Cultura China-Chinese Culture

Wiki English:

The Chinese hot pot has a history of more than 1,000 years. Hot pot seems to have originated in Mongolia where the main ingredient was meat, usually beef, mutton or horse. It then spread to southern China during the Tang Dynasty and was further established during the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty. In time, regional variations developed with different ingredients such as seafood. By the Qing Dynasty (AD 1644 to 1912), the hot pot became popular throughout most of China. Today in many modern homes, particularly in the big cities, the traditional coal-heated steamboat or hot pot has been replaced by electric, propane or butane gas, or induction cooker versions.

Because hot pot styles change so much from region to region, many different ingredients are used.

Wiki Español:

Se tiene la creencia de que el hot pot tuvo su origen en la región de Mongolia, antes del advenimiento del imperio mongol, aunque no hay muchas evidencias ciéntíficas que den soporte a esta hipótesis. Tanto la preparación como el método y el equipamiento empleado son desconocidos en la cocina mongola de hoy en día. Debido a la complejidad y especialización de los utensilios y al método de comer y de servir, el hot pot es más adecuado a una cultura sedentaria. Una cultura nómada evitaría este tipo de preparaciones con tantos instrumentos especializados que deberían portar de un lugar a otro durante las migraciones.

El hot pot parece que tuvo su extensión por el Norte de China durante la Dinastía Tang (618-906). En esta época se desarrollaron ciertas diferencias regionales que incluían diferentes ingredientes tales como los mariscos. En la Dinastía Qing el hot pot empezó a convertirse en algo popular por la mayor parte de China. Hoy en muchas casas modernas, particularmente en las grandes ciudades, el 'barco de vapor' a carbón (así se llama de forma metafórica al hot pot) se ha reemplazado por versiones que se calientan mediante energía eléctrica o gas.

Se puede encontrar en China una gran variedad de hot pots, en los que varían no sólo los ingrediente, sino también las salsas. Lo importante es investigar en los propios sabores y con los ingredientes y salsas. Una variación de la cocina cantonesa incluye un huevo con un conjunto de alimentos que reducen la cantidad de calor emitida por la fuente de calor.

Mooncake is a Chinese bakery product traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival (Zhongqiu).

El pastel de luna es un producto de pastelería que se come tradicionalmente durante el Festival de Medio Otoño (Zhongqiu).

English (wiki)

Mid-Autumn Festival

The festival is intricately linked to the legends of Chang E, the mythical Moon Goddess of Immortality. According to "Li-Ji", an ancient Chinese book recording customs and ceremonies, the Chinese Emperor should offer sacrifices to the sun in spring and the moon in autumn. The 15th day of the 8th lunar month is the day called "Mid-Autumn". The night on the 15th of the 8th lunar month is also called "Night of the Moon". Under the Song Dynasty (420), the day was officially declared the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Because of its central role in the Mid-Autumn festival, mooncakes remained popular even in recent years. For many, they form a central part of the Mid-Autumn festival experience such that it is now commonly known as 'Mooncake Festival'.

Ming revolution

There is a folk tale about the overthrow of Mongol rule facilitated by messages smuggled in moon cakes.

Mooncakes were used as a medium by the Ming revolutionaries in their espionage effort to secretly distribute letters to overthrow the Mongolian rulers of China in the Yuan dynasty. The idea is said to have been conceived by Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋) and his advisor Liu Bowen (劉伯溫), who circulated a rumor that a deadly plague was spreading, and the only way to prevent it was to eat special mooncakes. This prompted the quick distribution of mooncakes, which were used to hide a secret message coordinating the Han Chinese revolt on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month.^[3]

Another method of hiding the message was printed in the surface of mooncakes as a simple puzzle or mosaic. To read the encrypted message, each of the four mooncakes packaged together must be cut into four parts each. The 16 pieces of mooncake, must then be pieced together in such a fashion that the secret messages can be read. The pieces of mooncake are then eaten to destroy the message.

Español (wiki)

Festival de Mitad de Otoño

Este festival está intrincadamente relacionado con la leyenda de Chang E, la mítica diosa lunar de la inmortalidad. Según Li-Ji, un antiguo libro chino que recoge costumbres y ceremonias, el emperador chino ofrecía sacrificios al sol en primavera y a la luna en otoño. El 15.º día del 8º mes lunar es la llamado «Mitad de Otoño», y su noche se llama «Noche de la Luna». Bajo la dinastía Song (420), el día fue oficialmente declarado Fiesta de Mitad de Otoño.

Gracias a su papel crucial en el festival de Mitad de Otoño, los pasteles de luna han permanecido populares hasta la actualidad. Para muchos, son tan importante que a veces llaman a la fiesta «Festival del Pastel de Luna».

