Yet it wasn’t until 1949, and the founding of modern China, that Women’s Day was made an official public holiday for the female gender. Mid-20th century social architect Mao Zedong even famously uttered, “Women hold up half the sky,” reaffirming the important role women played in creating a functional, educated, and well-behaved generation of young Chinese workers.

These days, Chinese and foreign women of all professions receive small gifts of appreciation from students, children, husbands, employers, employees…or essentially any and everyone who has benefited from their hard work and tutelage.

And modern-day China and the ancient world are certainly not lacking for female role models (in alphabetic order):

Empress Dowager Cíxǐ (慈禧太后), 1835-1908

A controversial leader even in her own time, Cixi “was consort of the Xianfeng emperor, mother of the Tongzhi emperor, adoptive mother of the Guangxu emperor, and a towering presence over the Chinese empire for almost half a century.” Undoubtedly “one of the most powerful women in the history of China,” Cixi plotted her way up from concubine to empress dowager – speaking on behalf of her infant son – and used her acquired knowledge of foreign affairs, diplomacy, economics, and national politics to help develop 19th century China into a modern and internationally competitive nation.

(However, Cixi isn’t the only empress to have an impact on China’s history. Read about the Middle Kingdom’s 10 most influential empresses – all deserving inclusion in this list – here!)

Jīn Xīng (金星), 1967 – Present

Reportedly “one of the first few trans women officially recognized by the Chinese government,” Xing has had more than her fair share of setbacks in a life filled with beauty, artistry, and passion. A biological male born to Korean parents in China, she joined the People’s Liberation Army at age 9 to become part of the military’s dance troupe. After receiving high accolades, Jin went abroad to study modern dance in New York City, eventually marrying a German man and adopting three children. Her choreography is said to be “startlingly original and provocative,” with her last public appearance being in the 2007 filming of “Stock Exchange of Visions.”

Sān Máo (三毛, born Chen Ping), a.k.a. “Echo”, 1943-1991

The first time I heard San’s words was from a high school student I tutored in Yongzhou. She was entranced, captivated, by San Mao’s stories from far-away lands: “Don’t ask me where I come from. My hometown is far away. I wander and search for the olive tree in my dreams.”

Something of a Chinese Sylvia Plath, Chen was born in Chongqing, relocated to Taiwan province, and later traveled to the Sahara and beyond in attempts to pin down the ideal locale of “romance, courage, truth, and freedom.” Her writing dealt largely with experiences from abroad, peaking in popularity in 1980s China where few were able to leave and even fewer were allowed to enter.

In the tradition of many disillusioned authors before her, Chen cut her stellar career short and committed suicide in 1991.

Sòng Qìnglíng (宋庆龄), 1893-1981

A prominent politico prior to and during the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, Song Qingling was more famously known as Sun Yat-sen’s second wife and would later be remembered for her strong political presence both at home and abroad in the 1950s and ‘60s. Marrying Sun shortly after the 1911 revolution (much to the disgrace of her parents), his death in 1925 spurred her to leave the separatist Kuomintang in favor of the People’s Republic. One of few women working in upper-level government after 1949, she was eventually named a PRC “Vice-chairperson.” Before her death in 1981, she became the first and only person to ever earn the title “Honorary President of the People’s Republic of China.”

Wáng Zhènyì (王振义), 1768-1797

Taking to the hard sciences easily, astronomer Wang Zhenyi (no photo available) became especially interested in lunar eclipses and gravitational physics early on. Publishing what was then an unprecedented 12 scientific works – many focused on self-modeled hypotheses – during her lifetime, she is remembered by the crater on Venus named in her honor. Wang was also an outspoken proponent of equality in the sciences, noting that women and men “are all people, who have the same reason for studying.”

Wú Méi (吳梅), early 17th century to mid-18th century

Basically an all-around martial arts bad-ass, Wu Mei survived the 1647 attack on Shaolin Monastery, fought against Qing invaders in 1674, and later took refuge in Hunan’s White Crane Temple.

And her martial arts legacy? “We classify martial arts as long or short, hard or soft, internal or external; Wu Mei Pai [“school of thought”] is a martial art that defies classification.”

Later founding martial arts styles such as Five-Pattern Hung Kuen and Dragon Style, Mei is now respected as one of the legendary “Five Elders,” survivors of the arson of the Shaolin temple during the Qing Dynasty.

Wú Yí (吴仪), 1938 – Present

“Wu Yi is tiny but powerful. Not because she was vice premier of China. And not because she was China’s chief trade negotiator, or because she was named three times to Forbes’ ‘Most Powerful Women in the World’ list, or because when the going gets tough, all the top men of China send Wu to do the dirty work,” writes the Daily Beast.

