README.adoc

image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Laoganma.jpg[height=400]

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkTQTS2RSCU "What is Lao Gan Ma, and can you make it at home?" by "Chinese Cooking Demystified" published on Nov 19, 2019. Explains how it comes from Guizhou province cuisine (neighbours Sichuan).
video::nkTQTS2RSCU[youtube,height=400,width=600]

[[fansaoguang-wild-brake-pickles]]
=== Fansaoguang Wild Brake Pickles 饭扫光野蕨菜

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiddlehead_fern | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pteridium_aquilinum | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/蕨菜

This is the best thing to eat with <<dumplings>> ever!!!

Some other flavours of the same brand are also very much worth trying, e.g. the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enokitake[Enokitake] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/金針菇[金针菇]) one. Others are a bit boring.

Oily, spicy and sour.

.Photo of the Fansaoguang Wild Brake Pickles jar. https://52piepie.com/products/饭扫光野蕨菜-fsg-wild-brake-pickles[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Fan_sao_guang.jpg[height=400]

[[hot-pot]]
=== Hot pot 火锅 (huo3 guo1)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_pot

You just have to buy:

* a hot pot base soup
* various kinds of frozen fish/meat balls
* thin sliced frozen beef/lamb meat sold specifically for hot pot
* leafy vegetables like Chinese cabbage or fresh Chinese mushrooms
* you can also add some dry stuff like dried mushrooms or dry tofu products
* sauces to put into a bowl and dip the cooked things in before putting them into your mouth. Could be either dedicated hot pot sauces, but sesame paste, soy sauce, vinegar and <<laoganma>> will already be good enough

Put the electric rice cooker or a regular pot with a portable electric heater on the dining table.

Boil the water with the soup, start with the harder to cook meaty things, and eat/add more as they become ready!

Great fun to do in winter with family and friends!

There are also dedicated hot pot restaurants, but <<ciro-santilli>> is not a fun, since it feels much better to do it in the privacy of your home.

YouTube explains it pretty well, no need for their fancy ying yang pans though, a rice cooker will do just fine:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQZcPyn-cDU ingredient choice
+
video::UQZcPyn-cDU[youtube,height=400,width=600]
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fqv9hNoiQEs shows the actual eating
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video::Fqv9hNoiQEs[youtube,height=400,width=600]

[[congee]]
=== Congee 粥 (zhou1)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congee#China | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/粥

A thick rice/cereal/bean porridge. Amazing for breakfast.

You can buy them as dry air tight uncooked cereal/bean mixtures, and there are different types.

You can also buy the ingredients separately of course, but it requires more effort.

If you get the air-tight bag, you can also buy some extra missing ingredients to taste, notably https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jujube[jujubes] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/枣[枣]).

Then you just boil them in a rice cooker for a few hours.

It is also possible to buy them ready-to-eat in cans, but those are nowhere near as good.

One particular type which is very good is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laba_congee[Laba congee] (eight treasure congee, 八宝粥).

Then, to eat it, you will want to add salty side dishes, all of which can be bought from the Chinese supermarket, since the congee itself is just mildly sweet and not salty at all:

* cooked <<salted-duck-egg>>
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermented_bean_curd[fermented bean curd] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/腐乳[腐乳]). Wangzhihe (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/王致和[王致和]) is a good brand, <<ciro-santilli>> prefers the red ones instead of the white ones. https://www.amazon.com/Wangzhihe-Fermented-Traditional-Bean-DragonMall/dp/B00786YL72[Sample Amazon link].

.The HONOR brand (康樂, full name: Honor Products, 康樂產品) Eight treasure congee (八寶粥) is a good brand to buy if you can find it. https://www.hiyou.co/product/honor-eight-treasure-porridge/[Source].
image::{china-dictatorship-media-base}/Eight_treasture_congee.jpg[height=500]

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIxbJxNRpX0 Video showing how to make eight treasure congee from scratch by "Asian garden 2 table" published on Feb 2, 2020.
video::DIxbJxNRpX0[youtube,height=400,width=600]

[[salted-duck-egg]]
==== Salted duck egg (咸鸭蛋)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salted_duck_egg
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/鹹鴨蛋

[[tea-egg]]
===== Tea egg (咸鸭蛋)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_egg
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/茶葉蛋

This is good!

