A Chinese Doctor Rates the Health Benefits of Liquor Infusions

Lilac Doctor, a WeChat subscription account that posts daily health tips, has an interesting one (link in Chinese) for you if you’ve been eagerly following our coverage of Chinese boozes (see here and here): a guide for the health conscious to paojiu (泡酒), infused liquor.

Depending on what you leave soaking in it (could be medicinal herbs, or exotic berries, or venomous vermin like snakes and scorpions), paojiu is said to help with any number of ailments, as the alcohol unlocks mysterious medicinal qualities from the submerged ingredients.

Lilac Doctor tapped the expertise of Purdue University graduate Dr. Yun Wuxin, who says: not so much. Here’s his quick guide to the supposed health benefits of paojiu, based on what you wanna soak in it.

1. Health Foods, e.g. Goji Berries

Rating: Ineffective

Goji berries, which you might know as an essential item in the contemporary urban foodie-hipster’s superfood playbook, are native to northwestern China, and indeed have some significant health benefits. Dr. Yun confirms that the humble goji’s upsides are “unequivocal,” as they’re rich in dietary fiber, vitamin A, iron, selenium, calcium, zinc, and potassium.

“Soaking goji berries in alcohol, however, will not add to their nutritional value, and won’t produce any new magical effect.” Like any good medical professional, Dr. Yun suggests you eat your fruits and veggies if you want to absorb the benefits — soaking them in booze will just stress your liver.

2. Penises

Rating: Ineffective

Yeah… in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) it’s sometimes recommended that men consume animal penises to “壮阳” (zhuangyang, build up the kidney’s Yang), aka increase virility and sex drive. Dr. Yun says that this concept indeed has a long history, but firmly denies the claim that dropping tiger dicks into your cocktail will help in the Yang department. Kind of the opposite, in fact: he says that overconsumption of alcohol by males will affect liver function and cause the body to over-produce estrogen, leading to a reduction in testosterone secretion and thus a lower sex drive.

Related:

Yin and Yang for Dummies: Dipping a Toe into the Theory of TCM
Article Jul 05, 2017

3. Medicinal Herbs, e.g. Ginseng

Rating: Unreliable — consult a pro

TCM includes a vast catalogue of the medicinal qualities of various herbs, and does use decoctions, or the absorption of chemicals into an alcohol-based substratum, as a treatment. Dr. Yun, admitting this, recommends that if you’re really trying to use alcohol as medicine, you’ll still want to consult a professional who knows the active ingredients in any given herbal mix, what dosage to employ and how potentially toxic the combo will be. In other words, it’s not recommended for recreational tippling, and could have undesirable side effects.

Related:

Landmark Exposé Links TCM to Liver Disease
Article Aug 02, 2017

4. Toxic Animal Parts, e.g. Live Scorpions, Fish Guts

Rating: Ineffective and dangerous

Don’t do it! While they’re rumored in the annals of legend to improve eyesight and detoxify the body, Dr. Yun kindly reminds the reader that the opposite is in fact true: “This kind of thing is itself toxic, and the toxicity will not be ‘dissolved’ by the alcohol, nor will it change into another kind of poison.”

One popular paojiu ingredient in this category is fish bladder, which can be especially dangerous as the bile inside can leech sodium dextrose into the booze, resulting in severe abdominal pain, kidney failure, and cell death in the drinker.

So prob skip this category.

5. Wild Critters, e.g. Pangolins

Rating: Ineffective and illegal

Come on. Look at that guy. This is a pangolin, nature’s way of making you say both “so cute!” and “holy shit dinosaurs still roam the earth.” Some people like to drop this cute lil sucker into a big vat of booze for the supposed health benefits. Dr. Yun says that not only are there objectively no health benefits to soaking a scaly anteater in your alcohol, it’s also illegal: “The legendary health effect is illusory, and if you risk jail time, the ‘side effect’ is too big, right?” Right.

