Pittsburgh_Patrika_October_2019

The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol, 25, No. 1, October 2019
ed. The aquatic portion of the Summer Olympics
2012 was held in Qingdao.
With so many high-visibility events staged in
Qingdao, the whole area has received much attention
from China’s governments. They have executed massive
infrastructure projects against tight schedules.
The prosperity among China’s organized sectors
is visible every-where. In fancy malls,
people are in fashionable clothes; they have the latest
models of high-end cell phones and European automobiles.
They spend their weekends in fancy, mostly Chinese restaurants,
and in excellent open-air entertainment centers, . Even with divided 4- and
5-lane city roads, they have traffic jams during peak hours.
During my stay, on a weekend, my colleague Robin Cao showed me
around Qingdao’s waterfront and cityscape, and restaurant scene. It was
a pleasant, mild, sunny spring day. Flowers were part of the sidewalks in
the city, and not just in any park. You can imagine how many resources
the city government spends on
beautification!
China has the widest possible
choices in food. In
one grocery store, different sizes
and types of eggs from a variety
of birds were on display. You
have to see to believe the range of
vegetables, grains, noodles, and
Chinese buns — like our modaks — with all kinds of vegetarian and nonvegetarian
fillings. And for seafood fanatics and meat-eaters, the choices
are endless, with a whole range of fish, crabs, lobsters, turtles, and other
reptiles (including snakes); in addition to pork, chicken, beef, lamb, and
goat, you also get wild game, and also body parts of large animals such
as livers, brains, tongues, etc.
A whole range of tropical and
subtropical fruits are available,
both locally grown, and imported
from Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam,
and Indonesia.
Even as a vegetarian, I had no
problem in getting what I wanted
in restaurants. When I went with
my colleagues, they took care of
me. But on several occasions, I
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