The Taiwan Adventure

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Taiwanese Tea: Union Tea Company

The weather is finally starting to turn towards winter. In Taiwan, it’s hot from April until about the beginning of December, sometimes even longer. But here we are in the last week of November and the weather is starting to become like winter weather. That means it’s time to start brewing hot tea again.

Cha Li Wang the Tea of Kings

I don’t like to drink hot tea in the summer. I want something cold and refreshing, so I usually drink Cha Li Wang brand tea. (Cha Li Wang means Tea Inside King). It’s not like the tea that you find in stores in the U.S. I like to get unsweetened oolong tea, but you can hardly find that in the States. All the bottled teas have fake lemon flavor or too much sugar or Aspartame in them. They have a sweet after taste. But here you can get unsweetened bottled tea that contains nothing but that delicious Oolong goodness. I love to drink that in the summer. Think of it; a cold sweating bottle of clear crisp Oolong Tea without the additives and sugar. It’s delicious.

But when the weather starts to turn cooler and wetter, I want hot tea. That’s the way I started to feel last week, so I took a trip to Union Tea Company in Bade, Taiwan. Bade (pronounced Bah Duh) is right next to Taoyuan City and it is the location of the Home Office of Union Tea.

Taiwan grows some of the finest tea in the world. Conditions in the mountains are perfect for growing tea. A good oolong tea is grown above 2800 meters (9100 feet) and the air temperature must fluctuate ten degrees Celsius between afternoon and night.

Buying tea in the U.S. is nothing special. You walk into Walmart or your local grocery store and pick up a pack right off the shelf. The tea is usually blended and in bags. It’s also fairly low quality. I have never liked tea bag tea. But in Taiwan buying tea is special. You walk into the shop tell the shopkeeper whether you want green, black or oolong tea and they brew a number of teas for you to try so you can select the tea you prefer. A trip to the tea dealer is a fun and interesting time.

The process of tasting tea is interesting. First the shopkeeper pours hot water over all of the evaluation cups and spoons. An evaluation cup is a shallow white cup. It is important to be able to see the color of the tea. Warming the cups up allows the flavor of the tea to be quickly released.

Front: Black Tea leaves: Rear: Notice the way the Green Tea is rolled

The she will pour the tea leaves to be evaluated into a brewing cup. Green and oolong tea are usually rolled into tight balls, while black tea is in the leaf shape. When the vacuum seal bag of tea is opened sometimes the dealer will offer it to you to smell. Finally one hundred degree Celsius water is poured into the evaluation cup. And the tea is allowed to brew for a short time. While it is brewing the dealer will take a ceramic spoon and dip it into the tea and offer it to you to sniff and smell the fragrance of the brewed tea. As it finishes brewing she will spoon some of the tea into the evaluation cup and then use the spoon to hold the leaves out and pour in the rest. The color may be evaluated at this point. Black tea, which is called Hong Cha, in Chinese, (red tea), should be a red color in the evaluation cup. Green and oolong tea will be yellow in the evaluation cup but can be more of a honey color depending on the oven temperature during the curing process: The higher the oven temperature the deeper the color.

Notice the beautiful red color of the tea on the left.

Then you taste the tea and decide which you would like to purchase. The process usually lasts around an hour and is very enjoyable.

I don’t think a company like Union tea can survive just on customers like my wife and I. They sell tea in large quantities to exporters and the like. In fact, on our last visit we met a man who is the biggest exporter of Taiwanese tea to the nation of Brazil, as well as Malaysia and other Asian countries. If you’re in the market for high-quality tea, Union Tea has a wide variety of types and prices. Good quality tea sells for about $30.00 USD for six hundred grams. High quality tea can be brewed about four times.

"The Best in the World" $90,000 USD for 600 grams

Union Tea does have a tea that was voted, “Best in the World” in a competition involving tea from sixty-five countries. That tea is available to be purchased for about Three Million NTD or $90,000 USD for 600 grams. I love to drink tea, but I think I'm going to have to pass on the $90,000 tea.

Keep Watching the Taiwan Adventure for an exciting announcement.

Michell Lu with the tools of her trade: Union Tea Company

Other posts you may be interested in:

Taiwanese Traditions: Selling and Brewing Tea
The Union Tea Company Website

Friday, October 21, 2011

Random Asianess: Steak in Taiwan

I've written before, about American Fast Food in Taiwan. But there’s something else that I haven’t written about and that’s Taiwanese restaurants that serve American Style food. This is different than American food being served in an American restaurant in Taiwan.

