{"id":2164,"date":"2014-05-16T13:37:53","date_gmt":"2014-05-16T13:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/?p=2164"},"modified":"2014-05-16T13:38:17","modified_gmt":"2014-05-16T13:38:17","slug":"8-chinese-dishes-that-go-bump-in-the-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/8-chinese-dishes-that-go-bump-in-the-night\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Chinese Dishes That Go Bump In The Night!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chinese food is such a large part of Western cuisine, that some dishes like chicken feet and bird nest soup would\u2019ve seemed odd a few years ago, but are common place on the restaurant table these days \u2013 but there are still quite a few that aren\u2019t!<\/p>\n

Over the past five years, China has seen massive expansion with a skyscraper built every five days, 30 airports opened, and over 6,000 miles of high speed railway lines and 26,000 miles of motorway developed \u2013 but they\u2019ll never waiver on their demand for traditional foods, most of which are believed to have health benefits associated with them.<\/p>\n

1. Blood Clams<\/b><\/h4>\n

These clams are like your regular clams, they just produce large quantities of hemoglobin, so bathe in pools of their own blood like a scene out of a low budget horror film!<\/p>\n

If that\u2019s not enough to make you squeamish, they\u2019re also eaten raw and diners have a 16% chance of contracting Hepatitis from the contaminated blood, or even dying as a result \u2013 which is why the Chinese Government has made them illegal.<\/p>\n

2. Chicken Blood Soup<\/b><\/h4>\n

Sticking with the blood theme, this chicken, or sometimes duck, blood soup is a popular dish in Shanghai, especially for its believed health benefits.<\/p>\n

As with many unusual dishes in China, the congealed and cooked blood is believed to have medicinal elements that contribute to longevity of life and virility \u2013 and with so many ageless and fit vampires on TV these days, maybe they\u2019re on to something here!<\/p>\n

3. Deep Fried Spiders<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Not for the faint hearted, and if you suffer from arachnophobia these long legged furry morsels could give you nightmares forever, but in Hangzhou they are the specialty of the house. No bugs are safe from the deep fryer in China, with honey bees, grasshoppers, and stick insects all meeting the same fate.<\/p>\n

\"ChinaStrangeFoods2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

4. Barbecued Sea Horses On A Stick<\/b><\/h4>\n

Like the deep fried insects, you\u2019ll find plenty of street stalls serving all sorts of creatures barbecued on a stick, and oddly enough, most of them do taste like chicken! Other fast \u2018sticked\u2019 foods include bats, lizards, and the always popular extreme cuisine, scorpions.<\/p>\n

5. Century Eggs<\/b><\/h4>\n

How do you like your eggs done? Brown and green?! These eggs aren\u2019t really one hundred years old, although they sure do smell like it!<\/p>\n

Preserved for up to a few months in a mixture of\u00a0clay, ash,\u00a0salt,\u00a0lime, and\u00a0rice hulls, the eggs transform so that the yolk turns green and smells of sulphur, and the white turns into a dark brown, salty jelly \u2013 I\u2019ll stick with mine scrambled, thanks!<\/p>\n

6. Tong Zi Dan<\/b><\/h4>\n

While we\u2019re on the subject of eggs, perhaps one of the most unusual foods to still maintain an age old tradition is Tong Zi Dan<\/i>, aka Virgin Boy Eggs.<\/p>\n

This delicacy comes from a spring ritual in the city of Dongyang, and involves the boiling of eggs in the urine of pre-pubescent school boys, and is believed to reduce blood pressure and improve circulation by the locals \u2013 and at twice the price of normal eggs, let\u2019s hope they\u2019re right!<\/p>\n

7. Snake Wine<\/b><\/h4>\n

After so many tasty delicacies you\u2019ll need to wash it all down, and our sommelier recommends the snake wine!<\/p>\n

Perhaps not, as this beverage of snake and entrails steeped in rice is not pleasing on the palate, but the perceived restorative properties make it a popular drink in China.<\/p>\n

\"ChinaStrangeFood\"<\/a><\/p>\n

8. Baby Mice Wine<\/b><\/h4>\n

Similarly, if snake\u2019s not your thing how about a nice shot of baby mice wine? This is pretty self explanatory, and like the aforementioned snake wine, is believed to have medicinal benefits that outweigh the fear factor elements!<\/p>\n

