Have you watched the documentary A Bite of China introducing various delicious Chinese foods? As it has been introduced in the documentary, dumpling is one of the important traditional foods in China. This time SIECA not only provides a complete view of this food but also involves you into the pleasant process of making dumplings.
On the afternoon of April 23th, SIECA had a merry dumpling making activity with International students in the second teacher’s canteen. By five o’clock, drinks and ingredients had been prepared by the SIECA members. They waited for the activity participants with enthusiasm and excitement. After most of the participants arrived, everyone sat in his or her own group which was supplied with fillings and wrappers.
Just as fillings must meet wrappers before they were made into dumplings, each participant also needed to get familiar with each other before enjoying the activity. Therefore, self-introductions to new friends were made to break the ice between each other. “I’m from Germany and my major is Law.” Kristin, one of the International students, introduced herself in Chinese. In this process, many Chinese students surprisingly found some students had already had excellent Chinese proficiency.
Getting to know each other, everyone got down to making dumplings with joy. Some Chinese students were experts in this aspect so they taught other group members patiently. Group members who were novice learned with curiosity and carefulness.
Many participants presented their creativity in making dumplings. Hu Hongting, an ingenious Chinese girl, wrapped dumplings in the shape of roses. As for International students, some of them used their unique skills. For example, Elias pricked the wrapper with chopsticks to make the pattern of small circles on the edge.
Trays of dumplings came into being owing to the efforts of every group member. While waiting for the dumplings being cooked, group partners with different cultural backgrounds talked about table manners in their countries. Cecilia, who came from Italy, said that it was impolite to make sounds when drinking soup. Kristin told others that bones should be spitted into a piece of handkerchief instead of directly onto the table. Time flied when interesting conversations went on and soon came the cooked dumplings.
The cooked dumplings’ wrappers became semitransparent so that the green vegetable filling could be seen through them. These dumplings were so delicious that they were enjoyed by many students. It was interesting to see people’s different facial expressions showing their pleasure.
As there were fewer and fewer cooked dumplings in the bowl, the end of the activity was approaching. The SIECA member, Fang Siyin, took many pictures of participants in memory of this merry dumpling feast. At around 7pm, all participants left the canteen with satisfaction and marked the end of this activity.
Due to this activity, both Chinese and International students learned about dumplings. They also had a glimpse into the broad and profound food culture in China. Over the dumpling dinner, students from different countries shared different dietary customs with each other, which facilitated the cultural communication. This activity was meaningful and joyful and hopefully another activity organized by SIECA won’t be far away.
April 23th, 2017
Wang Ying from SIECA
