Healing Through Art

Healing can take many forms, through movement, through sound, or through visual expressions; art has been used to speak when words can not. Since the Covid-19 pandemic many Asian Americans have taken up different forms of creative and artistic approaches in combating trauma and fostering healing. In this blog post we will share a few pieces of visual art that paints a picture of hope, healing, and identity.

Nicole Kang Ahn (b. 1988)
Remembrance, 2022
Digital print on Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)

Remembrance is based on a photo taken by the artist during a visit to the makeshift memorial at Gold Spa in the days following the shooting. It captures a moment of quiet reflection – a young girl and her grandmother lean on each other for support, surrounded by flowers and handwritten dedications. It is a reminder that while our wounds are intergenerational, so too are the ways we show caring and healing. 

“I wanted to first remember the victims.” 

Nicole Kang Ahn (b. 1988) is a painter, illustrator, and muralist from Peachtree Corners, Georgia. Her art means to slow down time and capture mundane moments, savoring each feeling and memory. Her three pieces included in this collection seek to tell a story that remembers the victims, honors their lives, and conveys a message of hope.

Image Description: This artwork is about remembrance. This is an illustration of the Gold Spa store front where an altar of community notes and flowers are sprawled across the front of the spa and an elder with short dark hair, a brown long sleeve shirt, and brown bag is kneeling and embracing a young child with brown shoulder-length hair, wearing a purple long sleeve shirt looking towards the altar. The Gold Spa was the site of one of the shootings that took place on March 16, 2021.

Natalie Bui (b. 1992)
Community Care, 2022
Digital print on Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)

In Vietnamese, the expression “chia buồn” is used to express condolences. “Chia buồn” literally translates to “divide sadness.” The expression captures the act of dividing grief – of cutting it into small, little, pieces to split among each other so that each of us individually carries a much lighter load. Community Care shows four figures locked in a comforting embrace. Their limbs are entangled and each person leans on the collective, both resting upon and supporting those around them. 

Community care requires us to harness our power, privilege, and empathy to uplift the people who are both in and out of the reach of our embrace. In the wake of the anniversary, this piece inspires us to recommit to expanding and deepening our community of care for all, beginning in Atlanta and spreading throughout the country and the world.

“We were talking about a traumatic moment within our movement. But also trying to balance the acts of community care when these moments happen.” 

Natalie Bui (b. 1992) is a Vietnamese American digital illustrator and co-Founder of SHIFT – a diversity, equity, and inclusion consultancy. Her work centers on self and community empowerment and emphasizes collective liberation across communities.

Image Description: The theme of this artwork is community care with four women embracing one another and the words “CAN I HOLD YOU?” below the image. The women appear with different hair styles in different shades of purple and different shades of orange, pink and red on their skin. There are shades of purple and blue leaves coming out from behind the two women at the end of each embrace and shades of orange, pink, purple and magenta flowers on the women’s skin. The backdrop of this image shows a gradient of orange and pink flowers.

Nicole Kang Ahn (b. 1988)
Solidarity, 2022
Digital print on Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)

In this illustration, a diverse group of people of all races, genders, ages, and dis/abilities is featured in the foreground. They are holding boldly colored signs that call attention to a range of social and political issues that are often framed as separate, but are actually deeply intertwined. The shadowed figures behind them gesture to the powerful histories of resistance and community organizing that came before them. As we mark the anniversary of the Atlanta shooting, this piece reminds us that this tragedy is steeped in layers of oppression and interconnected histories of systemic violence. As such, it is a call to action to come together for a more powerful response rooted in love and solidarity.

“Gather together with other people. Align your issues and your values and do something about it.” 

