Food In Chna Report

Rapport TN07

FOOD IN CHINA by Gilles Lemagnen

Ce rapport présente ma découverte de la nourriture Chinoise, et plus précisément celle proposée dans les provinces du ZheJiang, Sichuan et Shaanxi. Ce récit raconte mon parcours depuis Rui’an jusqu’à Xi’an en passant par Cheng’du à la rencontre de paysans, d’étudiants et de jeunes chinois déjà rentrés dans la vie active, ainsi que d’expatriés français.

Mots-clés: Chine Nourriture TN07 • Responsable: Hélène Labbe • www.utt.fr

Introduction

My departure from Troyes took place two days prior to my flight as to give me some time to mingle with both a good friend of mine from Montpellier, and a Chinese friend whom I had met during my first years at U.T.T. Back then, he was the first Chinese person I had connected with and about a year ago, his family had let met stay with them in Chongqing 重庆 until I left for Xi’an JiaoTong University 西安交通大学 as an exchange student.

This exchange didn’t come as a surprise since WuYang 伍洋 and I had become friends at the Rue Champeaux in Troyes in 2004 developing my interest for China. My motivation was then essentially based on curiosity for I may converse with him in Mandarin. But besides my first tutoring lessons, what I remember most was his talent for cooking: he would not only invite me to come over to his place, but he would also offer to treat me to dinner. As I returned the favor with a mediterranean influenced cuisine, it wasn’t long before I realized that I had neither creativity nor knowledge relatively to him. Coming from the booming super-city of Chongqing, he had come to France with a Sichuan culinary savoir-faire which made me wonder: “HIS Chinese food is not OUR Chinese food!”.

With the desire to know more and break stereotypes, I seized the opportunity to go to China again in 2009 and learn about the food habits of the Chinese. This report is the result of a four-week journey around three provinces.

Me driving around the campus of Sichuan University in Cheng’du 2

Contents

1. Preparation

4

1.1 Planning

4

1.2 Cost of the trip

6

2. Approach

8

3. My experience

9

3.1 Ruiʼan

9

3.2 Chengʼdu

10

3.3 Xiʼan

15

3.4 Biang Biang mian

16

4. Conclusion

18

5. Bibliography

19

6. Appendices

20

6.1 Video montage

20

6.3 Subway and Starbucks menus

22

6.4 Useful addresses

23

6.5 Map

24

3

1. Preparation 1.1 Planning I applied for the tourist visa on January 12th, and for 55€ I was able to get it done for the following Friday. I picked it up at the Chinese embassy in Paris on the 16th, right on time for a take-off on Sunday.

My tourist or L VISA (旅游签证) allows me one entry into mainland China. Below are the details of my outgoing and ingoing flights with a cheap airline: the Russian Aeroflot:

January 18th Paris (CDG) 13h40 -> Moscow (SVO) 19h30 Moscow 21h30 -> Beijing (PEK) 09h50 January 19th

February 15th Beijing 07h00 -> Moscow 10h55 Moscow 13h05 -> Paris 15h00

4

Beijing time zone is UTC/GMT +8 hours. Paris’ clocks are synced with the Central European Time or UTC/GMT +1 hour. This 7-hour difference implies that I will be in transit for about 13 hours. (The time difference between Paris and Beijing is only 6 hours in the summer as France observes Daylight Saving Time which starts on March, 29th and ends on October, 25th in 2009). Upon arriving at the Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) 北京首都国际机场, I will wait for another two hours before taking off to a place three hours away: Wenzhou (WNZ) 温州永强机场. This is where I will finally be able to rest and put down the luggage which travelled along the 1524+3601+875=6000 miles (9656 Km).

In the beginning, I had thought of different travel routes, especially one that would take me to the highly praised Yunnan province 云南省. Another route would take me to Zhengzhou 郑州, home of the Shaolin Kung-Fu 少林功夫 masters. Last but not least, I considered visiting Shanghai.

In the end, because of what may be China’s most massive mass migration ever (188 million travelers), the price of plane tickets skyrocketed. China has only recently adopted the Gregorian calendar for day to day activities (1949) so their holidays are still determined by the traditional lunar calendar (in some cases, a mix of both calendars is used: the lunisolar calendar). Therefore, the Spring Festival marks the year of the Ox starting January 26th, 2009 and coincides with my travel arrangements.