[[lamian]]
=== Lamian (拉面)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamian
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/拉面

Silk road stuff of course.

[[restaurants]]
== The best Chinese restaurants outside of China 中国以外最好的中国饭店

Google Maps list: https://goo.gl/maps/zBkmPaU1wLP2

[[resturants--introduction]]
=== Introduction

Most Western people do not know what real Chinese food is.

When you first see it, your mind is completely blown: there it was, one of the best foods in the world by far, and you had never tried it: only a completely watered down boring version that you get when you are not guided by Chinese people.

We must put a stop to this madness.

After you see the light and eat the real version of a dish, then when you go to a not-real restaurant you start to think: "hey, I know what dish this was supposed to be. But it could be so much more awesome!" This makes non-real restaurants twice as bad. So beware, there is no turning back.

Maybe we should institute a Foodie Dictatorship (美食家独裁) that prevents such fake restaurants from hiding real Chinese food???

[[resturants--rating-system]]
==== Rating system

* tier 1: amazing, worth a trip
* tier 2: worth it, but not exciting, so not worth a trip just for it
* tier 3: I wouldn't go there

[[resturants--how-to-find-good-restaurants]]
==== How to find good restaurants

* go with Chinese food-loving friends to Chinese restaurants
* read up Chinese restaurant recommendation websites written in Chinese by Chinese for Chinese
* read up small shady Chinese food recommendation websites by link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinophile[sinophiles like Ciro Santilli]

Big Western sites like Google Maps reviews and TripAdvisor are completely and utterly useless for this and will recommend places in which poor non-Chinese which don't know what real Chinese food is like.

If you go out on the street by yourself, you are very unlikely to find really good Chinese food since the enormous majority of Chinese restaurants are not real Chinese food.

If there are only Chinese clients inside the restaurant, it is a good indicator that it might be good. If all clients people are Western, run away.

Western people don't know what good Chinese food is, so if you are not in a place that has a very large Chinese population, real Chinese food restaurants cannot survive, and won't exist. This usually implies being in large cities of rich countries.

Beware of restaurant owner changes: if the menu looks a bit different, it has likely happened.

This is <<politically-incorrect,politically incorrect>>, but here goes: if the place looks as if it is maintained by more recent immigrants, and looks more modern, it is more likely to be good. There are however some venerable older uncles who have cooked well their entire lives and are still fine. Things tend to water down across generations, and there was likely not enough real Chinese clientele for them to serve real Chinese food and survive in the past.

If a restaurant advertises itself as "Asian", it is less likely to be very good.

Conversely, restaurants that specialize in a single region of China are more likely to be good (bot not certainly good).

It is already difficult to do the cuisine for one part of China well, imagine for multiple countries.

Just beware of "Sichuan" restaurants: their cuisine is so well known even in the West that I've seen many not so good restaurants that describe themselves like that, even if the owners are from another region. But there are many good ones which really are from there as well.

[[resturants--similar-lists]]
==== Similar lists

[[resturants--how-to-order]]
==== How to order

For all restaurants, ask the waiter for suggestions. Tell him that you:

* want the most typical dishes, not what the foreign locals eat, but what the Chinese eat
* can eat spicy food, way more than any foreign local person can.
+
The spice level you generally want is "zhong1 la4" (medium spicy)
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If you can't eat spicy, either learn or stop reading now and accept the fact that you will never eat good Chinese food.
* if the restaurant is from some region, ask for dishes from the region, and which are different from other regions.
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I was once <<dumplings>> (super popular dish everywhere in China which I buy frozen and eat every 3 days) in a Tibetan restaurant... Yes, I do believe Tibetans also eat jiaozi! :-)
* Speaking a little Chinese goes a long way towards convincing the owners that you can handle the real thing.

Only order dishes with meat. Those without are not worth the money/time. Aubergine is the exception.

