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The earliest Chinese to settle in San Francisco were mostly Cantonese and Fujian people since the Gold Rush period. This is why the Chinese call it the Old Golden Mountain. The culture there more related to Caton.
I actually used Rosetta Stone during the pandemic and it is great! I will return to it when I have more time, which is a great reason to get the lifetime option. You start speaking from the very first day, and the software can analyze your pronunciation.
It's not only that the subject is interesting, but both the voice over and editing is so well made. Must be a lot of hard work going in to making such great videos.
I know, right! I am from China and I majored in English, and I saw the subs where it translated 'a trade-off' to '各有各的好‘, I was laughing out loud. that's some seriously good, funny, and pinpoint translation! and you just get the sense of how good quality these vids are!
Ouch! $42 for basically appetizers and soup! If you order main dishes (usually run $18 to over $20 now), it would cost close to $100 for two (not including tips).
I agreed with you about the food thing. If you go to bangkok, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore you can order same name of dish but you will get different taste and style. Food fusions.
Many San Francisco Chinatown residents are the proud carriers of the values, wisdom, tradition and way of life from South China. They are also proud Americans.
You also should keep in mind that San Francisco Chinatown have a long history of people predominantly from Taishan 台山 and other nearby village/10th tier cities within 江门, Canton, China and most of what you see are derived from these villages/cities.
Fa Cai is used in Stewed Vegetables or Soups, Eaten During Chinese New Year, Basically because of its Name , Sounds like you will get Rich after eating it .
I heard a lot of Western folks complain about how Chinese food is "greasy, oily and unhealthy", remember Chinese food is mostly pretty healthy, with balanced meat and veggie. The food is tuned for the local taste.
Southern Chinese settled in North America and established businesses in Chinatown. That is why some things you see in northern China: Beijing Shanghai Nanjing Chengdu may not looks so familiar.
I have been to Chinatown in Thailand, Malaysia and Japan. Chinese food in Chinatown will combine local tastes, so I never eat Chinese food abroad. I come from Chongqing, China.
It looks more like Hong Kong Town than Chinatown to me. To foreigners, Chinese look all the same to them regardless if they are from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau or other countries. But this definitely feels like Hong Kong. From the elderly people singing Cantonese songs to the the lion dance, it all resembles Hong Hong. I suggest u go to Hong Hong and see what it is like.
From personal experience, most chinatowns feel like streets in HongKong or Macau, nothing like towns of China mainland. Actually those chinatowns are established by HongKong & southeast Chinese origin immigrants many years ago.
Fujian immigrants came to the US at a much later time than the Cantonese. Also the term Hokkien usually refers to the language/dialect spoken by the people of southern Fujian (Minnan), at least that's the case in Southeast Asia, where this particular usage of Hokkien originated. However, in the US, the Fujian immigrants predominantly came from the area surrounding the city of Fuzhou, which is in the northeast of the province. To most people, the dialects of southern Fujian and Fuzhou are mutually unintelligible.
I am more familiar with the hot and sour soup, and scallion pancakes like China's in Chicago and New York. Also lion dance on New Year's or at exhibitions, not year round.
好看的视频，祝你们玩的开心 and 频道越多越好。small tip1: 与其说Chinatown 倒不如说 town of southeast of China. 最早移民到美国加拿大的华人多是中国东南沿海地区（广东/福建）的人, 所以导致带过去自己的文化习俗。现在越来越多的内地中国人移民到北美，说的都是普通话（Mandarin)，同时也带去自己的文化习俗。不得不说海外的Chinatown不能代表整个中国。😀
in the 90s and before when i was l SG, one can really get a very authentic catonese foods in SF and even had cinemas with catonese movies from Hong Kong. However, as the older generation is slowly gone, the Chinese food is becoming Americanized.... SF Chinatonw's culture representing the old cantonese culture. BTW, canton is the old name for Guangzhou which has quite different culture from other parts of China.
