Have you dine in a Chinese restaurant selling Dim Sum dishes? It is commonly seen in Hong Kong and China, or perhaps the restaurants located in ‘Chinatown’ of New York city.

There are small dishes of steamed food placed in small wooden basket. Food serves in table usually has a pot of Chinese tea and few small cups made of fine porcelain.

The Chinese starts their Dim Sum meal from late morning till mid afternoon, before a game of mahjong or chess which comes next as a past time for the elderly members. Elderly folks who has retired, housewives, or wealthy ‘TaiTai” love Dim Sum. It’s their Chinese lifestyle.

It’s part of the Chinese culture where people gather in a round dinning table to social; sharing and chatting bit and pieces of daily topics that comes to their mind. This social activity remains unchanged for many years.

In Chinese culture, enjoying good food is as equally important as talking and listening attentively to people within the table. All other smaller gestures can be considered trivial, such as using chopsticks to pick their food.

One little gesture that may have seemingly unnoticed is their fingers tapping on table top when guest being served with Chinese tea. If one tap as if it is hammering, then this manner is obviously rude. Not necessarily it has to exaggerate and create tapping sound, however more specifically showing little brisk movement in discreet manner.

Finger Tapping in Chinese Restaurant, Chinese Culture

As part of the table etiquette in modern China, this body language is an expression of saying “Thank you for pouring tea into my cup” to a restaurant waiter.

On the lighter side, the indirect meaning could be telling waiters to walk away soon after pouring the tea and do not eavesdrop our latest gossip of the day.

Olden days in Southern China, this subtle movement may symbolized great honor and respect to an elderly master who serve tea to younger people.

To any one brought up by Western culture might say “Thank you” is the simplest verbal expression in table manners. But not in the Chinese way of saying, especially when people is in the midst of an intense discussion on possibly the ‘juiciest‘ scuttlebutt in the estate.

Well, busy chatting and listening attentively could be a way to keep one’s mind on alertness.

So how does it make sense by using fingers to tap on table top, and how it relate to the Chinese culture?

There has been no substantial proof to explain this. Nevertheless, Wikipedia does provide some sensible reasoning which date back to the Qing Dynasty. Below sharing an excepts:

“This custom is said to have originated in the Qing Dynasty when Emperor Qian Long would travel in disguise through the empire. Servants were told not to reveal their master’s identity. One day in a restaurant, the emperor, after pouring himself a cup of tea, filled a servant’s cup as well. To that servant it was a huge honour to have the emperor pour him a cup of tea. Out of reflex he wanted to kneel and express his thanks. He could not kneel and kowtow to the emperor since that would reveal the emperor’s identity so he bent his fingers on the table to express his gratitude and respect to the emperor.

The bent fingers for knocking are technically supposed to be three to signify a bowing servant. One is the head and the other two are the arms.” ~ Source: Wikipedia, Chinese Tea Culture

With this explanation,  you would never follow blindly with other Hong Kong’s elderly and friends to enjoy a sumptuous Dim Sum.

Water painting, as not many has heard of, differs from the commonly seen watercolor painting. This also known as Chinese Ink Paintings on Water.

Perhaps some may have know about the traditional Turkish painting technique of Ebru (also known as paper marbling in other cultures).

Or Suminagashi paintings, the ancient Japanese technique of painting on water to create marbleized effects on paper.
Last year, one of the Chinese artist from Shandong province, China, has created his own style of water paintings. He is no other than Huang ZhuLin, 黄珠琳.

Creating images with the use of colored ink as medium and flat-lying water as the ‘painting board’.

Below sharing two of his featured paintings.

Master of Painting Art Forgery, Zhang Daqian, 张大千 (May 10, 1899 – April 2, 1983)

Most gifted painting master forgers of 20^th century. To say it lamely, he was a master of copycats in paintings. However, his artwork was well-respected, in term of painting skill.

Till today, many Chinese artists and painting amateurs have approached to his sought-after copying technique for learning art. Best example is oil painting reproductions.

To his exceptionally skillful technique, his forgeries are difficult to detect for many reasons.

1. Using only medium of Chinese ink, he has proven in many artwork of capable to imitate the great Chinese masters. His believes of emulating from great masters is presented as a necessary stage in artistic development.
2. His sharp-minded knowledge to the specific material he used. This is visible in his paintings writing in small Chinese characters, such as type of paper and ink.
3. He often forged paintings based on descriptions in catalogues of lost paintings; his forgeries came with ready-made provenance.

Back in 1956, a much-heralded summit between the Eastern and Western world of art masters; Zhang Daqian met Pablo Picasso in Antibes.

Both artists worked in different genres, but that have not deterred them from exchanging of artwork and culture.

Their profound influence and artistic genius have kept them united for common purpose in art.

I hope to source for some photos of his paintings on my next post. Below showing a video of Chang Dai-chien gesturing in a cypress.