Born in Wuhan in 1938, Wu was named the “second most powerful woman in the world” in 2004, ’05, ’07, and “third most powerful” in 2006. From vice mayor to vice premier of the state council, Wu worked her way up to the health minister position during the early SARS outbreak, earning her a spot in TIME magazine’s “100 most influential of 2004” listing. Retiring from Chinese politics in 2008, Wu is remembered as the “Iron Lady of China” and the “Goddess of Transparency” for her exemplary work in public health.

Women of modern China (现代中国女性), 2014

Mothers, grandmothers, workers, students, dreamers: The vast majority of China’s 650 million-some females toil from daybreak to late into the night, every night, working to make their own futures and the futures of their loved ones as successful and prosperous as possible.

Women of all ages work jobs of all levels in the center of a Hunan province city.

Young women help sell the family’s handmade zòngzi (粽子), or glutinous rice balls wrapped in bamboo leaves, early in the morning during the Dragon Boat Festival (duānwǔ jié, 端午节)

Female university students (and little sister) enjoy an evening of relaxation and fun singing karaoke at one of China’s many popular KTV studios

This March 8 – Women’s Day – don’t forget to show respect and appreciation to the most important women in your life. As history has shown us, even the most unlikely of heroines can grow up in the heart of the Middle Kingdom or the middle of nowhere!

Now tell us: Who are your favorite or most inspirational heroines throughout Chinese history? Which Chinese female figure has had the greatest impression on you?

The post 8 Influential Women in Chinese History to Remember this Women’s Day appeared first on .

Dumplings, or jiǎozi (饺子), are as ubiquitous in China as fireworks or the color red. Served everywhere from mom-and-pop shops to the take-away counters at Chinese Wal-Marts, dumplings are essentially a staple food. But where did they come from? Why are they so popular? And what do they have to do with Spring Festival (taking place now)?

Legend has it that the origin of dumplings in China occurred in 225 A.D. – either to feed a starving, impoverished Chinese village or to replace disembodied heads (!!!) in creating the “dam that won the war.” (Maybe both?!) But let’s rewind 2,600 years to the peak of Confucian thought, during the writing of the Record of Rights. Penned during the Zhou dynasty (1,056-256 B.C.E.), it makes mention of the first recorded jiaozi recipe: “Use two portions of rice and one portion meat; fold them together and then fry.” Historians can’t pinpoint where the recipe first arose, but most agree that it was of Chinese origin.

Fast-forwarding to present day China, it’s easy to see the appeal of these small, tasty and portable meat-sacks. (Small wonder the recipe has weathered almost three millennia!) Nutritious packets with crispy or gooey skins and sumptuous, spicy meats make dumplings the perfect lunch-on-the-go or mid-day snack. And despite the influx of popular Western foods into China (and vice-versa), the innumerable variety of dumplings available helps them remain a dietary staple.

During Chinese New Year especially, jiaozi play an important role. On the eve of the lunar new year – or Spring Festival (chūnjié, 春节) – families gather together to prepare dumpling fillings and intricately fold together flour-covered packets of rich, spiced meats, all the while catching up with one another. A family-wide activity, these dumplings will be consumed at midnight on the lunar new year or on the fifteenth day, called the Lantern Festival, while paper lamps are lit and sent skyward. Dumplings have come to signify gold ingots (or sycee) for prosperity in the coming year in northern China, but largely serve to bring family members together as they gather for the Year of the Horse.

(Of course, there’s always that one family member that ruins the holiday for everyone else. It’s important to keep count of your dumpling consumption!)

And what better way to enjoy the upcoming Lantern Festival (landing this year on Feb. 14) than making your own dumplings? You can use my go-to recipe below, or get creative and make up your own fillings; macaroni and cheese jiaozi call to the inner child in all of us, and spiced sweet apple dumplings make great bite-size desserts. (My rule of thumb: If it appears in Latin, American, or Indian cuisine, it will probably be delicious in a dumpling!)

Basic Chinese-Style Dumplings

• 1 package dumpling wrappers (round, not square-shaped; can be found at your local Asian foods store)
• 1 ½ lbs. (24 oz.) ground beef or pork (fellow vegetarians can substitute meatless crumbles)
• 2-4 eggs
• 2-4 peppers, red or green (two bell peppers or four of a smaller variety)
• 1 dozen green onion stems
• Stir-fry or vegetable oil
• Soy sauce
• Sesame oil (optional, for taste)
• Sriracha hot sauce (optional, for taste)
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Mild chili powder
• Crushed red chili flakes (optional, for taste)

Prep time: About one hour
Cook time: 10-15 minutes

1. Thoroughly wash the 2-4 peppers and one dozen green onion stems. Un-seed the peppers and remove roots on the onions (the “tentacles” on the white part). Mince both vegetables into very small pieces and cook in wok or frying pan with a bit of stir-fry or vegetable oil and sesame oil, if preferred.