In the US beef is by far the most popular meat that we eat. But in Taiwan, Pork seems to be the most popular. Why you may ask? Almost all the beef that’s sold in stores here is imported from the US, New Zealand or Australia. There are some dairy farms here, and I would suppose that they have some beef steers, although, I have to admit that I’ve never seen one in Taiwan.

So the reason it is difficult to find an American style steak in Taiwan is that people just don’t eat it all that much. You can find a steak in American restaurants like TGI Fridays or Outback but rarely will you find steak like that in a Taiwanese restaurant.

My wife grew up on a farm in Ohio and they raised their own steers for food. In fact, my wife would raise a steer for the county fair and she could be seen taking her steer for a walk through downtown Ridgeville Corners. I don’t know how much weight they gained or if they won prizes at the fair, but they were happy steers, treated like the family pet. Well, except we don’t usually eat the family pet. But that’s another story.

There are a number of restaurants that serve steak in Taiwan. But it is prepared differently and isn’t what we Americans are really referring to when we talk about steak. As an American the definition of steak is a flat cut of beef. New York, Sirloin, Tenderloin, Rib eye, Filet Mignon, you get the drift. If you’re in the US you can ask your butcher, he knows all about steak and the different cuts. But if you go to the butcher here and ask for a Ribeye, with the exception of Costco, or Carrefour they will have no idea what you’re talking about. Because in Taiwan they just don’t cut meat like that.

One restaurant that is famous for serving steak is called Tasty. Tasty has a reputation for fantastic customer service, and the reputation is well deserved. The service is impeccable, polite, responsive, attentive (without being obnoxiously attentive), and the prices are reasonable. We had a 7 course set meal for $450.00 NTD (about $15.00 USD). Salad, appetizers, antipasto, dessert, it was wonderful but the Steak just didn't look or feel like a steak. It was cooked in what is called a speed cooker. A speed cooker is basically a steamer. So the steak was steamed. It was also a different cut than the steaks we are used to in the US. But it was delicious served with a nice pepper sauce. There is a Tasty restaurant in Taoyuan City near the corner of Junghua Rd and Nanhua St, on Nanhua. (No.66 Nanhua Street, Taoyuan City) It is well worth trying, but not if you’re looking for a good ol’ American Steak.

There is a Taiwanese restaurant called My Home Steak at Chunri Rd near Chengong Rd.that serves steaks in cuts that Americans are used to, sort of. The restaurant has an all you can eat Salad bar that comes with the meal. And the meat is served with pasta and two eggs Sunny Side Up. The salad bar serves a nice green salad, with Thousand Islands dressing or you can load up on Taiwanese foods like shrimp, fish balls, and other things like that. A Sirloin Steak at this restaurant sells for about $280.00 NTD ($10.00 USD) which isn’t a bad price. After your meal you can get a dish of frozen yogurt or ice cream.

That same pepper sauce is available to put on your steak if you want. All in all it’s a decent meal and it looks familiar. But if you’re a real steak person, like you grew up on a farm and had a pet steer, that you eventually had to eat, you probably won’t be entirely satisfied.

Steak and other courses at Tasty

Sirloin Steak at My Home Steak

My Home Steak Chunri Road, Taoyuan City

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Cultural Unawareness: Just Love Hug Rally 2011

"Just Love Hug" rally September 24, 2001

Last week, for reasons that lie completely outside of my area of control, I found myself propelled into an extremely unlikely set of circumstances. By unlikely, I don’t mean that the circumstances themselves were unlikely. These things happen all the time. By unlikely, I’m referring to my actual presence in the place where these circumstances existed. My being in the same zip code with an event like I attended last week are about as likely as the spontaneous generation of cold fusion in my kitchen sink. In fact, Evolutionary Biology playing itself out in my refrigerator is one hundred times more probable than me willingly attending something like this. But I had no choice, well, in all actuality I guess that I could have refused to even go near the place, but it really came down to making a choice between offending people who have made it possible for me to remain in Taiwan, and me being a little uncomfortable for a few minutes. So after hours of serious deliberation, I decided that I would prefer a little discomfort to actually being on a plane headed back to California.

