Chinese Fashion in a Few Paragraphs

If you saw what I am wearing right now, you would probably laugh. It is currently 12:09 a.m. in Zhongshan, China, and I am wearing a pink nightgown with a giant yellow kitten head on it. At the top, it says the words, “Intelligent of CAT,” and down at the bottom, the carefully thought out words read, “tears since rou gloe me erera ther tou are tad.” It goes on like that for a good five lines.

Chinese fashion is obviously different from American fashion. You will find LOTS of interesting clothes if you go shopping here, some adorably cute, others… not so much. Here are some of the things I’ve noticed about Chinese fashion from living here for the past four months.

1.) The younger looking, the better

In China, I have often seen someone with a cute outfit on and thought, “That’s so cute! I want that!” Then I think of wearing it in the U.S, and I automatically decide against it. I would look like a fourteen-year-old.

In one word, Chinese fashion is “young.” More than once, while walking down the sidewalk by the mall, I have seen someone from behind wearing a short, frilly dress that flares out at the bottom. Automatically, I think, “This person must be a teenager or young adult. It looks like they are going to a tea party.” Then I walk past them and catch a glimpse of their face. It is definitely NOT the face of a teenager or even of a young adult. It is an older woman at least in her 40’s.  

EVERYONE in China dresses like they are younger than they are. (Well, most everyone. There are some old men and women who stick to their floral button-ups.) I have seen men in their 50’s wearing graphic t-shirts, old women wearing frilly “tea time” dresses, and men and women in their later years sporting t-shirts with bad English translations. And the little girls definitely dress like little girls. They have the cutest fancy dresses you have ever seen.

I have gotten a couple of Chinese shirts and dresses, and I have never felt so young-looking in my life. Sometimes, I feel like I look like a sugar plumb fairy with all the frilly, flowy material. It is all very girly and very little girly. If you want to fit in with the fashion in China, dress at least a decade below your actual age.

2.) Leggings are a staple

In the United States, a pair of dark skinny jeans are the wardrobe staple as far as pants go. Here in China, leggings are the fashion statement. During the colder months, you wear leggings with EVERYTHING. Your mini skirt, your extra-long shirt with the ruffles, and even your pair of plaid short shorts.

People mostly wear black or white leggings and then mix and match brighter colors with them like pink, yellow, or blue. You can get thicker leggings for about 25 yuan or you can opt for the thin ones for only 8 yuan. (25 yuan=about $4.16 in the United States. The conversion rate is six yuan for every one U.S. dollar. It makes for great, cheap shopping!)

3.) Shirts with English words are in style… Even when they make no sense

I guess English is just that cool. Everyone wears shirts with English words printed on the front—even if they make absolutely no sense at all.

I figure that it’s kind of like us buying a shirt with Chinese writing on it. We think, “Oh, that looks cool!” but we have no idea what it actually says. I think that’s the same idea here.

To give you an idea of what I mean, here are some firsthand examples of shirts that make absolutely no sense at all that are for sale in the mall.

4.) Miniskirts are fashionable

Japanese cartoons wear miniskirts all the time, right? Well, so do Chinese girls. With or without leggings. When I bought black leggings a few months ago, the saleslady tried selling me a black mini skirt to go with them. “Nope! I just want the leggings! Thanks!”

Here are just a few examples.

5.) Pink, pink, and more pink

Chinese people seem to like pastel colors a little bit more, so you often will see light, springtime colors. Pink is definitely a color you see frequently. You will see it on shirts, (for men and women) dresses, skirts, shoes… there is a lot of pink.

6.) Do you have high heels and platforms?

High heels and platforms are fashionable because Chinese people are generally short, and I guess they like to be taller. The girls seem to have no problem being taller than their boyfriend or husband if it means they get to wear a fashionable pair of heels.

7.) Stripes are everywhere

If you were to line up everyone in China, just about every other person would be wearing something striped. No joke. Stripes are everywhere!

Fortunately, I like stripes, so I got this dress for 70 yuan! (That’s a little over $11 U.S. dollars. Woot woot!)

Here are some other examples.

8.) Don’t be surprised to see sheer skirts and shirts

In my mind, it kind of defeats the purpose to wear something that you can see straight through, but people in China seem to think it’s a fashion statement. Lots of girls wear these long skirts that are made from see-through material over a pair of shorts or a mini skirt.

9.) Clothing with cats is not just for old ladies

Lots of times while I’m shopping, I’ll see a shirt on the rack and think, “Oh, that looks cute.” But then I turn it around to find this silver bedazzled cat head looking back at me.

Cats are on a lot of things. And not just because Hello Kitty is big here. Cats are just popular, I guess. I don’t even like cats generally, and yet, here I am with a giant yellow cat head smiling at me on my pajamas. I guess the Chinese fashion is getting to me.