Chinatown is a good introduction of Chinese culture to the west. And a source of good Chinese food. 🎉 Nowadays , the immigrants are more China Chinese….last time it was more HK , Taiwan, South East Asia Chinese.
Actually, Chinatown residents were migrants from past hundreds of years, during which period, China was in Qing dynasty or RC(ruled by KMT), however, Modern China is based on PRC(from 1949). It’s really different, because after the establishment of PRC, the CPC(Chinese Communist Party) enacted many laws to regulate Chinese society(like forbidding prostitution and drugs). So I’d like to say, the custom of Chinatown is more like that in Taiwan(a part of China which was ruled by KMT) rather than China mainland.
China vs China towns in U.S.A.. day & night, sky & earth difference...1 time, I ate a wonton needle soup in S.F China town & it tasted so bad & I complainted to the manager, sadly she said I did not know how to eat & enjoy Chinese foods... BS , myself born in Guangzhou China, also lived in Hong Kong many years. .. de Miami, Florida...
U cant possibly comparing china to chinatown in america. Even the food is much different, and the elderly in the park might be doing similliar stuff but the atmosphere is completely NOT the same.
The first time I have ever eaten Dimsum breakfast is in San Francisco when I had been studying there. I'm a third generation Myanmar-Chinese and our daily food is Yunnanese style cuisine. Our breakfast is pretty much like Vietnamese style breakfast Pho noodle with a little bit varietion ( for example, no bean sprouts ) Fun facts: Bruce Lee was born in San Francisco Chinatown's the Jackson Street Hospital on November 27, 1940 in the year of Dragon.
@@directxxxx71 I hope you know what it means. That's to me the best and deepest greeting on planet earth. By the way, I don't have a single drop of Myanmar blood in me but I know the country well.
@@hangtuah888 What's meant here is that this bitch, soft as she is in her own country, should unleash that patent "free world" bravado on the Chinese. Unfortunately for her, in reality, we would've thought that there's sum thing won with her attempt at Chinese, otherwise known as chiang chang americant. Yes, you may correct the intentional typo as you recite the above out loud lol
发菜（fa4cai4) grows in Qinghai and Inner Mongolia. It sounds like 发财（fa1cai2）in Cantonese, so it is very popular in Guangdong as a fortune gift for the Chinese New Year or opening of new business. However these “vegi-like” fungus is hard to get and harvesting them is extremely environment-damaging.
The harvest and sale of facai have been banned in China since 2000. Rich people with power and connections probably still get it for their private banquets, but you wouldn't see it elsewhere very much at all inside China.
Thank you for sharing another interesting trip of yours Katherine. Very few people have the spirit and strengths in different aspects as you to have travelled from east to the west in two big countries such as China and the U.S. Besides, as I watched I thought to myself, wait a minute, you are truly one of the so few in this world who is actually capable of teaching so many people, both in China and in the U.S., a lot. Really a lot, not only do you speak, read, and write better, clear, and accurate Chinese and English than many people in those two countries, you have accumulated so much knowledge and experiences than most people in those two countries about their own countries where they are borne and raised too! You can tell what are common or more authentic in those cultures and know much more about many different cultural aspects in those two countries too. You know and genuinely have experienced so much more than most people in those countries. Wonder if anyone recognized you in San Fran Chinatown due to your travelling? Again, thank you. You are a lucky star and people who know you in person are lucky too.
it's like pizzas in the US are different than pizzas in Italy. Tacos in the US are also different from tacos in Mexico. And the Vietnamese "pho" soup in the US is also different from the pho in Vietnam. I think this can be said of many immigrant cultures too, the foods and cuisines tend to change as they are migrated away from the origin countries.
I was in Vietnam last month and it was so difficult to find the traditional Banh Mi I was familiar with from the 90s. They all want to add different ingredients now.
Hi K, great overview of SF. Can you give an quick update of what's going on with your other half in China? We kinda miss his mug. Hopefully, he got his tooth fixed. Lol.