[[restaurants--france]]
=== France 法国

Traiteurs are simpler restaurants that let you see pre-made foods in a glass showcase for you to choose how big your portions will be.

They are the best way to eat a cheap and balanced meal in Paris, but I have never found one that serves exceptional Chinese food, so beware.

[[restaurants--france--paris]]
==== Paris 巴黎

Paris has one of the largest Chinese communities outside of China in the whole world centered in the 14eme arrondissement, plus a lot of Chinese students with money around.

As a result, you can find some of the best Chinese food in the world outside of China!

Bibliography:

* https://carnetdecroute.blogspot.fr
* http://cnkick.net/2013/09/10/les-meilleurs-restaurants-chinois-de-paris-le-guide-cn-kick/
* https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-Chinese-restaurants-in-Paris
* https://www.newsavour.com/restaurants/ Chinese only, Paris, website subsidiary of some larger Chinese group.

* Restaurant Sichuan (川里川外)
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17 Rue le Peletier, 75009 Paris
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Xianglaxie.
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Last checked: 2017/06
* Chez Yong (Ding Ding Xiang, 鼎鼎香)
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42, rue de la Colonie, 75013 Paris
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** shui zhu niu rou
** dishes with intestines
* La Chine sur la langue (舌尖美味)
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163 rue Saint-Denis, 75002 Paris
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** Spicy soup with Chinese charcuteries. Ma la tang.
** Large dry and thin bread. Jing dong da bing. 京东大饼. http://www.nipic.com/show/1/55/7885c266f22649ae.html[Picture].
* Quatre Amis (那家小馆)
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29 rue de Charenton, 75012 Paris
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--
** Fried octopus
** Shui zhu niu rou
** Anything with intestines
--
* Le Céleste Gourmand (福来居, fu lai ju)
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8 Rue de la Tacherie, 75004 Paris
* L'Orient d'Or (福源丰)
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22, Rue de trévise, 75009 Paris
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--
** Galettes croustillantes au canard (xiang su ya dai bing, 香酥鸭带饼)
** Poisson pimentee (suan tang yu, 酸汤鱼)
** Soupe aux cartilages de porc avec algues (hai dai pau gu tang, 海带排骨汤)
--
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Hunan style.
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25 euros / person.
* Carnet de Route
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57 Rue du Faubourg Montmartre, 75009 Paris
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Last checked: 2016/04
* 0 d'Attente (锅先生不等位)
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55 Boulevard Saint-Marcel, 75013 Paris
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+33 9 81 49 68 06
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https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187147-d6984996-Reviews-0_d_Attente-Paris_Ile_de_France.html
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Like style of chairs and cutlery.
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Ironically, the service was not particularly fast as the name indicates. Normal, but not ultra-fast as I imagined :-)
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lotus with rice (Nuo mi tang ou) and boeuf sechee (guo xian sheng ...) not very good, but baked fish and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meigan_cai kaorou were great.
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Last checked: 2016/02
* Autour du Yangtse (食尚煮意)
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12 Rue du Helder, 75009 Paris
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--
** Marmite de poisson et de tofu (豆花鱼)
** Saliva chicken (口水鸡)
** Aubergines farcies sur plaqua chauffante (铁板脆皮茄)
--
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http://www.autourduyangtse.com/
* Deux Fois Plus De Piment (绝代双椒)
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Address: 33 Rue Saint-Sébastien, 75011 Paris
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Sichuan style.
* Délices de Shandong (山东小馆)
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88 Boulevard de l'Hôpital, 75013 Paris
* Hakka Home
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3 Rue Voltaire, 75011 Paris
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Food from the Hakka people https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakka_people
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Most dishes are like other good Chinese restaurants in Paris, but there were a few different ones.
* Maison Dong (东馆)
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36 Rue Vivienne, 75002 Paris
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Last checked: 2017/04
* Royal Tching Tao (青岛人家)
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8 Rue du Bel-Air, 75012 Paris
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** Galettes croustillantes au canard. Shi zi tou.
** Sweet fish （Song shu gui yu 松鼠桂鱼)
* Le Pont de Yunnan (滋味云南)
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15 Rue Notre Dame de Lorette, 75009
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Great food, but we had a bad service experience: got kicked out too early, even with a reservation.
* Tien Hiang (天香)
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14, rue Bichat, 75010 Paris
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Vegetarian food: most dishes are an imitation of a dish with meat.
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Not as good as the original meat for me, but very interesting and good for a change.
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Chinese vegetarians are rare. In theory, the origin of the food in this restaurant is Hong Kong Buddhism (Buddhist monks cannot eat meat, while other believers can.)
* Likafo (利口福酒家)
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39 Avenue de Choisy, 75013 Paris
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https://www.facebook.com/LIKAFO-利口福酒家-139814799396/
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meigan_cai[Meigan cai] roast pork (梅菜扣肉) https://img.epochtimes.com/i6/901120923161469.jpg
* Restaurant Sichuan (四川人家)
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31-33 Rue Descartes, 75005 Paris
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Perfect Fuqi feipian.
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Huiguorou is good not my style, I prefer with leek.
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Last checked: 2017/04