6. Normal fruits, e.g. hawthorne

Rating: FUCKING DELICIOUS

I’m gonna throw out the book here and say just go for it. Dr. Yun says there are no actual health benefits, it just improves the taste of the alcohol, and at this point that’s good enough for me.

“Just do not forget, no matter how the flavor changes, drinking is still harmful to health.” OK DR BUZZKILL WE GET IT. Drink more water, etc etc. But also, it’s Friday. Throw some hawthorne berries in your vodka, you’ve earned it.

***

If you have WeChat and can read Chinese, follow Lilac Doctor’s account at @DingXiangYiSheng or by scanning the QR below.

Why are international travelers turning away from China?

Rogue Historian is a weekly column by Jeremiah Jenne, a writer, educator, and historian based in Beijing. Find more of his writing at Jottings from the Granite Studio.

If it’s summer, it must be time to wonder why international travelers are staying away from China. Like Wimbledon, the Red Sox, and men exposing their oversized beer bellies on the streets of Beijing, these laments have become a routine part of the warmer months.

From this week’s South China Morning Post:

The number of inbound tourists grew at an average annual rate of just 1 per cent between 2005 and 2015 – and eight out of 10 of those were from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, according to a report by a Beijing think tank.

The rate trails that of both developed countries and other emerging economies, the Centre for China and Globalisation (CCG) report said. It’s also far behind the average for the Asia-Pacific region, which saw inbound tourist traffic grow by more than 80 per cent in that period.

The question is: Why?

I’ve worked in the travel and education industry in Beijing for over a decade and there is no one easy answer or fix. There are of course many reasons why people should come to China, but there are also some pretty clear factors which keep China from fulfilling its potential as a destination for international travelers.

1. Environmental Concerns

Over the past decade, China has been dealing with some pretty serious environmental issues. Cities like Beijing have earned a nasty reputation for toxic air. Whether that’s fair or not – and Beijing does have its share of blue sky days – when planning a holiday many people tend to think twice about destinations which might require them to tour with a specially-designed face mask for “easier respiration.”

2. China’s domestic and outbound travel industry is booming

While inbound tourism has grown at an anemic 1% per year since 2005, in the same period the number of Chinese traveling abroad has tripled, from 41 million in 2006 to 122 million last year. Domestic tourism is big business as well. This year, the China National Tourism Agency expects domestic tourists to take 4.88 billion trips.

It’s more lucrative for local travel agencies, hotels, restaurants, and tourist sites to cater to Chinese travelers who often have very different needs and expectations than international visitors

Taking Chinese government statistics at face value is always a dicey proposition, but the overall trend is clear: It’s more lucrative for local travel agencies, hotels, restaurants, and tourist sites to cater to Chinese travelers who often have very different needs and expectations than international visitors. Services and facilities in China are designed for the domestic tourist, not the world traveler.

3. Service standards need a general upgrade

China’s development over the past 40 years has been nothing short of miraculous, particularly in infrastructure. While it’s easy to focus on the infrastructure which continues to lag (this is that part where you share your favorite public restroom story) China’s major cities feature some of the world’s best — or at least, newest — tourist and travel facilities. High speed rail. Futuristic airports. Five-star hotels. China’s got them.

The problem is that while the hardware is shiny and new, the software hasn’t kept pace. It’s only natural that in a society which has undergone a dizzying pace of growth over only a few decades there are going to be some bumps as people adjust to new processes, technology, and rising expectations. Ask anyone in the hospitality industry in China and they will tell you that training/retaining good staff members is their biggest headache. Many employees, when they sign on to work in a hotel or restaurant, do so without ever having been to a hotel or — in some cases — a restaurant before. Service training needs to start from the ground up, and not everyone gets it. Those who do become extremely valuable employees, who then are the target of poaching from competitors.

