Chinese Culture

 I come from the southeast part of China. The weather here is always sunny, only in summer, there are thundershowers. I have been going to university in the United States for about two years, and I find that America is very different from China. Therefore, I really want to share you something about Chinese culture and that’s why I write the blog.

I would like to introduce Chinese culture in two respective ways, language and food. First, let’s talk about the language. The common language in China is Mandarin. But in some areas, they speak in tongues, such as Cantonese. Here is a link that can tell you the difference between Mandarin and Cantonese.

https://www.lingualinx.com/blog/cantonese-vs-mandarin-in-china. 

In fact, what many people do not know is that the written characters can be different in Chinese. Chinese characters are written in two ways, one is simplified, which is the way most Chinese people write today. The other is traditional Chinese, which is still used only in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Traditional Chinese characters were used in ancient China, but now people simplify them for writing convenience and then they become simplified Chinese. However, the Chinese have always used traditional Chinese characters for practicing calligraphy and writing couplets. Here is a link which may help you understand more about simplified and traditional Chinese. 

https://ai.glossika.com/blog/differences-between-traditional-chinese-and-simplified-chinese.  

Therefore, in my opinion, people who live in mainland China and speak Mandarin and use simplified Chinese are a big group of discourse community. And people who live in Hong Kong, Taiwan who speak Cantonese and use traditional Chinese to some extent are another big group of discourse community. It is because they have their own special “language”. People in mainland China and people in Taiwan and Hong Kong also have different customs, which represents different interests in different discourse communities.

When it comes to food, I really like to talk about it. China has eight major cuisines, they are Shandong cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, Chinese Cabbage, Fujian cuisine, Huizhou cuisine, Hunan cuisine and Zhejiang cuisine respectively.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/15/dining/chinese-food-sichuan-chengdu.html

Shandong cuisine pays attention to the quality of raw materials, it highlights the original flavor. The seasoning of Sichuan cuisine is varied, the dishes are diverse, and the taste is fresh and fresh. In Cantonese cuisine, the choice of materials is fine and clear. It is fresh and not vulgar, tender and not raw, oily but not greasy. It is good at stir frying which requires proper temperature. It is also compatible with many Western dishes, paying attention to the grade of dishes. Chinese Cabbage focus on strict material selecting, color matching and modeling. Dishes in four seasons are different. Fujian cuisine is special with "fragrant" and "flavor", they are fresh, sweet, fragrant, and not greasy. Three characteristics, one is longer than the seasoning of red grains, two is longer than the soup, three is longer than the sweet and sour. Huizhou cuisine is good at burning, stewing, steaming, and blasting. Heavy oil, heavy color and heavy fire work are the symbols. Heavy pyrotechnics has a long history. Its originality is mainly embodied in Kung Fu dishes which are good at cooking, stewing, smoking and steaming. Different dishes use different fire control techniques to form crisp, tender, fragrant and fresh flavors. The most distinctive emblem style is slippery, stewing and raw smoking. The flavor of Hunan cuisine is changeable. The variety of it is various, but the color and luster is heavy. It pays attention to the actual benefit; spicy, fragrant, fresh, soft tender. Attention also should be paid to the matching of raw materials and flavor. The flavor of Hunan cuisine is extremely sour and spicy.  In terms of color change, it can be divided into red simmer and white simmer. In terms of seasoning, there are clear soup simmer, thick soup simmer and milk soup simmer. Simmer with little fire, original flavor. Finally, the dishes of Zhejiang cuisine are small and exquisite. It means that the dishes are delicious and tender, crisp, soft and refreshing. Seasoning with fragrant grains. Cooking techniques are abundant, especially in Cooking Seafood and fresh food. The flavour should be fresh and crisp, and keep the natural and true flavor of the ingredients. The dishes are exquisite, delicate, delicate and elegant. Among them, Cantonese cuisine and Sichuan cuisine are two most popular Chinese cuisine in United States and Europe. Here are two links about Cantonese and Sichuan cuisine. 

https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-food/yue-cuisine.htm

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/15/dining/chinese-food-sichuan-chengdu.html

Most restaurants in Chinatown all over the world are belongs to these two cuisines. People eat different cuisines in China form different discourse communities online. They discuss the methods of how to cook it in their own words.