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Slow Food Saturday: A green approach to food in Beijing

August 31, 2010 in Culture, Food, environment by Alex G | 1 comment

Is China becoming a ‘Fast Food Nation’?

Just two decades ago, most people in China ate relatively low-fat meals and regularly rode their bicycles to get around. Obesity was extremely rare.

Fast forward to today: more and more people eat greasy street food or fast food such as KFC and McDonald’s and fewer have the time or energy to get some exercise. The result: China now has 19 million clinically obese citizens, with that number growing by 30 to 50 percent each year, according to a recent PBS report (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/06/reporters-notebook-obesity-rising-in-china.html).

Photo: Xinhua / Sadat

A group of food-conscious individuals is hoping to promote the idea of healthier eating habits this weekend in Beijing, with Slow Food Saturday at The Schoolhouse at Mutianyu.

What is “Slow Food,” exactly? According to the Slow Food Saturday website:

“Slow Food is about the heritage of food, about its tradition and culture, and about connecting with friends over delicious tastes. The Slow Food movement advocates preserving cultural cuisine, and in doing so preserving local foods, farming and ways of life. Slow Food is the antithesis to large-scale commercial food production and today’s fast-food culture. Slow Food brings back the joy in eating, and encourages us to connect over food.”

The Schoolhouse at Mutianyu, one of our preferred hotels in Beijing and a winner of our Best of China Awards 2010, has been a local pioneer in championing Slow Food for its clients and local community residents. As a sustainable tourism enterprise that offers dining, lodging, and meeting solutions in unique settings just an hour from downtown Beijing, the boutique hotel has redeployed existing buildings to new uses, created local jobs, supported other local businesses, grown their own vegetables and fruits while procuring other foods locally and made almost everything fresh and homemade on their premises.

This Saturday, September 4, in conjunction with the Slow Food Beijing Convivium, The Schoolhouse will put on a day of food, cooking, biking and more in the neighboring Great Wall International Cultural Villages of Mutianyu, Beigou, Xinying, and Tianxianyu to celebrate cooking, sustainable practices, and local communities. For a full schedule and activities, visit their website (http://www.slowfoodsaturday.org).

Event details:

Slow Food Saturday

Saturday, September 4th, 2010 from 10:30 am onward

Mutianyu, Beigou, Xinying, and Tianxianyu Villages

Starting from The Roadhouse (restaurant at The Schoolhouse), just north of the Mutianyu roundabout

For more information, contact info[at]slowfoodsaturday[dot]org.

Autumn destinations: Xinjiang

August 30, 2010 in Culture, Food, On the Road by Alex G | No comments

If you’ve been thinking about an autumn getaway in China, now is the time to make plans for an unforgettable trip. Not too hot and not too cold, fall provides ideal weather conditions to see almost every part of the country. We’ve compiled a shortlist of our favorite fall spots in which to enjoy the lesser-known travel gems that China has to offer.

Our first pick is Xinjiang Autonomous Region, a perennial favorite known for its diverse landscapes and rich Uighur culture, which is closer to Turkic culture than Han Chinese culture. Xinjiang is home to a diverse array of lakes, mountains and deserts offering incredible sights, sounds, and a comfortable climate to boot.

No trip to Xinjiang is complete without sampling the region’s remarkable cuisine, which features rich stews, tasty breads and a mind-boggling variety of noodles from flat and wide to easily spoonable diced noodles if you’re still working on your chopstick skills.

Mutton is the meat of choice in Xinjiang, where it is generally barbecued or stewed. ‘Big plate chicken’ is one dish not to be missed – it is a mountain of tender chunks of chicken with potatoes, peppers and garlic cloves in a fragrant curry-like sauce, all served on – you guessed it – a very large plate. There are also plenty of delicious vegetarian options not found in Chinese cuisine – our favorite is the spicy Tiger Salad, which is typically made with fresh slices of tomato, bell pepper, purple onion and cucumber, all in a spicy vinegar sauce with sprigs of coriander. Wash it all down with the non-caffeinated tea drunk by the Uighurs, a local beer or a delicious glass of fresh cherry or pomegranate juice.

Most people living in Xinjiang follow a very moderate strain of Islam and are very open to visitors from afar. Their physical appearance is also quite different from what you might be expecting – don’t be surprised to meet locals with blonde hair and blue eyes. At the crossroads of Asia and Europe, Xinjiang never fails to provide a bit of the unexpected.