Thank you for doing such excellent work and promoting better understanding of the Chinese in the U.S. I am surprised that you never came across 髪菜 in China. It's one of many ingredients that go into Bhudda's Feast (羅漢齋). Chinatowns all over U.S. are fading or spreading out as Chinese immigrants' children grow up and move out to the suburbs. There's a Chinatown of sorts across the Bay in Richmond, and one down in San Jose (like Flushing is to Manhattan's Chinatown). Boston's Chinatown is shrinking but Chinese centers are springing up in Quincy (mainly Cantonese) and Lexington or Newton (Taiwanese and Mainlanders). Lion dancing is fading a little too, in quality if not quantity. It had been performed by those who practice martial arts. I did it back when I had a lot more hair on my head (and all of it was black). It's hard to get kids to put in that much work, not to mention enduting the pain. Keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing your future videos.
There are probably some immitation 髮菜, the real thing is apparently some endangered plant in the deserts of Northwestern China... I personally don't recall eating them in Hong Kong in recent years (I do recall the immitation variety, which tastes slightly different). Much more common when I was younger ~30 years ago.
@@sydneyfong A couple of decades ago, I was told that its was a moss that held desert sands together like plant roots conserve soil. Then people dug them up enmasse contributing to dust storms in northern China not to mention endangering the species. Like I said, I've been able to buy them in small quantities in recent years. I'll examine it and see if it's "imitation."
Thank you for the great video of SF Chinatown. I forwarded this video to the owner of the grocery store-like you visited and he was ecstatic. Thank you.
As a flight attendant I regularly visit San Francisco and China town is one place I go to almost every time. There is a Chinese cake shop where I can get traditional Chinese cakes and Hong Kong style cakes and they are quite authentic and delicious. The park in the video I’ve been to a few times before and one time was during Chinese New Year. As far as I know Chinese New Year celebration in San Francisco is one of the oldest & biggest in the whole of US. Great episode…
If I am not wrong, the early Chinese settlers in San Francisco came predominantly from Guangdong with a large majority from the county of Taishan. The Taishanese dialect is related to the Cantonese dialect and hence, it is not surprising the Chinese cuisine in SF has a Cantonese orientation. The more recent Chinese immigration are from places like Taiwan, Sichuan, etc and they bring other types of Chinese cuisine to the SF bay area. In particular with the influx of Chinese nationals studying in places like Stanford, UC Berkeley, etc, the SF bay area (aka Silicon Valley) is a great place to sample Chinese cuisine from all over China.
I suppose after the British took over Hong Kong, early adventurers from Toishan got there to lead ways from Toishanese to migrate around the world. 50 years ago, when I landed in US from SE Asia, I could use Toishanese in SF, NYC, and other US towns. Likewise, I could get my way around Toronto. On a Google search, I am surprised to learn that there are more Toishanese overseas than in the Toishan county in China.
2012 when 1st time to San Francisco, Oakland, all of them are cantonese and most of them not looks like Chinese. I don’t understand them and they are not happy , everyone has no smiles On the faces. Very different from Chinese in Beijing. Right now more and more Sichuan, northern China food in San Francisco Bay Area . Including hot pot , milk tea , which not existed in 2012
@@weizhang2834 There's boba milk tea next to Cisco in Milpitas at least by 2002. Even my Indian coworker drank it because Indians have the tradition of drinking milk tea (chai). But you may be right in that it's more common today in the bay area.
Someone once said (which I agree), China towns are like a slice of Chinese history with little change. But the China that it came from has changed very much resulting a strange mismatch.
Not 100% true though, even in the old school Chinatowns like the one in Manhattan there are plenty of modern style businesses like hot pot and bubble tea
Hi Katherine, I loved your video I'm from Philly but I lived and worked in China with my band many times for many years in 6 different cities. I love China, I sing in Chinese and, love the culture there please continue to make wonderful videos all the best to you God bless. Hope to see you someday around the world I'm in Dubai now but I'll travel later next year.
