We’re referring to the area known as Chaoshan (潮汕地區). The area is considered…

November 23, 20220Comments ByEmily Zhou

Culture

How a Chinese working class meal conquered the world

DON’T TELL THE TEXAS TYCOONS! Foodies in the United States city of Houston, Texas, are waiting agog for the opening of a branch of Tim Ho Wan, a Michelin-starred restaurant from Hong Kong. Within weeks, they'll be spending their hard-earned cash on the eatery's speciality: traditional dim sum. But few people know that dim…

November 8, 20220Comments ByEmily Zhou

Emily Zhou

Actually, the Chinese have eaten bread for thousands of years

Friends who tamed the Yellow River, source of life and death

The Hui people’s delicious halal food in Beijing

The man behind Hong Kong’s busiest restaurant

The greatest feast in history

Ancient figurines reveal ‘unibrow’ was once height of fashion

Classic Chinese garden in Hong Kong hides architectural treasure

East Asia’s tender white chicken has a complex, disputed history

Chaoshan cuisine: a distinctive culinary style

How a Chinese working class meal conquered the world

Starmer meets Xi today, hopes to rebuild UK’s relationship

Treasures from 800-year-old sunken vessel exhibited in Hong Kong

At the Great Wall, I learned how the Chinese dealt with their enemies