An alternative to expensive airfares is train tickets; however, some people stand in line for as long as 3 days to get one. In addition to that, while trains are faster than coach buses, going from Wenzhou 温州 to Kunming 昆明, the capital of Yunnan province, a 40-hour long ride seems unbearable; even in the upper-class 4-bed sleeper compartments.

This is how Yunnan and Kunming were ruled out of my travel plans. Instead, I found an amazingly cheap airfare for Cheng’du, the capital of Sichuan province. My friend in Shanghai being out of touch for two days, I had no choice but to book the flight and rule out Shanghai too. Despite being one of the most important economic centers, transportation and communication hubs in Southwestern China; Cheng’du is, to my concern, more importantly recognizable for its spicy cuisine. In addition to that, this city is only one hour away from Chang’an: China’s capital for more than 1100 years. Chang’an is now better known as Xi’an. 5

All of these trips came at a cost, but these choices were the most affordable ones. 1.2 Cost of the trip Round-trip flight Paris-Beijing :

600 EUR

巴黎−北京

Flight Beijing-WenZhou :

1900 RMB

北京−温州

Flight WenZhou - Cheng’du :

1600 RMB

温州−成都

Flight Cheng’du - Xi’an :

350 RMB

成都−西安

Flight Xi’an - Beijing :

250 RMB

西安−北京

Hotel Ibis in Xi’an :

1200 RMB

宜必思酒店

Expenses:

400 € (adjusted to actual)

The overall cost of this trip approximates 1460€.

Chinese Renminbi (RMB) bills, all showing Mao Ze Dong (毛泽东) on one side and a scenery of China on the other.

6

The inland plane tickets were purchased either through the online airfare search engine www.qunar.com (qunar 去

儿 meaning “Where are you going?) or by phone dialing 114. 114 can

be dialed from any phone and from anywhere within China and provides all sorts of information such as addresses, phone numbers, train and plane tickets. It is a person-to-person equivalent of The Yellow Pages.

In the table above, expenses cover transportation and food costs. For example, a typical 10 minute ride on a taxi (出租车) is 12 RMB, riding the public bus (公交车) is 2 RMB and a pedicab (三轮 车) charges around 5 RMB for a ride.

As of February 2009, 1€ ≈ 8.9 RMB. It shall be noted that Chinese people normally refer to RMB as yuan 元 or kuai 块.

7

2. Approach In my opinion, a good way of studying the culinary habits is to mix with the locals, i.e. join them for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner. As a matter of fact, “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” is an expression very well known throughout this multi-ethnic nation known as the Middle Kingdom. Mandarin, the unifying dialect, would translate this idiom into rù xiāng suí sú :

入乡随俗 I should as much as possible be around locals for at least two reasons: the first one is that I would meet difficulties understanding what food is what and the second one is that my fellow companions may choose dishes that I would not have thought of ordering myself. They hold the culture, hence they are likely to be the ones from whom I will learn the most, and they are also the ones thanks to whom I will experience the most. As I wanted to clearly identify the price of one product, rice surfaced quite instantly as a reasonable one. I could also choose to look into vegetables, or meats or even fruits, but rice seemed fairly universal to me. So, how much does rice really cost to the citizens of the world’s top rice-eater? How much do rice bags sell for at hypermarkets such as Walmart and Carrefour? How much does it cost on a street market ? Generally speaking, what is the average daily cost of food? Are there food related differences between the rural areas and the cities ? To help me answer these questions, a couple of friends contributed to the project, as summarized in the table below: Locations 地方

Contact 联系人

Occupation 职业

Rui’an 瑞安

Réva 张小月

Clothing sales person

Cheng’du 成都

Nicolas Gies

IT Consultant for a local real estate business

Xi’an 西安

Stone 邓传上 Enna 粱鹿儿

Master student in Materials Science Student in French

Shanghai 上海

Sally (盛琰)