Image Description: This image is all about racial solidarity with a diverse group of people of all races, genders, ages, and dis/abilities holding signs that read “YOUR ASIAN WASN’T QUIET; NO MUSLIM BAN EVER; WORKERS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS; I CAN’T BREATHE; THE FUTURE IS NON BINARY; PROTECT OUR ELDERS; HANDS UP DON’T SHOOT; ABOLISH ICE; BLACK LIVES MATTER; Stand Up Speak Up; NOT ONE MORE; Smash the Hierarchy; My body, My choice; BUILD COMMUNITIES NOT CAGES.” The people holding up signs appear centered on the image with shades of purple shadows behind them.

The diversity within the Asian community is vast and covers many languages, beliefs, and traditions. By creating art communities join forces in shared experiences, creating a universal language that goes beyond differences. Art unifies diversity within the Asian communities by sharing narratives, personal expression, and one’s own personal journey. Embracing art as a form of healing gives birth to the celebration of one’s own cultural heritage, diversity, and resilience.

Reference:https://www.advancingjustice-atlanta.org/art-exhibit

Lunar New Year

Across the globe many Asian families are preparing for Lunar new year 2024, year of the wood dragon. The wood dragon is said to bring a year of creativity, success, challenges and also new opportunities. This ancient and legendary creature holds high importance in Asian culture, a symbol of nobility, power, luck and success.

During these festive times one can notice the bright colors of red and gold, symbolizing good fortune, prosperity, abundance and hard work. It’s a common practice to adorn ones home with fresh fruit such as oranges, symbolizing wealth, and apples which are symbolic for safety and peace. Families typically get together to prepare large meals which are then blessed and offered to one’s ancestors. Some families will spend new years at their local Buddhist temple to receive blessings, pray, meditate, and give offerings of incense, food, and good wishes.

Some of the most common activities during the new year include putting up new year decor, giving offerings to ancestors, eating family reunion dinner, giving hong bao or red envelopes to youth and relatives, and enjoying the dragon or lion dance! Artists will sometimes come together sharing their arts, these are usually traditional Asian arts such as calligraphy, paper cutting or folding, cooking worships and demonstrations, and knot tying. If you’ve never experienced Lunar new year before take this upcoming opportunity to visit your local Asian community to experience a festive cultural time! Xin Nian Kuai Le, Happy New Year!

Reference:https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/special-report/chinese-new-year/

The Beautiful Art of Korean Gayageum In Modern Times

GAYAGEUM

Photo Courtesy of Gettyimagesbank

In ancient times the soft, earthy, delicate silken sound of the gayageum (Korean Zither) echoed across Korea. It accompanied singers, dancers and drummers in their artistic collaborations, and now today this ancient Korean instrument has found its way west. The Gayageum has a long history in Korea, once was an instrument played for royal palace celebrations. Scholars believe the gayageum was inspired by the guzheng, which is an ancient instrument from China. In the 19th century the sanjo gayageum was born, Sanjo means “scattered melodies”, which has moments of improvisation and fast tempo. During this time new works were written for the sanjo gayageum which has become the most standard version of the instrument today. The sweet honey like sound of the instrument comes from its silk strings, and the traditional paulownia wood body of the instrument.

Over the course of its long history, construction and the composition of many folk pieces, the gayageum has made its way into the western music world. Dazzling audiences with its rich sound, the gayageum has become a famed instrument across the world. One remarkable aspect of the Korean gayageum is its ability to fuse harmoniously with different instruments, creating an atmosphere of old and new. Contemporary Gayageum performers have gone viral on social media platforms for their new, exciting and innovative works on the gayageum. One of these creative masters is Koreas own, Luna Lee. Check out the groundbreaking work Luna is creating in this video.

With the global appreciation of gayageum music, new collaborations are taking place. These collaborations are paving grounds for future artists and creatives, and also building a cultural base for world music enthusiasts to enjoy today. Many people across the world have taken up learning the gaygeum, and in doing so, also learning new ways of expression for themselves. This global cultural exchange fosters a deep profound appreciation for gayageum, and its relevance in todays contemporary world. The art of gayageum represents a rich and ancient lineage, a balance of harmony and innovation, as well as the timelessness and elegance of Korean tradition.

