Chinese For Dummies (48 page)
Read Chinese For Dummies Online
Authors: Wendy Abraham
You may be tempted to
chī
å
(chir) (
eat
) your soup in a Chinese restaurant, but you should actually
hÄ
å
(huh) (
drink
) it instead. If it tastes really good, you can say the soup is
hÄn hÇohÄ
å¾å¥½å
(hun how-huh) (
very tasty
), just like anything else you may have ordered to drink.
Some favorite Chinese dishes
You may be familiar with many of the following dishes if you've ever been in a Chinese restaurant:
BÄijÄ«ng kÇo yÄ
å京ç¤é¸
(
å京ç¤é´¨
) (bay-jeeng cow yah) (
Peking roast duck
)
chÅ«njuÇn
æ¥å·
(
æ¥æ²
)
(chwun-jwan) (
spring roll
)
dòufu gÄn
è±è
å¹²
(
è±è
ä¹¾
) (doe-foo gahn)
(
dried beancurd
)
gà ilán niúròu
è¥å
°çè
(
è¥èçè
) (guy-lahn nyoe-row) (
beef with Âbroccoli
)
gÅngbÇo jÄ«dÄ«ng
宫ä¿é¸¡ä¸
(
å®®ä¿éä¸
) (goong-baow jee-deeng) (
diced chicken with hot peppers
)
háoyóu niúròu
èæ²¹çè
(
è æ²¹çè
) (how-yo nyoe-row) (
beef with oyster sauce
)
húntÅ«n tÄng
é¦é¥¨æ±¤
(
é¤é£©æ¹¯
) (hwun-dwun tahng) (
wonton soup
)
shuà n yángròu
涮ç¾è
(shwahn yahng-row) (
Mongolian hot pot
)
tángcù yú
ç³éé±¼
(
ç³éé
) (tahng-tsoo yew)
(
sweet-and-sour fish
)
yÄn
huángguÄ
è
é»ç
(
éé»ç
)
(yan hwahng-gwah) (
pickled cucumber
)
 Chowing down on the Chinese New Year
On the eve of the Chinese lunar New Year, known as
chú xī
é¤å¤
(choo she), the Chinese eat a big
niányèfà n
å¹´å¤é¥
(
å¹´å¤é£¯
) (nyan-yeh-fahn) (
New Year's Eve dinner
). The dinner almost always includes a whole cooked
yú
é±¼
(
é
) (yew) (
fish
), because the word for fish rhymes with the word for
abundance
(yù),
even though the written characters for the words look quite different. In some of the poorer parts of northern China, people often eat
jiÇozi
饺å
(
é¤å
) (jyaow-dzuh) (
dumplings
) rather than fish because their shape resembles traditional
yuánbÄo
å
å®
(
å
寶
) (ywan-baow) (
gold ingots
) used in Âpre-modern times by people of means. These people hope that the prosperity and abundance of such wealthy families will also come into their lives through the eating of the
jiÇozi.
Southerners often eat
fÄ cà i
åè
(fah tsye) (
a kind of stringy black vegetable
), which rhymes with
fÄ cái
åè´¢
(
ç¼è²¡
) (fah tsye), although you Âpronounce the words in different tones.
FÄ cái
means to get wealthy and prosper; in fact, the most common greeting on New Year's day is
GÅngxÇ fÄ cái!
æååè´¢
! (
æåç¼è²¡
!) (goong-she fah tsye) (
CongratulaÂtions, and may you prosper!
)