Student

Cancelled 8

3. My experience 3.1 Ruiʼan Upon my arrival, my friend Réva took me to dinner at a fancy restaurant the very same afternoon. Exhausted from the 24-hour long journey across the globe, I was only half motivated with the idea of going out, but I needed to keep myself busy in order to resist the temptation of falling onto a cozy bed. I did mention dinner and I did say afternoon, which is the first noticeable aspect of eating with the Chinese: it is customary for them to go out for dinner between 5 and 6 PM. The place was grandiose. As a matter of fact, it looked more like a 5-star hotel. Réva explained to me that a lot of restaurants around town were that big because of the business activities of the area. She said that Rui’an, and the nearby city of Wenzhou, have historically been Chinese’s precursor cities in adopting a liberal economy. Therefore, people from Wenzhou had made great fortunes and investments in such that dining complexes were common in the area, for the businessmen often got acquainted around a dinner table. Person-to-person social interaction is called yìng chou 应酬, and this restaurant, also equipped with Karaoke rooms, seemed fit for all purposes. What we ate was mainly seafood: eels, crabs and shrimps; as well as an unknown expensive fish which brought the total to 800RMB! That was the most luxurious dinner I had ever been offered and yet I was too tired to appreciate these local delicacies. After a good night of sleep, I was in a better shape, however I felt bad about how much money was spent the night before. Naturally, I wandered in town looking for cheaper meals. This was very easy since this city has small karts owned by improvised Chefs who (legally and illegally sometimes) sell egg crepes (jī dàn bǐng 鸡蛋饼), potatoes, stinky tofu (chòu doù fu 臭豆 腐), skewered meat and vegetables. Prices range from 0.5 yuan to 3 yuan and you walk out full.

a) Delicious grilled oyster b) Snacks on the street c) My new year’s menu: XiaoLong buns with egg and tomatoes, delivered home for no extra charge! 9

3.2 Chengʼdu Once I arrived in Cheng’du, my friend Nicolas and his friend XiaoBei 晓

took me out to

experience Sichuan cuisine. The least I can say is that you have nothing to lose but your stomach linings! Cheng’du cuisine deploys spice with abandon, which as far as Nicolas and I were concerned overwhelmed the flavor of the food. To be honest, I could not eat food that spicy. The following days, I carefully checked whether a dish was hot or not. On the menu it had little peppers on the side: one pepper for mild; two peppers for spicy, three peppers for extra spicy/ flaming hot. Every time I ordered dishes from the “one pepper” category, I needed to quench the fire within my throat after a few bites. In the meantime, XiaoBei was ordering the three-pepper ones. The sheer number of peppers was so high in some cases that the meat was literally buried beneath an inch of dried red peppers. East Asia has many varieties of steamboats, known as fondues or hot pots. Chinese call their hot pot “huǒ guō” 火锅, where huǒ means "fire", and guō refers to "pot". It first appeared during the Tang dynasty and evolved with different kinds of meat through time until it became popular throughout all provinces by the Qing Dynasty. The cooking pot is often sunken into the table and fueled by either gas or hot coals. We load the ingredients individually into the hot cooking broth using our chopsticks. Dexterity with chopsticks is essential if you are unwilling to burn yourself. We let the food cook for 2 minute or so. Then, we dip the food into a peanut sauce before eating. Ordering the ingredients is challenging as all the names are listed with no pictures whatsoever, but it is even more challenging to tolerate the pepper-flavored soup. Since foreigners are coming in ever greater number in Cheng’du, they won’t be disappointed to know that restaurants have an accessory that divides the pot in two thus allowing two separate soups.

a) Chicken surrounded by peppers b) Ordering the fondue ingredients c) The fondue is ready 10

As if I needed to breathe pepper-free air, I called the local bus station and found my way to DaYi 大 邑, in a search for rice paddies. After eating some ZhaJiangMian at the bus station, one local showed me to a pedicab driver and pressed him to guide me around safely and for cheap. It is true that I have encountered quite a few persons who would have willingly ripped me off based on the fact that I am a foreigner with money. Most of the time, talking to them in Chinese solves the issue as they realize you are not “just a tourist”. The pedicab agreed and off I went with him and my camera. He asked me what I wanted to see and suggested we should go see a field of flowers blooming. I insisted that I wanted to check on the rice paddies because I was doing a report for school about the food in China. As he took me there, I spoke to him only to realize that the rice was "not being cultivated now; it's not the season". Too bad, I would have to come back in July or August to see the harvest of rice paddies.

a) One lady farmer b) An elder working the fields c) My pedicab driver Nevertheless, I managed to ask him and a few peasants working around a few questions. They were quite puzzled by my presence in such a remote area, which suffered from last year’s big earthquake (May 11th, 2008). Wearing make up and holding a baby, I was surprised to see this woman present herself as the owner of two fields. Here is a partial transcript of our discussion: Me: What do you usually eat? Do you consider the food expensive? Lady : We usually eat pigs and chickens. We eat beef less frequently. Fish, chicken and other meat are relatively inexpensive at the market. My son likes noodles (son is shy and doesn’t want to reply to me directly). Me: How many meals do you have per day? Lady: In this village, we generally eat 2 meals and 1 soup. However, during the Spring Festival or weddings we will eat a lot more because the family is gathered. On average, I spend 20 yuan/day.