Revolución Ming

Hay una leyenda popular sobre que el derrocamiento del gobierno mongol fue facilitado por mensajes camuflados en pasteles de luna.

Los pasteles de lunas fueron usados por los revolucionarios Ming como medio en su espionaje, distribuyendo secretamente cartas para derrocar a los gobernantes mongoles de China en la dinastía Yuan. Se dice que la idea fue concebida por Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋) y su consejero Liu Bowen (劉伯溫), quienes hicieron circular el rumor de que una plaga mortal se estaba extendiendo y la única forma de evitarla era comer pasteles de luna especiales. Esto provocó una rápida distribución de los pasteles, que fueron usados para esconder un mensaje secreto coordinando la revuelta han el 15.º día del 8.º mes lunar.

Otra forma de esconder el mensaje era imprimirlo en la superficie de los pasteles de luna como un puzle o mosaico simple. Para leer el mensaje, había que cortar en cuatro partes cada uno de los cuatro pasteles envasados juntos. Los 16 trozos debían entonces ponerse juntos de forma que el mensaje secreto pudiera leerse. Entonces se comían para destruirlo.

Tāngyuán is a Chinese food made from glutinous rice flour.

Tāngyuán es una comida china elaborada por la harina de arroz glutinoso.

English (wiki)

According to a legend, in the Han Dynasty, there was a maid of honor who was called Yuanxiao. She missed her parents a lot but she could not leave the palace. Therefore, she wept all the time and even wanted to turn to suicide. A minister knew her story and promised to help her. What Yuanxiao needed to do was to make lots of Tangyuans, which was the best cuisine she could make, in order to worship the god on 15th day of the first month in Chinese calendar. Finally, Yuanxiao did a great job and the emperor was so contented; therefore, Yuanxiao was permitted to meet her parents, Tangyuan was named as Yuanxiao and 15th day of the first month in Chinese calendar was considered to be Yuanxiao Festival.

According to the record of history, Tangyuan has been a popular snack in China since Sung Dynasty.

Español (wiki)

Históricamente se han usado varios nombres diferentes para aludir al tangyuan. Durante el reinado de Yongle de la dinastía Ming, el nombre fue establecido oficialmente como yanxiao, derivado de la Fiesta de los Faroles. Este nombre significa literalmente ‘primer atardecer’, siendo la primera luna llena tras el año nuevo chino, que siempre se celebra en luna nueva. Este nombre prevalece en el norte de China.

Sin embargo, en el sur de China se llama tangyuan o tangtuan. La leyenda dice que durante el gobierno de Yuan Shikai entre 1912 y 1916, el nombre yuanxiao no gustaba porque sonaba igual que ‘retirar a Yuan’ (元宵-元消), y por ello cambiaron el nombre a tangyuan, que significa ‘dumplings redondos en sopa’.

(嗚~ 怎麼西班牙文和英文都有記載湯圓歷史典故 中文wiki卻沒有~, 不過 english 和 spanish 記載ㄉ都不一樣 XD)

The Cantonese name yàuhjagwái literally means "oil-fried devil" and, according to folklore, is an act of protest against Song Dynasty official Qin Kuài (in the wikipedia, the name is Qui Hui, is not correct), who is said to have orchestrated the plot to frame the general Yue Fei, an icon of patriotism in Chinese culture. It is said that the food, originally in the shape of two human-shaped pieces of dough but later evolved into two pieces joined in the middle, represents Qin Hui and his wife, both having a hand in collaborating with the enemy to bring about the great general's demise. Thus the youtiao is deep fried and eaten as if done to the traitorous couple. In keeping with the legend, youtiao are often made as two foot-long rolls of dough joined along the middle, with one roll representing the husband and the other the wife.

Los rollos de primavera se elaboran con una pasta de harina de arroz que se extiende y se pone sobre ella los ingredientes que serán su contenido que dependerá fundamentalmente de la región y de la época del año en que se hagan, se pican abundantes verduras: zanahoria, col china (este ingrediente es fundamental), setas (generalmente orejas de Judas), brotes de soja, e incluso fideos celofán. Todo ello se le da un toque salado con unas gotas de salsa de soja y se enrolla en la pasta fresca y se fríen en aceite hirviendo en un wok durante unos minutos hasta que la pasta empieza a dorar por su exterior. Las versiones no fritas se denominan "rollos de la suerte" y generalmente se tamizan al vapor y cuecen en una salmuera durante un tiempo, se caracterizan por tener la pasta semi-transparente y se ve su contenido verde. Los rollos de primavera se sirven calientes, recién hechos, a veces con decoraciones festivas dependiendo de las celebraciones a las que haga honor.