In early autumn, Xinjiang’s sky is deep blue and the cooler breezes blow the scorching summer away. Kashgar itself has a desert climate with long periods of sunshine and little rainfall. It also has sunshine much later into the day than the rest of China, a result of the entire country running on Beijing time. Although you haven’t left the country, a trip to Xinjiang can often make the rest of the country feel very far away.

Destinations

Very hot in the summer and bone-chilling cold in the winter, Xinjiang is at its most pleasant in the autumn. During the fall months, we suggest that you venture to the Taklamakan Desert for an overnight outdoor adventure. Don’t forget Xinjiang’s current must-visit destination – Kashgar’s historic old town, which was once a vibrant outpost on the Silk Road. Sadly, 85 percent of the old town is slated for demolition, so if you’ve ever considered visiting this storied Central Asian trading town, this may be your last chance.

Activities

While soaking in the rhythmic and passion-filled music of the Uighurs, enjoy the immense vastness of the Taklamakan at dusk and watch the clear sky gradually fill with stars. For the complete experience, ride a camel there and back. In Kashgar’s old town, be sure to visit Id Kah Mosque, Abakh Khoja Mausoleum and the city’s old handicrafts street, as well as the Sunday livestock market and bazaar.

Stay tuned for our next featured fall favorite for more ideas on autumn trips.

Introducing… The WildChina Collection

August 26, 2010 in Culture, WildChina Collection, environment by Alex G | No comments

Throughout WildChina’s years of pioneering sustainable off-the-beaten path travel in China, we have been impressed and encouraged by our encounters with visionary individuals who are trying to push the boundaries of traveling in China, creating unique boutique hotels integrated into local communities in the most remote and beautiful regions.

They care passionately about revealing the depth and breadth of natural and cultural beauties to their visitors in a way that is respectful of local traditions, and thus inevitably find themselves spending a lot of time acting personally as travel guides for their guests, and/or dealing with the minutiae of logistics planning in regions where travel infrastructure is patchy or non-existent.

Over time, many of these individuals began to feel that the original impetus which propelled them into the travel industry – whether it was creating eco-lodges from sustainable materials,  transforming and restoring ancient landmarks into museum-hotels or creating opportunities for local communities – was becoming bogged down in the exhausting details of operations management.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful, we heard over and over again, if someone could train trekking guides, bring in anthropologists and historians to act as cultural guides, and take over logistics management?  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to create alliances with other like-minded hotels in the region, passing guests along a circuit, thus exponentially expanding their appeal to travelers interested in exploring an entire province? Wouldn’t it be wonderful, they started to ask us, if you at WildChina could address these issues to free us up to pioneer new boutique hotels in the untouched hinterlands?

The WildChina Collection is the result.

The WildChina Collection is a unique alliance of boutique hotels in the most beautiful, un-spoilt and remote regions of China. Passionately committed to heritage conservation and ecological and sustainable lifestyles, our independent partners are not just hoteliers but enablers of a truly immersive experience in their local environs. The Collection is designed to allow our guests to share in this passion and the unique experiences it offers.

Curious? Learn more by browsing the WildChina Collection hotels and circuits on our website. For more information, send us an email at collection[at]wildchina[dot]com.

Shangri-La dreaming

August 24, 2010 in Culture, On the Road, environment by WildChina | No comments

As another summer draws to a close, we find our mind drifting to one of our favorite places to enjoy fall scenery in China – Shangri-La and the surrounding Tibetan areas. Although it is doubtful that it is actually the place James Hilton described in his novel Lost Horizon, Shangri-La taps into many of the themes that have enchanted readers of the book since it was first published in 1933.

Every autumn, we are drawn to this corner of Yunnan near the Tibetan border, where the Songzanlin Monastery looks down upon a valley where yaks graze in meadows crisscrossed with crystal-clear streams and the leaves of the trees in surrounding hills are ablaze with color.

Songzanlin is only the beginning of what this area has to offer. Towering snowcapped mountains, the headwaters of the Mekong River, alpine forests and massive glaciers combine to make this one of the most breathtaking areas in one of China’s most scenic provinces. Bringing it all together is the otherworldly holy mountain known to Han Chinese as Meili Snow Mountain and Tibetans as Mt. Kawagebo.

