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Xi Jinping sends message with sentencing of top security official

A senior former Chinese security official accused of challenging President Xi Jinping’s authority was on Friday given a life sentence, weeks ahead of a key Communist Party leadership congress.To get more china news today, you can visit shine news official website.

Sun Lijun, who was Vice Minister of Public Security, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve. The court said the sentence can be commuted to life in prison but without any reduction or parole.Mr. Sun was accused of massive corruption of close to $100 million in bribes over two decades, as well as the more serious charge of “endangering political security”, a reference to challenging Mr. Xi.

His sentencing followed that of other senior law and security officials who were accused of being part of a “clique” that had challenged Mr. Xi’s rule as the “core” of the party.Only in early 2020, Mr. Sun was sent by Mr. Xi to oversee the initial response to the pandemic in Wuhan. He was later accused of “deserting his post on the frontline of fighting the COVID-19 epidemic” and “possessing confidential materials without authorisation”.
At the time of his expulsion from the party last year, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection accused him of “never staying true to the Party’s ideals and faith” and “displaying extremely inflated political ambition and very poor political integrity”.
Political struggles
His actual actions haven’t been spelled out, but the party statement suggested he had challenged Mr. Xi’s authority, a rare public acknowledgement of internal political struggles. It said Mr. Sun had “issued groundless criticisms of the Party’s policies and spread political rumours”.

He was accused of “unscrupulously cultivating personal followers and interest groups to achieve personal political gains” and “seriously undermining the unity of the Party and endangering political security”.
Mr. Sun may not be the last senior party official to be purged as Mr. Xi, who will begin an unprecedented third term following the October 16 congress, continues to tighten his grip.

The court ruling said he was “granted a lenient sentence, considering that he had provided investigators with clues to other major cases”.

buzai232 Oct 13 '22, 06:03PM · Tags: shanghai news

Shanghai shuts down schools, gyms, bars as Covid-19 returns

Shanghai is quietly shutting down schools and a raft of other venues as officials try to rein in a Covid-19 flare-up that has hit the financial hub just days before one of China's most important political events.To get more Shanghai news, you can visit shine news official website.

Several schools dotted throughout the city have suspended in-person classes as the fear of infection spread grows, according to parents and social media posts.

At least five districts have closed entertainment venues, including cinemas, bars and gyms, in an effort to stamp out transmission, according to statements issued by Covid-19 prevention offices.The authorities said on Sunday there is no citywide school shutdown after speculation rippled through social media that the measure would be rolled out.

But the creeping suspensions, as well as a ramp up in other restrictions such as the lockdown of neighbourhoods and individual residential compounds, have left Shanghai's 25 million residents on edge.

As well as schools, venues such as gyms and bars have shut in the Shanghai districts of Changning, Putuo, Jiading, Yangpu, and Qingpu.Social media users lamented the never-ending cycle of shutdowns and reopenings that is a feature of China's Covid-Zero policy.

Others speculated whether they may face another lockdown just months after a two-month ordeal that saw many in Shanghai struggle to access food and medical care.

The tightening comes as Shanghai reported 38 new infections, all of which were found in its quarantine system.

While small by international standards, the flareup is occurring just days before China's once-in-five-years Party Congress, when President Xi Jinping is expected to secure a precedent-breaking third term in power.

Mr Xi has made Covid-Zero a cornerstone of his leadership, despite its growing social and economic cost, and China's propaganda machine has ramped up its defence of the policy this week, in a sign that there will be no shift towards living with the virus any time soon. BLOOMBERG

buzai232 Oct 13 '22, 05:53PM · Tags: shanghai news

China Is the Wrong Industrial Policy Model for the United States

The adoption of the CHIPS and Science Act is a watershed in U.S. economic policy. It is not because the United States has never practiced industrial policy before; in fact, the early development of semiconductors and the internet was due in large part to Defense Department support. And the U.S. federal and local governments have provided episodic aid for a variety of sectors and companies. It feels, though, as if a new era is beginning in which government support to strengthen the competitiveness of industries—for reasons of business, national security, public health, and the environment—will be seen as more necessary and normal than in the past. But as a new era dawns, it is important to get right both the goals and tools of industrial policy so that it is effective and consistent with international commitments. Otherwise, this change will leave the U.S. economy worse off than before.To get more China finance news, you can visit shine news official website.

