One of my favourite types of cuisine is none other than Chinese food. Some of my favourite dishes in Chinese food are pineapple chicken, Singapore noodles, egg fried rice, spring rolls and chow mein. It has been said that what is sold in Chinese Restaurants is Not what the Chinese themselves consume. Is this just a rumour or is there some level of truth to it?!? Well, I plan to sort of compare and contrast the food dishes that are served in China compared to what we eat here in the Chinese restaurants in Trinidad and Tobago.
Good Ole Local Chinese Food!!!!!!
One of My Personal Favourites: Chicken Spring Rolls!!!
Chunky Vegetables, Jasmine Rice & Chinese Style Chicken!
Sweet & Sour Pork & Chunky Vegetables!
This is also one of My Faves: Chinese Style Chicken, Singapore Noodles & Chinese Style Rice!
Chinese Style Chicken, Chow Mein & Chinese Style Rice!
Sweet & Sour Chicken, Noodles & Chow Mein!
Dishes Made in China!!!!!!
Dim Sum: Steamed Asian Dumplings Stuffed with Minced Beef with Gravy!
Noodles with a Poached Egg!
Black Tea Eggs!
Duck Soup!
Zhongi: Glutinous Rice Stuffed with Different Fillings!
Beef & Veggie Rolls!
Mapo Doufu:- This is a Mixture of Tofu & Sichuan Peppers in Spicy Black Bean Sauce!
Steamed Crab Soaked in Wine!
Juicy Pork Slices with Hot Pepper, Garlic & Spicy Bean Sauce!
A COLLABORATION BETWEEN KHRYSTYNE FROM "I AM LIFESTYLE" & "LET'S LEARN MANDARIN"
I must say it has truly been very interesting collaborating with Khrystyne Sampson from "I Am Lifestyle". She was really clever introducing some really creative ideas. I literally jumped at the chance to work with her because I know I hadn't collaborated with anyone from south thus far and I thought it would be a really interesting learning experience. I came up with the original idea of doing a Chinese fitness blog and she totally developed and expanded on the idea after which I added and expanded the document she had compiled. I was really glad she came up with a Yin-Yang fitness methods because this came as a sort of part 2 blog to my Feng Shui and Yin-Yang blog completed earlier today. I just want to thank Khrystyne for her graciousness and patience working with me and I would love to work with her in an academic environment in the future.
中国有方法健身
A Chinese Approach to Fitness
In the Chinese culture the symbol Yin-Yang represents
opposing forces. These forces show the yin to be cooler and passive, and the
yang to be more hardcore and aggressive. In looking at their approach to
fitness to put it simply would be to strike a balance between the yin and yang
type of exercise. The yin energy helps to soothe your mind and body. This
energy replenishes the body and aides in the accomplishment of your goals etc.
Whereas the yang incorporates all your decisions for spirituality, physical and
emotional that deals with the mind and body. The yang aids your body to move
about and shift gear quickly.
Some Examples of
Yin Fitness are;
Yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi, qigong
Some Examples of
Yang Fitness are:
Intensive gym, Chinese Martial Arts (Kung Fu), Cardiovascular
exercises
Balancing the
yin yang approach….
It is said that balancing your exercise as it pertains
to the symbolism of the yin-yang is beneficial for long term results. This is
because it helps with a person’s endurance level. You would not have to worry
that you are not getting enough exercise or it is not intense enough for your
liking, it will be at the right pace. When too much of intensive energy is
utilized the body can break down or go into crashing modes, however if the
right stability is found then a person may last longer. For example, if you go
to the gym and the trainer only gives you weights, heavy equipment and intense
aerobics then your body will soon be in deficiency for the Yin to help with the
replenishment of the body. But if you fuse the two your endurance level will
increase and result in better long term goals.
These Four methods of exercise are developed for
striking the balance between both forces.
Tai Chi
Tai Chi or Tai Chi Chuan can be translated to mean “supreme
ultimate fist”. It is a slow and elegant style combination of Kung Fu and yoga.