11

Me: I understand it is not the season for rice now. What is growing then? Lady: True, we will plant the rice in March or April and harvest it in the summer. Right now it is all canola (yóu cài 油菜) in my fields. After exchanging with others and thanking them for their time, I headed towards town and stopped at a dumpling place to order some Xiao Long Bao and Bums. There, two teenagers sat down at a table and I initiated a talk about what they enjoyed eating.

Girl (HuWei): My family really likes to eat Chinese Cabbages (青菜,白菜). These are some green onions (葱), she says pointing at the seated woman preparing the green onions.

After a little chat, the two girls left, but came right back asking me if I agreed to let them take me around. Sure! We ended up going to one of the two’s grandparents’ fields; where we might meet her cousin too! 12

After a 30-minute bus ride, which they kindly insisted on paying for me, we arrived at the farmlands. Voila! I had made it to China’s agricultural world, walking around 100 acres of cultivated land. Juan 娟 shouted a couple times and indeed her cousin did show up. The three teenagers with their modern outfits, high-end cellphones and their interest in numerous Internet activities were giving me a sophisticated image of DaYi’s farmer families. HuWei 胡薇 gave the uninitiated me a tour, pointing out what was growing here and there: - Here are wheat fields 麦田, she says. Once you’ve harvested the wheat, you can make bums 馒头 - Uh? I was baffled. - This is what you ate earlier when we met you!, she added rightfully. Over here, that’s rapeseed plant, also known as canola plant 油菜, and we’ll later make oil out of it to use for frying 炒菜. These are Chinese cabbage (白菜=莲花白) and here is a peach-tree 桃树. They are quite remarkable trees: it grows differently from others, it is the first to have flowers and then grows leaves. It first grows flowers, then the leaves, then finally the peaches. And the flowers are pink, very beautiful. Around us were more wheat fields. In fact, wheat and rice are the two main sources of carbohydrates in Southern China. The boy said he helped his family in the fields when he had time. When eating out, he said he would spend 20 yuan/day if he ate well. I remembered the woman had the same budget; so I will keep in mind that a lower-class person outside Cheng’du spends around 20 yuan/day on food. In Cheng’du, an English graduate working in advertising spends around 30 yuan/day, a French engineer expatriate spends around 100 yuan/day and a French IT entrepreneur spends around 50 yuan/day.

Off I went to a local market to look at how much rice was selling for; and what margin the retailer was making off of it. It turns out he is making 0.2 RMB for each kilo of rice sold.

Type of rice

Origin

RMB/500g

HanZhong 汉中米 （陕西省）

Shaanxi

1.80

Pearl Xiang 珍珠香米 （东北）

Beijing

2.10

Pearl 珍珠 （东北）(most popular)

Beijing

1.80

HanZhong 汉中米 (成都、四川省）

Cheng’du, Sichuan

1.70

New rice 新米 (新都、四川省)

Xindu, Sichuan

1.60

Hubei 湖北米 (湖北省)

Hubei

2.00 13

The lady made it clear that the price of eggs fluctuates, as well as the price of oranges. I know for a fact that they were sold twice cheaper than they are now (2.5RMB vs 5RMB) before the Spring Festival. Looking around the market, I wrote down the prices of several other items, including some exotic ones such as sugarcane. It is very common to find people selling fruits on the streets, on the back of their bicycle, so prices may vary depending on who you buy it from.

a) Pearl Xiang rice b) Local shop giving me an orange for free c) Skinning a cane for a customer