[[resturants--france--paris--tier-2]]
===== Paris tier 2

Cheaper / simpler restaurants that are really worth it if you want not to be hungry, but not worth it if you want eat exceptional food:

* Ace Boucherie
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58 Rue Sainte-Anne, 75002 Paris
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Korean takeaway traiteur. Very good. Try calamar.
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Last checked: 2017/06
* Ji Bai He
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108 Rue Olivier de Serres, 75015 Paris
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Jiaozi and accompanying small dishes are great.
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Last checked: 2016/03
* SUCREPICE
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5 Rue d'Arras, 75005 Paris
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M10: Cardinal Lemoine
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Liang ban mian, but do ask "wei la, they are strong.
* Noodle No 1
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54 rue Sainte Anne, 75002 Paris
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--
** Soupe aux nouilles pimentées
--
* Noodle bar
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31 Rue nationale, 75013 Paris, France
* Chez Shen
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39 Rue au Maire, 75003 Paris, France
* Dosanko Larmen
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40 Rue Sainte-Anne, 75002 Paris
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Order the big portion at your own risk. :-)
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Last checked: 2017/04
* Chez Mamie (外婆家)
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18 Rue du Grenier-Saint-Lazare, 75003 Paris,
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Last checked: 2017/06

[[resturants--france--marseille]]
==== Marseille (马赛)

* Shanghai kitchen
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14 Cours Jean Ballard, 13001 Marseille, France

[[restaurants--uk]]
=== United Kingdom (英国)

Bibilography:

* https://www.honglingjin.co.uk/category/foods-and-restaurants-in-the-uk/chinese-restaurants

[[restaurants--uk--london]]
==== London 伦敦

[[restaurants--uk--london--little-wooden-hut]]
===== Little Wooden Hut 小木屋

Address:

....
Little Newport Street
WC2H 7JJ
....

Last checked: 2016/08

Not yet on Google maps so I don't know the number, but the street is very small so should be easy to find.

Chinese review: http://www.ukchinese.com/News/2016-05-07/15299.html

[[resturants--uk--london--murger-han]]
===== Murger Han

Address:

....
8A Sackville St
Mayfair, London
W1S 3EZ
....

Website: https://www.murgerhan.com/

Last checked: 2019/01

Cuisine: Xi'an

Biangbiang noodles with all extras zhongla are amazing!!! Niuroupaomo OK, but not exciting. Roujiamo not very interesting, too bland for my taste.

[[resturants--uk--london--tier-2]]
===== London tier 2

[[restaurants--uk--london--chinese-tapas-house-london]]
====== Chinese Tapas House

Address:

....
Little Newport Street
WC2H 7JJ
....

Not yet on Google maps so I don't know the number, but the street is very small so should be easy to find.

Jianbing guozi, interesting spicy fast food.

[[restaurants--uk--london--rice-coming-restaurant]]
====== Rice Coming Restaurant 米齐临

Rice noodles are good, and small dishes authentic.

