2013-04-08
Jiangsu, China
It’s 6:06
in the morning. My dad is up on his way to the park for some morning exercise.
On my way back from the toilet just now, he said ‘go back to bed for a bit,
would you?’ I know what that means. Well, you might say it means he wants me to
go back to bed to sleep a bit more. No, it means it might take him a while to
get back and he doesn’t want me to be up and hungry during this time.
Chinese
parents’ worst nightmare is their kids being hungry, even just for a short
while. At least my parents are like this. When the kids are around, they think
it’s their duty to prepare every meal, even though I am now definitely old
enough to make my own breakfast.
I have been
in China for 16 days. My biggest impression of this visit so far is: everyone
is healthier than me, and everyone is getting healthier and healthier! But how?
Haven’t we just heard the dead pig incident? Which means the main meat is
problematic? While the new bird flu is hanging on, chicken is out of the table
too. Ever since the milk scandal, Chinese babies drink much less milk. How come
every one is getting healthier and healthier?
I have
thought hard and based on my observations, there are two main reasons: a lot of
exercise and very healthy diets in general (thanks traditional eating habits
and knowledge as well as the common use of Internet nowadays). These two
reasons do not surprise you. They are common sense, but how do the people I
know here do/achieve them?
A lot of exercise!
My dad, a
retired sales manager, fast-walks 5 kilometres every evening after dinner, plus
what I have just learnt now: he does his daily morning exercise too in the park.
My sister in law, deputy head in a large school, fast-walks 3 or 4 kilometres
every morning (after she has checked her students’ morning exercises), plus 6
or 7 kilometres every evening. An old friend who is coming to visit me today, a
primary school math teacher, she plays two hours of table tennis every day,
with occasionally more badminton on the side.
My mum, a
busy granny, she takes care of my 3 year old nephew 24 hours a day, but she cycles
to fish whenever possible, and she does the amount of gardening/vegetable
growing that would shock you. (Thanks to my brother who bought a house with a
big enough garden.) While you never know what to trust in the food market, my
mum supplies the whole family with various organic vegetables, free range eggs
and chicken from the garden, plus fish that she catches from less polluted
rivers. In short, she never sits down. From 6am in the morning to 10pm at
night, she is on her feet. Digs the garden, goes fishing, cooks the meals, walks
the dog, baths my nephew…. Day after day, she is now fitter than ever!
Oh, I hear
the door. My dad must be back. An hour and a half has past! I look forward to a
warm and healthy breakfast. What will I have? Why do I consider Chinese
breakfast as ‘healthy’, and why do I think traditional eating habit and knowledge,
the common use of Internet, and Chinese people’s gullible nature all work very
well together?
I shall explain
in my next post. Bye for now!