2. Next, scramble 2-4 eggs (depending on size) with salt, black pepper, and soy sauce (if preferred). Use your spatula to slice the eggs into small chunks. Then fry the meat or meat substitute of your choice with stir-fry oil and sesame oil (if preferred), spiced with the mild chili powder and crushed red chili flakes (for extra spice, if preferred).

3. Combine the minced vegetables, scrambled eggs, and meat or meatless crumbles, and mix together until evenly distributed.

4. Set up your dumpling work station: With fillings in one bowl, fill another small bowl with lukewarm water, stack your round dumpling wrappers, and to the side, use a pizza or baking pan (covered with wax or parchment paper) to set the completed dumplings on.

5. Placing one wrapper in the palm of your hand, dip the index finger of your dominant hand into the water and wet the outer edge of the top side of the wrapper (see below). Then scoop 1-2 teaspoons of filling into the middle, or enough to visibly take up half the wrapper’s surface area.

6. Using a 40-60 ratio, fold the dumpling wrapper over, keeping one side flat (the 40 percent side) and using the 60 percent side to create folds, all facing one direction. It sounds complicated, but there are examples here, here, and all over the Internet for making your jiaozi look more appealing. It is very important to ensure the edges are FULLY SEALED, to prevent the fillings from popping out. Practice, practice, practice!

7. Continue assembling jiaozi until you run out of filling, wrappers, or both.

8. Congratulations! You’re nearing the finish line. With your tray full of dumplings in tow, you now have four options for cooking them: Steaming, baking, boiling, or frying. Steaming and boiling are the lower-calorie options; you will know the dumplings are fully cooked when the skins turn translucent and sticky, usually after 10-12 minutes of heat. To bake, which leaves you with a crispier skin, heat the oven to 350º and let dumplings cook on a non-stick sprayed pan for about 15 minutes, or until crispy. To fry – always the tastiest method – cover the bottom of a frying pan or wok with stir-fry or vegetable oil and cook until sides are lightly browned (usually less than 2 minutes).

9. You can enjoy your authentic jiaozi with any number of dipping sauces (I love mine with Sriracha and soy sauce, but even sweet-and-sour sauce works.) Mmm, hǎo chī! Delicious! Happy eating.

The post Culture Wok with Kirsten: The History and Recipe behind Chinese Jiaozi appeared first on .

“你要去哪里？(Nǐ yào qù nǎlǐ?)” queried the driver, gruffly. Where are you going?

“四中学，谢谢（Sì zhōngxué, xièxie),” I answered, in shaky Chinese. I just wanted to get back to my warm dorm room at No. 4 Middle School and finally put down my armloads of groceries. I was “lǎoshī Kirsten,” American journalist-turned-English teacher in southern China, relentlessly scoping out the next big story on life in the Middle Kingdom.

(We’ll skip the embarrassing part where the cab driver tried to make conversation and realized I was an utterly incompetent American who could only shake her head and spit out “我不懂（Wǒ bù dǒng)” on repeat. If there’s one phrase that comes in handy, “I don’t understand” is a good one to commit to memory. But ¥6 yuán later I got home, and that’s what counts.)

As the months passed and I acclimated to my Chinese hometown, I grew more confident. Numbers were no longer a problem; haggling over vegetables or street food or a new shirt became a competitive sport instead of an impassable obstacle. I could suddenly read menu items, order jasmine tea, ask what time it was. My students – high school freshmen who loved to quiz me – were more than eager to help me improve my Chinese (and taunt me for my terrible pronunciation). Learning what the U.S. Department of State has called one of the “hardest languages to acquire for English speakers” suddenly became…fun!

Though I’m no longer teaching in Hunan province or publishing articles about life in modern-day China, I’m still working diligently on becoming fluent in Mandarin Chinese. And my guess is that you are, too. All it takes is one moment – that “taxi realization,” as I call mine – to show you that it is possible, and maybe even fun, to learn Chinese.

In addition to learning the language, I’ve teamed up with DigMandarin to bring you informational, educational, and entertaining articles on Chinese culture and society. Ever wondered why food from Húnán and Sìchuān (not “Szechuan”) provinces is so spicy? Why Nov. 11 is considered an informal holiday in China? How China’s social media websites work? The proper etiquette for eating out at a fancy Chinese restaurant? How Chinese folklore invented the modern-day zombie? I’m here to answer all these questions and many, many more.

I look forward to your questions – you can comment below- and to further exploring Chinese culture, language, and current issues with you. Whether or not you’ve traveled to China, I would also love to hear about your experiences with the language – they might even get shared on this blog!

So, 欢迎各位！ 你要去哪里？

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