The Right Goals
The United States needs to remember that it has not fallen behind China. The best overall measure of technology prowess is the Global Innovation Index. Even though China has been steadily climbing the ranks, the United States, at third, is still substantially ahead of China, at twelfth. Moreover, China’s rise has in part been propelled by a huge jump in patent filings and cited scientific papers, many of which are of low quality. If one looks industry by industry, although the Chinese have made great strides in information and communications technologies, mass transit (such as high-speed rail), life sciences, and a few others, there is almost no sector where China is the dominant technology leader, unlike the United States. Moreover, if one were to consider this “race” in terms of coalitions of likeminded countries, the United States and its Western allies from Europe and Asia are cumulatively even further ahead.

More important, the decision of whether to utilize industrial policy should be driven primarily not by whether the gap between the United States and China is narrowing, but by whether greater government intervention can produce more positive results than a more relatively laissez-faire approach for the country’s current needs. The United States does not need to “catch up”—the typical justification for industrial policy—but rather needs to accelerate an economic transformation for itself and the globe in an era when transnational cooperation for research, production, and consumption is less assured because of both geostrategic tensions and rising energy and transportation costs.

The Wrong Means
Equally important, although China’s recent progress is a motivating force for this shift, China’s state capitalist system is a bad model for the United States to draw on in determining how to proceed. In fact, it actually is often dysfunctional for China, too. There are at least four Chinese practices that the United States should avoid.

First, as CSIS documented in a recent study, the Chinese government spends an enormous amount on industrial policy . By the study’s calculations, in 2019 China spent the equivalent of 1.73 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) in fiscal outlays, tax breaks, below-market credit, and other kinds of subsidies. Far back in second place was South Korea, at 0.67 percent of GDP. The United States spent only 0.39 percent of GDP. The study’s original estimate for China was extremely conservative; had the team modified its assumptions and included more components, such as government procurement (which was originally left out because of difficulty obtaining the requisite data), the Chinese figure would be closer to 4.9 percent of GDP, over 12 times the U.S. figure. Moreover, China is relatively indiscriminate about how it spends. Although the Made in China 2025 plan, issued in 2015, highlighted 10 industries, in reality Chinese industrial policy lavishes billions on dozens of sectors, with the hope that something will pay off. The result is a financial system ladened with debt that is mortgaging the country’s future. The United States should not see this difference as a “gap” that needs to be closed. America needs to lead in industries, not industrial policy spending.

Second, spending in China is heavily affected by political loyalties, not rational economic analysis. As a result, a disproportionate amount of industrial policy spending goes to inefficient state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and cronies. It should surprise no one that China’s push into semiconductors has been slowed by cash going to unqualified companies that dumped money into real estate projects as well as massive corruption in the firm managing the national semiconductor fund.

Third, China overemphasizes the development of shiny physical technologies that look good in photo ops. China’s achievements are displayed in tall skyscrapers, supercomputers, a space station, and new electric vehicles. But this preference for visible products has come at the expense of insufficient attention to the most important source of future economic growth—strengthening human capital. Millions of students in urban China graduate with degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), but the educational system and overall political environment do not nurture creativity. For example, what lesson might China’s potential entrepreneurs take from the silencing of Alibaba founder Jack Ma? Equally important, even though absolute poverty has been reduced in rural China, educational attainment in the countryside, where over half of China’s youth live, is woefully inadequate. As a result, almost all of China’s recent economic growth has come from increased investment and essentially none has come from productivity gains, the source of true progress.

Fourth, China frames its industrial policy in highly nationalistic terms, a zero-sum contest pitting its own companies and economy against everyone else. This fear of external vulnerability has grown dramatically under Xi Jinping’s rule, as technological self-sufficiency, as opposed to raising China’s position in global value chains, has become China’s paramount industrial policy goal. The result is growing tensions with trading partners, particularly technology leaders, and slower growth due to pursuing strategies inconsistent with China’s comparative advantage.