10.) Bling bling!

Everything in China sparkles, and it’s not from cleanliness. It’s from all the bedazzled blitz on all the shoes, shirts, pants, and… well, everything.

Everything here is blinged out. There are jewels, sparkles, and glitter on all of the products. Even the shirts for guys have blue sparkles on them. It gets really annoying sometimes because I don’t really like glitzy things. It’s definitely a fashionable thing here though, and it’s not shameful in the least to be an adult wearing a pair of shoes with pink jewels and frilly bows.

In Conclusion

In conclusion, I will form a fashionable Chinese outfit for you.

First, get a t-shirt with silver jewels lining the neck. The shirt should also include English words that are spelt incorrectly and make no sense at all. Make sure that the words are all printed in a non-serif font with blue sparkles behind them. If you want to add another shirt underneath that has frills on the bottom, feel free to do so.

Next, find a bright pink miniskirt. If it looks like an Easter color, great. You will then want to find a pair of black leggings to go with the miniskirt. Last, but not least, you will want to find a pair of sparkly high heels. Any color will be great. Or, if you want to go for a punk look, get a pair of Converse. (I forgot to mention that.) Feeling athletic? Wear a pair of New Balance tennis shoes! (I forgot to mention that too.)

And there you have it! Chinese fashion.

But on a more serious note, the clothes in China can be both really cute and really hideous, just like anywhere else in the world. There are so many different kinds of people and because of that, there are so many different styles, just like in America! If you came to China and went shopping, you would find things you liked and for a GREAT deal. The best thing about Chinese fashion is probably the prices. I love how inexpensive all the clothes here are! It's a dream come true! Sandals that look like Chacos for less than $10? A pair of Toms for $3.50? Shopping in China is amazing!

And even though the fashion can throw me for a loop sometimes, I have to admit, it has grown on me. 

Zaijien! 

The Day I Got a Fish Head for Lunch

Lunch was due to end in ten minutes, so I rushed down to my school’s cafeteria to grab a bite to eat before I taught my classes for the day. I grabbed my red chopsticks from my group’s little cupboard and got in line. After the first lunch lady scooped a hunk of white rice onto my plate as usual, I looked at my side dish options. Since I had come so near to the end of the lunch hour, my options were limited. I pointed to a meat that looked a little sketchy (I would see if it was really edible when I sat down) and a meat stir fry thing that was soaked in what looked like a way-too-spicy-for-Liz sauce.

Last of all, I saw what looked like some kind of meat. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I didn’t have any other options, so I pointed to it and nodded my head to the lunch lady. She put one piece of whatever it was on my plate and then she put another piece on as well. Then she handed me my tray. That is when I found a fish head looking up at me.

Interestingly enough, I was not really too disgusted by it. Surprised, yes. Disgusted, no. After getting pieces of meat with hair still attached to the skin and looking at fried chicken feet on a plate, you will not be disgusted by much anything anymore. I have eaten some pretty sketchy-looking things here that I never would have dreamed of eating, but in China, it’s very commonplace. If you find a bone in your McDonald’s chicken, it’s no big deal, and a chicken head on a plate is also a normal thing at family-style restaurants.

I will admit though, that fish head made me a little uneasy while I ate my food. I felt like it was watching me as I scooped up my rice with my chopsticks. I also had to scoot it over with my chopsticks to get at the other foods on my plate.

After eating my rice, I noticed that the other piece of meat the lunch lady had given me was the tail of the fish! I couldn’t resist putting it together once I realized I had almost a full fish.

I decided that the tail was definitely edible, so I ate it. It was actually the best part I have ever eaten because it wasn’t full of tiny, paper-thin bones! Once I was finished with the tail, I took a look at the head. How did they even eat this thing? I flipped it over and realized that the head was basically a solid bone. I prodded at it with one of my chopsticks. It certainly was hard and solid like a bone. I continued prodding at it.

Then, suddenly, it squished under my chopstick.

I will admit, I jumped. I quickly put my chopsticks down and decided not to attempt to eat the fish head.

Other Cafeteria Foods

The fish head is only one of many exciting cafeteria foods I have experienced here in China. Here are some examples of what a normal cafeteria lunch looks like for me:

Whether or not you think these trays of food look appetizing, I eat almost the whole plate at every meal (unless I get an inedible meat, which can happen). My favorite cafeteria foods include the following:

• Tomato and eggs
• Eggplant
• Rice
• Breakfast rolls
• Mushrooms
• Flavored beef
• Radishes
• Carrots and cauliflower
• Salted peanuts
• Potatoes (if they aren’t flavored strangely)
• Cabbage

My least favorite cafeteria foods are:

• Sketchy meats with the skin and hair still attached
• Meat that is mostly fat
• Cow intestine (I accidentally got that one once, and I ate a little bit of it)
• Pig ear
• Chicken feet (I still need to at least try them though)
• Tofu… especially when it’s soupy. Ick.

