Amoy Wanderings

A few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to visit the famous tulous (pronounced two lows ) of Fujian province. The name Tulou literally means earth wall which is what these structures are. They are circular buildings made of packed mud and bamboo which house small communities with the largest accommodating around 2,000 people. These structures were designed to be a fortress against marauding bandits (which they were) while allowing the community to live inside not inconvenienced by the closing of the compound. Additionally, the structure is said to keep the dwellings cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. It was quite the cultural experience and our first time out in the countryside. There are many different places where one can see tulous, but this is probably the most popular site for our area. This particular place is referred to as "four dishes and a soup" with the four tulous being the dishes and the square building being the soup. The tulous represe...

It all started with a simple invitation: "Would you join us at our faculty Christmas party? Oh, and could you sing a song too?" Certainly. Of course. What could be more simple? Go to a small faculty party (maybe 30 people) and provide a little entertainment along with a couple of student groups. What we found was a little more elaborate. The auditorium held at least 500 people who were all ready for an end-of-the-year talent show. It was full of energy and excitement, and it was loud with students talking (and gawking) and people rushing around trying to get the program started. What followed was a mixture of singing and dancing (both traditional Chinese and hip-hop) in a large Christmas variety show, which even featured a western act which got the crowd into it by having them sing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." Several times during the performance, scrawny Santa Clauses came out and threw candy into the crowd which roared with delight....

Winter has just about hit us in Xiamen. Today the temperature dropped below 50 for the first time, and I'm beginning to wear my jacket outside. Unfortunately, without central heating and with poor window seals, I am also beginning to wear my jacket inside as well. But we have more than the weather to remind us that Christmas is just around the corner. Even though China does not recognize Christmas as a holiday -- which means I will be working on Christmas for the first time in my career -- evidence of Christmas is all around us. From my conversations with students, though, there really isn't much celebration with gift exchanges and such. They are interested in Christmas, but I get the impression that they don't know much about it beyond that it is a commercialized Western holiday.  We also have had to purchase decorations to make our home look a little more festive, although the experience was a little over (and under) whelming. There were places to find ...

Back in October, we went to a food festival next to an amusement park at the beach. Sounds like lots of fun and great food -- an amazing cultural experience, right? Well...it was a fun cultural experience. We were joined at the festival by one of Emily's new friends: Celine a Filipino foreign exchange student at a local university. There were a variety of rides set up on the beach and no lines. The girls enjoyed riding on horses and quads and Sandy joined them on the bumper boats -- which were set up on an amazingly large above-ground pool on the beach. This was supposed to be a food festival, but I have to admit I was disappointed. The food was special for the holiday, but our interest in it was mostly from afar. Sandy and the girls sampled some spicy cuttlefish, the girls had some ice cream, but that was the closest we got to the specialty food. Dinner was just good ol' Chinese. The skewers were probably the most interesting sporting lar...