Visit the April / May to October, when temperatures range from 18 ° C to 28 ° C. The Earth terrible dive festival (the original bungee) runs in April and May.

　　Montréal, Québec, Canada

　　Clean, friendly and multicultural cool, Montreal is quite happy for the whole year. Come July, however, is downright hilarious. Just For Laughs takes the city in summer, packing venues with the best in both Anglo-and Francophone comedy. It is one of the largest gatherings of comedy in the world, receiving over a first range Wisecräcker. Shows sell fast, as even the lesser known acts are virtually guaranteed to be a riot. But even if you can not get a ticket you can laugh along - every night the Latin Quarter of the city is alive with street performers, parades, puppets and a fantasy of fireworks.

　　For special offers and information in advance, for inclusion in the festival newsletter www.hahaha.com.

　　Happy Texas, USA

　　Welcome to the city self-proclaimed “without a frown. The youngest of the Lone Star Statesettlement Happy (Happy scenario of the 1999 film, Texas in name only) is a collection of silos frankly disappointing and gridded streets. But look beyond the limits of the “city” and the best of Texas is on the threshold, guaranteed to raise a smile. Walk or hike amid the red-rock hoodoos Palo Duro Canyon, the second largest, of the U.S. . bison spyware and spectacular sunsets in less known Caprock Canyon, the Wild West or spend dollars in the Amarillo Livestock Auction, a slice of pure American (Stetson comedy almost mandatory).

　　The auction takes place every Tuesday; guns are best visited in autumn and winter - the summers are extremely hot.

　　Bhutan

　　Monasteries led to the cliffs by the hair of angels, giant penises smeared in each house, argyle socks as the national dress and a total absence of traffic lights - which is not to be optimistic about in Bhutan? In fact, so jovial is this Himalayan Shangri-La of gross national happiness is an official measure, one way of ensuring that the gradual modernization of the country (still barely perceptible) does not interfere with Buddhist spirituality. Standing on a mountain range highest in the world, dotted with snow everywhere and prayer flags flapping like an appreciative audience, and just try to keep a smile on his face.

　　Visitors to Bhutan pays a fixed daily rate for travel on an organized tour; www.tourism.gov.bt see.

　　Colombia

　　Either in the coffee beans or the carnival atmosphere, Colombia buzzes with high-profile Latin spirit 24 / 7 - from its coast in the Caribbean to the streets of Bogota. While some think it is strange that a country so plagued by insurgency and drug trafficking could be classified second in the Happy Planet Index, which I visited in recent years, a report of record on improving energy security and an uncontrollable both infectious and uplifting. Attend a football game (the national obsession), a homegrown cumbia concert of singing and dancing, or one of the many festivals, many Catholics, to take this nation in his most passionate vocal.

　　Listen cumbia in the Carnival of Barranquilla loud (just before Ash Wednesday). Avoid October and November, the wettest months.

　　Wuyi Shan, China

　　Despite its attractive name, XingYong Le Tian (the Ever Happy Temple) is surrounded by selling drinks and parking unromantic. However, it is no surprise that the building is perpetually cheerful. The temple in the northern province of Fujian is robust sits in a realm of secret valleys dotted with waterfalls and mysterious caves of smallpox. Use the carved rock steps to explore, along the tea bushes and bamboo trees to get to the cave of the curtain and Heavenly Tour Peak. Or take the water - simple rafts covered with rattan chairs will float nine laps River while guides point to 4,000 years old niches carved into the rock walls above.

　　Visit midweek to avoid tourist crowds and boat trips leave from Xing Cun and last one hour.

　　Malawi

　　If you smile is you’re after - big, bold - head to Malawi, called the “warm heart of Africa.” people in the country are recognized by the warm welcome they offer to passengers, despite living in one of the poorest nations. Since the capital markets of Lilongwe wood carving the sandy shores of Lake Malawi and the bush elephant grazing Liwonde National Park, approached him with a smile at every step. To make this the happiness of a two-way, to sign a voluntary project. Do your bit to help the local people - 85% of the population live in traditional settlements - put a smile on everyone’s face.