Los rollos de primavera no siempre se sirven con su contenido salado, existen versiones de los rollos de primavera dulces que se elaboran con pasta roja de frijoles y que se sirven como postre, esta costumbre de los rollos de primavera dulce se puede encontrar en el Este de China, sobre todo en las áreas cercanas a Zhejiang. (wiki)

Spring rolls are a large variety of filled, rolled appetizers. The name is a literal translation of the Chinese chūn juǎn (春卷 'spring roll') found in East Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine. The kind of wrapper, fillings, and cooking technique used, as well as the name, vary considerably within this large area. (wiki)

A popular story in China relates that the name mantou actually originated from the homophonous word mántóu meaning "barbarian's head".

This story originates from the Three Kingdoms Period, when the strategist Zhuge Liang led the Shu Army in an invasion of the southern lands (roughly modern-day Yunnan and northern Burma). After subduing the barbarian king Meng Huo, Zhuge Liang led the army back to Shu, but met a swift-flowing river which defied all attempts to cross it. A barbarian lord informed him, in olden days, the barbarians would sacrifice 50 men and throw their heads into the river to appease the river spirit and allow them to cross; Zhuge Liang, however, did not want to cause any more bloodshed, and instead killed the cows and horses the army brought along, and filled their meat into buns shaped roughly like human heads - round with a flat base - to be made and then thrown into the river. After a successful crossing, he named the buns "barbarian's head" (mántóu, 蠻頭, which evolved into the present day 饅頭).

El Xiaolongbao (en chino: 小籠包 literalmente "cesta de pequeños panecillos"; conocido como sopa de masa guisada¹ ) es una bola de masa guisada tipo baozi (relleno de panecillo o algo similar a pan) se trata de una especialidad culinaria muy habitual del Este de china, incluyendo Shanghái y Wuxi. Estos panecillos guisados se suelen elaborar al vapor en cestas de bambú, de ahí su nombre. Sólo en Shanghái y en sus alrededores, donde es conocido este alimento como xiaolong mantou (chino tradicional: 小籠饅頭, chino simplificado: 小笼馒头, pinyin: xiǎolóng mántóu), mantou significa tanto 'relleno' como 'sin relleno' en la región sur, pero sólo significa 'sin relleno' en el norte de China. Para evitar esta confusión la denominación de xiaolongbao se emplea en otras áreas.

Xiaolongbao (simplified Chinese: 小笼包; traditional Chinese: 小籠包; pinyin: xiǎolóngbāo) is a type of steamed bun or baozi from Shanghai and Wuxi. It is traditionally steamed in small bamboo baskets, hence the name (xiaolong is literally small steaming basket).

Xiaolongbao are known as siohlon-meudoe  in Shanghainese (simplified Chinese: 小笼馒头; traditional Chinese: 小籠饅頭; pinyin: xiǎolóng mántóu). Mantou describes both filled and unfilled buns in southern China, but only describes unfilled buns in northern China.

Se consume desde hace 2.000 años.

La bebida de soja o bebida de soya esta elaborada a partir de granos de soja. Se obtiene remojando, moliendo y filtrando la soja. Puede adquirirse en comercios, aunque también se comercializan aparatos para producirla en el hogar.

Constituye una alternativa a la leche, especialmente en la alimentación vegetariana estricta y en dietas hipolipídicas, debido a su apariencia blanquecina y a su aporte de proteínas. Nutricionalmente es de mediana digestión, carece de altos niveles de colesterol y tiene la mitad de grasas y calorías, la misma cantidad de vitamina B y más hierro que la leche de vaca.¹ La calidad y cantidad de sus proteínas es superior a la de la carne, el huevo o la leche de vaca.² Igual que esta última, también tiene componentes alergénicos,³ aunque es apta para intolerantes a la lactosa.

Las que se comercializan actualmente, suelen estar enriquecidas con la vitamina B12, de difícil obtención en una alimentación vegetariana estricta. Se usa en multitud de recetas, sustituyendo en ocasiones productos que vegetarianos estrictos y veganos no consumen por este elemento, como en el caso de la lactonesa, sustituto de la mayonesa, realizado con leche⁴ (en caso de seguir una dieta omnívora, también puede ser leche de vaca lo que substituya al huevo). (wiki)

The oldest evidence of soy milk production is from China where a kitchen scene proving use of soy milk is incised on a stone slab dated around AD 25–220. It also appeared in a chapter called Four Taboos (Szu-Hui) in the AD 82 book called Lunheng by Wang Chong, possibly the first written record of soy milk. Evidence of soy milk is rare prior to the 20th century and widespread usage before then is unlikely.

