A Chinese Wedding Reception

Yes, we had the honor of attending a Chinese Wedding Reception on Sunday. As far as the Chinese Government is concerned, Huang Gang and his lovely wife were legally married about a year ago. They are just now getting around to celebrating that event with a reception and their honeymoon. We suspect the delay between the legal marriage and the celebration for family and friends, is a money issue. It appears that it's not uncommon in this culture to put off the "wedding" until later, when it may be more affordable.

The Reception

Aside from the regional menu items, party favors (cigarettes and candy!), and some minor ceremonial activities, it very much resembled a reception we might have attended in Kingston, New York. We followed the advice given us about the appropriate gift - money in a red envelope. We had a wonderful time, entrusted to the care of the aunt and uncle at whose table we sat. The language barrier between us truly was not a problem. They treated us as though we were their personal guests, serving us every table item, filling our glasses and toasting regularly, and escorting us out to pick up our taxi at the end of the evening. Very gracious people.

Class Activities

Jim: I have been engaging my students in the art of debate. This was definitely a new experience for them, and I had to spend a great deal of time explaining the structure and procedures to them. Well, it's been well worth the efforts. Let the debates begin . . . With topics such as the "One Child per Family Law," to the regulation of university students forbidden to marry, and many other culture-specific ones, the students have been continually impressing me with their passionate ideas, their skills at rebuttal, and their general ability to "think on their feet."

Anita: I have focused my classes on discussions related to International Earth Day, which I discovered is celebrated on Vernal Equinox around the world. (Locally most of us are quite familiar with the April 22nd date, which is also the more "traditional" one.) It seemed like an appropriate topic, given the general human interest in the environment, and also the very local concerns about pollution, global warming, and the health hazards to the local citizenry. (Zibo City and the whole of the Shandong Province are highly industrialized, and industry appears to not be very well regulated. Add to that the drought conditions, and the construction sites everywhere you look, and you can well understand why these 20-year-old students would have genuine concerns and much to say.)

Getting beyond Zibo City

We tried out the new steak place in town Friday night. Absolutely delicious steaks, maybe the best ever. The menu itself had about twenty items, but in fact, most of them were "not available, so sorry." Anyway, we met a couple there, Manfred and "Yee-shu," and found that we had a lot in common. For one, we could communicate in English. They live in Zibo, have a car, and were heading to Jinan (see map, Jinan is south west of Zibo), the capital of the Shandong Province, on Sunday to do some grocery shopping. So we tagged along, and enjoyed expanding our horizons, and our grocery selections. Jinan was cleaner than Zibo, and very cosmopolitan. A delightful day! Big treats in the market were - - olive oil, olives, microwave popcorn, butter, and chardonnay wine. Check out a few of the street scenes we captured.

That's all for this week. Visit our site next week for more from Zibo.

Printed materials (magazines, etc.), VCDs Wanted

We are enclosing our mailing address. It can be expensive, and take long to mail things here. But just in case, here it is . . .

James Hadley and/or Anita DeFina
c/o International Coop. & Exchange Dept.
Shandong University of Technology
12 Zhangzhou Road
Zibo, Shandong 255091
P. R. China

With the Bride and Groom

The Wedding Banquet Food

Children in Jinan

A Diaperless Society

The Scholars
Anita, Confucius and Jim

Note:
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