　　The dry season lasts from April to October for a list of charities in Malawi see www.malawitourism.com.

　　Andorra

　　If good health is an indicator of the happiness of the people of this tiny principality betweenFrance and Spain should be smiling wider - which have the world’s longest life expectancy, a venerable 83.5 years. Should be as the air in the Pyrenees (average altitude of 1996m) and the fun outdoor activities: skiing in winter, hiking and mountain biking this summer. There is also generated from quiet peace of the nation - Andorra has not been at war for 700 years. Finally, there is food: rock in a traditional side of stone for a plate of mushrooms, brook trout and high pasture-raised, wild boar and feel the organic goodness take years off.

　　Does not have an airport Andorra, access to the country of Toulouse, Perpignan orBarcelona.

　　Hidakagwa, Wakayama, Japan

　　When no-mikoto goddess Niutsuhime stayed for a great meeting of the kami (Japanese spirits), the other 8 million or so more specific deities had a good laugh at his expense. And so was born a tradition: every year Hidakagwa residents, led by a clown, go out in carriages. They jangle bells and shouting “warau! Waraus!” (Laughs! Laughter!) In the crowd. Like sheep gay, suddenly everyone is, in fact, laughing, spilling infectious good humor all the way to the shrine of self-Niu same. It’s nothing to do with the rice wine free flowing at all.

　　Wakayama is located in the Kansai region on Honshu the Warai (Laughing) Festival is held in October.

　　Denmark

　　It’s official: Denmark is the happiest country in the world. The tiny nation covers most reliably happiness Scandinavian studies. It is easy to see why: the standard of living is sky high. Transport is running on time; summer houses on the beach are the norm (there is an abundance of sandy beaches); thread cycle paths through cities, forests, valleys and wetlands; restaurants serve some of the best in northern Europe (and freshest) of grub. Cafe relaxed cruise in Copenhagen, the canoe of the fjords of northern Jutland or rent a bike to meet the 11 national cycle routes, and find out what they’re smiling about.

　　June-August with good weather and many outdoor festivals; Roskilde (www.roskilde-festival.dk), the largest, is in early July.

The next morning when I woke up (rather late and with a huge headache) Lijang love and decided to stay two more days. An aspirin, another in the doner Kebaba (like my stomach felt fine) and was ready for tourism. I walked around the Old City and then visited the Black Dragon Pool Palace Mu - the most popular Lijang - very impressive.

In the afternoon I returned to my hotel and had a break to get ready for another night of drinking. I tried a little Naxi food for dinner, it was a bad idea at night and my stomach started hurting. In Lijang must begin at all the bars in the old music has to stop at 11:30 pm. But it is time to get drunk with other tourists - Chinese say that “everyone is lucky Lijang” and seems to be true.

The next day, and my last day I spend in the Snow Mountain Lijang 25 km away, offering a beautiful view even I could enjoy it fully by the Naxi food last night. Then I stopped at Suhe belonging to Lijang and is very similar to the main Lijang Old City. Last night I had my third Kebab to make sure my body is very good for the bus trip to Kunming the next morning. The store Kebaba Sakura was the only place I trust also Lijang KFC or doctors (not my favorite food). This time I tried the lamb skewers and I was not disappointed. A few more drinks and a bar called Sakura Mi Yi Yang Guang who is also a good bar. I decided to go home on my own as my bus left at 8:30 Lijang.

Lijang My conclusion: nice traditional old town, but also commercial, but as only a great place to have fun at night! And again the kebab shop - safe to eat and delicious!

