Happiness is...

I know for a fact that not everyone in China adores pandas. But even those who aren’t smitten with them are supportive of preservation, and after the earthquake in Sichuan this spring, the wellbeing of the pandas was of great concern, much talked about in the media.

Some of the animals from the damaged preserve were relocated temporarily to the Beijing Zoo, and not long afterwards a new advertising campaign appeared in the subways stations. Of course, the “cute” factor is played up. The Chinese love “cute” almost as much as the Japanese.
I think the point is to encourage people to visit Sichuan to see the pandas once their preserve there is reopened. Naturally, one of the themes is that the pandas will be happier and better off in their native territory than in Beijing, and having seen the zoo here, I can certainly agree. I’ll eventually get around to writing about my zoo visit.
I can’t help thinking that this slogan applies to more than just pandas.

The Lunch Chronicles, Volume 36

I’m much too lazy to go back and count how many times I’ve written about my lunches, so I’m just picking 36 as a reasonable number.
These two restaurants are frequent choices. The one on the left has several noodle dishes I really like, and the other one, as the sign says, specializes in pastries and congee (or zhou). I’ve mentioned their food before:
The following meal is not from either of those places.
Clockwise from the upper right, we have a spicy tofu (doufu) dish, vegetables with garlic, dongbei da lapi (northeast style slippery noodles), and gongbao jiding (kungpao chicken). You can also see some noodles on the far side of the table and steamed rice on the near side. The slippery noodles are made, I think, from potato starch, and they can be a real challenge to eat with chopsticks. I feel a little better that I’m not the only one who occasionally drops one – even people who’ve used chopsticks all their lives have trouble with these things. They’re seasoned with soy, vinegar, garlic, parsley and little strips of pork. Tasty, and with a fun texture I suppose some people might not like.

And now to move on to something other than lunch.
It’s breakfast!

One of my colleagues wanted to show me a typical Beijing breakfast, so I managed to get out of my apartment early and meet her at the office. We walked a short distance to a little hole in the wall that had steamed buns and zhou. The little buns have seasoned pork in them and are pretty good. The little dishes have vinegar for dipping; I opted out of the hot spicy oil this time. The porridge is made from unsalted rice and is really bland. It is said to be very healthy, and is served to sick people like Americans might serve chicken soup. The whole thing runs less than a dollar a person.

I will now move on to a topic that doesn’t involve food at all. Really.
No, it’s not a SmartCar. It’s a Chinese brand; I don’t know what it’s called.
Maybe someone can read the logo, but I can’t.

In other completely non-foodly developments, when I entered the building one morning, I found the lobby buzzing with activity.
Maybe not exactly buzzing – more like plucking, bowing and blowing.

The had a long banner laid out on the floor with artists decorating sections in their own ways.
It took me a while to decipher what the monochrome paint used here was supposed to be. Then I realized it is collapsed buildings and rubble. Sichuan after the earthquake. He also painted a helicopter with soldiers parachuting down for the rescue effort, just to the left of this frame.

This was a Big One

At first I thought I was having some sort of dizzy spell – something I ate, maybe. I was sitting at my desk at the office and my chair was rocking back and forth slightly. Within a couple minutes, someone said there was a big earthquake in Sichuan.

“Sichuan!” I said. “That’s a thousand miles away!”

It’s kind of like being in Seattle and feeling a tremor from San Francisco. Reports of damage were slow to come in at first, as they always are. Certainly everyone here in Beijing is fine, though some who have never experienced earthquakes are a little freaked out. One colleague who is from Sichuan has been trying to get hold of her mother, so far without success as far as I know. I hope she’s OK.

When I woke up this morning I saw the story on the BBC, which is pretty frightening.