The CHIPS and Science Act appears to avoid these four pitfalls. Its topline spending figure, $280 billion, is spread out over five years, so it will barely raise overall U.S. industrial policy spending as a share of the economy. Nor will it detract from the nimble U.S. financial system being the primary identifier and supporter of new technologies, industries, and jobs. Instead of indiscriminately throwing money around, support is focused on semiconductors and a small number of other critical technologies, such as energy storage, advanced computing, and nuclear physics. A great deal of attention in the new law is paid to developing talent through the U.S. educational system and workforce training. Foreign companies from likeminded countries, such as Samsung and TSMC, are fully eligible for investment support in semiconductor manufacturing. Although the law has several elements aimed at strengthening national security, the specific restrictions targeting China—making funding to companies conditional on their not investing in advanced chip manufacturing in China—seem narrowly focused to avoid massive disruptions in global supply chains and innovation networks.

Ensuring that this law and the other federal and local laws that will inevitably follow are implemented to maximize their benefits and minimize potential downsides will take continuous vigilance from Congress, the General Accounting Office, other executive branch agencies, the media, industry analysts, think tanks, and other countries.

Better Models
Although China provides lessons the United States should avoid, there are other economies that have done a better job of utilizing industrial policy in a more constructive manner. Chief among them are East Asia’s market democracies—Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. Although each has had its excesses that have generated substantial debt and substantial ill will with trading partners for discriminatory practices, their efforts have become more market-friendly and generated less friction with others as they have approached the technological frontier. They have also been able to make globalization and domestic job creation work hand in hand, thereby reducing the hollowing out of their manufacturing sectors.

A case in point is Taiwan’s emergence as the world’s dominant semiconductor manufacturing hub, accounting for well over 60 percent of the global market. This outcome was the result of a combination of three forces: (1) targeted financial and regulations to provide a nurturing environment for research and development, talent development, and dedicated manufacturing; (2) driven entrepreneurs able to mobilize resources and talent to develop a unique specialty (“pureplay” foundries, which are dedicated to producing chips designed by others); and (3) good timing (the rise of production costs in the United States and emergence of China as a key assembler in global information and communications technology supply chains) that permitted Taiwan to create this niche in the global economy. While the United States looks to strengthen its own chip fabrication capacity, it will also need, as Taiwan has done, to explore new technologies and business models that address critical needs and take advantage of emerging opportunities.

buzai232 Aug 14 '22, 09:51PM · Tags: shanghai news

Shanghai suggests lockdown may end soon as pressure grows on China’s ‘zero-Covid’ policy

Officials in Shanghai, which has been on lockdown for weeks as officials battle China’s worst coronavirus outbreak since the start of the pandemic, said Friday that they aimed to achieve zero cases outside quarantine by May 20. To get more news about shanghai pandemic, you can visit shine news official website.

That could allow restrictions to be eased in the city of 26 million people, where residents have complained of food shortages and mental health challenges as the lockdown has been extended multiple times.

As the rest of the world moves to live with the virus, China’s Covid strategy is drawing more scrutiny, including rare criticism from Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, who said it was not sustainable in the face of the highly transmissible omicron variant.Considering the behavior of the virus, I think a shift will be very important,” he said at a news conference this week, adding that he had discussed the issue with Chinese experts.

His comments came after President Xi Jinping reaffirmed his commitment to China’s Covid strategy, which has kept cases and deaths far below those in the United States and other countries. A shift in course could threaten his plan to secure an unprecedented third term at a Chinese Communist Party congress later this year, analysts say.

At a meeting led by Xi last week, the party’s top leaders pledged to “unswervingly adhere to the general policy of ‘dynamic zero-Covid,’ and resolutely fight against any words and deeds that distort, doubt or deny our country’s epidemic prevention policies.” The message sent the Shanghai government scrambling to double down on anti-Covid measures, as some residents who had been allowed limited movement for the first time in weeks were ordered back into their homes. Others reported hazmat-suited workers known as “Big Whites” forcing their way into people’s homes to carry out disinfection and carting off whole buildings of people to quarantine if one resident tested positive.