I go to China all the time, and luve in SF... no our China town or any Chinatown around the world feels like China. It feels like the back streets of Hong Kong.
The hair vegetable (Fa Cai) is very popular in southern China. I guess not so much in the north. Fa Cai has a similar pronunciation to 发财, which means making a fortune. Fa Cai is used in a dish 蚝豉发菜 (dried oyster with hair vegetable), which sounds like 好事发财 (good fortune). So, this dish is popular among southern Chinese families during Chinese New Year.
Surprisingly, though mostly enjoyed in South China, this vegetable (Nostoc flagelliforme) is a type of cyanobacteria growing in the Gobi Desert to the very far north. Problem is, this species can't be farmed efficiently, and its wild habitat is threatened (itself likely being the only vegetation of the habitats and if harvested, the whole place would become a desolate desert), so national laws now (since 2000) forbid harvesting of Nostoc flagelliforme from the North, and that's why it is now rarely seen in markets within China. Katherine could ask the shop owners in San Francisco about the source of their Nostoc flagelliforme to investigate, for the sake of our earth.
I'm a foreigner who's been living in China for six years (in the northeast and Beijing). I'd never heard of or seen this vegetable until now. lol I also learned recently that 年糕 is called that because it's eaten at Chinese New Year, but again, never saw it at New Year up here. haha China's such a hugely diverse place. I learn things every day.
Thanks a bundle for sharing more great content and experiences! And for leaving no Rosetta Stone unturned! Enjoyed the lion dances. They're very unique looking lions aren't they?
Fat Choy was pretty popular before especially for new year and vegetarian cuisine. I read china banned it in the market because harvesting them is very damaging to the environment. Personally I don’t think the food is that tasty in SF Chinatown in general but it depends on the restaurant. Unfortunately Chinatown was not created to spread culture. The Chinatowns we know today are really the consequence of the Chinese exclusion laws which created the conditions, between racism and the law itself, for segregated, isolated Chinatowns. Chinese were forced to stay inside these areas. It eventually becomes a safe haven to provide support for new immigrants after US lifted the exclusion act in 1965.
Are you willing to give up your life in America and go back to China? you are not willing! When the motherland is in trouble, your ancestors fled directly. You don’t know that the Chinese government has a special regulation for overseas Chinese from all countries in the world, and you can go through the naturalization procedures very simply, but you don’t know that
@@江润儿 I was not born in China. I don't even speak Chinese well. But Zhuhai would be a possibility if I want to retire in China. This is something to look into after the covid pandemic is over. Right now it is just not the best time to travel with all the virus and geopolitics. There are no free lunches in the US and there are a lot discrimination and bias here. I know many people still think the moon is bigger in the west. But it is not. My situation is different than most people. I can actually live either side without any issue except my health coverage is in the US.
I use to go to SF Chinatown all the time when I was living in the US back in 1989 to 2004. Most of the places you shown are familiar to me and still look the same. Some memory.
One of the quotes supposedly spoken by Mark Twain but it is not, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." In the summer, it can get pretty cold. I missed SFO and reminisced that I ate a whole large bowl of "rice soup" (porridge) at a Teochew Restaurant in Chinatown whilst my 2 colleagues could not finish one bowl. In the end, I also cleaned their bowl. SFO Chinatown like all Chinatown in the US has a sad history to its existence. It is more like a ghetto for the early Chinese immigrants.
It ws attacked during the period leading up to the introduction of the Chinese Exclusion Act 1882. Many Chinese were killed. To many outsiders and the westerners, it might be a ghetto but in reality it was a place of safe haven where strength is derived from being together and unity as well as numbers provided the needed protection from being abused and picked on.
Interesting that he was specific about the restaurant (Teochew) . An "Ang Mo" speaking the Teochew dialect ( 8 tones - likely the oldest and hardest to learn)... th-cam.com/video/5o0-g0ZCr9g/w-d-xo.html
@@LLL-hh5el Who cares what the others think as it was the first attack on the Chinese prior to the implementation of the Chinese Exclusion Act 1882. So sad as some lost their lives defending their rights.