Multicultural Cooking

With flavors encompassing global culinary traditions, multicultural cooking has become the food of the future. So much of our identities and cultures are tied directly to our food! By learning about foods from around the world, we learn more about ourselves, and we learn a non verbal language that expresses friendship and love. Multicultural cooking brings people together through the language of food and love, enlightening people to new perspectives and enriching our tastebuds with new flavors and textures. The use of different spices, sauces, herbs, and cooking techniques creates a symphonic experience on the palate and opens doors to new rich and ancient culinary cooking techniques.

Food is a way of living, and our food reflects our cultural identities. On different occasions our food may also highlight our cultural and religious values. On Chinese New Year it is common for families to gather together for making dumplings, each dumpling is made by hand, a little pouch filled with love. Sometimes on certain days food may also be offered to ancestors, set on a shrine with incense and candles, prayers and flowers may also be offered in their honor. Many diverse multicultural families will have a colorful array of different foods for New Years, or even for every day meals! For example, dumplings from China, Indian curry, Vietnamese salads, and American BBQ. Every family has their own way, and their own unique ways of preparing cultural foods.

The beauty of multicultural cuisine is certainly in its skillful and innovative use of ingredients and creative ways of blending flavors. When different cultures interact, a new food is born, creating new culinary masterpieces. Home chefs, and professional culinary experts both enjoy experimenting with new flavors and new ingredients, using techniques from different cultures, which leads to an exciting cross-cultural culinary experience.

~Jarrelle

RACE AND AMERICA

Race in America is a complex discussion that has many facets. We can not ignore POC history, we can not push aside the sad and very real issues we are faced with in the USA. Today we are here, we are present, and our goal is to dismantle white supremacy and build a path for all cultures and identities now, and in the future.

THE FACTS:

  • White supremacist disapprove multiculturalism
  • White supremacists only support ” white ” identity
  • White supremacists sometimes use violence and fear to achieve their goals

THE METHOD:

When we are faced with the pain, trauma, violence, and hate of white America it is important that we BIPOC do not give rise to hate within our own hearts, or we become no different than them. It is important that we cultivate our hearts with love, peace, and non-violence in the quest of racial equity. For most of us BIPOC it is frightening to even think of the tragic history of America, and yet alone live today in the aftermath. So the question arises, “how do we end racism in America?”. First of all, you are NOT the problem, it is not your issue, the problem is within the engrained racism in our society and roots of white nationalism. To end racism we must educate, make our voices heard, and promote peace and equity in our new American culture. It may be difficult for some white nationalists to accept culture, this is not the problem of our BIPOC communities, and we should not internalize it, or it then becomes transformed into internalized racism. We can only continue sharing our cultures, freely expressing our identities and living as genuinely true to ourselves as we possibly can. Radiate love and peace, and eventually a cold heart will become warm.

END GOAL:

The end goal for our bicultural Asian American Pacific Islander AAPI and Black Indigenous People Of Color BIPOC communities is to promote the cultural message of acceptance, love, understand, and appreciation. Many of us come from different cultures and in many ways socially as well, but this does not mean that we disassociate with our neighbors. Many of us have cultural ties to countries that are incredibly diverse and have long histories of peaceful cultural interactions and exchange. Our goal is to appreciate and to embrace the differences, so we can create a better future together.

References: https://www.britannica.com/topic/white-supremacy

The Japanese Fiddle

Kokyu

Sounding as if it were weeping from the depths of an eternal dream, or sounding like wind through cedar trees in winter, a maiden is longing for her love, the Japanese fiddle known as kokyu (èƒĄćŒ“) brings a certain emotion to traditional and modern pieces of Japanese music. You may have heard the kokyu and wondered what it was, or have seen pictures of it and wondered what it sounded like. The kokyu is actually quite a rare instrument, and one that is also not too commonly used in Japanese music. Before we talk more about this amazing traditional Japanese instrument lets first have a listen at its unique sound.