Food

RMB/500g

€/Kg

猪肉 Pork

10

2.25

鸡蛋 Eggs

3.2

0.72

西红柿 Tomatoes

2.5

0.56

橘子 Oranges

5

1.12

甘蔗 Cane

2

0.45

菠萝 Pineapple

3.5

0.79

栗子 Chestnuts

6

1.35

心果 Pistachios

38

8.54

新疆核桃仁 Walnuts

29.8

6.70

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3.3 Xiʼan After seeing the rice canola and wheat fields of Sichuan, I flew over to the home of the Terracotta army (兵马俑) where I would spend the remaining days of the inter semester. After making a few phone calls; some of with friends from last year and I were reunited,... to eat ! Chinese students rarely invite each other home but they will consistently go out for lunch or dinner with one another and treat each other. This is quite different from the way we proceed in France, as eating out represents quite a lot of money, and inviting boys and girls home is not a problem since there are no strict policies. Xi’an is famous for having cheap food; and the most famous of these snacks known as xiǎo chī 小 吃 are ròu jiā mó (肉夹馍), a pita-like bun filled with fatty pork and shredded vegetables, and miàn pí 面皮, a thin noodle soup. Both sell for around 3 yuan. Shaanxi food is also known for its liberal use of vinegar and garlic. Chewy hand-pulled noodles and wide flat spinach noodles both come doused with vinegar, garlic, and optional chili sauce. Vegetables are frequently doused with vinegar and garlic. This is definitely not a place to bring someone on a date! The muslim quarter in Xi’an, huí mín jiē 回民街 serves excellent tāng bāo 汤包, juicy baozi filled with soup and meat. You can choose between lamb 羊肉, or shrimp 虾肉 or even vegetables. These are truly my favorites. Xi’an’s chain-restaurant xiǎo liù tāng baō 小六汤包 serves both tāng baō and another of my favorite dishes, táng cù lǐ jǐ 糖醋里脊, a sweet and sour pork dish served with pineapple. Tāng bāo are eaten by biting it open to empty its liquid on a spoon and the flour and meat is eaten afterwards.

a) Tāng bāo or soup buns at the muslim quarter b) Táng cù lǐ jǐ or sweet and sour pork c) Various Xiǎo chī being served until 1AM

15

3.4 Biang Biang mian Chinese most complex character is Biáng and refers to Biang biang noodles, a type of noodle from China's Shaanxi province. Since I was in Xi’an at the end of the trip, I found a place which served them. Better, I even found a restaurant that had the characters blown up on a huge sign.

a) The front of the restaurant. If you count right, you should find 57 strokes! In contrast, the simplest character is 一 yī (meaning “one") with just one horizontal stroke. b) Picking it up The noodles, touted as one of the "ten strange wonders of Shaanxi" (陝西十大怪), are described as being like a belt, due to their thickness and length. Truth be told, I didn’t like these Biang Biang noodles much; they were just too big and the sauce was bad too.

16

3.5 Carrefour in China Besides the food the Chinese produced locally, I was wondering which imported food they were most addicted to. So I contacted Carrefour and Walmart in order to meet with the people in charge of imported products at their respective store. I was only able to meet someone from Carrefour; but that was just fine since Carrefour is doing much better in China than its competitor Walmart. The reasons are that Carrefour acts locally, and does not promote nationally. They adapt their products to the region they are sold in and they hire locals to run promotional events which appeal to the customers. The following is a transcript of an email interview with French Alexandre Beaudoux, head of imported products at Carrefour 家乐福 in Cheng’du. The interview is in French and applies for calendar year 2008. Me: Quels sont les produits étrangers (importés) les plus consommés par les chinois chez vous? Carrefour: En terme de produit frais: le lait et le beurre sont les produits les plus consommés, à noter que la demande en lait importé s'est considérablement accrue du fait du lait contaminé chinois. Carrefour et ses concurrents en Chine (Métro 麦德龙, Auchan 欧尚, ...) se sont d'ailleurs régulièrement retrouvés en pénurie de lait importé à cause de cette situation, notamment dans l'Ouest du pays, partie la moins bien desservie. Pour l'alimentaire "sec": Les céréales, les pâtes, et le thé coréen étaient les produits les plus consommés. A noter que la consommation des expatriés a sûrement un impact non négligeable sur la consommation de pâtes et de céréales, mais nous n'avons pas pu faire d'études ou d'estimations afin de chiffrer quelle en était la proportion. Pour les boissons: Le cognac reste une valeur sûre, les vins rouges de bordeaux sont les vins qui se vendent le mieux. La consommation de coca-cola et pepsi est bien évidemment considérable, mais non comprise dans les produits importés étant produit localement. Me: Quel est le panier moyen d'un client de Carrefour en Chine? Carrefour: Niveau Chine, je ne saurais te dire exactement, tant la situation est disparate si l'on se trouve à l'Est, dans le Sud ou dans l'Ouest. Je peux seulement te dire avec certitude que le panier moyen d'un client dans l'Ouest de la chine, pour un magasin Carrefour situé dans une zone "aisé" se situe autour des 80-90 yuans. En général moitié moins dans nos autres magasins, ceux qui sont situés proches des classes "moyennes".