She is a sweet dog. I hope to take her home to Canada when the time comes.
My school Christmas party was last Sunday was great! I was a guest and has to defend on stage and talk all night, even had to sing. The children were surprised to see me outside my work clothes and a fancy dress! It was fun.
One of the other foreign teachers I work with disguised as Santa Claus and children surprised everyone and surely be amazed! Because students are 3-10 years younger thought it was really Santa!
In addition to the celebration of teaching is going well. The lessons are so easy to prepare and students are happy to learn, so most of them. I’ll add some photos of the school and my students.
Xi’an was Christmas …. strange. Christmas here is a mix between Halloween and New Year. Everyone walks the streets with masks. There are fireworks and plenty of food. You can play “games on the street” and get three balls into the basket and win a stuffed animal. I did not stay too long there were so many people in the streets could not handle. I went home as soon as possible. On Christmas Eve I took my sweet neighbors to dinner at Pizza Hut, which is a fancy restaurant here. Everyone was dressed to go there. We all enjoy, especially children. Free refills thought Coca-Cola were amazing! And took advantage of it … three large glasses each!
It was interesting learning how to use a knife and fork. They did not want to eat pizza with your hands. They liked the garlic bread, I love it. After dessert, the kids are all GIANT ice cream! It was a great night.

jade articles began to appear larger in the middle of Chinese feudalism. There is now in the City of Round Beihai Park a large jade jar the size of a small bathtub. Was used as a wine container by the Yuan Emperor Kublai Khan when he feted his followers. The bottle may hold 3.5 tonnes up to 3,000 liters of wine. It has a circumference of 493cm and 70cm high and 55 cm, depth measurements in the center. The bottle is elliptical wellshaped and recorded everything with clouds, waves, dragons and sea horses. It is the oldest jade object large remained intact in the country.

Another great piece worth mentioning is a jade sculpture dating from the reign of Qianlong in the 18th century. Entitled “Jade Mountain Showing the Great Yu Taming the Flood”, which was carved from a Song Dynasty painting of a similar title. The masterpiece, standing 2.4 meters high and 1 meter wide and about shows in great detail how the Great Yu, a heroic representative of the ancient people work, combating the Great Flood. According to historical records, the raw jade stone, weighing five tons, was discovered in the area of Hotan, Xinjiang, took three years to be transported to a distance of 4,000 kilometers from Beijing, and some more years to be carved and polished to the national treasure it is.

“There is a price for gold, but not price for” jade, “says a Chinese proverb. Jade ware is often described as “worthy of a string of cities.” An ancient story tells how the king of Qin, Zhao once offered 15 towns in exchange for jade around the famous Ho. How is Thai jade is so valuable?

First, its value lies in its scarcity. The gemstones are formed over long geological epochs and are hard to come by, especially of green jade, white jade and agate. Old town in search of treasure had to walk on the back of yaks in mountainous regions to reach the rocks containing the gems uncut, half exposed or exposed to the stamping of hoofs. Sometimes, precious stones were washed away by mountain torrents and took over half of men with the eye and luck. In any case, exposed stone was scarce and people began to bore through the mountains to extract precious stones, making it even harder to achieve.

Second, the value of jade lies in its harshness. Gemstones are divided by their hardness into two major groups: jadeite and nephrite. Jadeite are those who have a solid texture and a hardness of grade 6 or higher (on the basis of 10 for diamond). The most valuable varieties such as green jade, may be as hard as grade 8 or 9. Jadeite are invulnerable to steel cutting tools made of carbonrundum or power of diamonds. The objects of this hard jade are smooth, bright, shiny and translucent, and their grains are no longer visible to the naked eye.

Nephrite, however, being below degree 6 in hardness, in general, can be incised and carved by chisels. Their market values are much lower than jadeite. Third, the value of gemstones is in its natural color and tone. Some are as white as snow, others are bright red, green and more seductively. Diamond, emerald, sapphire and other gemstones can be transformed into personal ornaments like rings and earrings whose color will stay bright all the time. Some estimates have a wide variety of colors that a master craftsman can be used with good results. Even the flaws in the stone can be turned into places of beauty “, for example, an insect on a flower or a small squirrel in a tree, adding life and attraction of the whole workpiece.