While the hardware is shiny and new, the software hasn’t kept pace

One unfortunate result is that while some companies have excellent orientation programs, many other businesses fail to put much effort into staff training, creating a negative feedback loop: “Why train employee X because s/he will just leave for more money, but at the same time I’m not going to pay employee X very much because — for some reason — they’re bad at their job and I can always replace them with somebody who isn’t that much worse.” Is it any wonder why Employee X can’t be bothered to give two squirts of squirrel shit about your happiness and comfort when you enter their place of employ? (Side note: I’m not talking about language ability. Frankly, too many people in the service industry are hired for their “English skills” rather than their “people skills.”)

4. Differing attitudes of historic preservation and restoration

Many travelers come to China to see the country’s rich history and culture. Many of these same travelers come away disappointed. Vibrant neighborhoods in China’s cities are being turned into bland, faux-modern blocks of brutalist conformity. Actual historic structures are ripped down to build “historical reproductions.” Formerly quaint old cities are being transformed into commercialized tourist traps. In many cases, these changes are in keeping with what many local tourists want to see and do when on holiday, but they also leave those local and international visitors who are looking for historical or cultural authenticity a bit cold.

5. The behavior of fellow travelers

There are a lot of people in China and everybody knows it. For visitors lucky enough to grow up in a society which fetishized personal space, China can be something of a shock. One of the first concerns travelers relate to me is always about the crowding and crowd behavior. It only takes a quick Internet search to find any number of “Chinese tourists behaving badly” stories. But the behavior of tourists in China has less to do with “Chinese culture” than it does the mechanics of stuffing large groups into small spaces and not paying enough attention to the dynamics of crowd control beyond hiring a few security guards to periodically squawk incomprehensibly at the tourists through broken megaphones.

6. Visa and Permit issues

Despite policies designed to allow visa-free stays in some of China’s major cities of up to six days, getting a Chinese visa remains a pain in the ass compared to many other potential destinations. Once here, some areas which might otherwise be a draw for visitors, including Tibet, require additional permits.

7. China’s soft power problem

This is a larger issue than just tourism, but China has long had difficulties projecting soft power. Part of the problem is the Chinese government’s neediness and general insecurity when it comes to culture. You can’t dictate soft power, it just happens. Even at tourist sites, the message is “ADMIRE US!” rather than “learn about our story.” Everything is couched in terms of biggest, oldest, most continuous. It’s exhausting and counter-productive. Actual historical context tends to be lacking because, let’s face it, state organs are uncomfortable with history. It’s easier to proclaim the size of a structure than to discuss the reasons that structure needed to be rebuilt after the Cultural Revolution.

Related:

A Strange Day in Beijing’s Southern Water Town
Article Aug 08, 2017

China should be attracting more tourists than it does. It is a large country with enormous diversity in ecosystems, culture, cuisine, and activities. Transportation and tourist infrastructure are improving at an impressive rate. China is also home to some of the world’s oldest and most fascinating civilizations. But for now, there remain challenges — some fixable, others which may require more time to solve — that depress the rate of inbound travel.

As one traveler recently told me, “I came looking for the real China. The real China I thought existed doesn’t and I’m not sure I completely enjoyed the real China that I found.”

***

| Column Archive |

Previously:

Kowtow and Get Out: How I Was Almost Ejected from the Forbidden City
Article Jul 26, 2017

With IPO plans, China’s hipster social network Douban turns pragmatic

Editor’s note: This article by Rita Liao was originally published by TechNode. It has been re-posted here with permission. Douban is an interesting hybrid of a social network: part IMDb, part Soundcloud/Spotify, part Facebook (for events, mainly art- and music-related), part early ’00s-style message board network, but also a vinyl record label and, most recently, a music festival organizer. Douban — a company I have previously worked with as a writer and editor — is a China original, and I hope they find sure footing and maintain their uniquely quirky character as they head toward a foreign IPO. –Josh Feola

Douban—a Chinese social networking service that focuses on film, music, and books—revealed on August 5 that its plans to go public overseas would bring in cash flow necessary for its product lines to run on independent budgets. The email did not mention which overseas market the company planned to list on.

The announcement comes from a leaked internal email (in Chinese) that founder and CEO Yang Bo (more widely known as Ah Bei) sent to his employees, calling for a “pragmatic” pivot for the company. A person familiar with the matter has confirmed the authenticity of the email to TechNode.

