I am Deborah Chesser, my Chinese name is 常旦明 (one of my friends chose this name for me). These are my friends: Megan, Zoe, Jonas and Kate - they’re also from the States, and although we haven’t met before Shanghai we are now good friends. I’m leaving Shanghai in two weeks so we’re all looking forward to learning and eating together at the Chinatown Culture Centre.

I am a devout vegetarian, so I’m super happy to try out this restaurant- organic veggies, no MSG, no frying, no meat, just real pure vegetarian cuisine, which also encourages people to respect nature. The vegetarian hot-pot concept sounds fun, plus we heard there’s a Cultural Center here and we arranged for a full day learning and food experience.

So the plan for today is to have lunch and 3 classes: Embroidery, Chinese Calligraphy and Go, and finally tea and hot-pot for dinner. We really look forward to start!

OK. So we walked inside the restaurant and were immediately served with tea cups to brew our own cup of tea. There’s an antique chinese cabinet with lots of drawers, each for a different kind of tea.

PART 1 - Lunch (organic veggie lunchboxes)

Lunch is ready! Each person gets a different lunch set and all of it looks delicious. Bon Appetite!

Here’s the store’s business card: made from bamboo with Chinese knot, it can accessorize a cell phone – perfect for Megan (the more, the better!)

Wow, the menu is very cool! Its handwritten and illustrated by hand! The staff tells us that the menu is updated regularly, and each time different people volunteer to handwrite a part of the menu. I want to do the English version next time!

Wow! Really Yummy! We totally devoured the food!

After practically cleaning our plates we order extra baked potato. D-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s! Next time I visit. I’ll have that again. twice.

PART 2 Embroidery experience

The color of the threads look good! Now we are about to learn to embroid a flower. The teacher distributes our materials and tools.

This is a first time for any of us to try something like that. Brand new experience. Especially for Jonas… thread through the needle..

With the teacher’s help, Jonas can finally start.. looking a bit funny as he sews.

Now we do the actual embroidery part.

This is obviously easier for some of us… Megan gets some friendly feedback.

Resting my eyes for a bit..

Almost done.. take a look at my embroidery.. its pretty good no?

And we’re done!

PART 3 Calligraphy experience

OK, so first we need to learn how to write with a brush. Our teachers shows us the basic strokes that we need to write the character “福” “good luck/fortune” in Chinese.

The character is constructed from “person”, “clothes”, “field” and “mouth” – symbolizing all the good things making a person truly happy: clothes to wear, field to grow rice and mouths to feed (family). The philosophy of “福”is really magical.. that one character can mean and teach so much.

Now we need to learn the proper way to hold a brush – should be always vertical to the paper.. oh, its pretty hard to do..

Then the ink stick is ground with water, to be used for writing. The ink stick is the name of “Jin BU Huan”, which means it is very rare to get gold for me, I would not change it! Chinese culture is very interesting..

Our teacher shows us the right way to write the storkes: direction and proper angles, and we practice.

And then practice some more..

Finally some progress! The “Fu” starting to look good.

Then we learned to write ours Chinese names.

The teacher is happy with our practicing, so now we can finally write “Fu” on the white Chinese fans. He shows us how, which of course looks great..

And now we try to do it..

Very cool. It used to be good manners for Chinese ladies to cover their faces with fans while laughing. How do we look? (-:

PART 4 - Go experience

For our Go class we go up to the roof balcony..

Wow, a really big chess board!

Class starts. Jonah and Zoe are the students this time, and Megan, Kate and myself are the observers.

Zoe and Jonah learn quickly.

Meanwhile the three of us sit down and have some tea, enjoy the view from the balcony and the sunset.

Both zoe and Jonah are nearing the end of their lesson as they practice.

Go Class is over and we go back downstairs to have some tea and hotpot dinner.

While we drink our tea, we try to have a quick game of Go with a smaller set on the tea table..

PART 5 – hot-pot dinner

The fresh vegetables are supplied daily from organic supermarkets and farms.

The key word here is “by yourself” – we don’t only choose, cut and cook our own veggie hotpot, but even make pasta noodles, cotton candy and caramelized berries!