The Premier of Taiwan, Wu Den Yi exhorts the crowd.

Where, you might ask, did I find myself? At the Zhongli “Just Love Hug” rally. I have to tell you, I like people, I love to talk to them, I like to spend time with them, I even look forward to spending time with people, I’m just not a big hugger. I can’t help it. It’s probably some psychological flaw, some hang-up left over from some moment of embarrassment or discomfort I experienced as a child. Some Freudian interpreter might blame it my mother, although my mom is one of the few people that I actually don’t mind hugging. It’s odd because I’m not a distant, cool, unapproachable type, but in reality, I only hug my immediate family and maybe my sisters, and a few close friends who expect it because of our Hippie days. But that’s really about it. I have always felt that hello, goodbye and a nice handshake were perfectly adequate forms of greeting and farewell. In the late eighties I took a class where, at then end of the three day seminar, I was required to hug each of the seventy other participants in the class and about halfway through I was ready to run screaming for the door. I was sweaty, rumpled and smelling like a combination of aftershaves, perfumes, colognes and body odor. I was pretty well done with mass hug-a-thons at that point. The idea of a mass hug with ten thousand strangers was more than I could bear. But there I was with nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine others listening to them countdown from fifty to the great hug moment.

Counting down to the big moment

I was frantically trying to figure out how I could gracefully avoid embracing some well meaning person, intent on increasing the good feelings of mankind, bringing us all a little closer and demonstrating the love of humanity. I mean really, I don’t want to hurt someone like that. I really feel those are lofty and worthwhile goals, but how about looking into each other’s eyes and affirming our value as human beings, or a group smile, or maybe a little affectionate punch on the shoulder... but come on, not a hug! Meanwhile, as I’m working all of this out in my mind, the countdown was plummeting toward the moment. It was too late to excuse myself and go to the bathroom. It was too late to pretend to be intent on tying my shoes. It was too late feign a heart attack. The count had reached zero.

Nothing happened. Even those on stage, who were exhorting us toward this moment, were kind of shifting around uncomfortably until the moment passed. Then it was over, I didn’t see a single hug exchanged except between lovers in the entire place.

The Hug-a-thon

Taiwanese people are warm, friendly and loving people, but they’re not real big on hugging strangers, either. It was a little bit easier for me to identify with them, and relate to them after that moment. I felt closer to the Taiwanese people after that then I ever had before. In fact, I had good feelings toward mankind in general, I felt closer as a human being to others than I had before. I even felt a deeper love of humanity. Hey, maybe this stuff works.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Taiwan Travelogue: The North Coast

For the last several weeks, my wife and I have been trying to schedule a family trip to The North Coast of Taiwan, but we had encountered a number of obstacles. The first obstacle was a typhoon that was scheduled to impact the Northern Area of Taiwan. The second was that we are the parents of teenage girls, who have actual lives; they were involved in a number of little trips and adventures on their own. We've lived on the island for two years and have done very little in the way of seeing the island because we've been busy with work and all that we do.

But finally, our schedules came together and we loaded up our daughters, our little dog and our two charges, (my wife baby-sits) and took a road trip to the northern beach cities. Our intended destination was Fu Long Beach, the famous site of the Hohaiyan Rock Festival in the Gongliao District. But unfortunately, I couldn’t handle the arching bridge that connects the beach to the landmass. Almost 30 years of Muscular Dystrophy makes some things difficult, but undaunted we changed direction and headed back towards Taipei, where we landed At Yen Liao Beach Park.

Yen Liao Beach Park is a beautiful Sandy beach about three and a half kilometers west of Fulong beach. But it’s not all about sand and beach. Located on the site is an ancient building, a coffee shop, pool, children’s water park, and a second floor patio over the coffee shop to see the ocean, without getting sand in your shoes. There is an admission into the park, but off-season, it’s only $60 NTD (about $2.00 USD). We picked an interesting time to visit, as Typhoon Roke churned, north of Taiwan on its way to Japan. The result was some of the biggest surf I’ve seen in a while.

A typically nice Taiwanese woman ran the coffee shop. We were really the only people there at the time and she was kind and gracious, the only problem being that she added ten years to my age and gave me the senior discount, so much for my idea that I still look young and dashing. In my mind, I’m still in my twenties but apparently I look a bit older than that.