Today there are jade workshops or factories in major cities. The work being done solely by hand, has been partially mechanized. Although some operations have become faster with the use of simple machines, however, jade remains essentially an art of craftsmanship. And as raw materials are becoming scarcer, the prices of jade articles is always on trend.

I discovered the downside of poorly planned trips when I went to the Expo 2010 world fair that is held through October 31 in Shanghai. After seeing an ad in the expo, I skimmed an article on the subject, paid a fee of $ 30 rush to secure a visa in a hurry, booked a hotel that was near the metro and went to China.

My sloppy spontaneity was no match for the expo, a growing business, requiring massive precision of a military campaign to conquer. I had no plan and no idea what to expect. Vaguely in the picture a larger version of taste “in” every town has festivals. What I found was more like a larger version of an exhibition of the geography of fourth grade, which tells each student to do a booth with information about their assigned country and its environmental efforts. Some children (Sweden) spend weeks on the elaborate displays that go beyond the subject, while others (Netherlands) print a list of facts from the tourist office the night before, and some just write the country name in glitter glue on a card. (Flag of Cuba consists only of a bar selling drinks Havana Club rum.)

Because I was so clueless about how the exposure really look, I made lots of mistakes in preparing for my trip. But, hey, I make mistakes so you do not have to. Here are my lessons learned:

Buy your tickets in advance. ticket lines at the gates of the exhibition are a long, long walk from the entrances. authorized ticket sellers can be found here: http://en.expo2010.cn/a/20090327/000001.htm

Investigation of the pavilions. I figured, with my ticket, I would like a glossy brochure and multilingual with a description of what each pavilion had to offer. What I have in hand, was a pictorial map in Chinese. Unless you are thinking about spending the rest of the summer at the Expo, will have to decide in advance which ones are worth your time. Expo website has a page listing the highlights of each pavilion: http://en.expo2010/. cn / pavilions / hqzg.htm

Make a plan. Deprived of my pamphlet imaginary, opted instead to just wander around for a while and see what it looked interesting. While I enjoyed seeing the wide variety of architectural styles and decoration of the pavilion, I quickly realized this approach was long and tiring. The site displays covering more than five square kilometers, so we need a strategy. My advice: Range of flags in the levels of “must see” and “would be good to see,” and then draw a route. Allot at least 90 minutes for the flag, and grouped by location - the site is so great that it is not feasible to hopscotch around.

Protect your skin. My sunscreen every day was about as effective as the defense of the Washington Generals. I thought I spend most of my time in halls with air conditioning, but the reality is, the waiting time for most of the pavilions at least one hour, and only a small part of each line is covered by awnings. With little shade and temperatures hovering around 100 degrees, it is easy to become dehydrated or sick. Use a sunscreen with high SPF water-resistant, and take an umbrella or umbrella to block the hot sun above. Also, you can not bring in bottled water, so the budget to buy a few bottles a day at the expo.

Note that the Chinese and Americans have different rules for the tail. The Chinese consider fellow line standers how Danica Patrick refers to the other drivers on the track - as obstacles to maneuver around by any means necessary. Queue jumping is a common place, people just step in front of you. Not in front of them. Instead, standing close to the people in front of you, physically block cutters potential (an elbow works well), and accept that will happen sometimes.

Do not bring young children. Did I mention the time lines? The heat? The fact that most buildings are multi-level and involve stairs? Children and parents alike would probably be happier with a trip to the park. And speaking of that …

Do not get trapped by drum expo. I waited nearly two hours to see the flag of Sweden because he had heard it was great fun - there’s a slide! And swing! Then I was inside, and saw the slide was about 15 feet long (and is open only three hours a day). You know where else I can find a playground and a 10? The park is five minutes from my house. There once in a lifetime, experiences they have had here, but riding a bike (Denmark) in the expo is no different from riding a home. Find news, otherwise, you’ll be disappointed.

Do not expect to expand their culinary horizons. I thought they flit from one booth to buy better food samples in each country. Reality: We are feeding half a million people per day. The dining halls have fast food, some of the national pavilions are above, but are forced to focus on quantity over quality, and most can not access without going through the input line flag.