Excellent work, Katherine! That's what I expect to watch. I am looking forwards to more CA videos. Are you going to explore LA, silicon valley or those reputable universities?
Having been to SF over the decades. CT in SF is unique. It's like going back 100 years to China, food wise. The food hadn't evolved whereas the whole Chinese community in the world, has. I even heard that there are old Chinese there who hadn't learnt English. Talk about living in the past. I have been to many cities in China too and live in HK.
This is the video I was really hoping you would make. Comparing China food with American "Chinese" food. Btw, really love those scenes of SF Chinatown. I've been to different parts of China and as you mentioned, the cuisine is so diverse. Still can't decide if I like the various types of dumplings in Xi-an or the hot pot soups up north in Harbin better. There were dishes I enjoyed in all the parts of China I've visited. Despite my love for the many types of food in China... I still have a guilty pleasure for American "Chinese" food. May not be fully authentic and (as you said) replicates only one region style of cooking in China. Yet, the dishes can still taste great if you pick the right restaurant. And I can never get tired of good old "orange chicken" and "chow fun noodles" with a fun "fortune cookie" every now and then. 😊
Interesting comparison - and crazy prices for food there! The Chinese food in Sydney's Chinatown is a bit closer to the real thing, possibly because there are huge numbers of Chinese students here and recent migrants who expect the same as in China.
Is my understanding of the lingua franca deteriorating? How come so many people are eating fake Chinese food? Is fake Chinese food like the virus, very infectious? Maybe one should use a mask when eating it.
The fa cai is actually cooked with vegies for chinese new year. I think it is said to signify prosperity or something. After cooked it is something like strips of rice noodles but black. I think it is more of a hong kong thing.
The fat choy (lit hair vegetable) isn't a vegetable as such, but a kind of bacteria! Although it comes from the north Qinghai/Gobi desert it is more common in southern Chinese vegetarian cuisine!
When I first time visited NYC Chinatown in early 90s, I thought people there stayed in "民国" (40-50s) time. A few years later I realized that my brain about China stayed in the late 80s. Thanks to the internet as well as the people like you and your reports, now we know the China and the world well.
Thank you for having this in-depth comparison, especially the "real" Chinese food with what we call them Chinese food everyday in Chinatown. Still catching up your previous videos, they are very enjoyable. 👍
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8:17 I like the color of your nail polish.💅
The earliest Chinese to settle in San Francisco were mostly Cantonese and Fujian people since the Gold Rush period. This is why the Chinese call it the Old Golden Mountain. The culture there more related to Caton.
发菜采摘会影响土地环境，现在中国国内已经禁止采摘和买卖了。
I actually used Rosetta Stone during the pandemic and it is great! I will return to it when I have more time, which is a great reason to get the lifetime option. You start speaking from the very first day, and the software can analyze your pronunciation.
🇺🇸 wei..... do you even remember him? Has he moved on ? Did you bike to SF from east coast?
Nice to see you again sis, God bless your journey.
It's not only that the subject is interesting, but both the voice over and editing is so well made. Must be a lot of hard work going in to making such great videos.
I know, right! I am from China and I majored in English, and I saw the subs where it translated 'a trade-off' to '各有各的好‘, I was laughing out loud. that's some seriously good, funny, and pinpoint translation! and you just get the sense of how good quality these vids are!
First time here. That Black Hair is used in Chinese New Year dishes as well as in vegetarian Lo Han Chai.
Ouch! $42 for basically appetizers and soup! If you order main dishes (usually run $18 to over $20 now), it would cost close to $100 for two (not including tips).
Awesome video! Didn't know you loved in Chengdu which is my hometown. Now living in New Zealand.
That little purple lion is adorable. They actually remind me more of my Shih Tzus then actual lions 😜
I agreed with you about the food thing. If you go to bangkok, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore you can order same name of dish but you will get different taste and style. Food fusions.