I’m actually smiling in this picture with my tofu though. Not sure how I managed that. I REALLY don’t like tofu.

And here is a plate of it. 

We also had something new tonight for dinner. It was very… interesting. It had the consistency of flan or a custard type gelatin, but it tasted like eggs and had these weird little noodles inside. I was not a huge fan of it. I’m hoping that it was a one-time thing.

Breakfast usually consists of rolls with either sugar or oil on top, or rolls filled with bean paste or fruit. (It’s the only meal where they serve bread, so I always try to make it to breakfast.) Rice porridge is also usually served at breakfast, but they may also have dumplings or noodles in a broth. Sometimes, they will serve pounded rice cakes that are gooey and stick to the roof of your mouth. If it is an extra happy day, you will get a little carton of milk with your breakfast and a triangular piece of light fluffy cake.

This breakfast roll looks like it's just a lump of uncooked dough, doesn't it? But it's not! It's all cooked and quite yummy too! 

Lunch and dinner are pretty consistent as well. You always get a heap of white rice with a side of some type of green vegetable that has been boiled and soaked in oil. Then you will have a meat dish that is usually filled with bones or a meat substitute like tofu. (I don’t eat my meat too often.) At the end of the line, you will usually have a spicy dish and another vegetable to choose from. If you are lucky, there will be two great side dishes at the end like cooked tomatoes and salted peanuts so you can forego the meat.

Congratulations! You now know what Chinese cafeteria food is like. Happy eating and zaijien!

How to Eat Your Dragon Fruit: My Chinese Eating Experience

I ran as fast as I could, but it was too late. I pounded against the white, tin door futilely as I watched the Chinese lady wheel her cart away. In that moment, both my heart and stomach shattered. I had missed dinner.

It has been over half an hour, and I am still crying inside about it. I ate three pieces of bread with peanut butter for dinner, but my stomach is still waiting for white rice with a side of whatever-boiled-vegetable-they-want-to-serve-us-today. Needless to say, I am not in the best of moods, but that is hardly a surprise since a hungry Liz oftentimes equals a not-so-happy Liz.

Oh, well. I still have my peanut butter!

I am pleased to report that I am happy even though I’m usually hungry here in China. Chinese food just doesn’t fill me up. Now Panda Express—THAT fills me up. But that’s American Chinese food, and there is a BIG difference between American Chinese food and Chinese Chinese food.

For instance, did you know that fortune cookies are a big fat lie? Wait… that came out wrong. Yes, sometimes those little slips of paper inside fortune cookies aren’t completely true, but what I meant is that fortune cookies are NOT a thing here in China. I have not eaten a single one yet, and I have been to plenty of Chinese restaurants now. The truth about Chinese fortune cookies is that they are really American fortune cookies.

Perhaps you would like to know more about the food here in China. Shall I tell you?

Ordering Food in China

In America, you walk into a Chinese restaurant and look at the menu. It is in English, so you can read it and order exactly what you want. Here in China, I resort to looking at a picture, deciding if it looks edible and tasty, pointing to it when the waiter comes to get my order, and then crossing my fingers and hoping  I got something good. Sometimes, I try to communicate with the waiter more, but it never ends up going too well.

Waiter walks over to my table.

Me: Ni hao.

Waiter: Hello. (I guess it’s obvious to him I don’t speak Chinese.)

Me: Wo yao baicai jien jow. (It’s supposed to mean “I want a cabbage fried dumpling.”)

Waiter: (Looks at me blankly)

Me: Uhhh… Wo yao… (look at my phone and double check that I’m saying the right thing) bacai jien jow.

We look at each other for a moment. I think maybe, just maybe, despite my terrible Chinese, he understands what I mean.

Waiter: I no speak English.

*Sigh. That’s how heavy my English accent is when I speak Chinese. It’s so thick that they still think I am speaking English when I am really trying to speak Chinese! My goal in the next two months is to become good enough at speaking about food to order something off a Chinese menu without having to resort to pointing at pictures and gesturing. I do know a few food words in Chinese though. Here is a little Chinese language lesson:

·         Mi fan- rice

·         Mian- noodles

·         Dan- egg

·         Ning meng shui- lemonade

·         Yong- lamb

·         Niu- cow

·         Zhu- pig

·         Suan nai- yogurt

There are other words you can add onto your dishes like “chao,” which means “fried.” So “chao mien” means “fried noodles” and “chao mi fan” is fried rice. You can also combine words to create a more specific dish. For instance, if I want egg fried rice, I would say, “dan chao fan.”

Here is a picture of some fried rice I bought for only 13 yuan! (That’s a little over $2.00 in American money.)