Consider going in the evening. After 4 hours, the ticket price drops by half, and the sun drops to a point where you the warming, do not fry. In addition, many people have already been and gone. One caveat: At this point, some of the lines have become unwieldy length, with waiting times at popular pavilions (Japan, China, USA) Superior to four hours.

Do not be afraid to cut your losses. Six hours on my first day at the expo, I realized … the highlight of my day had been taking a nap on the fake grass in the Netherlands. He was exhausted, sunburned, and I was afraid to return the next day.

So I went back to what works for me. I went down to chance the subway at the Plaza del Pueblo, which is a hop-on bus tour, hop-off, and spent two days exploring Shanghai. And as night approached, I saw a small amusement park, with only seven games. I bought a ticket for a trip that revolved in circles because it became more and more top of the square. The next three minutes were pure, spontaneous joy: the wind blowing through his hair, the thrill of quick drops, camaraderie, to scream along with the Chinese girls who rode with me - another unexpected delight my best memories of trip.

The Reality Check does not begin to know nothing. If you have something specific in mind, look around. Ask what other travelers have paid. Better yet, find a store fixed price. These generally cater to tourists time poor and therefore, their prices will be at the top. However, they provide an excellent indication of the upper limit of the current cost elsewhere.

The first movement
Once you see something you decide you need to go home with you (and try to keep in mind here, after all, that huge Turkish carpet might look great in your living room, but getting from here to there may be more problems than it’s worth it), try to get the seller to start the negotiations. His first price may be an answer. If you know what to pay, be sure to start children who have the space to move, If, after a little background research, you’re still not quite sure what the price should be, an offer of about 50 percent of its price is not a bad place to start.

The insult false
The seller may treat your first price as an insult (especially if it is less than half of what the seller wants). It is usually not. These people sell to tourists to earn a living and the strategies they will use all they can to get the best price. So do not be alarmed. Just ask politely what the price of the day,. It is important to stay calm and avoid being aggressive. Otherwise, it will result in either higher prices or a sudden end to the negotiations. Either way, nobody wins.

The price of “Last”
This is also known as the “best” price. Vendors sometimes nominate their “last price”. Not often, so go ahead. The merchant can also tell you that something is “below my cost price.” Again, all part of the game. Go ahead (but always politely). Your offer need not be symmetrical in form, increases half way, and can more or less depend on how you think things are going. Offering to buy in bulk helps to lower costs. If two or more items you want in one place, you will always do better than if there is only one.

The strike false
The real advantage of negotiation is willing to buy whatever it is trading for, so its main tool is the threat of foot. A strike can sometimes false price drop much more than it would have dreamed. Sometimes, however, brings nothing of the sort. The problem is that if you really want something to lose the ability to carry out this threat.

The facts of life
Only if you speak the language fluently and have lived in the country for some time you can expect to pay anything approaching “local price.”

Enjoying the game
Treatment of negotiation as a game where the stakes are just a couple of dollars will help keep some perspective. After all, the seller has to win something and usually means more to them than to you. The idea is not to get the lowest price possible and let the supplier without any, but to get the price that both are happy. Getting a hernia in rupees or 100 baht the 3rd is after all, only two dollars.

The Golden Rule
If you see something you really going to regret not having, not risk. You can not assume you will ever find that again, even in the same store. Assuming you can get home, give more importance to him as a souvenir of your trip that necessarily get the best price.

Formative Years
The most difficult to negotiate are invariably the most frequented by tourists. Here are conditioned by the sellers every day of waiting, the encounters with tourists who think that any price is cheap and are happy to pay what is asked. The beating of the vendors have been rectified by the constant repetition and that they very early age. I’ve seen a child in Nepal tourist seller
Market, just to the waist, perfect parody of its major lines with a reliability (and English language ability) that contrasted with his lack of years.

