One of my greatest joys is entering a museum shop. I’ve rarely found one that I dislike, no matter the size of the museum or the diversity in the shop, for me they feel like interactive moodboards, and in the end I get to take part of them home with me. In a different life, I think I would have loved to curate the products of a museum shop. There’s something quite resembling The Ritual of Reading in the idea of putting together books and porcelain, soaps and stationary, flower seeds and jewellery, in order to create this enchanted Universe that speaks to everyone. From Paris to Vienna, Fontevraud to Malaga, big or small, I could make a guide of my favourite museum shops around Europe. And somewhere around the top, you’ll find the Guimet museum in Paris, host of the national collections of Asian art. During my last visit, which you’ll see in next week’s video premiere, I found some treasures in the bookshop section, irresistible as always.
My Chinese New Year explorations were partly planned. I researched some of the books I wanted to read and hoped they would impress me enough so that I could bring them here, in front of you. However, some of my Chinese reads were the result of happy coincidences, or, in keeping with the theme, some might say they were secret plans of the ancestors. And the next book is exactly that.
24 Hours in Ancient China by Yijie Zhuang
24 Hours in Ancient China: A Day in the Life of the People Who Lived There is a book I picked up almost without realizing it, in its French translation, and was immediately drawn by the concept : 24 short stories following 24 characters during the space of one day in 17 AD China.
Yijie Zhuang is a Professor of Chinese Archaeology at the University College in London, and his idea of presenting an ancient society through the trades or professions of its members is quite captivating. Each story is presented as fiction, with inserts of history facts that have inspired the characters or the story so that in the end, without even noticing, you’ve read a history book and a collection of short stories in one.
From the teacher to the silk weaver, the midwife or the chef, we learn not only what were the essential occupations of the time, but also the structure of the society and the role each person played in every-day life. Some might say the information is vulgarized for the masses. I, for one, think this type of book is the perfect introduction to civilizations we consider exotic by the nature of their lifestyle, very different from ours. This not only makes knowledge accessible, but it helps you recall historical information that might otherwise slip your mind, simply by putting it into context. And that’s the magic of fiction.
Chinese Shrimp and Bok Choy Stir-Fry
When it comes to virtual travel, the staple is always the cuisine, and in terms of Chinese food, the western world has almost reached a point of saturation, that makes us take for granted some of the culinary delights we’re offered. A reminder of their origin is sometimes welcomed, so that we can make the switch from fast-food culture to gastronomy.
One of the most emblematic cooking techniques, dating as far as the Ming Dynasty in the 14th century, is stir-frying, where ingredients are quickly fried in a small amount of very hot oil while being stirred or tossed in a wok. The technique originated in China and in recent centuries has spread into other parts of Asia and the West.
For me, there is no quicker way to escape into an imagined Chinese paradise, than with some fresh produce and the omnipresent soy sauce. Today I decided to prepare a new recipe of shrimp and bok choy, a combination I have never tried before. You can find the full recipe on my website HERE and you’ll see me prepare it in next week’s video premiere, but for today, I’ll share some impressions on flavours.
Bok Choy is not a regular in my fridge, since it remains an exotic vegetable here in France. Seeing it’s often translated somewhere in the Chinese cabbage range, I’ve always associated it with a neutral taste, between the tender leaves of white cabbage and maybe a mild swiss chard. Yet while tasting this recipe, I suddenly got a hint of mustardy punch that was quite surprising even though it shouldn’t be, since bok choy evolved from the mustard plant.
This is a classic example of subtleties we should be looking for in foreign cuisines, and the kind of simple, at home experience, that I love. Not to mention the beauty of each type of sauce that brings its own depth of flavour to the dish. Between the freshness of the greens, the sweetness of the shrimp, the light soy sauce, the dark mushroom-infused one and the extra special oyster sauce, I was in heaven. I felt surrounded by all the characters in the novels I’ve been reading lately, around a diner table somewhere in the mountains, where the heaviness of revolutions and wars could not reach us.
The Girl Who Played Go by Shan Sa
One of the novels I was looking forward to reading this Chinese New Year is Shan Sa’s multi awarded The Girl Who Played Go. This is the third Chinese author I’m reading this year who chose to relocate to France, and as a bonus, she also writes in French, though you should know the novel has been translated into 32 languages.
This was also an opportunity for me to brush up on my knowledge of Manchuria, a name I vaguely located on the map, somewhere in the distant unknown. The novel tells two parallel stories, in chapters that alternate between the voices of two players sitting opposite each other in the game of go : a young Chinese girl and a Japanese soldier in disguise.
Under the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, life for the local Chinese and Manchu population has followed either the path of mere survival, or the cause of resistance. And for a young girl starting to feel the fluttering changes of romantic attachments, the world seems to be constantly moving. The one steady element she can count on is her exceptional talent at the game of go. In the Square of a Thousand Winds, she meets a mysterious opponent, who wins her trust with his foreign accent and his discreet presence. Little does she know that the man sitting across from her is merely pausing to catch his breath, taking a brief respite from his days and nights spent fighting for the cause of an Emperor to whom he has devoted his life.
With the contemporary audacity of touching on intimate subjects like sexuality, the novel constructs a fragile universe, torn between humanity’s most opposing pursuits : war and love.
The eternal female sacrifice, the weight of duty on the shoulders of men everywhere, this is the story of mankind, told through the voices of two characters that unify our destinies. Shan Sa’s words are feathers that make you forget, for a second, the hardships of life.
“It has taken many years for the game of go to initiate me into the freedom of slipping between yesterday, today, and tomorrow. From one stone to the next, from black to white, the thousands of stones have ended up building a bridge far into the infinite expanse of China.”
― Shan Sa, The Girl Who Played Go
We are slowly coming to the end of the festive Chinese season. Next week, the Lantern Festival will mark the return of the light with all the good omens for the year to come. This means a new video premiere that I’m looking forward to sharing with you. And I’ve kept one of my favourite novels especially for the occasion.
Until then, enjoy your reading and your rituals !
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