Comments on: Yangzhou, Home of the World’s Most Famous Fried Rice…and Jiang Zemin

By: Rogier

Rogier — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:37:17 +0000

Hi Ben,

Nice to see your report from what I called my home-town for four months, back in 2008! Your text and pictures bring back some good memories. Thanks for that.

Best regards from The Netherlands,

Rogier

P.s. You can find quite some pictures of Yangzhou at my website.

By: Andy Goldstein

Andy Goldstein — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:28:45 +0000

About the Chinese shawarma, the only thing the Chinese haven’t quite figured out (or chose to ignore) is that their Shawarma is pork. An unfortunate case for all you halal and kosher cats out there.

Andy

By: KK

KK — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:22:33 +0000

Ben, thanks for your effort in your recent series.

Re: That round building in the middle of the road, it is called Pavilion of Flourishing Culture (Wenchang Ge, 文昌阁) according to wikipedia.

“This round, three-story pavilion in Yangzhou\’s eastern sector was built in 1585 and celebrates the city\’s rich cultural traditions. It is also the de facto center of the city.

Built during Ming dynasty, it is located on the cross of Wengchang Road and Wenhe Road. The whole building is about 79 foot high, and looks like Temple of Heaven in Beijing. Today, boarded by many shopping stores, Wenchange had been a symbol of commercial center to residents.”

By: Robert Smitheram

Robert Smitheram — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:06:12 +0000

I visited Yangzhou in late 2006 to see a friend teaching English at Daming Temple (大明寺)–a new Buddhist College has been started there with a more international orientation. Walked around the city and took in the sights and all. I enjoyed my stay very much… The identity of the building you asked about is Wenchang Pagoda (文昌阁); it was built during the reign of the Wanli Emperor (r. 1563-1620) during the Ming dynasty. Wenchang is a reference to Lord Wenchang, belonging to the Daoist pantheon of gods and known as the God of Learning; anybody wishing for success in the old civil service exams would be asking this deity for help. This pagoda was associated with the local government’s academic institute in imperial times, hence the name. I too have a photo similar to yours; it was surrounded by plants and I could not see any path that would actually reach the building if you managed to survive the attempt at crossing through all the traffic.

By: Benjamin Ross

Benjamin Ross — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 04:49:05 +0000

@ Matt

Thanks for the fact check. According to the employee at DQ, there is no English name, but I’m going to trust you (and your link) more than her.

@ Fiona

Uh…yeah, maybe “exotic” was the wrong choice of wording…yes, definitely the wrong word. Point I was trying to make, is that Westerners will order fried dish in a restaurant, and make a meal out of it. In China, it’s basically leftovers, or a cure for a hangover. I’ve since changed the wording. Thanks for keeping me in check on that.

By: Nanjinged

Nanjinged — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 04:48:47 +0000

Hah, everytime I think of Yangzhou all I can think of is their fried rice, though from what I’ve seen and how I learned to cook it:
Usually the egg is cooked first, removed, “other” ingredients put in the now eggless wok, then rice added then cooked egg added back in.
Yangzhou fried rice is a bit different as the egg isn’t cooked first, but added raw (beaten) after the rice is added.
But I think it is pretty uncommon that the rice would be added first and then the other ingredients.
Harmonization of street food vendors be damned, I want to try some 土耳其烤肉, but Nanjing’s street food vendors have largely been exiled out of the downtown areas.

By: Fiona

Fiona — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 04:19:23 +0000

Fried rice is considered an exotic dish by non-Chinese in the States? Really?

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 03:04:47 +0000

As far as Dairy Queen only being known as DQ, it’s only half-true. That is the preferred nom-de-plume, but there is a Chinese name, 冰雪皇后 (literally, ‘Snow Queen’ for those who don’t read Chinese). Check this blog post and picture evidence:
http://www.cqscene.com/1/post/2009/06/beat-the-cq-heat-part-1.html

By: pojaya

pojaya — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 03:01:47 +0000

Thank you for writing. I have enjoyed reading your blog, especially the sections taking me to areas of China that I am very unlikely to ever visit!

By: Sai-creek

Sai-creek — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 02:52:30 +0000

Hee, you just visited my two hometowns (Nanjing & Yangzhou.) It invariably makes me happy to see photos of familiar places (and faces) when I’m far from home. Thanks~