Living and Working in China: Wednesday 26 September

The delegates and Party Sectretary
(green jacket) making dumplings

Dumpling making

Today was the first day of a 5-day visit from a delegation from a sister college in Red Wing, Minnesota.

They are visiting with a view to signing a cooperation agreement with Quzhou college.

The day was filled with events, not the least of which was to be a sumptuous lunch.

The activities began with dumpling-making (jiaozi), not to be confused with buns (baozi) in one of the rooms in the upper level of the canteen.

Me with some of my students during
the dumpling making session

Along with a group of 3rd year students we were shown how to roll the dough into small circles, fill them with a minced pork and scallion mixture, and fold them into shape. A lot easier said than done, but it was great fun.

A number of different and interesting shapes emerged during the process, and of course I showed them how to fold them into Italian capelletti (small hat shapes like tortellini). These were to be eaten for lunch.

I found that each level of the cafeteria is rented to different managers to maintain competition in both quality and price – a pretty successful strategy.

The servery at the 1st floor canteen
just before lunch

The manager of the cafeteria on the 2nd floor had brought in a chef from a restaurant in a hotel that he owns in the city. This meal demonstrated his skills, not only in cooking, but also in the presentation.

The accompanying photo of the cafeteria servery just before lunch shows the effort made to provide and present quality food for students and staff.

About halfway through our meal

A short while, later about a 14 of us (delegates, staff and 2 students) were ushered into a very elegant dining room for lunch.

There was a huge round table and a massive lazy-susan in the centre. In addition to green tea, hot water and soy milk we had a selection of soft drinks Harbin beer (quite light in flavour) and a South Australian Merlot – very nice.

Cold sliced roast beef

Then the food started arriving. I will try a far as possible to list the dishes as they arrived, each one a few minutes after the other: Cold sliced roast beef, preserved fish, bean curd and egg wrapped in cucumber, roast chicken, deep fried sliced pork with spring rolls, a most delicious BBQ beef in rice crackers with possibly a Hoisin sauce, sweet and sour fish with chips (yes fish ‘n’ chips), a dish of braised prawns (closest thing to ‘traditional’ Chinese food in Australia) and battered prawns with caviar on a crisp & leaf, hamburgers (buns filled with a minced beef pattie), crab with egg (both in the shells and in the centre done differently), a cooked lotus root dish, eggs wrapped in foil and baked salt, a fish ball soup, a chicken soup, a plate of braised seafood and celery with plum jam sandwiches, fried mushroom slices with braised asparagus (asparagus is thin and about 40cm long here), cooked lettuce (braised in a broth with garlic), and a dish of cooked yam covered with sweet sauce made with flowers. AND of course dumplings – steamed, fried and in a broth.

Its traditional for Chinese to show their generosity by the number of dishes served, and this one had to be near the limit. There was no way that all of this food could be eaten by the group, so I hope the staff enjoyed the remainder.

You can feast on some of the photos below.