Shanghai Geographic Features
Shanghai city proper has a total area of 6,340.5 square kilometers. It extends about 120 kilometers from north to south and nearly 100 kilometers from east to west. Bordering on Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces on the west, Shanghai is washed by the East China Sea on the east and Hang Zhou Bay on the south. North of the city, the Yangtze River pours into the East China Sea. It has a central location along China’s coast line. Except for a few hills lying in the southwest corner, most parts of the Shanghai area are flat and belong to the alluvial plain of the Yangtze River Delta. The average sea level elevation is about four meters.
Dotted with many rivers and lakes, the Shanghai area is known for its rich water resources, with the water area accounting for 11% of its total territory. Most of the rivers are tributaries of the Huangpu River that flows through downtown Shanghai. With a pleasant northern subtropical maritime monsoon climate, Shanghai enjoys four distinct seasons, generous sunshine and abundant rainfall every year. Spring and autumn are relatively short compared with the summer and winter. The average annual temperature is 17.6 Co. The city had a frost-free period of 300 days a year, and received an average annual rainfall of 1,302 millimeters. Nearly 50% of the precipitation comes during the May-September flood season, which is divided into three rainy periods, called, the Spring Rains, the Plum Rains and the Autumn Rains.
Shanghai People
Shanghai has a population of 17 million (including the floating population). The main inhabitants are Han nationality. The main religion here is Buddhism and Taoism.
Shanghai History
Shanghai began as Huating County, an administrative district established in 751 AD. In 991 AD, Shanghai Town was set up in the county. During the period of 1260A.D-1274 A.D, the town evolved into an important trading port. In 1292A.D, the central government approved the establishment of Shanghai County, which has been widely deemed as the official beginning of the city of Shanghai.
In the 16th century, Shanghai became the national center of the textile industry. In 1685, Shanghai, that already had a population of 200 thousand, set up its first customs office. After the Opium War in the mid-19th century, Shanghai served as a major trading port and gateway to inland China. With the invasion of the western powers Shanghai became a semi-feudal and semi-colonial city until the year of 1949 when the People’s Republic of China was founded.

Fish from the sea is much used along the coastal provinces of China but fresh-water fish plays a much greater part in Chinese cooking than in the west. The Chinese ways of cooking probably make it so. Restaurants and even households often buy live fish and keep them swimming in tanks until needed for use. For celebrations and parties the Chinese serve fish whole. A headless, tailless fish is considered incomplete and unaesthetic. There is a practical reason for leaving the fish intact: fewer juice escape during the cooking process.

Of sea fish, bluefish, whitefish, flounder, cod, salmon, bass, and fresh sardine can make good Chinese dishes. Shad and mullet are partly sea and partly river fish. Shad is a great delicacy in China. Of fresh-water fish, carp and buffalo carp are the most important in Chinese fish dishes.
Give me a fish, I eat for a day. Teach me to fish, I eat for a lifetime. - Robert Louis Stevenson

Common methods fish are prepared in Chinese

There are two ways of cooking fish plain in China, steaming and simmering which are both a good choice from a nutritional point of view because unlike frying, they do not increase the fat content. To steam, the fish is placed in a plate with seasoning and very small amount of water, and the dish is placed on a rack in a wok with boiling water. Alternatively, instead of plate, you can use the bamboo steamer but that’s not a good idea really because the sweet juices seep out of the fish will drip right down into the boiling water. The aluminum steamers is your best bet if you are concerned that boiling water in the wok will remove your hard-earned seasoning. Only a good-sized fish is worth cooking in this way.
An alternative method apparently just as good is to clear-simmer it. You put the fish together with the small amount of liquid seasoning directly into the pot and bring to boiling over high heat and reduce heat to simmer as soon as boiling starts. Never let boiling continue hard or it will ruin the fish. Shad, bass, pike, and mullet and plaice are suitable for clear-simmering.
The Chinese word for fish is pronounced “yu”. The same pronunciation is given to the word “remain”. From this coincidence the Chinese developed a tradition of serving fish at celebrations and happy occasions: The fish (”yu”) served at the meal “guaranteed” that the happiness felt by the participants would remain “yu”) for a long time.

