When I came into 6th grade, I joined my school’s Chinese elective. I had not expected anything other than learning the language itself, so on my first day, I was quite surprised. I discovered the moon festival, a stunning example of the beauty of Chinese culture. We started off by learning about the history of the moon festival, with Hou Yi and Chang Yi. I discovered moon cakes, a great example of the beauty and elegance of Chinese culture and cuisine.
Later that year, I discovered Chinese Lunar New Year, in which we celebrated the defeat of Nian, a beast who terrorized many villages but was later pushed away by the people due to their red lanterns and door signs.
At the beginning of the year, I visited Taiwan, a place brimming with Chinese culture yet with its own culture. In Taiwan, I toured the night market, a market filled with many traditional Chinese foods, games, and activities. I ate many traditional Chinese snacks such as tanghulu. I also visited and saw many traditional Chinese buildings from the Chinese occupation period of taiwan. I heard traditional Chinese music reworded by the Taiwanese people being sung in the night market. I tasted many different kinds of traditional Chinese teas such as green tea, black tea, and oolong tea. Later, I tasted boba milk tea and dumplings such as xiaolongbao, xuejiao, guotie, wonton, shuijiao, and har gow.
Later, I went to Paris, which was surprisingly filled with Chinese restaurants and grocery stores. In Paris, I visited a restaurant called SHIFU which specialized in dumplings. After that, I visited a chinese grocery store in which I bought litchi juice, which I very much enjoyed.
Chinese culture is present everywhere, in DC, Paris, Taiwan, and more. Chinese culture is omnipresent in our lives, and we are happy it is.
I am French-American and I have been doing Chinese since 6th grade , 3 years ago. I have visited many chinese restaurants and places that were brimming with chinese culture.