Flickr: SFSU Fine Arts

His recent artwork was auction at Christie’s late May 2010. Paintings entitled: “Lady Scroll”, mounted and framed, ink on paper.

Price realized was ($35,591), approx 10% higher than estimated value of US$32,000. View here.

Chopsticks has been widely used in Asia, and inherent in Chinese culture for more than 5000 years of long history. It an utensil so unique from western cutlery. An extensive amount of chopsticks skill is required in picking fish-balls, black olives, chicken drumlets, noodles, finger food and even porridge in a bowl.

I began to googled and thought of writing chopsticks related to Chinese food culture. To my surprise, most websites have already covered on this topic.

Interesting topics ranging from chopsticks history to different types of chopsticks from China, Vietnam, Korea and Japan. And from table etiquette in Chinese restaurant to videos showing how-to-use-chopsticks.

So, why not blog about what the types of food not possible to use by chopsticks?

Below are the 10 different types of foods commonly found in modern Eastern Asia, including Western food.

1. Soup of the day. From the Western’s recipient of tastiest pumpkin-mushroom soup, to the expensive Chinese delicacy of bird nest and shark fin’s soup. Always better to use a tablespoon, instead
2. Watermelon. Alright! You are so thirsty and craving for some fresh fruit in a hot-summer to quench your thirst. Using chopsticks will definitely get you more impatience to finish up a juicy slice. After all, its tastier with every refreshing bites.
3. Pizza. Beside slicing the pie with a roller-slice into quarters, what other table utensil can be used without using hand? It strange if pizza were to pick up by chopsticks.
4. A Big Mac or a Double Cheese Burger. Since when fast-food restaurant offer chopsticks for burgers? It would be tedious and painstaking to enjoy a meal like this.
5. Jelly, a soft sweet food made from fruit juice and gelatin. Unlike Chinese Tofu, jelly is more slippery and soft-bodied, which most youngster love to indulge in.
6. Grilled loin steak on a hot pan. Doesn’t matter if its half done, well done or boneless. It is still a big chuck of tender delicious piece of beef steak.
7. Half-boil eggs. No, I’m not referring to hard-boiled eggs. This kind of food is a traditional breakfast in Asia. Usually, served with toasted bread. Commonly seen in old coffee shops in central Laos and Malaysia. It looks soft and slimy. A few drops of soya sauce and a pinch of pepper will enhance the taste.
8. Ice-cream. It may take slightly more skill to pick up by chopsticks. However, it would not last long, if you are enjoying it under a hot weather. It melts!
9. Congee. As comparison with porridge, congee is much more watery and fairly viscous. Rice is boiled in many times its weight of water for a long time until the rice breaks down. In Chinese food culture, congee is eaten primarily as a breakfast food or late supper.
10. Mashed potato. Its a pasty food to Western food culture. I would recommend using a spoon is much appropriate than chopsticks.

Has any one use chopsticks for spaghetti? It does looks like the Chinese noodles though.

Colorful Sets Of Chinese Chopsticks From Hong Kong

Picture Source: jinn

Chinese landscapes painting is commonly seen consisting of mountains and water. Yet, with its simplicity and minimal use of subject, color and medium, it is able to create a harmonious and peaceful viewing. One of the aspects to achieve this balanced result, is by applying the black-and-white yin-yang symbol. Also know as representation of ‘symbolism of opposite’.

The symbolism of opposite clearly seen in the contrast of black ink on white paper in calligraphy and brush painting. The Chinese named this theorem as BaGua or “eight symbols” system reflecting the dualistic philosophy of ‘yin’ and ‘yang’, dated back in 10^th century BCE. This system has been adopted by the Chinese culture and believes, even till the modern days in China.

Some of the landscape painting gives a clear-cut, articulated, rugged strokes that conveyed a strong, server form and definite designs; leaving little rooms for your imagination. Colors are bold, such as, blue, green and gold for the landscape paintings. This precise techniques produced beautiful and detailed decorative artwork.

On the contrary, Chinese paintings can be painted in faded color, mainly using ink and water, with light coloring. Their strokes were softer, more graceful, and suggestive. Theses landscape paintings were more poetic and imaginative. Water washes on the existing brush strokes of ink will produced softer and subtle effect.

Yang is the positive, masculine principle, associated with heaven, light, boldness, hardness. Yin is the negative, feminine principle, associated with earth, darkness, weakness, and softness.

In painting, the artist’s tools are either yin or yang. The strokes on the paper go right and left; a strong and dark stroke is yang, while a soft and pale stroke is yin. Thus, creating a balance systems of

Lake is separated from water,as mountain is separated from earth, showing the special significant of mountains and lakes or rivers. These are the primary elements of Chinese landscape paintings, hence the Chinese character for landscapes, Shan Shui (山水). Literary means, mountain(山) and water(水).