17

4. Conclusion There was a plethora of pedicabs in Rui’an making the short trips more original and less stressful than the crazy rides of a few taxi drivers- or should I say pilots- in Xi’an. My friend in Cheng’du had an electric scooter which decreased transportation costs and paradoxically increased safety. The rural roads were quite dangerous as well, with not only stacks of various materials such as sand, bricks, rocks and storm debris laying around but also animals and people going the wrong way. I was disgusted with these insecure conditions and decided to not travel outside of towns for my own safety. I made one exception for the ride to DaYi, and I have no regrets whatsoever for I am pleased to have met the three teenagers. Chinese New Year is a time for families to reunite, and being alone for this trip, I felt privileged to join Nicolas’ girlfriend’s family in Cheng’du for a family dinner. Her grandparents were there, as well as her immediate and distant family who had flown from Shanghai. I recall the discussion with a cousin who worked top-management at Coca-Cola1 , informing me that China moved from the 4th to the 3rd largest market for Coca-Cola at the end of 2008. Despite agreeing to pay hefty prices, sparing free time at a local Starbucks (xīng bā kè 星巴克) is nothing but usual in both Cheng’du or Xi’an. It is now clear as to why this coffee place became a phenomenon in China: it markets a culture which appeals to the thousands of open-minded entrepreneurs or university graduates who identify with the new capitalistic lifestyle. Overall, the service in the restaurants was friendly, sometimes brusque but functional. On one hand, what I appreciated the most from eating in China is that you were served within a few minutes. While restaurants in France serve you with much more delay, due to all the precaution and intricate arrangements of the food on the plates; I had not been waiting for more than ten minutes during these four weeks. On the other hand, lack of hygiene was prominent in small and street restaurants and may discourage some. In a nutshell, my impression is that Chinese food varied from ZheJiang province to Shaanxi province but kept its fundamentals: rice and pork served along a myriad of vegetables account for the archetypal Chinese meal. While some places like Guangdong Province are said to eat anything (I encourage a fellow student to experience eating cats, snakes, spiders and dogs and write a report), most of the Chinese people I have come across sticked to “conventional” foods. It is nonetheless obvious that they are less picky about their meat than I am.

1

Kě kǒu kě lè 可口可乐, a smart transliteration meaning “taste and enjoy” is the leader in

carbonated drinks in China 18

5. Bibliography [1] F. Jullien, Eloge de la fadeur. LGF, livre de poche ed., 1993. [2] P. Gentelle, V. Alleton, I. Ang et F. Aubin, Chine, peuples et civilisations. La Découverte/Poche ed., 2004. [3] J. Dars, Les carnets secrets de Li Yu : Au gré d'humeurs oisives, un art du bonheur en Chine. Philippe Picquier ed., 2003. [4] “L’avenir des zones rurales en chine et en europe.” http://base.china-europa-forum.net/rsc/docs/wt34_releve_de_conclusions_fr.pdf, retrieved on 15/01/2009. [5] U. S. Department of Agriculture, “Rice consumption.” http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/agr_gra_ric_con-agriculture-grains-rice-consumption, retrieved on 13/02/2009. [6] “L’art culinaire chinois.” http://www.chine-informations.com/guide/lart-culinaire-chinois-apercu_162.html, retrieved on 16/01/2009 . [7] “Travel in china.” http://wikitravel.org/en/China, retrieved on 20/12/2009. [8] “La nourriture chinoise.” http://www.chinofrance.net/blog-chine/category/nourriture-chinoise/, retrieved on 22/01/2009. [9] “Les chinois et la nourriture.” http://www.chine-informations.com/guide/les-chinois-et-la-nourriture_303.html, retrieved on 20/01/2009. [10] T. Sanjuan, E. Allès, J-P. Cabestan, Y. Citoleux, Dictionnaire de la Chine contemporaine. Armand Colin ed., 2006. [11] Walmart and Carrefour in China: Whose strategy is better? http://www.supplychainer.com/ 50226711 walmart_and_carrefour_in_china_whose_strategy_is_better.php, retrieved on 18/03/2009.

