Not long ago I went out to dinner with some friends who had just recently arrived in China. Since this was their first time in Beijing, we naturally went for the city’s signature dish at Quanjude. Just as any religious pilgrimage is accompanied by certain obligatory rituals and prayers, so too does the Beijing visitor’s requisite eating of kaoya demand its own incantation.
In our case, it came right when we walked through the front door, when my friend wondered aloud “Are you supposed to call it ’Peking duck’ or ‘Beijing duck?’” The rest of us earnestly performed the second ritual of shrugging our shoulders, unable to answer. Undaunted, our friend continued: “And how come they changed the city’s name in the first place?”
This post represents a bit of a milestone here at Lost Laowai, as it is (if the title didn’t give it away) our 500th one.