Here is a video of a kokyu performer skillfully playing the instrument.

The history of the kokyu began earlier in China from an instrument called the huqin(èƒĄçŽ). The huqin closely resembles the kokyu in playing method and techniques, however in appearance it is very much Japanese. The kokyu has 3 strings that stretch over the sound body, the finger board, and to the tuning pegs which are used to tighten the strings into place and tune the instrument. Unlike the kokyu’s cousin, the huqin from China, the kokyu uses 3 silk strings instead of just 2. The sound is very refined, very much capturing the sound and essence of Zen. The kokyu is usually played as a solo instrument, however it has been traditionally played with other instruments in duet form, or in ensemble form. Newer styles have been created highlighting the voice of the kokyu and showing the many countless possibilities of the instrument in tone color. Below is a video of the Chinese huqin or the kokyu’s relative, have a listen.

The Chinese Huqin being played by a professional quartet

In present times, the kokyu is gaining popularity amongst music enthusiasts, its sound is melancholic and invokes profound emotions to the listener. Although the Kokyu is gaining popularity it is still very much a rare instrument and virtually unknown to most of the world. By its use in modern works it has been given another path to grow and inspire musicians for many years to come.

Jarrelle

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokyƫ

Timeless Beauty

HANBOK

The timeless beauty of traditional Korean dress is taking the modern world by surprise! With its elegant straight and curved lines, meticulously crafted over many centuries, we cant help but be amazed by this stunning visual symphony of a uniquely Korean traditional style. 

Photo Credit: Ahn Young-joon/AP

The Hanbok originated in Korea around 57 BC to 668 AD, and can also be found in the surviving arts of the Goguryeo tombs. The basic design of the Hanbok also originated during that period. The ancient Hanbok included a set of clothing that consisted of a Jeogori (top), Baji (pants), Chima (skirt), Po (coat), Jokki (vest), Durumagi (Winter coat) and the Magoja (overcoat), with the basic structure of Hanbok pretty much remaining unchanged today. In the past, royalty and nobility wore the Hanbok, and commoners wore white or off-white colors of clothing called Minbok which means (clothing of commoners). In present times, modern day Koreans wear Hanbok for special occasions such as weddings, festivals, ceremonies, and celebrations. The South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism established “Hanbok” day encouraging Koreans to wear the traditional dress. 

The modern Hanbok is a term for the fusion of traditional Korean styles and Modern western styles. Modern Hanbok have become a popular fashion statement for celebrities, models and the everyday fashion enthusiasts alike. With this new fusion of tradition and the contemporary, all people regardless of class may enjoy the ancient traditional beauty of the noble Hanbok. Traditionally the patterns and designs on Hanbok consisted of natural scenes, such as flowers, phoenixes and dragons. Today, the Hanbok is going bold with western patterns adding a new style to the centuries old attire. 

Photo Credit: Sportsdonga 

Modern Hanbok offer a highly stylistic fashion choice for any lover of the fabric. With bold colors, straight lines and simplicity, it can be worn with a combination of modern clothes or simply just modern Hanbok on its own! Its up to the fashion, the feel and the flow, but either way, the wearer will certainly catch the attention of the room at any party. Modern Hanbok should still be worn respectfully and mindfully, just as when one would wear traditional Hanbok. You are not simply putting on a T-shirt and jeans, you are wearing a tradition that goes back thousands of years. So, when wearing traditional Hanbok or its modern cousin, always be certain to be respectful so that way you are honoring the legacy and tradition of a highly refined and ancient Korean art. 

Jarrelle 

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanbok

https://mhctc.missouri.edu/exhibitions/beauty-of-korea/

Tofu and Its Major Health benefits

Who would have ever thought that tofu could actually have quite the major health benefits?! Well be prepared to be amazed, because TOFU is stealing the show!

