Starting on 成化十四年 / chenghua novel!

151 main chapters + 18 extra chapters. Let's see how much I can finish tonight. Who needs sleep, am I right? :D

If nothing else, this novel demonstrates just how woefully inadequate my knowledge of ancient Chinese history, and specifically of Ming Dynasty political happenings, is.

I'm reading this so slowly, because I keep breaking off to read baidu. _(:3」∠)_

One thing I like about chenghua so far, is it's very practical and unvarnished depiction of the era's bureaucracy. Eg.

• the different bureaus origins and inter-bureau politics
• better a seventh ranked (lower) official in the capital, than sixth ranked (higher) in the country

• the jinyi wei taking over the shuntian fu's routine peace-keeping tasks, because the former is action-oriented while the latter comprises mainly bookish officials, such that former looks down on the latter

• the shuntian fu, despite being a mor prestigious bureau, is still--

-- indistinguishable from the other bureaus to the emperor, as everyone in court is an official who mostly behave the same (in contrast, the jinyi wei started out as special ops)

• tang fan insisting on paying for the medicine he was given -- important not to appear corrupt lol

Other people's live read threads: notable quotes, CP squee, general feels

Me: a comment on the story setting

I'm so bad at doing live-read threads lol

Still thinking about the line a few chapters ago, that 回春堂 was obviously the name of a medicinal hall

Other halls in the book: 三元堂, 仁心堂

And I recently read about one irl named 方回春堂

Is there a trend for chinese medicinal hall names, akin to pub names in the UK?

Just learnt another new word for wontons: 馄饨 (hun tun)!

Is it a regional thing? (Baidu seems to suggest that it's called thus in Shandong.) Is it how you fold the dumplings?

Oh wait, no, this isn't the first time I've seen 馄饨!

Throwback to when I was reading 2ha and wondered about 抄手 vs 云吞.

A friend shared this article with me: 90% of people in China can't tell the difference between 馄饨, 云吞 and 抄手 https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/33099371 

The difference between 馄饨 (huntun), 云吞 (yuntun) and 抄手 (chaoshou), per the article linked above. In English, they're all wonton(s).

Embedded picture from the article.

So!

• northern region is used to calling them 馄饨, shandong uses 云吞, sichuan uses 抄手

Cont'd -

• 馄饨 are further divided in large vs small types

• large 馄饨 and 抄手 are often main dishes. A bowl is enough to half-fill your stomach

• 云吞 are made smaller and served as dimsum or to go with noodles

• small 馄饨 are what you stock up at home to cook any time

Cont'd

• there are also differences in how they are dished

• 云吞 are fatty, smooth, tender. Taste best with a prawn in each. The skin is thin, so when cooked you can see an impression of the filling. Typically fish soup, but chicken or (pork) bone soup also ok.

Cont'd

• 云吞 is conceptualised as being able to fit into your mouth (eat a cloud in a bite). Ideally a bowl should have 6 or 8

• 抄手 have thin, slippery skins. Serve in a spicy sauce

• 馄饨 can be cooked many styles, soup or fried. There are regional variations

Cont'd

• for large 馄饨, the pairing of soup base and dumpling filling is more easy going. Pork, chicken, seafood...

• for smaller 馄饨, they're filled only with meat (70% lean 30% fatty, minced), seasoned with scallions, ginger, salt etc, and the soup has other ingredients

Cont'd

The article has a comparative table for big and small 馄饨, 云吞, 抄手, for those of us who can read chinese.

I also recommend reading the article too. It talks more about these dumplings, and it's very interesting!

Did I just go on a long tangent about dumplings because Tang Fan was served a bowl of pork and baby scallion 馄饨? Well... :D;;