The Mid-Autumn Festival is a celebration of the fall harvest and an important event on the lunar calendar. The festivities include dragon dances, glowing lanterns, incense and, perhaps the most important, eating mooncakes. These traditional pastries are usually filled with red bean or lotus seed paste and can also include a cooked yolk of duck […]
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Masala Art: Authentic Indian Cuisine in Shanghai
I love Indian food. In the States we used to eat Indian take-out all the time. In Shanghai, not so much. That is, until we discovered Masala Art Indian restaurant. I’m about to make a bold statement, but this some of the best Indian food we’ve eaten, and we’ve lived in New York City which […]
Snapshot: Xi’an Street Food
Xi’an’s bustling Muslim Quarter is home to a community of Hui – one of China’s many ethnic minority groups – who have been living and working in the winding lanes for centuries. Food is an integral part of this neighborhood, and many pajama-clad residents can been found cooking all the local specialties, from hand-pulled noodles and fried […]
A Forest of Tombstones in Xi’an, China
The Xi’an Beilin Museum, also know as the “Stele Forest,” boasts an impressive collection of over 1,000 stone stelae, many dating to the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). The tablets were often erected at tombs and intricately carved to illustrate the person’s accomplishments and family connections. The collection is housed in a former Confucius Temple and […]
Seeing the Terracotta Warriors at the Shaanxi History Museum
If you happen to find yourself Xi’an, you simply cannot leave town without visiting the excellent Shaanxi History Museum, one of the best we’ve come across in China. Some of the best preserved terracotta warriors are housed in a special gallery where you can admire them from an astonishingly close distance. The different styles of dress […]