Just as with Hilton’s Shangri-La, this sacred geography is removed from the trappings of modern life, with time moving at its own pace. The days are characterized by warm sunshine and cool breezes while the nights are crisp and intoxicating.

Regardless of which of our journeys we’re on, this corner of the “roof of the world” never fails to invigorate and rejuvenate.

Interview: Brian Linden of the Linden Centre

August 23, 2010 in Culture, On the Road, WildChina Collection by WildChina | No comments

Brian Linden interacting with local children in Xizhou

Sometimes the most unlikely partnerships can lead to fantastic results. Such is the story of the Linden Centre, a one-of-a-kind boutique hotel set in the small town of Xizhou, about 20 miles north of Dali in southwest China’s Yunnan province.

The Linden Centre itself is a meticulously restored traditional Bai courtyard home dating back to another era, but it is the cooperation between a visionary American couple and the local government that is the foundation for the Centre’s success – it has already been named one of the top boutique hotels in China by publications around the country. With full support from the Xizhou government and protected status on par with the Great Wall, the Linden Centre is the brainchild of Brian and Jeanee Linden, who had previously been coming to China to find unique crafts and artwork for their gallery in Door County, Wisconsin.

Brian Linden is a true ‘old China hand’ – he first came here in 1984 to study Chinese and later worked as a cameraman and translator for CBS. He and Jeanee have poured time, effort and money into making the Linden Centre what it is today: an example of how cultural heritage can be preserved while creating a platform for cultural exchange. WildChina spoke with Brian Linden about the Centre’s achievements and its vision for the future:

WildChina: What makes Xizhou a unique travel destination?

Brian Linden: Xizhou is unique because it is a functioning village full of historical complexes. The Xizhou merchants of the 19th and early 20th centuries built over 100 stone and wood courtyard homes, most in the san fang yi zhao bi style [three sides of the courtyard dedicated to living quarters and one side highlighting a work of art]. These structures exist and currently function as homes and local businesses. They have not been gentrified nor sold to outsiders to open t-shirt shops. In this regard, it allows visitors to see a slice of traditional Bai village life – made all the more interesting because of the stunning architectural legacy. Most of our guests stay 4-5 days, and we have yet to have any complaints about Xizhou.

The Linden Centre frequently hosts cultural events and performances

WildChina: What are the goals of the Linden Centre?

Linden: To develop a new travel paradigm that focuses on learning and cultural immersion. This model’s uniqueness is that we are targeting adults, who want an indigenous experience but can also recognize elegance in art and antiques and culinary options. The Centre is completely different from any other hotel in China. We have as many staff as guests usually, and it our staff’s job to help our discerning guests to go beyond the contemporary facades of China.

WildChina: What have the highlights of the Centre’s existence been so far?

Linden: While Jeanee and I did not set out to establish a hotel but rather an intellectual retreat in the Aspen Institute tradition, we are proud to have been selected as the Best Boutique Hotel in China by Sina.com and the most interesting hotel in SW China by Xinzhoukan. We are also the top rated hotel in all of China among over 32,000 other properties on Tripadvisor. We have stories about us in Travel+Leisure, Atlantic Monthly, Food and Wine, dozens of Chinese and Asian magazines and newspapers, and have recently hosted renowned writer Amitav Ghosh who is doing an article about the Centre and region for Condé Nast India.

WildChina: The Centre is obviously a labor of love, what do you find most rewarding about it?

Linden: Because of the CCTV documentaries about us, we have had a constant flow of Chinese visitors from around the country, many of whom have traveled from north and south China to express their support for our efforts. This has been very touching. We also have been moved by our guests’ responses to the local immersions. We consistently have visitors with tears in their eyes when it comes time to leave the Centre. This is a wonderful feeling, especially when we know that we have helped expand our guests’ views of China. Most guests feel like they never truly felt China or knew the non-urban Chinese until they spent time with us. We are hoping that this expanded view will help lead to greater understanding between East and West.

Visitors to the Linden Centre take part in a variety of cultural immersion activities

WildChina: How is Bai architecture different from traditional Han Chinese architecture?

Linden: One of the first things that our guests comment on is the Bai tradition of painting on their homes. Most houses in Xizhou have series of paintings lining their upper walls, just below the roofline. These paintings, which are still being created on new buildings in Xizhou, depict flowers, animals and even city scenes from 1920s Shanghai and England! The pleasant weather in Dali also has allowed the Bai people to truly incorporate the courtyard space into a year-round functioning living area. These courtyards often serve as open air dining areas for the family, homework space for the children, and weaving areas for the women. Time is spent mainly in these open courtyards, thus greatly expanding the living space for the typical Bai family.