The drive from Taoyuan City took about an hour, but we went on a Monday after the rush hour traffic to Taipei had dwindled away. So we traveled smoothly and quickly, north on the #1 National Freeway, north on 62 and east along the coast on Scenic Highway 2. The scenery on the 2 was breathtaking at some points. Huge surf smashing on the rocks and surf breaks; Shear cliffs right down to the road and in some cases to the Sea itself. There were small fishing villages along the road with fishing boats tied up in the harbor and a number of scenic overlooks that looked over the more impressive, and beautiful parts of the coastline.

We thoroughly enjoyed the day’s outing, my daughter declaring, “This is the best day I’ve had since we’ve been in Taiwan.” My wife and I vowed that we would embark on other Monday trips, now that we’ve seen it’s possible and even delightful to take the little ones and teenagers with us. If you're planning to drive around in the scenic areas of Taiwan and can do it, I would recommend going on a weekday, while everyone is at school or work. This same drive would have taken probably two, possibly three hours each way on Saturday or Sunday. Fulong Beach can easily be reached on Taiwan's excellent rail system, it's about an hour and a half from Taoyuan City to Fulong on the train, even on a weekend day.

Gratuitous Cute Puppy Picture to boost readership. Charlie Wang, named after the tea "Cha Li Wang"

Note the glass floats across the top of the boat.

Yen Liao Beach Park

Photos by Chris, Brenda, Elizabeth and Emily Banducci

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Taiwanese History: Sun Yat Sen

Taiwanese Flag

I live in Taoyuan City and travel through the downtown area frequently on my scooter. There are a number of streets there that I have been curious about. Very near my home is San Min Lu, 三民路. There are three other streets that have this same character Min (民)　Minzu Lu 民族路, Minquan Lu 民權路 and Min Sheng Lu民生路. Recently I came to understand the meaning of these street names. The san min (the people’s principles) are the principles by which Sun Yat Sen planned the government of the Republic of China. As we move toward Double Tenth day, or Taiwan National Day, October 10, I want to discuss the “Father of Modern China,” Sun Yat Sen and his legacy The San Min Doctrine.

Chinese-Taiwanese history really began during the Qing Dynasty, actually toward the end of the dynasty. After about 1850 the Qing Dynasty had begun to lose power and influence, because the military power of the dynasty had begun to wane. In 1900, the emperor tried to revive his power through the modernization of the army. It was called the “New Army” and the weapons of war were upgraded to the present time. But it was a case of too little too late. The New Army was full of radical leaders, officers who saw the writing on the wall and had begun to work for a new China and an end to the empire.

Sun Yat Sen

Sun Yat Sen had begun to rise in prominence in the minds of these men. His bold new ideas, his new philosophies had begun to take hold of the imaginations of these generals and they began to secretly follow his lead. His philosophies gave power to the people and took power from the emperor.

As you might guess the emperor saw this as treason and Sun Yat Sen spent years in exile, physically, but his words and philosophies gained traction, especially among the military leaders. The thing that sparked their imagination was the San-Min三民 doctrine. In English, it has been translated as the three people’s principles. Interestingly, these three principles had taken root in Sun’s thinking through a speech by Abraham Lincoln where he spoke the phrase, “Government of the people, by the people and for the people.”

Mínzú Zhǔyì民族主義 is sometimes called nationalism, but it would be far more accurate to call it, “Government of the people.” Sun wanted to move away from imperial or ethnic nationalism to the broader idea of civic nationalism, uniting the five ethnicities into one people.

Mínquán Zhǔyì 民權主義, or democracy is, “Government by the people.” He viewed this as a western-style constitutional government. He longed for the power of the people to express their political wishes over the tyranny of imperial rule.

Mínshēng Zhǔyì 民生主義, was called by Sun as the people’s livelihood or “Government for the people.” By livelihood Sun was thinking of the people’s right to food, clothing, housing and transportation. He planned how an ideal government would care for it’s people. There has been much debate over the years as to Sun’s thoughts. He died before fully explaining this principle. The People’s Republic of China as a socialist government believes that they best fulfill this principle; of course the Republic of China, believes they have the handle on this ideology. It’s the classic argument of socialism vs. capitalism and it plays out in geopolitical saber rattling and cold war.