Tofu or Dou Fu – 豆腐, it has a long history which began in China around 2000 years ago. It’s said that during that time a prince named Liu An of Anhui was the inventor of this humble and nutritious food. Tofu became a much loved and popular food in China and eventually took root in neighboring countries like Japan, Vietnam, Thailand and Korea. Tofu is a very versatile soy based food that offers so many health benefits, and this is why it has become popular now in the west. Tofu has an excellent source of protein and it contains all of the amino acids that our bodies need to function. Adding tofu into your daily diet supports muscle growth, which makes it the perfect choice of protein for Vegans and vegetarians or those who just simply dont want meat. This ingredient is also rich in many minerals such as calcium, iron, and magnesium. Calcium is important for bone and tooth health, and iron support oxygen in the blood and energy.

A study funded by the NHLB or the National Heart Lung and Blood institute found that a diet rich in soy and tofu products lowered the risk of developing heart disease. Data was researched on over 200,000 men and women participating in NIH-funded studies (Health professionals follow up study, Nurses Health Study, and the Nurses Health Study II). The researchers studies have shown that for those who ate soy product and had the highest intake of isoflavone, a compound found in tofu, had the lowest risk of developing heart disease. Researchers have said that including soy in ones diet would help in preventing heart disease. So, there is no doubt that tofu can improve ones health and lead to a healthy heart!

Jarrelle

The Power Of Poetry

May is AAPI Heritage month, and a time for AAPI and BIPOC communities to come together, joining forces as one. This month, we should celebrate the many historical contributions of our Asian American and Pacific Islander brothers and sister. For AAPI month I would like to share a few poems from AAPI poets.

Dorothy Chan~

Dorothy Chan’s Chinese identity is a great part of her poetry. Dorothy is an editor for Hobart, and a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Eu Claire. Her poems speak of culture, interracial romance, identity and the exploration of how food can serve as a bridge between multigenerational family relationships. Dorothy Chan also founded the journal Honey Literary to publish works by women of color, looking deeper into the intersection between gender and ethnicity.

So Chinese Girl~ Dorothy Chan

Anyone who makes tasty food has to be a good person,
            because think of all the love that goes into cooking:
salt and pepper, sprinkle a little extra cheese, and pop open a bottle

            of Syrah, or if we’re eating at my parents’ in Las Vegas,
we’re drinking Tsingtao beer, my father’s favorite, and he adds more
            bamboo shoots and straw mushrooms and baby corn,

and fun fact: When I was a baby, I’d eat only corn and carrot-flavored
            mush, and now, my dad adds more to the Buddha’s Delight,
a vegetarian dish from China, and I think about my aunt

            in Hong Kong, who, once a year, buys fish from restaurants,
only to release them back into the sea—eat tofu,
            save a life—but back to the dinner scene in Vegas,

my mom is making her Cantonese lobster, extra garlic and ginger,
            and I grew up licking lobster shells for their sauce,
I grew up waking up during summer vacations

            to my mother wearing a headband, warding off the grease
from cooking crabs and shrimps, heads intact, and there’s something, just something
            about my parents’ cooking that makes me feel

a little more like a Chinese girl, because I don’t live in Hong Kong,
            and unlike my cousins, my daily stop isn’t Bowring Street Station,
where I could pick up fresh mango cake before it’s sold out,

            or what about chocolate mousse cake in the shape of a bunny
or mini–dome cakes shaped like cows and pigs
            or cakes shaped like watermelons and shikwasa and citrus mikans,

and who wouldn’t want custard egg tarts or hot dogs
            wrapped in sweet bread or sesame balls, washing it all down
with cream soda, and I feel like that little Chinese girl

            in Kowloon again, getting picked up by my grandpa
after preschool, ready to go junk shopping, and I’d come home
            with shrimp crackers and a toy turtle aquarium and a snowman

painting and a dozen roses, and no, I don’t even like flowers anymore,
            but there’s something, just something about thrifting
with my grandpa now at age twenty-eight that makes me feel

            so Chinese Girl, the way he bargains in the stalls,
asking for the best, “How much for that Murakami-era Louis Vuitton belt?”
            or “What about this vintage Armani?”

