"After two sessions with Mr. Xi, Mr. Biden went with his granddaughter Naomi and the new United States ambassador, Gary Locke, to a small restaurant north of Tiananmen Square that specializes in bowls of intestine for breakfast. The restaurant, tucked away behind the ancient building known as the Drum Tower, was crowded with Chinese patrons at lunchtime, many eating small pork buns and stir-fried vegetables. One yelled out “Beijing welcomes you!” in Mandarin Chinese and others shook hands with the vice president. A woman spoke to him about her relatives living in Minnesota."
I was reading this article, "Cooperation Is Emphasized as Biden Opens Talks in China" on the NYTimes website (link below). It describes Biden's talks with China's vice president and probably soon to be president, Xi Jinping. The two discussed various matters concerning America and China...economy, exports, Taiwan, and Tibet.
This little description about the food made me laugh to myself. Those "small pork buns" are bao zi and those fried vegetables are chao shucai. I love the bit about intestines for breakfast...gotta shock that American audience right? And even better, "Beijing Welcomes You." I only recently learned that the Olympic Game characters of 2008 are named Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying and Nini. Together, Beijing huanying ni or "Beijing welcomes you."
I love the details about the Chinese people shaking Biden's hand and conversating with him-I half wonder if they knew who he was, or if it was just the lao wai-ness that made them curious.
The little things I've learned over two months come together to form this new, wonderful image of China (and Asia) that I could never get from just reading the NYTimes.
So I'm so grateful for this experience.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/19/world/asia/19china.html?_r=1&ref=world
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