These principles grabbed the imaginations of the men tasked with the protection of the empire form the outside forces. Many of the generals and others were a part of the “Literary Society,” a radical organization supporting Sun’s philosophies. The Literary Society met secretly and kept secret membership lists until Russian revolutionaries accidentally detonated a bomb the city of Wuhan in Hubei province in central China. The district of Wuchang was rocked by the explosion and as authorities gathered and began to investigate the Literary Society membership lists were uncovered. Those generals and leaders understood well what discovery meant. They knew the empire would systematically track them down, arrest and execute them. They had no choice so they rose up and took over the government of the city. Telegraph notices began to go out and within six weeks sixteen provinces declared independence from the dynasty.

The Sun Yat Sen Memorial, seen from the observation deck of the Taipei 101

The Wuchang uprising gave way to the Xinhai Revolution. Sun Yat Sen returned to China after looking for support in the west and another man, Chiang Kai Shek returned from Japan, where he was a part of the Imperial Army of Japan, to assume leadership of the Artillery Forces of the R.O.C. By February twelfth, the revolution was over, the Emperor had abdicated and the Republic of China became the legal government of China.

At this time Sun Yat Sen is thought of, both in the People’s Republic and the Republic of China, as the Father of Modern China, he is revered in both places. But that’s where the consensus ends. Both governments see themselves as the embodiment of the San Min Doctrine. Both jealously cling to the idea that they are the ones who best represent the people and desire of the Chinese and Taiwanese populations. In 1992 they gave voice to this idea, in an agreement known as the, “1992 Consensus,” the main idea of which is that there is one China, of which Taiwan is a part, but two different interpretations of the who best exemplifies the principles of the San Min Doctrine, which of course leads to the question of which system is the legal government of China.

This isn't a political blog, there are others much more capable than I, in that realm. I'm not intending to debate the merits of the 1992 Consensus or even whether or not there is a consensus. There are those who don't agree there was a consensus. I am a believer in freedom and the rights of people to govern themselves free from tyranny and oppression and I leave the way to achieve that to the Taiwanese people.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Taiwanese Traditions: Holidays and the Lunar Calendar

The Lunar Calendar

Living in Taiwan, as a foreigner, means that I have to pay attention to the Lunar Calendar. I’m a pastor and I have to be careful of church events planned throughout the year, because if they fall on one of Taiwan’s major holidays, I will be the only one attending the event. As a result I have become interested in the Lunar Calendar.
The very first renderings of a lunar calendar go all the way back to the Shang Dynasty. This is the 2nd Chinese Dynasty, which existed in 1600 BC until 1046 BC. But the calendar has gone through a number of revisions since that time. As science progressed and the true and actual cycles of the moon and the earth were understood the calendar was changed t reflect this information. These revisions are tedious and boring, so I will not include all of that stuff in this post but I will tell you that the current lunar calendar has been in use since 104 BC.

There are a number of rules that govern the calendar:

1. Each Month begins at midnight on the day of the new Moon.
2. There are 12 regular months.
3. The sun must pass through winter solstice in month 11

In order to make that happen there must be an intercalary month inserted into the calendar. An intercalary month is like a leap month The intercalary month can take place after any month and is the same number of days as the month it follows. Because of the use of intercalary months of the Lunar calendar the corresponding days of the holidays in the Solar Calendar Change each year. For example in 2011, Chinese new Year took place on February 3, in 2012 it will be on January 23.

Most of Taiwan’s traditional holidays are marked through the use of the Lunar Calendar. modern Holidays are marked through the Solar Calendar. Let’s take a look at the Taiwanese Holidays:

Shin Kong Mitsukoshi decorated for the Year of the Rabbit

Lunar New Year: 春節Lunar Date is January 1. (January 23, 2012) This is the most important holiday of the year. It is celebrated much the same way that Christmas is celebrated in the west. Families gather for 3-15 days. Traditional meals are served on Lunar New Year’s Eve. People are given gifts of Hong Bao 紅包.　These are gifts of money that are a wish of prosperity for the recipient.

The Lantern Festival: 元宵節　Lunar date is January 15. (February 6, 2012) This is the first day a full moon can be seen in the New Year. People celebrate by lighting and launching sky lanterns. There are also huge venues where people go to see artistically made lanterns and watch them launched. People often write prayers and wishes on the side of the lanterns before they are released. The traditional food for the Lantern festival is the tangyuan 湯圓 (soup circle) These are balls of gooey, sweet rice gluten.

