In recent years foreign media has been praising China for
opening to the West and stimulating the world economy but actually
the country has been going global for centuries.?This process
has impacted upon all levels of Chinese society and it has also
influenced the outside world, yet none but a few specialists have
taken note of this procedure. The evidence remains both obvious and
opaque, before our very noses but somehow
invisible.??
According to the Chinese, after 1978 the country began a
dialogue and exchange with the western world. True, to some extent,
every country is in many ways closed - in the sense of being
culturally unique and existing as a nation on sacred land. China
was definitely cut off, having adopted a formal attitude of
hesitation and refusal toward anything foreign. This isolation
process seriously began after the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) ended
when the country gradually but firmly blocked its door to overseas
influences. Nevertheless, valuable foodstuffs migrated from the
South and West into China. These products arrived, not via
Westerners and their warships, but voluntarily carried in by
enterprising and well-traveled Chinese.
Some people brought foods into China at risk to their own lives.
For example, during the middle of the Ming Dynasty, Lin Huaizhi, a
famous physician in Wuchuan, practiced medicine in Vietnam. He was
so greatly respected that the King of Vietnam gave him sweet
potatoes as a special gift. Wanting secretly to bring this food
back to China, Lin asked for an uncooked sweet potato. Then the
doctor pretended to eat it raw but he kept a chunk to smuggle out
of the country because Vietnam forbid the export of this prized
vegetable. Lin was caught with his raw morsel at the border.
Luckily the guard had pity on him since the physician had cured his
illness. Thus, he successfully smuggled the vegetable into China.
Since that time, in autumn and winter this ubiquitous vegetable is
sold everywhere as a baked, piping hot street snack.
Peddler is selling baked
sweet potatoes.
Corn, an American vegetable, also entered China
during the Ming Dynasty. This plant was not common; chefs regarded
it as a rare and treasured delicacy. Today it is also sold as a hot
snack on street corners. In restaurants corn is often served as a
cold salad with pine nuts or cooked with egg whites into a kind of
hot, sweet, chewy pie.
Sorghum, which originated in Africa, also entered China during
the Ming Dynasty. For centuries pregnant Chinese women have
consumed this high-iron substance with eggs to ensure health for
themselves and their children. Many Chinese now eat it as a
dessert, boil it in jam and/or combine it with cereals for a
healthy breakfast.
Everybody in China eats tofu and soybeans indeed did originate
in China. Today the health conscious Western world is gobbling up
this made-in-China food product whose beans once were reserved only
for livestock. Millions of acres, notably in Latin America, are
dedicated to raising this crop. Mung beans, another popular legume,
came from India during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127).
Moreover, for hundreds of years the Chinese have cooked with other
beans: black, green and flageolet beans. All of them came from the
west at various times.
White potatoes also came from the West. North China, like
Ireland and Africa, consumes these easy-to-grow starches as a
carbohydrate staple in lieu of rice; in other regions it is used a
vegetable entree. Legend says that pirates during the Ming Dynasty
brought in the potato. Initially this crop was raised in the south,
in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces but it grows better in the colder
climate regions of northern China.
After the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220), vegetable oils: sesame,
canola, peanut, soybean, and sunflower, slowly replaced animal fats
in cooking. Sesame entered China during the Western Han Dynasty
(206 BC-24); other oil-bearing crops did not arrive until after the
Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-550). China's vast array of
regional foods has been greatly influenced by a large selection of
oils used as cooking bases. Western chefs have now adapted Chinese
seasonings: spices, oils and flavor patterns, incorporating them
into western dishes and creating novel dishes.??
The all important flavor, sugar, first appeared during the Tang
Dynasty (617 -907). During the Warring States Period (475 – 221
BC), sugar cane was common; Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty is
now credited in bringing his people granulated sugar and the
process is said to have been developed in Yangzhou. Chinese chefs
have always appreciated the color and flavor sugar offers; it is
often used in soups, sauces, in sautéed and fried dishes. The
modern use of sugar by Western chefs has been greatly influenced by
oriental methods. Because sugar is water-soluble, it became an
important flavoring used to make food sweet and delicious. It is
used in making soup and in cooking all kinds of dishes. Today honey
and malt, long ago utilized for sweetening and flavoring, are now
are used to thicken Chinese soups and sauces.
Latin America has no monopoly on hot dishes. Sichuan, Hunan and
Guizhou provinces in China are all quite famous for their spicy
dishes. Hot peppers are eaten in massive amounts throughout many
parts of China; peppers are deemed "meat for the poor" because they
blend well with rice. Folklore says that hot peppers keep people
warm in cold weather and are said to stimulate the appetite. Many
species of this vegetable migrated to China from South America via
Southeast Asia around during the Ming Dynasty. Orientals and
Latinos blend peppers according to cultural specialties, both use
different ways to dry, cure and cook with these spicy
condiments.
Peanuts also originated in South America around the Amazonian
Basin. Portuguese seafarers distributed this legume around the
world and brought it to southern China in the 15th century. It
spread from there throughout the country. Chinese sailors took it
to Japan where it was known as "Chinese beans" and Chinese settlers
were probably responsible for introduction to the rest of Southeast
Asia and Indonesia.
Spinach, a delicate vegetable, came early to China from old
Persia, now modern Iran. The culinary inclined Emperor Taizong of
the Tang Dynasty promoted this plant. Most chefs called it the
'Persian red-root vegetable'. Cheap and abundant, Chinese cooks
flash boil this tender green to retain its nutritional value and
then marinate it with sesame oil, serving it as a liang cai or
appetizer.
Carrots came to north China via Europe and are one of the few
vegetables enjoyed raw. The Chinese consider the carrot a kind of
red radish and use it in many dishes, often with another very
popular vegetable, eggplant - this food plant actually originated
in India and migrated to China along with Buddhism during the
Southern and Northern Dynasties. Gradually eggplant traveled to
Japan with Buddhism and, like the philosophy, evolved into a unique
hybrid.
Conversely the Chinese cabbage has migrated around the world.
This vegetable is a staple in northern regions. Bamboo shoots,
mushrooms and winter melons, are other native Chinese plants now
common in western groceries while cabbage, tomato, broccoli and
cauliflower have also become ordinary staples in Chinese cooking in
the last fifty-year migration period.
The above vegetables clearly display the inevitable process of
globalization between nations. China, although closed to most
Western influences, did not refuse the advent of foreign
foodstuffs. Today, as the economy booms, the Chinese are avidly
seeking to learn from foreign sources. And Chinese ideas, including
culinary styles, have immigrated to major cities: Chinese diplomat
Li Hung-chang's cooks invented 'chop suey' for his American guests
at a dinner party in New York on August 29, 1896. The dish was
meant to delight both Chinese and American tastes and the
ambassador well knew the value of good food in creating good
relationships. Conversely, centuries ago the now ubiquitous Chinese
bao zi (steamed filled bun) entered China via Central Asian nomads
traveling on the Silk Road. In the past Western countries and China
have had unique opportunities to exchange and learn from each
other, and not just in terms of food. Today, more than ever, this
exchange is vital for world peace.
(China.org.cn by Valerie Sartor January 7, 2008)