Address: 10A Coptic St, Holborn, London WC1A 1NH

Last checked: 2019-04

Website: https://ricecoming.business.site/

[[restaurants--uk--cambridge]]
==== Cambridge 剑桥

[[restaurants--uk--cambridge--spring-restaurant]]
===== Spring Restaurant 春天

Address:

....
66 Mill Rd
CB1 2AS
....

Last checked: 2017/08

Spicy chicken with pasta and potatoes.

[[restaurants--uk--cambridge--seven-days]]
===== Seven Days 天天美食剑桥

Address:

....
66 Regent St
CB2 1DP
....

[[resturants--uk--cambridge--72-china]]
===== @72 China

Address:

....
72 Regent St
CB2 1DP
....

Douhuaniurou 豆花牛肉, kaoyu.

[[resturants--uk--cambridge--golden-house]]
===== Golden House

Address:

....
12 Lensfield Rd
CB2 1EG
....

Meicaikourou, luobo bing.

[[restaurants--uk--cambridge--1-1-rougamo]]
===== 1 + 1 Rougamo

Tier: 2

Address:

....
84 Regent St
CB2 1DP
....

Last checked: 2019/05

Roujiamo very good. Also good: broad noodles, 凉皮.

[[restaurants--uk--oxford]]
==== Oxford 牛津

[[restaurants--uk--oxford--a-taste-of-china]]
===== A Taste Of China 三秦百味

Tier: 2

https://goo.gl/maps/oERKCv6Q8a32

Last checked: 2019/03

Redamian good, Biangbiangmian not as interesting. Nice people working there. Two two seat tables only, mostly takeaway. Fair price.

[[restaurants--uk--oxford--xi-an]]
===== Xi'an

Tier: 3

https://goo.gl/maps/DrDCPKWnG2M2

Last checked: 2019/03

Not real Chinese food I'm afraid. Songshuyu was not cut correctly into stripes and too much liquid sauce. Sijidou beans not dry enough, maybe need more frying. Early immigration (1968, mentioned on menu), almost no Chinese clients. Nice decoration and environment.

[[restaurants--uk--sheffield]]
==== Sheffield 谢菲尔德

* China Red Restaurant
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3 Rockingham Gate, Sheffield S1 4JD, United Kingdom
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Last checked: 2016/06, shuizhuyu.

[[restaurants--brazil]]
=== Brazil 巴西

[[restaurants--brazil--sao-paulo]]
==== Sao Paulo 圣保罗

* Chuanxiangyuan Restaurante (川香园餐馆 )
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\R. Barão de Iguape, 47 - Liberdade, São Paulo - SP
+
Eat the big fish dishes, they are worth it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuqi_feipian was not very good.
+
Free tea was good.
+
Rice could be better.
+
Owners are actually from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianjin , not Sichuan, as implied by the 川 in the name of the restaurant. GF told me that those big fish dishes are typical from there.
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Last checked: 2016/01/09

[[restaurants--canada]]
=== Canada 加拿大

[[restaurants--canada--montreal]]
==== Montreal 加拿大蒙特利尔，

Last checked: 2016/01

* Cuisine Szechuan
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2350 Rue Guy, Montréal, QC H3H 2M2, Canada
* Kanbai
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1110 Rue Clark, Montréal, QC H2Z 1K3, Canada Good
* Délice oriental
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1858 Rue Ste-Catherine O, Montréal, QC H3H 1M1

Not worth it:

* Chez Chili
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1050B rue Clark

[[museum]]
== The best East Asian museums outside of China 中国以外最好的东亚博物馆

<<ciro-santilli>> liked these in order of best first. Keep in mind that he is especially interested in <<chinese-traditional-painting>>:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art[New York Metropolitan Museum of Art], New York, United States
** 2019-05 https://photos.app.goo.gl/pBR1BmqWgd2Xq7jT8
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guimet_Museum[Guimet Museum], Paris, France
** 2016-10-30 including Chinese Jade Temporary Exposition: https://goo.gl/photos/6F3nMNqtPrGASuMv5
** 2013-02 https://photos.app.goo.gl/aj1vRWEcoUqdvUG58
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Museum[British Museum], London, United Kingdom. Too much porcelain, too little painting.
** 2016-08 https://goo.gl/photos/brGPsCmLCD2cJsWb7

[[television-series]]
== Chinese television series 中国电视剧

Modern themed television series are generally crap due to <<censorship>>, but this leads to a big focus on ancient stuff, and some of it is amazing.