Tedros’ comments were swiftly suppressed by Chinese censors, who removed a post from the United Nations account on Weibo, a popular Chinese social media platform, and blocked users from searching for his name.

Asked about his comments, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said China’s Covid policy was based on “national realities” and that officials were adjusting anti-epidemic measures based on changing conditions.

“We hope relevant people will look at China’s Covid policy in an objective and rational light, learn more about the facts and refrain from making irresponsible remarks,” he said at a news conference Wednesday.Zhao pointed to a study published this week in the journal Nature, which said an uncontrolled omicron outbreak in China could result in a “tsunami” of cases and 1.55 million deaths, mostly among unvaccinated people 60 and older. Chinese leaders fear a repeat of this year’s deadly omicron outbreak in its territory of Hong Kong, which like mainland China had a low vaccination rate among older people.

Jin Dong-yan, a virologist at the University of Hong Kong, said the model in the Nature study is at odds with the real-world data coming out of Shanghai, where there have been more than 600,000 cases since March 1 and fewer than 600 deaths.

buzai232 Aug 14 '22, 06:23PM · Tags: shanghai news

Shanghai eases into gradually reopening from its COVID-19 lockdown

Shanghai authorities say they will take some major steps Wednesday toward reopening China's largest city after a two-month COVID-19 lockdown that has throttled the national economy and largely bottled up millions of people in their homes.To get more news about shanghai covid cases, you can visit shine news official website.

Full bus and subway service will be restored as will basic rail connections with the rest of China, Vice Mayor Zong Ming said Tuesday at a daily news conference on the city's outbreak.

Schools will partially reopen on a voluntary basis for students and shopping malls, supermarkets, convenience stores and drug stores will continue to reopen gradually with no more than 75% of their total capacity. Cinemas and gyms will remain closed.Officials, who set June 1 as the target date for reopening earlier in May, appear ready to accelerate what has been a gradual easing in recent days. A few malls and markets have reopened, and some residents have been given passes allowing them out for a few hours at a time. In at least some chat groups, cynicism about the slow pace and stop-and-go nature of opening up gave way Tuesday to excitement about the prospect of being able to move about freely in the city for the first time since the end of March.

Shanghai recorded 29 new cases on Monday, continuing a steady decline from more than 20,000 a day in April. Li Qiang, the top official from China's ruling Communist Party in Shanghai, at a meeting Monday was quoted as saying that the city had made major achievements in fighting the outbreak through continuous struggle.

The success came at a price. Authorities imposed a suffocating citywide lockdown under China's "zero-COVID" strategy that aims to snuff out any outbreak with mass testing and isolation at centralized facilities of anyone who is infected.

Schools will reopen for the final two years of high school and the third year of middle school, but students can decide whether to attend in person. Other grades and kindergarten remain closed.

Beijing, the nation's capital, further eased restrictions Tuesday in some districts. The city imposed limited lockdowns, but nothing near a citywide level, in a much smaller outbreak that appears to be on the wane. Beijing recorded 18 new cases on Monday.

buzai232 Aug 10 '22, 07:07PM · Tags: shanghai news

Alibaba and Tencent stocks plunge after latest fines

Shares of Chinese technology firms Alibaba and Tencent fell sharply on Monday, a day after Chinese regulators fined their subsidiaries for not disclosing transactions and failing to comply with anti-monopoly rules.E-commerce giant Alibaba’s shares in Hong Kong fell 6.8%, while gaming and social media company Tencent Holdings sank 3.2%. The Hang Seng index declined 3%.To get more tencent latest news, you can visit shine news official website.

On Sunday, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation published a list of 28 deals that violated anti-monopoly rules.

It included five of Alibaba’s transactions and 12 of Tencent’s. A wide-reaching crackdown on the technology sector has often hit stock prices in Hong Kong and Shanghai. For violations in each case, the maximum fine was 500,000 yuan ($74,500).

A wide-reaching crackdown on the technology sector has often hit stock prices in Hong Kong and Shanghai, though signs the authorities might be easing up spurred gains in recent months.

Alibaba's shares had risen 70% and Tencent's were up 18% since mid-March, before Monday's losses.

