ppgtravelers

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Chinese Cultural Activities

Hello! Today our team is discussing some cultural activities that we'd like to do on our visit to China. Based on our research, these are our top 3:

Harbin Ice Festival: a cultural event where the region of Harbin is adorned with beautiful sculptures and even buildings made of ice.

Duration: 2 days

Cost: $286 USD

Xi'an City Wall Light Show: The city of Xi’an celebrates the New Year with bright, colourful lights at the Xi'an City Wall Light Show. Since 1985, thousands of visitors have enjoyed the light-up figures of dragons, lanterns, animals and more creations. A family-friendly destination, there’s an area just for kids that has fun, interactive games. Performances include dancing and music entertainment from local artists. Visitors can also enjoy popular Chinese rice balls and other traditional food. Dates for the festival vary depending on the lunar calendar, but it usually begins in January, February or March.

Duration: 2 hours

Cost: $81 USD

Chinese Calligraphy Class: Learn the ancient Chinese art form of calligraphy and create a unique souvenir with this small-group calligraphy class with a local artist. Discover the history of Chinese calligraphy, learn how to use the tools and basic writing technique, then create your own piece of art in the form of a traditional folding fan decorated with calligraphy.

Duration: 2 hours

Cost: $50 USD

Sports

We also learned that in China, the most popular sport is Basketball.

The Chinese are big fans of the NBA. But in their own country, the best team is the Zhejiang Lions, they are at the top of the CBA ranking.

Their next basketball match is on November 3rd, 2024, against the Xinjiang Flying Tigers. We'd really like to go to the match, but it is outside of our vacation schedule.

[ppgtravelers]

Cuisine of China

Chinese cuisine comprises cuisines originating from China, as well as from Chinese people from other parts of the world. Because of the Chinese diaspora and the historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine has profoundly influenced many other cuisines in Asia and beyond, with modifications made to cater to local palates. Chinese food staples such as rice, soy sauce, noodles, tea, chili oil, and tofu, and utensils such as chopsticks and the wok, can now be found worldwide.

The world's earliest eating establishments recognizable as restaurants in the modern sense first emerged in Song dynasty China during the 11th and 12th centuries.[1][2] Street food became an integral aspect of Chinese food culture during the Tang dynasty, and the street food culture of much of Southeast Asia was established by workers imported from China during the late 19th century.[3]

The preferences for seasoning and cooking techniques in Chinese provinces depend on differences in social class, religion, historical background, and ethnic groups. Geographic features including mountains, rivers, forests, and deserts also have a strong effect on the locally available ingredients, considering that the climate of China varies from tropical in the south to subarctic in the northeast. Imperial royal and noble preferences also play a role in the change of Chinese cuisine. Because of imperial expansion, immigration, and trading, ingredients and cooking techniques from other cultures have been integrated into Chinese cuisines over time and Chinese culinary influences have spread worldwide.

There are numerous regional, religious, and ethnic styles of Chinese cuisine found within China and abroad. Chinese cuisine is highly diverse and most frequently categorised into provincial divisions, although these province-level classifications consist of many more styles within themselves. During the Qing dynasty, the most praised Four Great Traditions in Chinese cuisine were Chuan, Lu, Yue, and Huaiyang, representing cuisines of West, North, South, and East China, respectively.[4][5] In 1980, a modern grouping from Chinese journalist Wang Shaoquan's article published in the People's Daily newspaper identified the Eight Cuisines of China as Anhui (徽菜; Huīcài), Guangdong (粵菜; Yuècài), Fujian (閩菜; Mǐncài), Hunan (湘菜; Xiāngcài), Jiangsu (蘇菜; Sūcài), Shandong (魯菜; Lǔcài), Sichuan (川菜; Chuāncài), and Zhejiang (浙菜; Zhècài).[6][5]A Quanjude cook is slicing Peking roast duck. Peking duck is eaten by rolling pieces of duck with scallion, cucumber and sweet bean sauce using steamed pancakes.[7]

Chinese cuisine is deeply intertwined with traditional Chinese medicine, such as in the practise of Chinese food therapy. Color, scent and taste are the three traditional aspects used to describe Chinese food,[8] as well as the meaning, appearance, and nutrition of the food. Cooking should be appraised with respect to the ingredients used, knife work, cooking time, and seasoning.

We want to try the following dishes:

Mapo tofu: A memorable mapo tofu packs a boatload of zing -- salty, peppery and spicy flavors should all hit the taste buds. This famed Sichuan dish is most commonly cooked with minced pork or beef along with the all-important tofu. Click on for more delicious Chinese foods.

2. Xiaolongbao: Hugely popular both in and outside China, xiaolongbao, also called xiaolong tangbao (translated as small basket soup bun), is a mix of soup and pork packed inside a thin dumpling wrapper. The soupy dumpling can also be filled with crab meat and crab roe.

3. Peking duck: This world-famous dish has been captivating stomachs -- including those of ancient Chinese emperors -- for centuries. It features crispy duck skin, juicy meat, radish, cucumber, scallions and sweet bean sauce wrapped neatly in a thin pancake.

[ppgtravelers]

Travel Plan Update 2

Hello! We're back with an itinerary of the things we want to do in China. Here are some of our plans:

Visit the forbidden city - The Palace Museum where the terracotta army is. This trip takes about 2-3 hours and costs approximately $10 USD per person, so we would need $20USD to go on it.

Explore the Great Wall of China, which we would dedicate all day (one day) to. It's a beautiful place, and entry costs $18USD per person.

Visit the Yu Garden with its beautiful historical buildings and wonderful greenery. This visit takes approximately 3 hours and the entrance costs $14USD.

We also want to take the following tours:

A partial Sik Road Tour, which takes about 4 day and costs $835 USD.

A Yangtze River Tour, which lasts 7 days and costs about $500USD

The Chengdu Panda Tour, which lasts 2 days and costs $275USD.

[ppgtravelers]

Travel Plan update!

We have made some research into our favorite country, we put it together in this poster:

We would travel via FlyChina for $3,481 USD.

We would stay in Jiuyuan International Hotel for $751 USD total.

[ppgtravelers]

introducing the PPG travelers

We are the PPG travelers! Our names are:

Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup Utonium.

We are first semester students from PrepaTec, and our student IDs are: 12345, 6789, 10111213.

We want to visit the country of China. Some of the reasons why we want to visit are:

It's a very big country with many different cultures

The history of the country is very interesting

We want to visit the Great Wall of China. It's a beautiful landmark!

We hope you will join us on our adventure!