A good place to start are the canonical TV adaptations of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_Chinese_Novels[Four Great Classic Novels] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/四大名著[四大名著])

* 1994 Three Kingdoms
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_of_the_Three_Kingdoms_(TV_series)
** https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/三国演义_(电视剧)
** The best https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Kingdoms[Three Kingdoms 三国] adaptation of all time? Mind blowing
** there seems to exist a version with full Chinese + English subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_r3eWfTMDs&list=PLdAMXqGeRsOkXzuocRkBPhe5RhZ6RotGH&index=2
** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8VWVvHjskM&list=PLIj4BzSwQ-_ueXTO7EBmShk1b3lEqc5b_ official CCTV电视剧 (CCTV TV Series Channel) upload without Chinese + English subtitles on <<censorship,YouTube>>
* 1986 Journey to the West by the <<chinese-government-media,CCTV>>
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_to_the_West_(1986_TV_series)
** https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/西游记_(中国中央电视台出品电视剧)
** https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIj4BzSwQ-_sfc7l2xm1wQswAd5jqrrDS official CCTV电视剧 upload with Chinese + English subtitles
* 1987 Dream of the Red Chamber by the CCTV
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_of_the_Red_Chamber_(1987_TV_series)
** https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/红楼梦_(1987年电视剧)
** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qmiajb1H6E the soundtrack is mindblowing, see also: <<music-free>>
** https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIj4BzSwQ-_vuHKAr64vPbDQpE0-iQGGZ official CCTV电视剧 upload without english subtitles by the channel
* 1986 Outlaws of the Marsh by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shandong_Television[Shandong Television] (link:https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/山东广播电视台[山东广播电视台])
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outlaws_of_the_Marsh_(TV_series)
** https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/水浒_(电视剧)
** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnshzmF6sY4&list=PLIj4BzSwQ-_sEAJsZnbcxV7sBc51XE8Z5 official CCTV电视剧 upload without english subtitles by the channel

There must be other good adaptations for other classics mentioned at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_literature[], gotta find them.

[[learn-chinese]]
== Tips to learn Chinese 学习中文方法建议

To read on the net, https://www.perapera.org/[Perapera] obviously, see also: <<does-ciro-santilli-speak-chinese>>.

To overhear people and learn characters/new words Pleco: https://www.pleco.com/

It really hurts that there is no online Pleco, you have to go back and forth from cell phone to computer, is there anything as good online?

* https://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/dictionary.php extremelly annoyng ads and limited list sizes, but good otherwise
* https://dict.naver.com/linedict/zhendict/#/cnen/home LINE dict, has many web scraped examples, but no sources back to those examples. Works, but a bit clunky.

Maybe some day something will be extracted from: https://github.com/skishore/makemeahanzi which jas a huge JSON of character data.

When you want to learn "how to say something in Chinese", the only valid routes are:

* does it have a Wikipedia page? Go on the English one then change language
* put an English sentence on https://translate.google.com/[Google Translate], then Google for it.
+
If it is a common word, it will give useless dictionary results, so search instead with `site:bbc.com` or `site:zhihu.com`.
+
Then find a sentence that contains the word written by a native Chinese, and understand the full sentence to confirm that it means what you want it to mean in a similar context.
+
Just using the Google translate directly will lead 70% to a weird/wrong/incomprehensible translation that no Chinese person would ever say.

Good Chinese content to consume to learn:

* 几分钟看完: illegal 10 minute summaries of movies with clips from the movies and a narrator speaking quickly instead of movie sounds.
+
Some have Chinese subtitles, e.g.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFSMvtS6SYQ and it is great content to learn from, because it is someone telling a not too boring story in a natural and clear way, with supporting images to help with context.

