China’s startling dishes, people

To our surprise, the heads and toes of the pigeons and ducks were cooked and served as part of the dishes at a restaurantBy John KakandeA Ugandan visiting China for the first time would, no doubt, find it not only exciting but also challenging –– a real lifetime experience. At least this was what five Ugandan journalists and I found out when we visited the world’s most populous nation from June 17 to 27, 2002.The most testing thing for a Ugandan visiting China is the peculiar Chinese dishes. Long before I travelled to Beijing, I had heard many stories about the eating habits of the people in the far Eastern countries including China.It was said for instance, that things like dogs and snakes were a delicacy in those countries. I never took these stories too seriously. For I thought it was mere common gossip. I now know from personal experience that some of the things we regard as weird are a delicacy in other countries.I travelled to China as part of a delegation of Ugandan journalists, which also included David Ouma Balikowa of The Monitor, Haruna Kanaabi the secretary general of the Uganda Journalists Association (UJA), Saul Katabalwa WBS’s news editor, Joseph Kafumbe of CBS FM and Emmanuel Nkurunziza from Uganda Television.We arrived in Beijing on June 17 at about 10:00 a.m. In China, lunch is eaten quite early, as early as 12:00 p.m. Similarly, the Chinese also eat supper comparatively early, as early as 6:00 p.m. Thus a few hours after we arrived in Beijing, the All China Journalists Association leaders hosted us to a luncheon at one of the hotels in Beijing.The luncheon was our first surprise. Several dishes were served, which included pigeon and duck. To our surprise, the heads and toes of the ducks and pigeons were also cooked and served as part of the dish.Li Bingxin, one of the officials of the All China Journalists Association who also acted as our guide and interpreter throughout the visit, on realising that we were upset by the strange Chinese dishes, calmed the situation when he explained to us that the type of pigeon we were served was not wild but reared at farms.We were further informed that the heads and toes of the chicken, ducks and pigeons were a delicacy, which were expensive.The Chinese also eat fish a great deal. But we were informed that many Chinese often prefer to eat fresh fish. Thus most restaurants have aquarium where live fish, crabs, frogs et cetera are kept.The aquarium is located normally at the entrance where they are conspicuous. When you go to the restaurant, you make your choice. I found the pigeon tasty but some of our colleagues refused to touch it.A few days later, we went to a restaurant for lunch and we were served with a frog, among other peculiar dishes. Two of our colleagues tasted the frog. Kanaabi was so upset by the sight of the frog that he literally stopped eating and nearly vomited. Balikowa excused himself that he does not eat any seafood and beef.All through the visit, Balikowa avoided the seafood and beef. Nonetheless, this does not mean his problems were solved. He at one time abandoned a chicken dish after discovering that the pot, in which the chicken was served, also contained crab shells. The peculiar cocktail of chicken and crab shells automatically put him off.The real test for us was in Nanjing City when we were hosted to a dinner by Wu Haishan, a senior official of the Nanjing Municipal authority. As we dined, Chinese musicians entertained us. It was at this dinner that we were served with what, looked like a roasted Nile Perch coated with simsim. But we were informed that what looked like Nile Perch was a snake which was a delicacy in China. Though each one of us was served with a piece, only one of us had the courage to eat the snake, which he claimed was very delicious.Besides the peculiar dishes, China has lots of other surprises in store for a visitor.There was one interesting incident I witnessed at the Beijing Railway Station that left me puzzled. When we arrived at the Railway station one evening, Kanaabi and I dashed to the washrooms just before boarding the train. To our great surprise, none of the toilets, which evidently were newly constructed, had a door. To make matters worse, the toilets were directly facing the urinals. We were amazed to see a Chinese man in one of the toilets easing himself and at the same time chatting with another person on his mobile phone. The Chinese was not bothered that there were people around. The other Chinese we found in the washroom were not bothered by the man’s awkward actions.In the past, the Communist countries used to argue that prostitution was a vice that thrives in only the capitalist western countries. This argument is no longer valid. Prostitution is quite prevalent in Chinese cities of Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai and Shenzhen cities although it is not yet as conspicuous as it is in Kampala.The prostitutes mainly ply hotels where foreigners stay. Some of the prostitutes disguise as providers of ‘massage’ services. Unlike the Kampala prostitutes, those in China dress decently and the majority look to be 40 years and above.In Beijing, one of the night clubs we went to which was located next to our hotel, Novotel, was similar to Kampala’s Club Silk and Ange Noir. There was a group playing live music with mainly young female dancers who looked like the Shadows Angels. The entrance fee was 80 Yuan, equivalent to about sh15,000. Immediately we entered, Chinese women dashed towards us and sat by us and engaged us in conversations. They spoke fairly good English.The Chinese women requested that we buy them drinks, which we declined to do. Subsequently they demanded that we pay them money for the time they had spent engaging us in ‘conversations.’ They claimed this was a standard practice at the club. Since we did not know the nightclub’s rules, we ended up parting with 40 Yuan each as the price for engaging a Chinese beauty in a ‘conversation’. We never again risked visiting a Chinese nightclub. If you have dealt with the Kampala hawkers, then consider yourself well equipped to handle the small Chinese shopkeepers. By the way, hawkers and street vendors are also an eye sore in many Chinese cities including Beijing. The Chinese shopkeepers are notorious for inflating the prices, particularly when they know you are a foreigner. Many thought we were Afro-Americans loaded with lots of dollars. For an item that cost 20 Yuan, a Chinese shopkeeper could ask for 200 Yuan as the bargain price. In the big departmental stores, the story is, however, different. In these stores, there is no bargaining.The majority of the shopkeepers in all the cities we visited including Shanghai, China’s commercial and industrial centre, could neither speak nor understand a single English word. But the Chinese shopkeepers have devised a perfect bargaining mechanism, using an electronic calculator. All shopkeepers have electronic calculators. A shopkeeper tells you the price using a calculator. Then he or she gives you the calculator to indicate the price you are ready to pay for the item. This bargaining process goes on until either you reach a consensus or you fail to agree on the price. So if you ever get a chance to visit a Beijing shop, don’t be cheated.