The hotpot is set and we’re getting ready! There’re drawers under each table with aprons and cooking tools.

Putting on our aprons..

While the soup is cooking we eat some cold dishes.

Looks yummy!

The sauce stand is also interesting, I taste around a bit to see what is what.. aha! The mushroom sauce!

These are the snacks: steamed baozi, fried dough sticks, dumplings, pumpking desserts. Each looks so cute, just choose and eat!！

Ok, the soup on the hotpot is nearly done and now is the time to add some veggies. Behind us is a shelf with loads of fresh produce, I don’t even know half of the greens’ names here, but anyhow its time to eat healthy!

Hands-on cooking! Zoe and Megan chop their baby carrots.

Kate and I shred potatoes.

Everything is vegetarian.. even what at first appears to be a meatball is made out of soybeans. Very tasty!

Noodles! This is the pasta dough - waiting to be made into colorful noodles.

We played around with it a lot, it was fun!

Look at our pasta!

And now, the cotton candy!

Fun AND delicious!

Wow, a caramelized hawthorn berry.. I’ve only seen them on TV, never thought I’d have the chance to make one!

This was a GREAT DAY – a totally unique experience and taste(!!) of China. Thank you so much!!

I recently travelled in Hangzhou where I fell in love in the wonderful LongJing tea. Upon returning to Shanghai I searched for a place to learn me how to brew my own cup of Chinese tea. A friend has recommended me the ChinaTown Cultural Center and I signed up for the Tea Ceremony class.

In the States, when you’re invited for a tea party, you should bring cookies or biscuits, so I bought some on the way here.

Feeling a bit awkward at first, I quickly relaxed into the peaceful atmosphere around me.

I’m taught that the most important things necessary for a great cup of tea (besides having great tea leaves of course) is the water quality, temperature and the brewing time.

Then there are the five basic steps: warming the cup, adding hot water, making the tea, brewing it and finally, the tasting.

Take a look at the teacher’s hand gestures - very elegant and pleasant, and the whole atmosphere was very calm and pleasant.

This is smelling the frangrance, watching the tea leaves, and finally tasting it. (-:

I never put so much thought into tea and I find it very refreshing. Kinda fills you with peace and thankfulness.

Now I repeat the steps by myself, making my own cup of tea and as you can see, I’m quite focused.

Since I mentioned to the teacher that I like LongJing tea, she brews another tea pot just for me and we go over (taste and watch) the difference between the teas.

I really loved it here. (I bought a simple tea set, to practice tea ceremony at home). It was a great experience for me, the perfect place to learn the Tea Ceremony. Thanks ChinaTown!

Hi, my name is Claudia Hahn, I’m from Germany, and will be celbrating my first Chinese New Year soon!

I’m an industrial designer, and always pay attention to the local streets and very interested in local crafts and arts. Paper Cutting should be amazing for me to learn.. just using scissors and creations such beautiful and complicated works.. I’ll see what I can do.

My friends Chris, Cole and Suzie are joining me for this class (-: we share the same interests when it comes to design and crafts, so it should be a cool thing for us to do together.

OK, so at first the teacher gives us the paper and special scissors and tells us its popular to put paper cuttings on the windows, during New Year Festival, but of course we can also frame and hang it on the wall.

I tell the teacher my birth year, and it’s the year of Monkey! HeHe (didn’t know that)

The teacher cuts in moments an image of a super-cute pig.. sooo fast!

Now we practice some paper cuttings, following the printed patterns

Yes, this is my butterfly.. very realistic (-: Chris made a star, snowflake and Cole is still working on something complicated..

Then I practice, making a pair of swallows and a flower.. and finally start cutting away my monkey!

So total of two monkeys, gluing to a piece of paper and framing. Niiice!

The teacher grants me a certificate (-: so now I’m certified to make papercuts!

And here’s today’s results

I’m planning to continue at home, to cut many many paper cuttings and make holiday cards for my friends and family back in Germany. I’m sure they’ll be seriously impressed!

Hi H! my name is Alon Mendel.. I’m 9 months old. I came to do this class with my Mommy Dikla and Daddy Adi and my Aunt Julie. My parents and I are from Israel and Julie is my Mommy’s friend from France.