=== Chinese character sentence component mnemonic systems

Associate one word to each character/character component.

One good way to find mnemonics is to just Google for whatever random words you want to fit into a sentence. You end up learning fun things this way, and those make the best mnemonics.

Then to learn a new character, break it down into components, and create a sentence or short story that includes all the component words.

* <<characters>>: our own!!!!!
* https://rtega.be/chmn/ CC-BY-NO-SA but not clear way to contribute to it
* Proprietary books
** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0824833236 "Remembering Simplified Hanzi" by James W. Heisig and Timothy W. Richardson from 2008. This is the classic.
** https://www.amazon.com/dp/9881919339 STICK by Dr. Melanie Schmidt ed.
** https://www.amazon.com/dp/109565960X "Learn Chinese Characters: Easy Mnemonics to Memorize Hanzi: 400+ Characters, 700+ Vocabulary, 1300+ Practice Questions with Solutions" by L Castelluzzo

Japanese Kanji:

* proprietary:
** https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/kanji-radicals-mnemonic-method/
** https://www.wanikani.com/

=== Lists of the most common characters and words

This is a good approach to tick off high frequency stuff you don't know you don't know:

* HSK word lists
** https://web.archive.org/web/20180211123634/http://www.hskhsk.com/word-lists.html go in the "(frequency order)" links
* Official character lists learned by native Chinese students per age group. TODO find exact lists.
** https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/6000/how-many-characters-do-chinese-pupils-know-at-different-ages

[[history]]
== History of China (中国历史)

[[han-dinasty]]
=== Han dinasty (汉朝, 202 BC - 220 AC)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_dynasty

[[suwu]]
==== Suwu (苏武)

* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/苏武
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Su_Wu

Dude was messing around with <<throne,Ciro's wife's savage ancestors>>. Bad move.

[[geography]]
== Geography of China (中国地理)

[[five-great-mountains]]
=== Five Great Mountains (五岳)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Mountains_of_China#The_Five_Great_Mountains
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/五岳

[[mount-tai]]
==== Mount tai (泰山, peaceful mountain, big mountain)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tai
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/泰山

Not to be confused with the <<taihang-mountains>>.

=== Rivers of China

[[yangtze-river]]
==== Yangtze River (长江, Long River)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yangtze
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/长江

Exits through: Shanghai.

Passes by: Chongqing, Wugan, Nanjing

[[yellow-river]]
==== Yellow River (黄河)

Exits through: <<shandong>>, south of Beijing.

=== Provinces of China

This is a good province map: http://web.archive.org/web/20170910104718/http://cdn.topchinatravel.com/tct/pic/maps/china-map/china-tourist-map.jpg

[[gansu]]
==== Gansu Province (甘肃, gan1 su4)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gansu
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/甘肃省

Sheepskin rafts (羊皮筏)!!!

* http://lanzhou.china.org.cn/2013-11/27/content_30720242.htm
* https://youtu.be/OYU6DJWRxc4?t=316 Magical work of nature: Stone forest boosts tourism, revenues in village of Gansu, China (2018) by <<xinhua>>.
+
This video also makes it clear why the <<yellow-river>> is called "Yellow River", it is from all that yellow desert dust dissolving into the water.
* https://baike.baidu.com/item/羊皮筏 on <<baidu-baike>>

[[lanzhou]]
===== Lanzhou (兰州)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanzhou
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/兰州市

Well known for <<lamian>>.

[[guangxi]]
==== Guangxi Province (广西省)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangxi
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/广西壮族自治区

[[liaoning]]
==== Liaoning Province (辽宁省)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liaoning
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/辽宁省

[[hebei]]
==== Hebei Province (河北省)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebei
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/河北省

The name refers to it being North of the <<yellow-river>>.

[[heilongjiang]]
==== Heilongjian Province (黑龙江省)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heilongjiang
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/黑龙江

China's Northermost and Easternomst province.