Remember that fish, like most other foods, continues to cook even after you remove it from the heat source. So, try to stop the cooking before the dish is done.

The main reason that the Chinese do not eat much beef is probably that it is not as versatile a meat as pork from the point of view of Chinese cooking. For example, beef meat balls will never be as tender as pork. While for most of Chinese recipes, pork will make reasonably good dishes with beef, they do not make such easily successful dishes with beef as with pork. However, some recipes are especially good for beef or are better with beef than with pork and are therefore primarily a beef recipe. You can always use your own judgment about interchanging the recipes between beef and pork.
You know of course that pork should be cooked thoroughly, while beef can be eaten rare. This compensates in part for the tougher texture of beef than pork. But then beef when too rare will not taste Chinese.
The Chinese usually use tenderloin or sirloin for beef slices and shreds in stir fry dishes. For stewing, shin and shank meat in whole pieces or in large cubes are usually used. The Chinese do not use other big pieces of meat because it has longer tissues and they stiffen more when stewing and come out less tender.

Meat shreds, cubes etc should be dried well (if not marinated) before they are put in a hot wok. This enables the pore of the meat to seal when they come in contact with heat. By preparing meat this manner, there will be very little loss of moisture and it will stay juicy.

In soups as well as other savory dishes, the Chinese cook uses MSG. This substance salt-like in appearance, has the virtue of bringing out and accentuating the flavor of any foods with which it is employed. In Chinese homes, where chicken figures frequently, chicken stock is, logically used for soups. But thrifty cooks buy giblets whenever possible, and at the same time, ask for the feet in which there is more goodness than one might think. Chicken gizzards, hearts, skinned feet and necks make beautifully clear stock. Chicken livers, which are parts of the giblets one buys, are never used in the stock but are reserved for inclusion in special dishes. Another to which we are more likely to resort, these days, is those very useful chicken cubes which are pretty generally available. In a Chinese restaurant, where they often boil or reheat pork, beef, chicken, duck, and various bones, there is a common soup stock, usually very dilute, that can be served with anything else and is called ‘ high soup’.

Soups may be divided into light soups and heavy soups. A light soup’s ingredients are more for flavorings than for eating. The excellence of Chinese light soups is due to the clear stock and the fresh flavor of the added ingredients which is achieved by the speed at which they are cooked. On the whole, Chinese restaurants do not make thin soups, probably because people are not prepared to pay just to drink a thin soup.

Heavy or thickened soups, a Cantonese specialty, on the other hand, are slow-cooked. A whole fresh chicken, a whole shad, a turtle, or the sea cucumber is usually used, and sometimese Chinese herbal medicines are added and simmered for several hours so to get a liquid that’s infused will all the goodness and essence of the ingredients. The two most famous Chinese soups of this type, shark’s fin soup and bird’s nest soup appear to be thickened but the glutinous texture does, in neither case, result from the addition of cornstarch but from the two main ingredients, shark fin and bird’s nests which are simmered for many hours.
As the Chinese are the only people who can make sensible use of shark fins they are exported by Chinese traders to countries all over the world. The nests in making bird’s nest soups are exclusively those of swiflets, the birds from the family of common swallow. These highly prized nests are built and clung to the ceiling of the caves as high as 70m by the birds mostly of seaweed that is mixed by their own saliva, making the process of harvesting an ordeal and expensive. Swiflets nests are mostly found on cliffs in areas along the Southern Chinese coast and South East Asia.

One thing you might observe is that Chinese beef or pork soups are free from strong unpleasant smell. This is because Chinese get rid of the blood when slaughtering the animal, which is the culprit of the odor. One trick to make great soups is to boil the beef/pork for a while and skim off fat and foam from the surfaces of soups. Repeat this a couple of times until none or little foam appears.

There’s a Chinese saying “making a pot of good soup can tie a man’s heart”.