WildChina: How does the Linden Centre interact with the local community in Xizhou?

Linden: We offer weekly language interaction classes with local kindergartens and spend Saturday evenings at our village activity center teaching English to the local community. We are working with the local government to help place visiting doctors, teachers and carpenters in village facilities. We plan to establish a program to help rebuild old temples. We also will be developing a museum in Xizhou.

WildChina: What are your plans for the future?

Linden: We have been inundated with requests to expand our sites to other locations. These often come from local governments who feel that we would be a great asset for their communities. We are seriously looking into Weishan and Kunming as future sites. We also hope to develop our second complex in Xizhou, the former town hall, into an artist-in-residence center and a daytime cooking school.

WildChina is pleased to include the Linden Centre in the WildChina Collection – watch this space for more info!

Sipping on Chengdu’s legendary teahouse culture

August 20, 2010 in Culture, On the Road, What We're Reading by WildChina | No comments

The buzzing metropolis of Chengdu may be most famous for being the capital of Sichuan cuisine, but its identity is not linked to food alone – is also arguably the Chinese city with the most pervasive teahouse culture.

Home to somewhere between four and five thousand teahouses, Chengdu is known throughout China for being a laid-back city where everywhere you go, you’ll find a busy teahouse full of people chatting, talking business or playing majiang (mahjong) – all while sipping on small cups of their favorite cha.

We recently stumbled upon an interview on Chengdu website GoChengdoo with Texas A&M associate professor of history Wang Di, who is researching the role of the teahouse in China during the 20th Century.

The Chengdu native authored the book The Teahouse: Small Business, Everyday Culture and Public Politics in Chengdu, 1900-1950, a look at Chengdu’s teahouse culture in old Chengdu, making several interesting arguments about what led to the popularity of teahouses in Chengdu and its reputation for leisurely locals.

In the early 20th Century, many Chengdu residents lacked access to running water, and water in many of the wells around the city had a bitter alkaline taste, so a stop by the teahouse was important for many people. So important, that being located near a teahouse could push an apartment’s rent up significantly.

In addition to generating plenty of local wealth, the agricultural abundance of Chengdu and the fertile Chengdu Plain also translated to people spending less time in the fields to ensure a good harvest than in other parts of China. No wonder why drinking tea and catching up on the latest news and gossip was the activity of choice for people of all backgrounds in Chengdu.

Whenever we’re passing through Chengdu we always try to squeeze in a visit to open-air teahouse at People’s Park. Undoubtedly the city’s most famous teahouse, it is the perfect place to experience teahouses as they used to be in Chengdu. After a few hot cups of green tea, the tea-fuelled chatter around us fades into the background and we think about how far those little leaves traveled to get there.

Frog discovery reveals secrets of Tibet’s creation

August 12, 2010 in Culture, In the News, environment by WildChina | No comments

Who needs a time machine when you’ve got frogs?

Secrets of the development of the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau have recently been revealed to us by Popeye-forearmed frogs whose evolutional divergences coincide with major tectonic events connected with the raising of the “roof of the world”.

Image: Yu Zeng/UC Berkeley

Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley and Kunming studied 24 different groups of the tribe Paini, gaining new insights into the collision of India and Asia, which led to the formation of spectacular peaks of the Himalayas and the breathtaking landscapes of the Tibetan Plateau. MSNBC reports:

“Geologists know a lot about that area, but what they haven’t been able to do is give a sequence to the timing of the rise of particular mountain masses and particular ridges and pieces,” David Wake, a herpetologist and evolutionary biologist at the University of California, Berkeley and a co-author of a new paper detailing the findings, said in a UC Berkeley statement.

“We use these frogs as a surrogate for a time machine.”

The rather unique frogs live in fast-flowing streams, requiring the male frogs to have strong forelimbs and coarse chests so that slippery females don’t get swept away by swift currents during mating.

The team of scientists found that the Paini originated in the Indochina region of Southeast Asia before moving into western China 27 million years ago, when a divergence occurred creating two new groups of frogs: the lowland Quasipaa frogs of South China and Southeast Asia and their high-altitude cousins, Nanorana in Tibet.