Literaly: "Black Dragon River" province. The name refers to the massive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amur[Amur river] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/黑龙江[黑龙江]) that passes through the region.

Does not however border North Korea, only <<liaoning>> and <<jilin>> do.

[[henan]]
==== Henan Province (河南省)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henan
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/河南省

The name refers to it being South of the <<yellow-river>>.

[[jilin]]
==== Jilin (吉林)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jilin
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/吉林省

The capital city is also named Jilin (Jilin City).

The origin of the name has nothing to do with a forest (林), it is a transliteration from Manchu language for "along the river".

[[shandong]]
==== Shandong Province (山东省)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shandong
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/山东省

The name refers to it being East of the <<taihang-mountains>>.

[[sichuan]]
==== Sichuan Province (四川省)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sichuan
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/四川省

[[taihang-mountains]]
===== Taihang Mountains (太行山)

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taihang_Mountains
* https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/太行山

[[shanxi]]
==== Shanxi Province (山西省)

The name refers to it being West of the <<taihang-mountains>>.

== Chinese cheat

Single author open source Pleco + "Remembering Simplified Hanzi" in a single .adoc file? Let's go.

We'd use https://rtega.be/chmn/ as basis if it weren't for the NO in CC-BY-NO-SA? But that NO is evil, what the heck does it even mean to gain money from something? Too restrictive.

Format will be very constant, database like. Would therefore be cool to parse it from the Asciidoctor into a proper database as a way to verify and allow third party usage.

Base mnemonic components can come more or less directly from the 214 Kangxi radicals: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangxi_radical

One key principle is that characters and words often don't have a well translatable meaning: the minimal always translatable unit is a sentence: <<chinese-sentences>>!

You can't fully learn a language by learning words and characters alone, you must learn sentences.

=== Characters

Format:

....
[[<character>]]
=== <character> (<pinyin>, <mnemonic name>)

Short forms: <<short-form>>, <<short-form>>

Mnemonic: <<mnemonic-story>>.

Words:

* <chinese-word-containing>
* <chinese-word-containing>

Characters:

* <character-containing>
* <character-containing>

Translations:

* <<english-word>>
** <<chinese-sentence-containing>>

Sentences:

* <<chinese-sentence-containing>>

Notes: <<random-text>>

Notes:

* <<random-text>>
* <<random-text>>
....

Notes:

* `Translations` is only used when it is a single character word, if it goes inside a word, only the word will contain the sentence

[[top-part-of-每]]
==== Top part of 每 (, pistol)

Mnemonic: Can't find the freaking Unicode. It looks like a **pistol**.

Characters:

* 每 TODO each

[[top-part-of-存]]
==== Top part of 存 (, market stall)

Mnemonic: looks like one.

Characters:

* <<存>>

[[龶]]
==== 龶 (-, crown)

Mnemonic: the dot indicates something that stays on top of the head of a king (<<王>>)

Characters:

* <<青>>

Notes: there is no "proper" Chinese name for this, it is just known as "the top part of <<青>>" (青字頭) https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/龶

[[巴]]
==== 巴 (ba1, Brazil)

Mnemonic: the first character of <<巴西>>

Characters:

* <<爬>>

Words:

* <<巴西>>

[[八]]
==== 八 (ba1, eight)

Short forms: 丷

Characters:

* <<单>>
* <<六>>

[[白]]
==== 白 (bai2, white)

Mnemonic: the **sun** (<<日>>) is so bright on that **one** (<<一>>) day, that it was almost **white**

Characters:

* <<的>>

[[榜]]
==== 榜 (bang3)

[[勹]]
==== 勹 (bao1, plastic wrap)

Mnemonic: Kangxi 20 is "wrap". So we choose plastic wrap as a specific type of wrapping that will give good mnemonics.

Characters:

* <<勺>>

[[本]]
==== 本 (ben3, potato)

Mnemonic: **one** (<<一>>) thing is always beloow a **tree** (<<本>>): **potato** roots

Characters:

* <<体>>

[[匕]]
==== 匕 (bi3, spoon)