Friday, April 2

"Foreigners in China!", Story at 11

In the classic style of being a westerner in a city with very few westerners, Ross and I made it into the paper the other day. Original article faithfully reprinted here:

老外包汤圆
(Translation: "Foreigner makes Tangyuan")


汤圆,咱中国老百姓再熟悉不过了,可对“洋先生”来说,绝对是个新鲜物儿。这不,2月25日上午,在我市的一家大酒店,俩“洋先生”就亲身体会了一把做汤圆的乐趣。
“味道还不错!”品尝了自己的“作品”后,Jackson、Ross满意地说,“以前尝过饺子,做汤圆还是第一次。”Jackson和Ross分别来自美国、苏格兰,半年前到许昌学院任教。
“请两位‘洋先生’包汤圆,是为了让他们过一个特别的元宵节。”该酒店负责人说,做汤圆有助于“洋先生”更深刻地了解中国的传统民俗文化,感受中国传统节日的魅力。
-记者 黄增瑞

Now, I'm not going to translate the whole thing, because it's really not all that interesting.  It essentially says "Hey look, here's some foreigners making Tangyuan; bet they've never done that before!"  But what is interesting is the general news-mentality around here:

You might not notice clearly from the picture, but myself and Ross were invited to a nice hotel to participate in this activity, which was designed entirely for our sakes.  I thought for sure this was some sort of festival or large-scale activity, but when we arrived, there were 4 or 5 chefs and a small army of bell/service staff just standing around in this room waiting for us to come and get our picture taken making these little flour-balls.  After coming upon this scene, I felt surely it was going into the paper as an advertisement for the hotel we were in, but the hotel's name isn't even mentioned in the article!  The whole thing was just a news gimmick.

And so, in summary, this newspaper set up their own news story, just so they could write about it.  And not only that, but the only thing newsworthy in the story was a picture of a couple of foreigners participating in a traditional Chinese holiday, all so that the dear readers of the newspaper can give themselves all a collective pat on the back for being so wonderfully hospitable.

And who said China isn't great?


(If you did not like this post, please accept this picture of a poorly-cropped Little Boy with a Mullet instead)


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Let's see, radio...newspaper...next will be TV ya know. Any offers for movie rights? Oh wait, you have to write a book about your experiences first. You could do it!
Love you,
Aunt Sassy

Anonymous said...

I just can't believe all the attention you get over there! What a celebrity. Of course, your mom already knew you were special, but I'm glad to see that China does too! Love, Mom

Daniel said...

That's a pretty rocking mullet.

Anonymous said...

Hi Jackson
You and Ross are quite the Celebs you both won't want to leave Xuchang. I look forward to trying out Ross's new cooking skills when he comes back to Scotland in the summer. I look forward to hearing about your next adventure.
Thanks Janice (Ross's mum)

Stucco masoonry contractors brooklyn said...

Beautiful snap great post perfect work.

Jessie said...

thanks for the message! call me again when you can and i'll try to answer:) hope everything is good with you!

Tommy said...

That's pretty great. As in, the article is great, but so is the mullet.

David said...

It is a story that goes back to ancient China. Once there was a kind and generous sage named Po Tai. He would travel around and do charitable things. Once Po Tai, going down a dusty road, arrived at a village where the people were starving! Having no food himself, Po Tai offered the people his toes. From that day forward, the edible tuber that most resembles Po Tai's toes are called potatoes.

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