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AsiaOne
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- AsiaOne
Traditional bak zhang to reach for this Dragon Boat Festival, Lifestyle News
Bak chang season is upon us - it falls on May 31 this year - and if you're in the old-is-gold camp, you'll want to eschew new-fangled flavours for the reliable classics. Pork, mushrooms, chestnuts, and maybe some abalone thrown in for auspicious measure are all we need in a good bak zhang. If you agree, here's where you can get traditional zhang that'll sate those annual cravings. Li Bai at Sheraton Towers We can see our Chinese mothers nod in approval at Li Bai's Traditional Rice Dumpling (from $58). Packed with five-spiced pork belly, salted egg yolk, roasted duck, mushrooms, chestnuts, and dried scallops, this thicc beauty is steadfastly traditional and just doesn't try so hard. Joo Chiat Kim Choo Generations of Singaporeans have grown up on Joo Chiat Kim Choo's Nyonya Rice Dumplings ($8.30), the same ones that made this family-owned brand a household name. In each parcel is the classic mix of braised pork and candied winter melon stewed in a "secret spice blend" and encased in sticky glutinous rice. Most Nyonyas would baulk at the idea of an all-white kueh zhang, and they'll definitely cry, "guuuss-mangat" when they hear that Kim Choo charges more for Blue Pea Nyonya Rice Dumplings (someone's gotta dye that rice, right?). You'll pay $14.80 for the extra effort, thank you very much. Wah Lok at Carlton Hotel If you're traditional but a bit bougie, try Wah Lok's Dried Oyster and Conpoy Dumpling ($28.80, 600g). Loaded with dried oysters, premium dried scallops, pork, mushrooms, and salted egg, this umami-rich dumpling is giving Cantonese congee vibes. Peach Blossoms If you're towkay bougie, you're gonna need ingot-shaped abalone in your rice dumplings. Check out Peach Blossoms' Traditional Abalone, Preserved Vegetables and Pork Belly Dumpling ($38.80, 500g). It's so extravagant, it'll feed two people easily. Man Fu Yuan No surprises lurk in Man Fu Yuan's Traditional Hokkien-Style Premium Rice Dumpling ($22.80). Within its steamed bamboo leaves is that classic combination of pork belly, chestnuts, mushrooms, dried shrimp, and salted egg yolk. Hai Tien Lo at Pan Pacific Singapore View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hai Tien Lo (@haitienlo) Hai Tien Lo's Hokkien Rice Dumpling with Pork and Salted Egg Yolk ($18) also keeps things simple and timeless. Think five-spice pork belly, salted egg, green beans, and perfectly sticky rice. Grandma would approve. [[nid:688704]] This article was first published in Wonderwall .sg .
Borneo Post
06-05-2025
- Borneo Post
Friendship between Chinese, American students blossoms in spring breeze
A student from the United States learns Chinese calligraphy during a study tour in Shijiazhuang, north China's Hebei Province, April 26, 2025. (Xinhua/Huang Yuzhang) SHIJIAZHUANG (May 7): Amid the sprouting shoots and blossoming branches of spring, I witnessed how friendship between teenage students from China and the United States bloomed in Shijiazhuang, capital of north China's Hebei Province. From Saturday to Monday, a 67-member delegation from high schools in the U.S. states of Iowa and California, at the invitation of Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School (SFLS), engaged in a study tour in Shijiazhuang, where they savored the Chinese culture and bonded with Chinese friends. On Saturday morning, I met the American youths for the first time on the SFLS campus. Among all visitors, a tall student clad in red-colored Chinese-style clothes with dragon patterns instantly grabbed my attention. Out of curiosity, I walked up to the eye-catching boy and greeted him. During our talk, I learned that his name is Gregory Scott. An 18-year-old student from Davis Senior High School in California, he has taken Chinese courses at school and is interested in Chinese culture, especially ancient Chinese poems. When asked about his choice of attire for the journey, he grinned. 'It is a gift from one of my Chinese friends online. I wore it in a Chinese poem recitation competition at my school and finally got awarded!' He added that the poem he chose was 'Yue Xia Du Zhuo,' or 'Drinking Alone Under the Moon' in English, a classical poem written by Li Bai, one of the greatest Chinese poets in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Li Bai expressed his loneliness in his time-honored writing, but Scott never felt lonely during his visit to China, since each American student like him was partnered with a Chinese student from SFLS for an enjoyable travel experience. Pan Shuaiyu, an SFLS student who accompanied Scott during the study tour, told me they have become good friends. 'We come from different cultural backgrounds, but we share a lot of similarities,' said Pan. Pairs like Scott and Pan took part in a series of activities, from playing ping pong and making dumplings to planting trees and learning Chinese calligraphy and ink painting. 'I do calligraphy at home in English, and it is fun for me to do it with Chinese characters,' Roan Milligan, 18, shared his feelings about Chinese calligraphy. 'I think the technique with a brush is more difficult than that with a pen,' he added. According to Milligan, this was his first trip to China, but he was no stranger to this country. As an Iowan student, he has developed an intimate feeling toward China, resulting from friendly exchanges between Hebei and Iowa over the past four decades, since the two places signed their sister-state relationship in 1983. A student from the United States learns to make a Chinese knot during a study tour in Shijiazhuang, north China's Hebei Province, April 26, 2025. (Xinhua/Dong Xiaokun) For Milligan, despite intricate international situations, the study tour is a testament to the vitality of people-to-people exchanges between China and the U.S. 'It is a reminder that we can make each other stronger through interaction, rather than fall into pointless tensions,' he said. Milligan's idea resonated with Lilian Carter, a 16-year-old student from California who described her trip to China as 'an amazing experience.' Growing up in the digital age, the girl still values the importance of face-to-face communication between people from different countries. 'I feel like stuff coming through social media isn't as true as it seems, as things can get lost and stories get twisted. I've been able to push aside what I've heard before and learn from my own experience here,' she said. Fortunately, more students like Carter will enjoy the chance to understand China in person as part of a China-initiated program unveiled in November 2023, which plans to invite 50,000 American youths to China within five years for cultural exchanges and study opportunities. Amelia May, a high school teacher in California, spoke highly of China's efforts to strengthen mutual understanding and believed that the future of the relations between the two countries lies in the youth. 'The youth definitely can help foster relationships and bring greater unity.' After talking with May, I strolled into a garden where students, including Scott, were playing games together. At this time, Scott did not stand out for his garment, as everyone was dressed in beautiful Chinese-style clothes prepared by SFLS. At the sight of their beaming faces bathed in the afternoon sunshine, I thought May was 100 percent right. – Xinhua China education foreign languages foreign students school united states