“The dip is likely to be temporary. The market was more wary about the U.S. raising interest rates so sharply, but it’s just been overrun by the new fines,” said Francis Lun, an investment manager and veteran market commentator in Hong Kong.

An increase in coronavirus cases that raised fears of more pandemic lockdowns in Shanghai also shook investor sentiment, he said.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

buzai232 Jul 17 '22, 06:45PM · Tags: shanghai news

Some Omicron sub-variants escaping antibodies from Sinopharm shot

A small Chinese study detailed in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal showed neutralising antibodies against some Omicron sub-variants were largely undetectable after two doses of a Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine, with a booster shot only partly restoring them.To get more news about sinopharm vaccine: latest update, you can visit shine news official website.

The study comes as China, which has approved only locally developed COVID shots including the Sinopharm vaccine, strives to improve vaccination rates, maintaining a "dynamic zero COVID" policy aimed at eradicate all outbreaks while many countries have adopted an approach of learning to live with the virus.The vaccine, BBIBP-CorV, is one of the two Sinopharm COVID shots approved for use in China, and is also the main shot that the state-owned firm has exported.

Among 25 individuals who received two doses of BBIBP-CorV vaccine, the neutralising activity against sub-variants such as BA.2.12.1 and BA.4/BA.5 "was not or only minimally detectable", researchers said in correspondence published on Monday.

Neutralising activity against those sub-variants was observed in just 24-48% of subjects who received a BBIBP-CorV booster shot after the two-dose product, researchers said, citing results from a group of 25 participants.The rate improved slightly, to 30-53%, for those who received a third shot made by a unit of Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products (300122.SZ), another vaccine approved for use in China, according to data from another group of 30 subjects.

The study did not discuss the boosters' efficacy, a rate that reflects how well they could lower the risk of COVID disease or death, which is usually observed in large clinical trials.
This cross-sectional survey-based study was carried out from 10 January to 30 April 2021 to evaluate Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine adverse reactions among residents in the UAE. The study utilized a self-administered online survey created on Google Forms which had been randomly delivered to individuals (aged ≥18 years) using social media sites (Facebook, Email and WhatsApp). Potential participants were directed to a webpage with a brief introduction to the aim and purpose of the study and instructions on how to complete the survey. Informed consent that included statements about voluntary participation and anonymity was sought from all the respondents prior to data collection by sending a standardized general invitation letter with the survey link to accept or decline participation in the study. Participants who declined consent were not permitted to open the survey and participate in the study, and participants could withdraw from the survey at any time in line with the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki Ethical principles (Aresté and Salgueira, 2013). Persons who clicked on the link were directed to Google Forms and, to avoid issues of missing data, they had to respond to all the questions or were unable to proceed to the next section of the survey. No incentive or compensation was given to participants (Elm et al., 2007).

Out of 1102 surveys received from respondents, 1080 participants aged ≥18 years, from different emirates and nationalities, were included in this study. The study sample included participants who were either vaccinated with the first dose or second dose of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine and those who did not receive any COVID-19 vaccine during the early peak of the vaccination campaign in the UAE. Individuals aged <18 years and non-residents in the UAE were excluded from this study as they were not permitted to receive any vaccine type in the UAE during the conduct of this study. Individuals who had received a COVID-19 vaccine other than Sinopharm were not included in the study, based on the study's aims.

buzai232 Jul 17 '22, 06:33PM · Tags: shanghai news

Good news for travellers with a long layover in Shanghai: you don’t need a visa to head out of the airport and get a taste of the city. Indeed, you can stay in China visa-free for up to 72 hours. Follow Culture Trip’s guide to Shanghai in 24 hours, and you may end up having the best day of your whole trip right here.There are two international airports in Shanghai, but chances are you’ll be flying into Pudong (PVG). It’s a world-class airport, but since it’s located far from the city centre, visitors will need to find a way of getting there. They can take a taxi or bus into town, but nothing quite typifies Shanghai like the Maglev train service, which runs daily until 9.30pm from PVG to the Longyang Rd metro station at speeds up to 268 mph (431 kph). There’s nothing like the feeling of darting past goat farms and shanty suburbs on a giant levitation tube. It puts Shanghai’s rapid development into perspective and preps you for what to expect from the rest of the city.To get more news about Shanghai scenic spots, you can visit shine news official website.