A Replica of an actual Lantern at the 2011 lantern Festival

Qingming Festival: 清明節 Solar Holiday: April 4,2012. During the Qingming Festival familes gather to sweep the tombs of departed ancestors. It is a day to honor the dead. Many people use this day to burn incense and worship their ancestors.

Dragon Boat Festival: 端午節　Lunar date is May 5. (June 23, 2012) his festival honors Chinese Poet Qu Yuan. It is celebrated with the racing of the dragon boats. People eat a special sticky rice pyramid called a zongzi.

Night of Sevens: 七夕 Lunar date is July 7. (August 23, 2012) This holiday celebrates the legendary love of Niulang and Zhinu. According to legend they are forever separated, but are allowed to unite on July 7. The Taiwanese view this as a romantic night celebrated much like Valentine’s Day in the west.

Zongzi, the traditional food of the Dragon Boat Festival.

Ghost Festival: 中元節　Lunar date is July 15. (August 31, 2012) The festival honors the departed ancestors. People commemorate this day by placing offerings of incense, food and beverages outside their homes and the burning of spirit money for the family members who have departed the world. This is the most important date of Ghost Month (The whole month of July on the lunar calendar.)

Mid-Autumn Moon Festival: 中秋節　Lunar date is August 15. (September 12, 2011/ September 30, 2012) This is the day when most people get together with friends and family and barbeque. Look for an in-depth post on the Moon Festival in September. A gift is given to friends and family of moon cakes. Circular cakes made with egg yolks and other things inside. The shape represents the moon and the cakes themselves are good wishes for the recipient.

Double Ninth Festival: 重陽節　Lunar Date is September 9. (Oct. 5, 2011/Oct.23, 2012) People usually celebrate this holiday by climbing mountains or visiting flower shows.

Traditional Moon Cakes for the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival.

Xia Yuan Festival: 下元節　Lunar date is October 15. (Nov. 10, 2011/Nov. 28,2012) During this festival people pray to the water god for a peaceful year.

Winter Solstice: 冬至　Solar Holiday (Dec. 22, 2011/Dec. 21, 2012) This corresponds to the Winter Solstice in western Countries. Families gather to celebrate on this day.

Kitchen God Festival: 謝灶 Lunar date is December 23. (Jan. 27, 2011/ Jan 17, 2012) This is the day to thank the kitchen god. It is believed that on the twenty third day of the twelfth lunar month, just before Chinese New Year he returns to Heaven to report the activities of every household over the past year to the Jade Emperor (Yu Huang). The Jade Emperor, emperor of the heavens, either rewards or punishes a family based on Zao Jun's yearly report.

One final note is that the Chinese Zodiac is broken down into 12 years. Each year corresponds to a particular animal. It is believed that people born in a particular year will share the traits of the animal mentioned. The following is a breakdown of the Zodiac and the corresponding years from 1924 through 2031.

Rat         1924 1936 1948 1960 1972 1984 1996 2008 2020
Ox         1925 1937 1949 1961 1973 1985 1997 2009 2021
Tiger      1926 1938 1950 1962 1974 1986 1998 2010 2022
Rabbit    1927 1939 1951 1963 1975 1987 1999 2011 2023
Dragon   1928 1940 1952 1964 1976 1988 2000 2012 2024
Snake     1929 1941 1953 1965 1977 1989 2001 2013 2025
Horse     1930 1942 1954 1966 1978 1990 2002 2014 2026
Sheep     1931 1943 1955 1967 1979 1991 2003 2015 2027
Monkey 1932 1944 1956 1968 1980 1992 2004 2016 2028
Rooster   1933 1945 1957 1969 1981 1993 2005 2017 2029
Dog        1934 1946 1958 1970 1982 1994 2006 2018 2030
Boar       1935 1947 1959 1971 1983 1995 2007 2019 2031

Photo Credits:
Lunar Calendar: http://henrikchoi.blogspot.com/2010/07/year-of-earth-ox.html
Moon Cakes: http://lsj.zhuxi.gov.cn/E_ReadNews.asp?NewsID=634
All other photos: Brenda and Elizabeth Banducci