I’m still drinking milk, but since I recently got new teeth(!!!) Mommy started to give me other good things to eat! I’m so excited and am tasting anything I can get my hands on..

Mommy and her friends heard of the “Wu Guang Tang” vegetarian and organic restaurant, and we already went there for lunch a few times (together) and now Mommy was invited to try and learn Chinese Cooking by herself .

Its a great chance for me to leave the house and enjoy the trip in my stroller!

Julie hasn’t arrived yet, so till she comes Mom and Dad enjoy a cup of tea. What about me?!

The teacher is the Chef of the restaurant – and that’s very exciting!

The lesson includes two dishes. One stuffed sweet pepper (with ginger, carrot and pumpkin puree) and the other is a cold dish. My Mommy checks all the ingredients and approves: I can eat this! Woo hooo!!

the Chef shows the sauces and explains about each one.

look at my mommy! She’s clearly paying attention.

I get a quick taste already, half-way through the dish preparation.

And now to work! Everyone puts on their aprons and cooking hats, even me.


Look at them. Taking their time learning.. while I’m here sitting patiently and drooling.. just a drink of water so far..

Mommy mastered this dish! She does all the steps by herself: cleaning the pepper, making the puree, filling it, and presenting the food.

Looks good!

Hurry Up! Hurry Up. I cannot wait for another bite! Feed me!

Yummy!! Looks AND tastes good!

We’re all issued certificates for our cooking class. I give my certificate a bite!

Group Photo. Take a look at me.. so antsy! Give me back my certificate…

We all had a blast! I ate a lot of healthy and nutritious food, which tasted great (that makes Mom and me happy), and most importantly now my Mommy can re-create the yummy dish in our kitchen. Can’t wait for some more! Bye! Bye!!

Hi! I’m Jean-Mark, I’m a choreographer and fashion costume designer. I’ve lived in Shanghai for a few years and love it! I’m inspired from my life in China, and from Chinese Culture elements.

I’ve seen quite a few Chinese Opera performances, and have been looking for a place to study about Peking Opera. The look of the costumes and masks is very unique and I look forward for the inspiration.

The classroom is already decorated with several beautifully painted masks, and also white ones to work with.

An important element of Chinese Culture, the Peking Opera has evolved through the years, with the decorations and different colors helping to signify the nature of the characters. Originally the mask has been painted directly on the face, but continued to evolve as a mask also, to allow the decoration patter and design to signify the different meanings. Each color has a different meaning, and they’re quite different in China then in France, so its very important for me, when I try to give a certain feeling – what color to us.

The teacher is great, he explains the history, then the significance of the masks and then the important points of painting on one.

i first do the lines, and then the black painted fillings. The eyes were pretty hard.

I stumble a bit at the weird heart-shape on the forehead, and get some help from the teacher.

His hand is very sure and true.. he paints practically in the air, but with such precision. That’s true craftsmanship!

Finished! Can you tell the difference?

Nationality：Japanese、Indonasia

First allow me to introduce ourselves. My name is Yoshiyuki Kondo, from Japan. I came to JiaoTong Universit to study Chinese two years ago. Next to me, in the same black sweater is my good friend 中本真理, also from Japan. 中本真理 came to china 6 months ago, but has studies Chinese in Japan for 7 years already. And the other three girls 丘燕妮,吴文瑄, and 王珊娣 are our classmates, from Indonasia. We’re all into arts and crafts, especially traditional ones. Actually, this is 中本真理 b-day, and I wanted to sneak out of class, just one day to make a present for her .. but we ended up coming here all of us =_= The teacher tells us the history of Chinese knot and its Cultural meanings. There lots of types of knots. They all look quite complicated, and we ask to learn the easiest version, first of all. Its cute, small and fun and can be hung on a cellphone, a gift box, or anything else..

The teacher is soft-spoken and easy to understand and follow her instructions.
Step by step we make small figurines.

At the end of the class, we have our little crafts to take back to class. I bought 1 meter of thread of each color, to make some gifts for friends and also a couple of complex knots, made by the teacher.