and it’s like that look he gives me at dim sum, after the sampler
            of shumai and har gow and chicken feet and char siu bao comes,
and he tells me to eat everything, watches me chow down on

            Chinese ravioli, and that face of his freezes in the moment:
“Eat more, eat more, eat more. Are you happy?”
            And oh, Grandpa, I’m so happy I could eat forever.

Marilyn Chin~

Marilyn Chin was born in Hong Kong and raised in Portland, Oregon. She is the author of five poetry collections, and currently serves as a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.

How I Got That Name~ Marilyn Chin

an essay on assimilation

I am Marilyn Mei Ling Chin
Oh, how I love the resoluteness
of that first person singular
followed by that stalwart indicative
of “be,” without the uncertain i-n-g
of “becoming.”  Of course,
the name had been changed
somewhere between Angel Island and the sea,
when my father the paperson
in the late 1950s
obsessed with a bombshell blond
transliterated “Mei Ling” to “Marilyn.”
And nobody dared question
his initial impulse—for we all know
lust drove men to greatness,
not goodness, not decency.
And there I was, a wayward pink baby,
named after some tragic white woman
swollen with gin and Nembutal.
My mother couldn’t pronounce the “r.”
She dubbed me “Numba one female offshoot”
for brevity: henceforth, she will live and die
in sublime ignorance, flanked
by loving children and the “kitchen deity.”
While my father dithers,
a tomcat in Hong Kong trash—
a gambler, a petty thug,
who bought a chain of chopsuey joints
in Piss River, Oregon,
with bootlegged Gucci cash.
Nobody dared question his integrity given
his nice, devout daughters
and his bright, industrious sons
as if filial piety were the standard
by which all earthly men are measured.

Oh, how trustworthy our daughters,
how thrifty our sons!
How we’ve managed to fool the experts
in education, statistic and demography—
We’re not very creative but not adverse to rote-learning.
Indeed, they can use us.
But the “Model Minority” is a tease.
We know you are watching now,
so we refuse to give you any!
Oh, bamboo shoots, bamboo shoots!
The further west we go, we’ll hit east;
the deeper down we dig, we’ll find China.
History has turned its stomach
on a black polluted beach—
where life doesn’t hinge
on that red, red wheelbarrow,
but whether or not our new lover
in the final episode of “Santa Barbara”
will lean over a scented candle
and call us a “bitch.”
Oh God, where have we gone wrong?
We have no inner resources!

Then, one redolent spring morning
the Great Patriarch Chin
peered down from his kiosk in heaven
and saw that his descendants were ugly.
One had a squarish head and a nose without a bridge
Another’s profile—long and knobbed as a gourd.
A third, the sad, brutish one
may never, never marry.
And I, his least favorite—
“not quite boiled, not quite cooked,”
a plump pomfret simmering in my juices—
too listless to fight for my people’s destiny.
“To kill without resistance is not slaughter”
says the proverb.  So, I wait for imminent death.
The fact that this death is also metaphorical
is testament to my lethargy.

So here lies Marilyn Mei Ling Chin,
married once, twice to so-and-so, a Lee and a Wong,
granddaughter of Jack “the patriarch”
and the brooding Suilin Fong,
daughter of the virtuous Yuet Kuen Wong
and G.G. Chin the infamous,
sister of a dozen, cousin of a million,
survived by everybody and forgotten by all.
She was neither black nor white,
neither cherished nor vanquished,
just another squatter in her own bamboo grove
minding her poetry—
when one day heaven was unmerciful,
and a chasm opened where she stood.
Like the jowls of a mighty white whale,
or the jaws of a metaphysical Godzilla,
it swallowed her whole.
She did not flinch nor writhe,
nor fret about the afterlife,
but stayed!  Solid as wood, happily
a little gnawed, tattered, mesmerized
by all that was lavished upon her
and all that was taken away!