Ordering food in China can sometimes be an adventure, but more often than not, it is a tasty adventure!

Food You Will Find at the Store

Whenever I go into the produce section of the Da Fu Yuan, (the shopping center ten minutes from where I live) I have to hold my breath because it smells like a mixture of briny fish and bad fruit. That actually makes complete sense because they sell lots of smelly fish (the dried sea food is especially potent) and the fruit doesn’t smell too heavenly either.

You can find some very interesting things at the Da Fu Yuan if you look around. Here are just a few examples of what you will see:

Chicken feet. These ones are uncooked, but at the school cafeteria, they serve them fried.

Dragon Fruit. I love everything about this fruit from its brilliantly pink outside to its white, polka-dot seeded inside. It is my absolute favorite, and I buy at least two every week. It has the same texture as Kiwi and has a softly sweet, juicy flavor. Doesn’t it look like it could be right out of a Dr. Seuss book?

Crocodile tail. Who’s ready to dig in?

Packaged lobster. Chinese people like to package their meats A LOT. I’ve found packaged chicken feet and a whole host of other packaged meats at the convenient store just across the street. It looks slightly disgusting, but I suppose it preserves it!

Porcupine Fruit. That’s not its real name, but I don’t know what else to call it. I believe someone told me that it’s gross, but I have never tried it.

Eating at a Chinese Restaurant

I absolutely love eating at Chinese restaurants. There are many different types; some are family-style where there is a big rotating plate in the middle of the table and everyone just scoops out what food they want from big platters and bowls with their chopsticks. There is usually A LOT of food. I can definitely get full on Chinese food when I go to a family-style restaurant.

At one family-style restaurant, they served raw salmon. I didn’t think it would be too good, but it wasn’t bad!

At the same restaurant, they also served squid. Here is a picture of a plateful of them. The eyes were still attached, (which I did not know until afterwards) but I only ate the middle, so I’m pretty sure I avoided eating them. Not my favorite thing, but it wasn’t bad either.

For dessert, they served these delicious sweet rice jellies. Although this looks like it would be a cold dessert, it was actually served warm. It was basically a warm, gooey, sweet rice paste sandwiched between two jellies. They stuck in your mouth, but they were very delicious.

At a different family-style restaurant, they served this sugared corn dessert. It was basically a crispy corn dish covered in sugar and stuck all together in one sticky, starchy heap. There was an enormous plate of it, and we definitely did not finish it.

Before you eat, you will usually wash your dishes in tea or hot water that the waiter brings to your table. The first time I experienced this dish washing custom was when I went to a little restaurant where they served dumplings. The owner brought out this cute tea kettle with pink flowers.

You then fill up your dishes with the tea and then dump the tea into a bowl. I usually get tea all over the tablecloth, but it’s a fun little custom they have!

There are other family-style restaurants where you all share the food, but there is no rotating table in the middle (much less convenient). We went to one for my roommate Kim’s birthday!

My two favorite things I ate at this restaurant were my strawberry cheesecake smoothie…

and, surprisingly, the fried squid.

Eating the fried squid was just like eating French fries. Pop one in and then another! So good!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things…

Some of my favorite things to eat here in China are fried and boiled dumplings filled with cabbage and other yummy things. We got to make some one day at our apartment, and they were so good! I ate at least twenty, and I am not ashamed in the slightest.

The breads here in China are also very good. You can almost always count on them being at least a little bit sweetened. They also don’t fret about having lots of oil on their rolls.

Another find I made were these delicious little desserts that I have dubbed Neapolitan Swiss Cake Rolls. Basically, they are little strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla cakes wrapped up in a thin dessert bread shell with cream in between the cakes. I love them!

Other favorites include fried rice, eggplant, and deep fried potatoes. I had the deep fried potatoes at the Avatar Mountains, and they were just like dessert.

To close this blog post, let’s just say the food in China is fantastic! “Fantastic” is the best word I can think of to describe it because although it is not always yummy, it is always interesting and exciting. And oftentimes, it IS very yummy! You just have to make sure you don’t get something that is way too spicy, and you have to make sure you know what kind of meat you are looking at. (Once, I thought I was looking at normal bacon, and it ended up being pig’s ear.)

Despite the plates of chicken feet and the cafeteria trays of soupy tofu, I really have to say that I have loved my Chinese eating experience so far. I am learning how to be adventurous with the foods I eat and I try new things almost every day! I am also learning to be less picky. So what if the fish are full of bones? (Actually, that one is a bit scary. The fish they serve at lunch are full of miniscule bones that are so thin that they can get stuck in between your teeth.) Bad example. But it’s all part of the adventure.

And now, if you will excuse me, I need to go to bed so I can wake up in time tomorrow morning to get breakfast rolls from the cafeteria. Zaijien!