Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya,

The 2013 Summer Beers N Noodles Adventure.
Finally, with new VISA and passport in hand, let it begin!

After a week of night riding and beer and BBQ with lycra clad Chinese bike riding beauties where did you expect the 2013 Summer Beer N Noodles to begin? No better place than in Fuzhou City with Ting Ting and her KTV friends to celebrate Ting’s birthday and it seems the late night beer N BBQ in Dexing town was just a warm up for what’s been going on here in Fuzhou the last several nights.

It’s been an absolute blast.
And catching up with Ting again has been wonderful!

Somehow in between meeting Ting Ting and her friends after they finish work at one of the city’s most glamorous KTV’s, ordering and devouring countless sticks of street BBQ and cold beers and waking up hung over we have managed to squeeze in a movie, several parks and gardens and a long river walk.

In between I have somehow grown to love this little city and I’d be more than comfortable living and teaching here for a term or two. Anyhow, I’m still a little hazy from last night and my evening nap and it’s now time to head out and meet Ting and the Beauties for another late night Beer & BBQ Adventure.

AShort Brief History and Culture (From My Last Fuzhou Blog)

Fuzhou city is surrounded by mountains in the east, south and west and has hills, rivers, valleys and basins spaced in the central region. Hill and mountain make up the main components of the city's landform and the terrain generally slopes downward from the south to the north. During the Spring-and-Autumn Period, the Baiyue Tribes lived in this region and during the Warring States Period, the territory belonged to Jiujiang Shire. It was in AD257 during the Three Kingdom Period, Linchuan Shire was set up in the region and its capital was established in Linru County. 

Fuzhou got its current name in AD589 during the Sui Dynasty.

But as Ting Ting and I found out through talking to people on both sides of the river, the locals still separate both by the river as the new city is Fuzhou and the small and poor is Linchuan. Fuzhou is the origin place of 'Linchuan Culture’, which was born during the Qin Dynasty and the Han Dynasty and flourished during the Song Dynasties. It is still prevailing in Fuzhou and surrounding regions and the area is also the birthplace of many great literary figures, such as Wang Anshi, a great poet and politician in Song Dynasty.

A Bit on Fuzhou Women (From My Last Fuzhou Blog)

In early times in Fuzhou City married women and unmarried women could be distinguished from each other according to their hairstyle. In the period after the Qing Dynasty (1616-1911) and at the beginning of the Republic of China (1912-1949), married women arranged their hair in a bun while unmarried women arranged their hair in a plait. In the 1920s and 1930s, married women's hairstyle changed gradually from the bun to the modish perm. On the wedding day, the girl would go to the hair dressers to have her hair permed, accompanied by her female friend or relative. 

After the perming, when she walked down the street everyone would know that she would soon become a bride. 

In that same period, the boundary between Yisao (married) and Yimei (unmarried) was still extremely clear, so a mistake could not be made if you judged a women according to her hairstyle. Later on though unmarried teenage girls began having their hair permed, and some Yisao who had become mothers began reverting back to a simple plait so the distinction between those with a bun ‘Yisao’ and those with a plait ‘Yimei’ began to merge.

Beers N Noodles toya…..shane
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The soundtrack to this entry was by Ride
The album was ‘Carnival of Light’
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