Ah Bei said in the email that the “waning, profit losing” products including Dongxi, a product once with high financial expectations, will be terminated. A new content business group, centered around its first paid content feature Douban Time, will launch with the focus on generating revenue.

Founded in 2005, Douban has long adopted a self-described “slow” approach to its business model against today’s currents. Coupled with the site’s focus on books, music, and movie reviews, Douban is widely known as a haven for China’s utopian hipsters. Over the years it has dabbled in several monetization attempts with few significant outcomes. AlphaTown, a virtual city developed with the aim to make money from e-commerce and online gaming, shut down in 2015 after five years of operation.

As of 2016, Douban has accumulated 150 million registered users and 300 million monthly active users, Caixin reports. It’s a much less sticky app, however, compared to other Chinese social networking giants. Based on a report by China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), Douban’s usage rate (percentage of users who used the app in the last six months) in 2017 is 8.6%, compared to Weibo’s 38.7% and WeChat’s 84.3%.

Douban’s last funding round was a $50 million Series C in September 2011.

Meet Putin Bro, the Chinese Farmer That Looks Like Putin

In a remote village in Anhui Province lives a 54-year-old farmer named Luo Yuanping. There is pretty much nothing remarkable about Luo Yuanping, except for the fact that he bears a remarkable resemblance to Vladimir Putin, the Russian President. He is therefore known on the Chinese internet as “Putin Bro” (普京哥).

Putin Bro’s nickname isn’t unique. “Bro” — or “brother,” depending on how you translate “哥” into English — is commonly used in Chinese memes. See, for reference, Brother Orange, the Chinese guy who ended up with a stolen phone and used it to take selfies of himself in front of orange trees, which eventually led to heartwarming international bromance. (According to reports from last year, Ellen DeGeneres and BuzzFeed are working on a film inspired by the crazy story of Brother Orange and his unlikely friend Matt Stopera.)

But back to Putin Bro. Not only does he have strikingly similar facial features — high hairline, broad forehead, thin lips, etc. — he also has blue eyes (though it’s hard to tell in pictures) and boasts a height of 5’7″. For your information, Putin is only a tad shorter, at 5’5.7″.

Putin Bro appeared on a Russian TV show once, and thoroughly freaked out the host:

Though Putin Bro received quite a bit of attention from both local and international media back in 2011, it apparently hasn’t changed him at all. He stays true to himself and lives a humble life as a farmer. Being the humble guy he is, his hope is to marry a woman he loves, although he doesn’t have the ability to do so.

Read more about Luo Yuanpin’s unlikely brush with fame (his internet celebrity spiked again last month, when the Chinese and Russian presidents held a one-on-one meeting ahead of this year’s G20), right here.

Radii Photo Contest Honorable Mention: Angela Kong

Angela Kong is one of the Honorable Mention winners of the Radii Photo Contest. The judges liked the perspective of her photo, how it captured a slice of the paradoxical nature of hutong living: it can seem closed off from the outside, yet expansive and bright within. This photo literally throwing light on a part of old Beijing life.

Says Kong:

I took this photo the first week I was in Beijing. I ran back to my dorm immediately to grab my camera, and tried taking this photo twice. The first time, I used the wrong lens, and everyone on this street was staring at me while I was taking the photo. As this was my first week, I felt incredibly self-conscious about it, and debated internally for a long while – should I really go back inside to switch the lens, and come back to have everyone watch me again? Needless to say, I’m glad I stopped second guessing myself and went for it. The best moments that I’ve had for photography are in those impulsive moments, to go for shots that my gut tells me to trust, and to believe in.

Bio:

Angela Kong is a recent graduate of Colorado College, where she majored in Feminist and Gender Studies. Her passions include: creating social change and awareness through the usage of photography and videography, as well as performing spoken word on issues such as experiences of racism, injustice, and privilege.

You can check out the other winners — and their photos — here.