Finally!

I found it - duck. THE duck. Beijing roast duck. It seems people in Nanjing really don't appreciate the magic that goes into making a duck just oh-so crispy on the outside and delicately juicy on the inside, without having this thick layer of white fat but instead an almost caramelized layer of skin, in a deep brown color, that can be an inch thick. They need to invite a chef from Beijing to show them. Maybe people in Nanjing traditionally didn't use ovens to cook, so they it never occurred to them to roast something? All the roast meat dishes are either northern or southern (Guangdong) imports, Nanjingese just cook the poor ducks to death. Salt-water duck is an ok dish (it's a cold starter) but not exactly memorable. Anyway, Nanjing being one of the rising metropolises, it of course features Beijing roast duck restaurants. And finally I (or rather my boss) discovered one that's actually really good. I still recommend you go to Beijing's Qianjude to get the real thing (I think they simply use better ducks, the meat there was tastier), but for those of us stuck in Nanjing 御品鸭王 Yupinyawang (Royal Products Duck King), next to the H&M at Xinjiekou, is a good option. Their catchy slogan: "The dish should be made as delicately as a nation is managed" I couldn't agree more! Hey, wait... what?

Stupid me took neither a picture of the duck nor the fancy restaurant (which we had to leave through a back staircase crammed full of wood logs - seems they really roast the duck the traditional way) because it was almost 10pm when we got out of there. There are some pictures of my trip to Luhe, a small town outside Nanjing where Liu Xing took me for tomb sweeping day (Qing Ming). Well, we neither swept tombs nor hiked for a picnic, as I have been told is customary, because Liu Xing got such bad toothache we had to return to Nanjing. We got to enjoy some sun and fresh spring blossoms though, but all in all it was still bitterly cold. This was April 5th, and the weather did not get much better until this week.

Luhe

I can't say anything about the town of Luhe, because we stayed in this artificial suburb, a gated community for well-off people. Nobody lives there (yet), but I was told all the houses are sold. People buy houses like crazy. We read an article in class that housing prices in Beijing have gone up by a factor of 3(!) over the last year (that's post-Olympic, mind you). Shanghai is pretty similar and Nanjing is making a run for third place. Looks terribly familiar to what we could witness before the housing bubble in the US burst. Supposedly, owning a apartment is a must for Chinese. Especially if you want to get married (that's all our Chinese text book seems to be talking about). More and more Chinese are moving away from the traditional concept of multi-generation families living together. Among the educated city-dwellers, the living concept does not seem to be all that different from the West. Just having kids without getting married - that's still a no-no. Pre-marital sex only became non-punishable by law 8 years ago. And until 3 years ago you could not get married while enrolled in university (one faced expulsion). Swinging is still punishable under the "indecency laws" and apparently there is a case going through the courts in Nanjing right now, involving a professor (who pleaded non-guilty in contrast to the other 20 people involved in their little "wife swapping" activity and got away with being fined). I swear, I had nothing to do with it! :)

In other news, we had the Nobel Laureate David Gross visit and give a talk about the "future of physics" (or rather "What I got the Nobel Prize for") at Nanjing University's Undergrad Campus. This campus is in the middle of nowhere, on the other side of purple mountain, deep in the easternmost suburbs. Apart from a big street, about 4 different university campuses and a big shopping mall there is really nothing out there (it's really quiet and peaceful though).

Xianlin

In less than a month the new subway line is supposed to open and then this place will be much more accessible (right now it takes about an hour to get there by bus). And guess what they are building all around those campuses? Right, apartment highrises... Bubble! Plopp!