China is in the midst of mooncake fever.
As next month’s Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, stores are brimming with these sweet pastries that symbolize the annual full moon celebration. The cakes are sold everywhere – in street stalls, supermarkets, bakeries, even hotel lobbies. They come in all shapes and sizes, though the most popular are small, biscuit-shaped cakes elaborately decorated with Chinese characters.
Mooncakes come with various fillings, including traditional pastes made from lotus seeds, red beans and jujubes. (Contemporary ingredients include everything from pineapple and prunes to chocolate and sweet potatoes.) The crusts can be chewy, flaky or tender, depending on the regional preference.
In the old days, I’m told, mooncakes often were made at home. Now, as the Chinese mimic our consumer society, they’re usually purchased. While some buy mooncakes to eat, most buy them as gifts for family members, clients or bosses. During my visit to a Walmart yesterday, I saw a large display of elaborate mooncake gift packages that cost as much as $65, which is very expensive by Chinese standards. (As part of a crackdown on corruption, Chinese authorities recently barred public officials from buying mooncakes as presents. Next thing you know, they’ll outlaw pictures of Mao in a Santa suit.)
I haven’t tasted a mooncake yet, but given my sweet tooth, I’ll probably like them.
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Another Chinese obsession is basketball.
Everywhere I go, I see basketball courts. And most of them are packed with players. When I visited Henan University of Technology and Zhengzhou University, I saw hundreds of players dribbling, shooting and rebounding. Though most of them were male college students, I also saw some women and even young girls playing hoops.
Basketball was first introduced to China by missionaries more than a century ago, but the sport’s popularity has soared since Chinese TV began showing NBA games in the late 1980s. Because of Yao Ming and now Jeremy Lin, the Houston Rockets have far more fans in China than the U.S. Several former NBA stars, including Tracy McGrady, Gilbert Arenas and Stephon Marbury, have played professional basketball in China and current stars like LeBron James and Kobe Bryant are household names.
As a former player myself, I plan to thoroughly check out the basketball scene in Zhengzhou and maybe resume my dormant career. I wonder how you say slam dunk in Chinese.