It involves slow movements accompanied by regulated breathing. Tai Chi focuses
on agility and emotional balance rather than on martial arts as a sport. It is
considered a good method for balancing yin and yang because its movements and
breathing exercises remove blockages of energy at the meridians, enabling chi
to flow freely.
Yin Yoga
Yin yoga is an extremely slow paced style of yoga with poses
that are usually held for long periods of time. It can also help to rebalance
yin and yang. It works to stretch the connective tissues at the joints of the
lower spine, hips and thighs – the yin parts of the body. It also helps the
ligaments, bones and other areas of the body especially after an accident or
some form of injury. Poses such as the frog, shoelace, butterfly, swan and
sleeping swan are all performed on the floor and held for between three and
five minutes. These postures help rebalance the yin by increasing fluid
movement of several body parts especially the limbs as well as improving organ
function and relieving stress.
Here is a YouTube video introducing Yin Yoga:-
Yoga Poses
These are just some of the various yoga poses that are practiced
and utilized regularly during yoga exercises. Perform the frog pose by lying
face down on your stomach. Bend your knees, allowing your heels to rest on your
buttocks. Lift your body from the waist as you reach behind yourself and grab
your feet. Hold the pose for five to 50 breaths. Use mental imagery with the
butterfly pose. Sitting on the floor in an erect position, draw your feet
toward your groin area. Touch the soles of your feet together and hold your
feet with your hands. Flap your arms and folded legs up and down like butterfly
wings, slowly increasing the speed and then gently slowing down. Breathe
normally throughout the exercise. Both of these exercises help restore your
yin.
Chinese Martial Arts
Chinese
Martial Arts otherwise known as Kung Fu, Gong Fu or Wushu is the Chinese
version of several similar fighting styles. This form of fitness is considered
to be a Yang form of fitness because of its high energy nature. Kung Fu’s main
function is self defense but also serves as body building, weapon training, a
technique for instilling discipline and maintaining good health.
The term Feng Shui in simple terms mean wind and water respectively. It is an ancient art which originated several thousands of years ago and practiced mainly in China to ensure that people live in harmony with their surroundings. It still plays an essential role in modern China and is considered a great treasure in traditional Chinese cultures. There are three principles of Feng Shui. The balance of Yin and Yang, the unity of human beings with nature and the attraction and repulsion of the five elements.The five elements are fire, water, earth, metal and wood. These principles exist to help people to bring good luck into their lives such as finding love, getting married, getting a job promotion, making wise business decisions, conceiving a child, avoiding accidents and overall good health.
The literal meaning of Yin-Yang is dark-bright but what it essentially means in Chinese culture is finding a balancing between totally contrary or opposing forces joining together to ideally find an equal balance bringing harmony. The Yin-Yang theory is relevant to different aspects in the universe. It can be applied to social order, natural phenomena, design of buildings including interior decorations, dark and light, male and female and some would say, most importantly, functions of the human body. This symbol is in the shape of a circle and consists of two colours, black and white. The black colour represents the Yin and the white colour represents the Yang. They are considered to be opposing qualities of dualism.
The Chinese and many other people around the world continue to practice and incorporate Feng Shui within their daily lives. Most do so in order to keep or balance their qi or chi or bring good vibes or have good chi in their daily lives.
Well, this was certainly one of my favourite collaborations thus far! I contacted Krystian, the gentleman in the above left photograph to do a beat for me speaking Mandarin from the numbers, zero to ten. He said he would be delighted to and sounded quite excited to work with me on this collaboration. I must admit that I took quite a while to send him the audio file however I finally sent it to him a few days ago. Surprisingly, just a day later he sent me an audio file with his drum beat and someone playing guitar accompanying my voice speaking the numbers in Mandarin.
I would like to sincerely thank Krystian for his patience, talent and professionalism! It was indeed Extremely Cool to work with him and I think he is an Excellent drummer and musician! I want to wish him all the best in his future endeavours. Also, I loved the end result in terms of the audio file he sent me. This was certainly one of the most intriguing ideas I had to get people interested in learning Mandarin...
Feel free to also check out his video on our collaboration on Tumblr:-