The Quasipaa frogs diverged into South China and Southeast Asian groups with the raising of the Truong Son mountain range on the border between Laos and Vietnam. But the real action was taking place in Tibet roughly nine million years ago, where the Nanorana subgenus was adapting to cold, dry and oxygen-poor conditions. A third group of spiny frogs was also isolated on the Himalayas 19 million years ago as the Tibetan Plateau pushed higher.

As tectonic events separated the frogs, each group evolved different features from other groups, becoming less and less alike.

The story of these frogs illustrates the inseparable relationship between geographical diversity and biodiversity. As Asia’s surface transformed, so did its animal and plant life. This variety of topography, flora and fauna in Tibet, as well as Yunnan and Sichuan, is one of the main reasons that this part of China is where several of WildChina’s most popular tours take place.

WildChina’s Family Adventures in Tibet and Soul of Tibet tours offer unforgettable experiences in this land of diversity. If the roof of the world is a little too high for your tastes, you can always explore the incredibly biodiverse foothills of the Himalayas through our South of the Clouds.

We’re a Finalist!

August 10, 2010 in Culture, In the News, environment by Alex G | No comments

On Monday, we at WildChina were pleased to learn that we have been elected as a finalist for the 2010 Innovation Leadership in Sustainable Tourism Award by The International Ecotourism Society (TIES).

Launched this year, the award “recognizes individuals and organizations who have demonstrated leadership in innovative actions that effectively promote sustainable tourism and bring tangible benefits to communities and conservation. Each year, one individual and one organization (non-profit, business, community) will be honored for their contributions, best practices, and most of all leadership in innovative actions supporting sustainable tourism.”

Our application, which focused on our 2009 eco-toilet community service initiatives, discussed how our new sustainable tourism initiative seeks to “improve local practices and standards of living in rural southwest China. This initiative involved organizing service learning projects for student groups in which they helped villages in Sichuan province, still recovering from the devastating May 2008 earthquake, build eco-friendly, waterless toilets.”

We are in excellent company: sustainable innovators all over the world, such as applicants from Gambia and Costa Rica, are up for the distinction as well.

We’re thrilled to be in the running with so many qualified candidates. Stay tuned for updates!

Chopsticks out: Chengdu now a “City of Gastronomy”

August 9, 2010 in Culture, Food, In the News, What We're Reading by Alex G | No comments

We were interested to learn on CNNGo today that Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, has recently been named Asia’s first “City of Gastronomy” by UNESCO.

How did it beat out the competition (which is fierce, considering the many delicious Asian cuisines that exist)? Besides its delectable history of fiery cuisine, the city fit UNESCO’s extensive criteria for the distinction described by CNNGo:

“A city must have a well-developed cuisine that is characteristic of the region; nurture a vibrant community of chefs and traditional restaurants; show local know-how of traditional culinary practices and methods of cooking that have survived industrial and technological advancements; maintain traditional wet markets; have a history of hosting gastronomic events; prove active in the promotion of sustainable local products; and be committed to nutritional education and the inclusion of bio-diversity conservation programs in cooking schools.”

As author Annabel Jackson mentions, this is a great opportunity to showcase some of China’s lesser-known cuisine to the world. As big fans of Sichuan, we’re thrilled that the area is receiving more publicity for its culinary heritage.

Read more about Chengdu’s appetizing award and its culinary delights on CNNGo.

Opposing viewpoint: No to Lijiang?

August 5, 2010 in Culture, On the Road, What We're Reading, environment by Alex G | No comments

This week on Twitter, we engaged in a short but telling debate with @chinaandbeyond, or blogger Jessica Marsden, on Lijiang, Yunnan province.

(credit: Michael Mudd)

After reading our tweets on our Chinese Treasures journey – our ’China 101′ itinerary with an-off-the-beaten-path twist – she challenged our choice of Lijiang among cultural and historical mainstays Beijing, Shanghai and Xi’an in a blog post, citing its devolvement into a tourist trap.

As we have discussed in previous posts on the WildChina blog, we don’t dispute this fact. Much of Lijiang’s cultural value has been replaced by cafes, bars and other entertainment venues targeted at foreigners. It’s a tough call, and one that we have to make each time we take our clients to lesser-known villages and sites in the area.

Explore the many facets of this ongoing debate: read Jessica’s full post on her blog and Lonely Planet, get our thoughts on the subject, and join the conversation on tourism in China with us on Twitter.

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