According to popular tradition in China, soy milk was developed by Liu An for medicinal purposes, although there is no historical evidence for this legend. This legend first appeared in the 12th century and was not clearly stated until late 15th century in Bencao Gangmu, where the development of tofu was attributed to Liu with no mention of soy milk. Later writers in Asia and the West additionally attributed development of soy milk to Liu An, assuming that he could not have made tofu without making soy milk. This may be incorrect. In addition, some recent writers claim Liu An developed tofu in 164 BC. ^(wiki)

Se le llama "ojo de dragón" porque su fruta se asemeja al globo ocular (cuando se pela el fruto se transparenta la semilla y parece como pupila e iris).

La fruta (que realmente es un falso fruto, compuesto por una cobertura carnosa llamada arilo) es comestible, y a menudo usada en sopas, desayunos y otras aplicaciones en el este de Asia.

El longan y el lichi maduran en la misma época del año. Se usa en la cocina y como remedio herbario en la medicina china. (wiki)

The longan (龍眼)—translated literally as "dragon eye"—is so named because it resembles an eyeball when its fruit is shelled (the black seed shows through the translucent flesh like a pupil/iris). The seed is small, round and hard, and of an enamel-like, lacquered black. (wiki)

La cultivación de Litchi (en inglés: Lychee) comienza en la región del Sur de China, Malaysia y norte de Vietnam. Esta fruta crece de forma salvaje en la providencia de Guangdong y en la isla de Hainan. En los record extraoficiales dicen que en China los Litchi estan desde 2000 BC. Referencia en el libro "Handbook of environmental physiology of fruit crops" del autor: "Andersen, Peter A" del año 1994 en la paginas 123 a la 140.

Cultivation of lychee began in the region of southern China, Malaysia, and northern Vietnam. Wild trees still grow in rainforest in Guangdong province and on Hainan Island. Unofficial records in China refer to lychee as far back as 2000 BC.^[7]

In the 1st century, fresh lychees were in such demand at the Imperial Court that a special courier service with fast horses would bring the fresh fruit from Guangdong. There was great demand for lychee in the Song Dynasty (960-1279), according to Cai Xiang, in his Li chi pu (Treatise on Lychees). It was also the favourite fruit of Emperor Li Longji (Xuanzong)'s favoured concubine Yang Yuhuan (Yang Guifei). The emperor had the fruit delivered at great expense to the capital.

According to folk stories, stinky tofu was invented by a person named Wang Zhi He (王致和)in the Qing dynasty. However the versions of the exact story are quite varied.

Soft Stinky tofu:

Because of failing the imperial examination, Wang Zhi He stayed in Beijing and relied on selling tofu to make a living. One day, because of the huge quantity of redundant tofu, he tried to cut the tofu into small cubes and put them into an earthen jar. After several days, he opened up the jar and found out that the tofu had turned greenish and became extremely smelly. He tasted the “stinky greenish tofu” and it was surprisingly delicious. And so he decided to sell those “stinky greenish tofu” as a commodity in his store.

Dried stinky tofu:

During the Kangxi period, Wang Zhi He was a tofu seller as well as a pig feeder. One day, he was making dried tofu with an earthen jar. After he put all the seasonings in the jar, he was distracted by the pigs and forgot to close the lid, and so the white paint on the wall kept falling into the jar. A while later, after Wang Zhi He had settled down all the pigs, the dried tofu had already turned into dried stinky tofu.

There is one myth and one historical fact about the history of Nian Gao. In the ancient China, there was a monster called “Nian”. It used to stay at the cave in the mountain; however, it would come out and hunt for animals when it was hungry. In winter, most of the animals went into hibernation. Nian had no other options; it had to go to the village and searched for humans to fulfill its hunger. Lots of people lived under the fear of Nian for decades. Until, there was a smart villager who named “Gao”. He assumed Nian would come down from the mountain and hunt again; therefore, he pre-made some pastry and put them in front of the door. As soon as Nian came down, it could not find any human to eat but it found some pastry instead. When it felt full, it went back to the mountain. When it was gone, the villagers came out and celebrated for the survival. From then on, the villagers made rice pastry every winter to prevent Nian to eat them. Since Gao invented the rice pastry, the villagers named the rice pastry as “Nian Gao”. In BC 770 to BC 221, China was divided into different small countries. There were two neighboring countries that fight each other every year, which are “Wu” and “Yue”. In Wu, there was a prime minister called “Wu Zi Shui” who helped the old emperor to build the wall. Before Wu Zi Shui died, he told the new emperor’s eunuch to dig the wall when the citizens were in hunger since he had buried lots of rice pastry until the wall. When Yue attacked Wu, Wu was in danger and the whole country was suffering from hunger. The eunuch remembered what Wu Zi Shui said, so he ordered the citizen to dig until the wall. The citizen was saved from what Wu Zi Shui had done for them. From that moment onwards, the citizen made rice pastry every year during Chinese New Year. There were two purposes for them to make rice pastry; one was to remembrance Wu Zi Shui and another reason was to celebrate Chinese New Year with relatives and friends. Nian Gao was made one of the older historical food in China. In 1974, there were some historian in Zhejiang discovered some wheat fossil. After several textural researches, they had confirmed that it was made seven thousands years ago.