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6. Appendices 6.1 Video montage I shot some footage and made a video montage which I will display the day of the presentation. The material used for the making of the video is listed below:

Sanyo HD1000 Video camera with 2x8GB Class 6 SD cards

Rode VideoMic external microphone

SteadyCam Modosteady

Apple MacBook Unibody 2.4Ghz with 4GB of RAM

Apple iMovie 2009

20

6.2 Chinese vocabulary

Words

米饭 mi3fan4

rice (cooked)

大米 da4mi3

rice

馆 can1 guan3

restaurant

水稻 shui3dao4

rice paddy

子 kuai4 zi

chopsticks

农田 nong2tian2

farmland

家乐福 jia1le4fu2

Carrefour

庄稼 zhuang1jia

farm crops

沃尔玛 wo4 er3 ma3

Walmart

巨无霸 ju4wu2ba4

Big Mac

Sandwich 12,50元

Menu 21元 (XL+2)

Double Cheeseburger

Sandwich 9元

Menu 16,5元 (XL+2)

双层吉士汉堡包 shuang1ceng2ji2shi4han4 bao3bao1

一碗 yi1 wan3

a bowl

Some of my favorite dishes

鱼香肉丝 yu xiang rou si

Pork strips with fragrant fish sauce

糖醋里脊 tang cu li ji

Sweet and sour pork

汤包 tang bao

Soup bun

宫保鸡丁 gong bao ji ding

Kung pao chicken (peanuts)

小笼包 xiao long bao

Soup dumpling

西红柿炒鸡蛋 xi hong shi chao ji dan

Fried eggs and tomatoes

Sichuan and Shaanxi slang

好港 hao3 gang3 =真酷 zhen1 ku4

It rocks!

巴适 ba1 shi4

Very good

不摆了 bu4 bai3 le

Very good (for food)

莫嘛达 mo4 ma da2

No problem (Shaanxi)

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6.3 Subway and Starbucks menus

22

6.4 Useful addresses - Office du tourisme de Chine : 15, rue de Berri. 75008 Paris. Tel : 01-56-59-10-10. Fax : 01-53-75-32-88. Internet : http://www.otchine.com/ . E-mail : [email protected] - Hong Kong Tourist Board : 37, rue de Caumartin, 75009 Paris. Tel : 01-42-65-66-64. Fax : 01-42-65-66-00. Internet : www.discoverhongkong.com . Ne pas se déplacer car l’office donne uniquement des renseignements par téléphone ou vous envoie sa documentation par courrier. - Ambassade de la République populaire de Chine : 9, av Victor-Cresson, 92130 Issy-lesMoulineaux. Tél. : 01-47-36-77-90. Fax : 01-47-36-34-46. Internet : www.amb-chine.fr - Mairie d'Issy. Le service consulaire de l'Ambassade de Chine a déménagé au 18-20, rue Washington, 75008 Paris. Tél. : 01-53-75-89-25 (visa). - Consulat général de Chine : 20, bd Carmagnole, 13008 Marseille. Tel : 04-91-32-00-01. Ouvert les mardi, mercredi et vendredi de 9 h à 12 h. Délai d’obtention du visa : une semaine. - Consulat général de Chine : 35, rue Bautain, 67000 Strasbourg. Tel : 03-88-45-32-32. Près du jardin de l’Orangerie. Ouvert les mardi, mercredi et jeudi de 9 h à 12 h. Délai d’obtention du visa : une semaine. - SmartShanghai.com | urban webzine | nightlife, dining, culture, art, stage in Shanghai : www.smartshanghai.com - Food delivering services in Shanghai, Suzhou and Hangzhou http://www.sherpa.com.cn - QQ | China’s most popular instant messenger service www.imqq.com - Chinese dictionary and other resources http://www.chinese-tools.com/tools/dictionary.html

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6.5 Map

3456789:; Beijing !"

0 Xi'an 西安 '&+)*'&%<)

3 Cheng'du #$ %&'()*'&+) DaYi 大邑=

2 Avion /0

1

Bus 12

Rui'an ,%&%.)*%&'()

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