The Bund may be the humdrum for people who live in Shanghai, but for travellers, it’s one of the first things you must do when entering the city. On the left bank of the waterfront promenade are old European-style buildings from Shanghai’s colonial days, and on the right are the skyscrapers that have come to represent Shanghai on postcards and stamps around the world. If you want the best views of both, grab a drink from upscale rooftop bar Flair on the Pudong side of the Huangpu River. Located at the top of the Ritz-Carlton Shanghai Pudong, Flair is so close to the Pearl Tower that patrons can nearly reach out and touch it.

After you’ve taken all your pictures at Flair, hop on Shanghai Metro Line 2 to East Nanjing Rd. This pedestrian street was the heart of the city during Shanghai’s colonial days and is now a major shopping and dining area full of tourists and local people alike. It’s worth seeing for the neon lights alone, and the skyline from the ground up is spectacular in itself. For RMB5 (US$0.75), you can take a little train down the street, in case you want to snap some photos without a walking incident. Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street runs from the Bund to People’s Square, where you’ll want to end up for some quality museum hopping. However, be aware that this highly concentrated area has been known to have scammers and petty thieves.

Throughout Shanghai’s history, People’s Square has been a nucleus of culture and activity. Due to its centrality and proximity to the Bund, the area draws tourists from all over the world to its hectic streets. People’s Square is packed with amazing and cheap local restaurants and street food stalls, parks, museums, and more.

For a quintessential People’s Square experience, check out the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center. This six-storey building located on People’s Avenue provides visitors with a detailed look at the evolution of one of the world’s most dynamic cities. It’s hard to predict what Shanghai will do next, but perhaps this museum will give you a clue.
You can’t come to Shanghai without experiencing its culinary wonders. From penny-priced street food to budget-blowing Michelin-star restaurants, Shanghai is a foodie paradise. Conveniently, some of the city’s best local eats are scattered around People’s Square, so no need to go far to eat well.

Pop into Jia Jia Tang Bao for a taste of Shanghai’s signature dish, the xiao long bao. Perhaps the most famous purveyors of xiao long bao in Shanghai, Jia Jia Tang Bao is little more than a hole in the wall, but it is an institution in the city. Lines are long and closing times, arbitrary; however, the chefs here have mastered the traditional pork filling and even offer crab-roe-stuffed bao. If street food is more your thing, head over to the southern end of Yunnan Road, where there’s everything from halal kebabs to Shanghainese noodles.

buzai232 Apr 12 '22, 06:49PM · Tags: shanghai news

Jessica to appear on Chinese entertainment shows

Rumors are spreading that Jessica, a member of Girls' Generation, who is active in Greater China, can make a re-debut as a girl group. According to local media in China on the 10th, it is predicted that Jessica will appear in a survival program with the concept of a re-debut of a five-member girl group of female celebrities in their 30s and older.To get more chinese entertainment news, you can visit shine news official website.

Rumors are spreading that Jessica, a member of Girls' Generation, who is active in Greater China, can make a re-debut as a girl group.

According to local media in China on the 10th, it is predicted that Jessica will appear in a survival program with the concept of a re-debut of a five-member girl group of female celebrities in their 30s and older.

The program 'Seungpoong Blue Jerk' is a program that also appeared in Miss A's Faye and Jia, and is a very popular entertainment program in China.
However, some predict that Jessica's activities in China will be practically difficult because Jessica lost a 2 billion won lawsuit from a Chinese management company in 2019 for violating her contract.

After her departure from Girls' Generation in 2014, Jessica joined her hand with her boyfriend Tyler Kwon and was active in Greater China as a singer, actress and fashion designer.

But she was embroiled in controversy earlier this year when her fashion brand Blanc and Eclair, launched by Jessica, was sued by Hong Kong company Joy King Enterprise for $8 billion.

buzai232 Apr 11 '22, 06:40PM · Tags: shanghai news

Get to know authentic Szechuan-style Chinese food

Part of the fun of the Winter Olympics is getting to know the country it's being hosted in. Food says so much about culture, geography, history and socio-economics. To get more news about taste of shanghai, you can visit shine news official website.