Jiaozi are one of the major foods eaten during the Chinese New Year and year round in the northern provinces. They look like the golden ingots yuan bao used during the Ming Dynasty for money and the name sounds like the word for the earliest paper money, so serving them is believed to bring prosperity.Many families eat these at midnight on Chinese New Year's Eve. Some cooks will even hide a clean coin for the lucky to find.

Jiaozi were so named because they were horn shaped. The Chinese for "horn" is jiǎo (角), and jiaozi was originally written with the Chinese character for "horn", but later it was replaced by a specific character 餃, which has the food radical on the left and the phonetic component jiāo (交) on the right.

According to folk tales, jiaozi were invented by Zhang Zhongjing, one of the greatest practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine in history. They were originally called "tender ears" (矯耳; pinyin: jiao'er) because they were used to treat frostbitten ears. (wiki)

El douhua es un postre chino hecho con una preparación extra blanda de tofu. También se llama pudin de tofu.

Tofu is thought to have originated in ancient China during the Western Han Dynasty. Chinese people have developed and enriched the recipes for tofu dishes on the basis of their own tastes, such as mapo tofu, stinky tofu, pickled tofu and uncongealed tofu pudding, etc.

El tofu se originó en China. La leyenda china describe su invención al príncipe Liu An (劉安, 179–122 a.C.). El tofu y su técnica de producción fue introducido a Corea y Japón durante el período Nara. También se difundió a otras partes del Este Asiático. Es muy probable que su difusión coincidiera con la expansión del budismo, ya que es una importante fuente de proteínas en la dieta vegetariana del budismo asiático. Li Shizhen de la dinastía Ming describe un método de hacer tofu en el Bencao Gangmu. (wiki)

Tofu originated in ancient China. Chinese legend ascribes its invention to prince Liu An (Chinese: 劉安 Liú Ān, 179–122 BC). Tofu and its production technique were introduced into Korea and then Japan during the Nara period. It spread into other parts of East Asia as well.^[9] This spread likely coincided with the spread of Buddhism because it is an important source of protein in the vegetarian diet of East Asian Buddhism. Li Shizhen in the Ming Dynasty described a method of making tofu in Bencao Gangmu. (wiki)

El Zongzi se sirve tradicionalmente durante el Festival del barco dragón (Mandarín: Duanwu; Cantonés: Tuen Ng) que cae en el quinto día de la quinta luna del calendario chino (aproximadamente en el intervalo que va desde comienzos hasta mediados de Junio), conmemorando la muerte de Qu Yuan, un famoso poeta chino procedente del reinado de Chu quien vivió durante la época de los Reinos Combatientes. Conocido por su patriotismo, Qu Yuan intentó de forma poco satisfactoria proteger a su rey contra el expansionismo de sus vecinos Qin. Cuando el general Bai Qi de la dinastía Qin tomó Yingdu, la capital Chu, en 278 a. C., Qu Yuan's mandó arrojar al poeta al río Miluo tras el lamento de Ying. De acuerdo con la leyenda el pueblo tiró sus rellenos de arroz para prevenir que los peces devoraran el cuerpo del poeta. Otra versión dice que los rellenos de arroz se virtieron al río para aplacar la furia del dragón que vivía en el río. (wiki)

Zongzi are traditionally eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival (Mandarin: Duānwǔ; Cantonese: Tuen Ng), which falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar (approximately late-May to mid-June), commemorating the death of Qu Yuan, a famous Chinese poet from the kingdom of Chu who lived during the Warring States period. Known for his patriotism, Qu Yuan tried unsuccessfully to warn his king and countrymen against the expansionism of their Qin neighbors. When the Qin general Bai Qi took Yingdu, the Chu capital, in 278 BC, Qu Yuan's grief was so intense that he drowned himself in the Miluo river after penning the Lament for Ying. According to legend, packets of rice were thrown into the river to prevent the fish from eating the poet's body. (wiki)