Jenny Xie~

Jenny Xie is the author of Eye Level, and winner of the 2017 Walt Whitman Award of the Academy of American Poets and a finalist for the National Book Award; and Nowhere to Arrive, recipient of the 2016 Drinking Gourd Prize. Jenny’s poems appear in Poetry magazine, the American Poetry Review, the New Republic, Tin House, and also found elsewhere. She earned her degrees from Princeton University and New York University’s Creative Writing Program, and has received fellowships and support from Kundiman, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, the Elizabeth George Foundation, and Poets & Writers. She is now a teacher at New York University.

Rootless~ Jenny Xie

Between Hanoi and Sapa there are clean slabs of rice fields
and no two brick houses in a row.

I mean, no three—
See, counting’s hard in half-sleep, and the rain pulls a sheet

over the sugar palms and their untroubled leaves.
Hours ago, I crossed a motorbike with a hog strapped to its seat,

the size of a date pit from a distance.
Can this solitude be rootless, unhooked from the ground?

No matter. The mind resides both inside and out.
It can think itself and think itself into existence.

I sponge off the eyes, no worse for wear.
My frugal mouth spends the only foreign words it owns.

At present, on this sleeper train, there’s nowhere to arrive.
Me? I’m just here in my traveler’s clothes, trying on each passing town for size.

Poetry has the power to bring healing to our world, it can keep alive family stories, and the traditions of culture. Poetry is an art form that anyone can read or listen to, to feel, to decorate their minds and their lives. It is a way of expressing the inner self to the outer world, it is a way to bring light into dark places and also to promote freedom, equality and change, which is very much needed in our world today.

Jarrelle

Wrapping Dumplings

Everyone the world over loves those little yummy meat and veggie filled pouches of goodness better known in China as Jiaozi (é„ș歐),and when panfried to golden perfection they capture both the culinary highlights of steamed and fried flavors, and are known as potstickers, Guotie or (锅莎). The savory and delicate flavor of these dumplings compliments just about any dish, goes with any meal, or sometimes a nice cold beverage.

Its said that the history of jiaozi dates back to at least the Han dynasty AD 25–220 by Zhang Zhongjing who practiced Chinese traditional medicine. Wrapping jiaozi has been a long tradition of China and many other Asian countries. Jiaozi are a common food during the Lunar New Year, they are said to bring luck, wealth and prosperity to anyone who eats them. Many Chinese families will get together and wrap dumplings, chat, and wish each other a happy new year. Dumplings symbolize togetherness, and have such a great importance in Chinese culture.

Photo:In north China, folded jiaozi are placed on bi (缅), in case the stuffing will make the shape saggy. Bi is made by dried sorghum stems, and it also gives Jiaozi a mark at the bottom. wikipedia

There are many ways in which these yummy flavor filled pouches can be prepared and enjoyed. They can be served with a variety of sauces, but sometimes best enjoyed with a dipping sauce made from soy sauce, sesame seed oil, and vinegar. Some of the ways in which they are prepared are by:

  • Boiled- Shuijiao æ°Žé„ș
  • Steamed- Zhengjiao  蒞é„ș
  • Panfried- Jianjiao 煎é„ș
  • Deep-fried- Zhajiao 炾é„ș
  • Soup- Tangjiao æ±€é„ș

If you haven’t tried jiaozi before you are missing out! You can find them easily at your local Asian restaurants. You can also find some amazing recipes that vary depending on region in China and country in Asia, with such a wide variety of ways to make jiaozi you won’t be dissatisfied on your dumpling search! For the best and most authentic dumplings join your Chinese friends for Chinese New Year, there will probably be some homemade dumplings at the New Years party!

Jarrelle