KGW Sunrise's Nina Mehlhaf sat down for a traditional Sichuan-style meal with restaurant owner Daniel Chen, who moved to Portland from China when he was 26 years old. He owns Szechuan Garden restaurant on Walker Road in Beaverton.When I bring the food to the table, up to the whole family, and they enjoy the food and are talking, I'm so happy about that," he said.

Chen is marking his 10th year in the restaurant industry in the United States and his third year as an owner.

"Portland is the first place I come in United States and the only one place I live here," Chen said. "I live in Portland for a long time. It's over 13 years already."Chen is Cantonese. It's both the dialect and the food of southern China's Guangdong province where Hong Kong is located. China has 23 provinces. It's land mass is only 2% larger than the U.S., but there are 1.1 billion more people. Where you are in the country determines what kind of food and tastes you discover.

There are eight cuisines; from light, fresh and healthy on the coast with seafood, to hot, spicy and salty with more animal proteins farther north and inland.Chen fell in love with the spicy, mouth-numbing flavors of the Sichuan province to the north of him.

"They had the particular flavor of the spice and the pungency because they are using a lot of garlic and some dried pepper. As well as the unique flavor of the numbing because they use the Szechuan peppercorn," Chen said.During the interview with KGW, Chen's chef made four traditional dishes to try and talk about."This one we call the mixed beef. It's a cold dish and the other is Chong Qing Hot Chicken."

The mixed beef is shaved thin with strips of tendon and stomach, brined then mixed with chili oil, celery, onions, ginger and peanuts. It's fresh, but savory and crunchy; a good temperature and texture compliment to the hot chicken."You can see the chicken dice and then we deep fry the chicken. Then we cook it with the dry pepper and also with Szechuan peppercorns. So we taste spicy, a bit numbing. It'll be crispy outside. We sell this a lot every day. A lot of people like this one," Chen said of the Chong Qing Hot Chicken.

KGW asked Chen about his take on the Americanized version of Chinese food that a lot of people think about when they think of the cuisine or certain dishes.

"I think in America, a lot of the cooking skills are just pan fry, toast and deep fry. A lot of the ingredients [Americanized Chinese restaurants] are using are maybe ketchup, sugar, vinegar or onions, pineapple, whatever they put in there. It's really simple flavors, but [in] Szechuan food, we use a lot of the Szechuan peppercorn. It tastes so different between the authentic Szechuan food and the regular American Chinese food."The next dish his chef brought out is called Mapo Tofu. It's one of China's most famous dishes and it has a very interesting back story.

'Ma' literally translates to 'pockmarked face'. 'Po' means 'old woman' or 'grandma'. There are slight variations to the story, but they go back to the 1860s. A woman named Mrs. Chen had a restaurant or food cart in the Sichuan city of Chengdu at the base of a bridge. One version of the story has laborers bringing her ingredients to cook up so they could save money. Others have said she was left with a few things at the end of the day and whipped up a dish so good, they came back for more and more only to, not so nicely, name it for her.

The dish is made up of firm tofu, ground beef or pork, black bean paste, garlic, ginger, onion, peppercorns and chili oil cooked fast in a hot wok. It tastes smooth and you feel a bit of the numbing feeling in your mouth depending on the spice level. Chen's restaurant, like many Chinese restaurants, lets the customer decide what spice level they want. Szechuan Garden does a scale of 1-5 and recommends medium. Spicier than that, and that's all you'll taste and you'll miss the point of the dish.

The last dish is called Hot and Spicy Dry Pot with pork spare ribs, green beans, peppers and chilis. Ten ingredients go into making the sauce, which is kept hot at the table by a lit flame underneath, carrying the aromatics around the room. You use a combination of your fingers and chopsticks to hold the ribs and pull the meat off with your teeth. It's more of a restaurant dish than a home meal in China.

buzai232 Apr 11 '22, 06:32PM · Tags: shanghai news
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