ESL China Cafe in Second Life

On June 5, our China Cafe teacher, ling Markstein, brought us an interesting program about the “Dragon Boat Festival” or Duanwu.  A description of this event is as follows:

The Dragon Boat Festival, also called the Duanwu Festival, is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month according to the Chinese  lunar  calendar.  For thousands of years, the festival has been marked by eating zong zi (glutinous rice wrapped to form a pyramid using bamboo or reed leaves) and racing dragon boats. The festival is best known for its dragon-boat races, especially in the southern provinces where there are many rivers and lakes.  This regatta commemorates the death of Qu Yuan , an honest minister who is said to have committed suicide by drowning himself in a river.   Qu was a minister of the State of Chu situated in present-day Hunan and Hubei provinces, during the Warring States Period (475-221BC)

Read the complete lecture notecard at the Crane Hall Library in the China Cafe

On May 29, our Chinese teacher, ling Markstein, brought us information about traditional and modern Chinese wedding customs.  While there are various customs in China, she particularly highlighted those related to the approaches that the family of the groom uses to propose to a potential bride, the practice of analyzing birth dates of the bride and groom, the importance of gifts between the families, and the wedding itself.

On May 15, our teacher, ling Markstein, lectured from China about cuisine popular in Beijing.  This cuisine is also known at Mandarin style or literally “capital cuisine”.  She specifically talked about dishes such as Peking Duck, Hot Pot, Yanjing Beer (non-alcoholic), tea, tea egg, and crystal pork.  Lively discussion about these dishes followed.