China is famous for its cuisine, and although we have adopted many of its wonderful dishes into our own diet, the above probably won\u2019t feature in your local Waitrose any day soon \u2013 and we\u2019re grateful for that!<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re heading to China and want to make sure you know what you\u2019re eating, a good grasp of the Chinese language will make sure you\u2019re getting chicken soup, not chicken blood soup instead! Why not see how good your current level is with this free Chinese level test<\/a>?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chinese food is such a large part of Western cuisine, that some dishes like chicken feet and bird nest soup would\u2019ve seemed odd a few years ago, but are common place on the restaurant table these days \u2013 but there are still quite a few that aren\u2019t! Over the past five years, China has seen(\u2026)<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t \t\t\t\tCONTINUE READING »<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2166,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,236,27,28],"tags":[233,235,262,333,66,44],"class_list":["post-2164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","category-must-know","category-humour-offbeat","category-culture-travel","tag-china","tag-chinese","tag-dishes","tag-foods","tag-language","tag-travel"],"yoast_head":"\n8 Chinese Dishes That Go Bump In The Night!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The number eight is considered lucky in China, but from our point of view, you\u2019ll be lucky not to have to eat some of these unusual delicacies from the Orient!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/8-chinese-dishes-that-go-bump-in-the-night\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"8 Chinese Dishes That Go Bump In The Night!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The number eight is considered lucky in China, but from our point of view, you\u2019ll be lucky not to have to eat some of these unusual delicacies from the Orient!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/8-chinese-dishes-that-go-bump-in-the-night\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Listen & Learn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-05-16T13:37:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-05-16T13:38:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/ChinaStrangeFoods2-e1400247400336.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"288\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Victoria\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Victoria\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/8-chinese-dishes-that-go-bump-in-the-night\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/8-chinese-dishes-that-go-bump-in-the-night\/\",\"name\":\"8 Chinese Dishes That Go Bump In The Night!\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/8-chinese-dishes-that-go-bump-in-the-night\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/8-chinese-dishes-that-go-bump-in-the-night\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/ChinaStrangeFoods2-e1400247400336.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-16T13:37:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-05-16T13:38:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0c23babd4285f7b85ba028b23a3f370\"},\"description\":\"The number eight is considered lucky in China, but from our point of view, you\u2019ll be lucky not to have to eat some of these unusual delicacies from the Orient!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/8-chinese-dishes-that-go-bump-in-the-night\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/8-chinese-dishes-that-go-bump-in-the-night\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/8-chinese-dishes-that-go-bump-in-the-night\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/ChinaStrangeFoods2-e1400247400336.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/ChinaStrangeFoods2-e1400247400336.jpeg\",\"width\":450,\"height\":288},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/8-chinese-dishes-that-go-bump-in-the-night\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"8 Chinese Dishes That Go Bump In The Night!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Listen & Learn\",\"description\":\"Language Courses and Language Services UK\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0c23babd4285f7b85ba028b23a3f370\",\"name\":\"Victoria\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a400e49c4b2e91c5e5d28f264dfbb7a0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a400e49c4b2e91c5e5d28f264dfbb7a0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Victoria\"},\"description\":\"Victoria B-C is a self-confessed grammar geek, and uses this site for therapy. She is based in London, where she witnesses crimes against grammar on a daily basis. Words are her thing as Victoria is currently a journalist, PR advisor, and Social Media guru - these are her true stories.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/author\/victoria\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"8 Chinese Dishes That Go Bump In The Night!","description":"The number eight is considered lucky in China, but from our point of view, you\u2019ll be lucky not to have to eat some of these unusual delicacies from the Orient!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/8-chinese-dishes-that-go-bump-in-the-night\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"8 Chinese Dishes That Go Bump In The Night!","og_description":"The number eight is considered lucky in China, but from our point of view, you\u2019ll be lucky not to have to eat some of these unusual delicacies from the Orient!","og_url":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/8-chinese-dishes-that-go-bump-in-the-night\/","og_site_name":"Listen & Learn","article_published_time":"2014-05-16T13:37:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-05-16T13:38:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":450,"height":288,"url":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/ChinaStrangeFoods2-e1400247400336.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Victoria","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Victoria","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/8-chinese-dishes-that-go-bump-in-the-night\/","url":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/8-chinese-dishes-that-go-bump-in-the-night\/","name":"8 Chinese Dishes That Go Bump In The Night!","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/8-chinese-dishes-that-go-bump-in-the-night\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/8-chinese-dishes-that-go-bump-in-the-night\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/ChinaStrangeFoods2-e1400247400336.jpeg","datePublished":"2014-05-16T13:37:53+00:00","dateModified":"2014-05-16T13:38:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0c23babd4285f7b85ba028b23a3f370"},"description":"The number eight is considered lucky in China, but from our point of view, you\u2019ll be lucky not to have to eat some of these unusual delicacies from the Orient!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/8-chinese-dishes-that-go-bump-in-the-night\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/8-chinese-dishes-that-go-bump-in-the-night\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/8-chinese-dishes-that-go-bump-in-the-night\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/ChinaStrangeFoods2-e1400247400336.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/ChinaStrangeFoods2-e1400247400336.jpeg","width":450,"height":288},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/8-chinese-dishes-that-go-bump-in-the-night\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"8 Chinese Dishes That Go Bump In The Night!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/","name":"Listen & Learn","description":"Language Courses and Language Services UK","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0c23babd4285f7b85ba028b23a3f370","name":"Victoria","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a400e49c4b2e91c5e5d28f264dfbb7a0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a400e49c4b2e91c5e5d28f264dfbb7a0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Victoria"},"description":"Victoria B-C is a self-confessed grammar geek, and uses this site for therapy. She is based in London, where she witnesses crimes against grammar on a daily basis. Words are her thing as Victoria is currently a journalist, PR advisor, and Social Media guru - these are her true stories.","url":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/author\/victoria\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2164"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2164"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2168,"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2164\/revisions\/2168"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}