Many San Francisco Chinatown residents are the proud carriers of the values, wisdom, tradition and way of life from South China. They are also proud Americans.
Your eyes are so blue and beautiful! I love them!!!
Hi Katherine. Excellent video. Greetings from San Francisco. ❤
Eliza is so adorable:)
Hi Kat I am Chinese and my wife look just like you and she also speaks perfect manderine.
Have been there in 1988, before you are born 😁. I didn't see the park though. Must eat sour dough there, right humidity and temperature
This Rosetta stone pitch makes my head hurt. I have been trying to learn French and my head hurts each time. Lol
Always love your videos!
You also should keep in mind that San Francisco Chinatown have a long history of people predominantly from Taishan 台山 and other nearby village/10th tier cities within 江门, Canton, China and most of what you see are derived from these villages/cities.
China was the first in the Qing Dynasty to take the Cantonese to San Francisco by ship to build a railway.
From love you to like your video to familar English language,thanks to my senior English teacther,I can use English here.
我很喜欢看阳离子东游记，很重要的原因是她的节目很合我的口味。我出门旅游也喜欢到处转转，信吗意义，吃吃当地的食物，和当地人聊聊天，能开玩笑的开开玩笑，能感受气氛的感受气氛，甚至情绪，也就是说，感受和体会别样的生活。除了这些，看她拍到的各种画面及细节，也能有很多收获，当然，这里边不少也是catherine的精心挑选和准备，希望她的启发和笑话我们都没有错过。
我特意写在这里给你看的。我自己也过着和绝大多数人不同的生活，也设想过有朋友来带他们体验一下我的生活，我觉得很有意思。但是很难，因为别人都有自己的计划，其中不少是去景点打卡。所以我看到你这种到处逛逛式的旅游很喜欢。
Fa Cai is used in Stewed Vegetables or Soups, Eaten During Chinese New Year,
Basically because of its Name , Sounds like you will get Rich after eating it .
will I meet you at Chinatown in LA? :P
I haven't been to SF Chinatown in perhaps 10 years. It seem to have become much more lively than I remember.
美国的唐人街像我小时候的城市街景，有点怀念
I heard a lot of Western folks complain about how Chinese food is "greasy, oily and unhealthy", remember Chinese food is mostly pretty healthy, with balanced meat and veggie. The food is tuned for the local taste.
Southern Chinese settled in North America and established businesses in Chinatown. That is why some things you see in northern China: Beijing Shanghai Nanjing Chengdu may not looks so familiar.
The mean difference is that Mainland China is now way more technically advanced than S.F. these days.
Thank you
Oh, I finally know what's fortunate cookie is called in Chinese, thanks to the subtitles
And the prices are pretty cheap in usa standard especially its SFO
I have been to Chinatown in Thailand, Malaysia and Japan. Chinese food in Chinatown will combine local tastes, so I never eat Chinese food abroad. I come from Chongqing, China.
好棒！
Hi Katherine , when are you heading back to China ?
I just got back, but I am very behind on editing so no china videos coming until December probably 🤣
the chinese food outside china are very different as in china.
i am from hongkong. the thai food here are not the same in thailand.
It looks more like Hong Kong Town than Chinatown to me. To foreigners, Chinese look all the same to them regardless if they are from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau or other countries. But this definitely feels like Hong Kong. From the elderly people singing Cantonese songs to the the lion dance, it all resembles Hong Hong. I suggest u go to Hong Hong and see what it is like.
Hong Kong today is too "new" to look like this. SF Chinatown feels like Hong Kong from the 1980s....
Lion dancing is practiced in Southern China, Guangzhou Province. So it is natural it is in San Francisco
guess the grandma was saying "你曉得嗎?(u know what i mean?/u know what's that?)'' at 10:00. it sounds like cantonese but in yangjiang accent😁
American Chinese food is cared up with sauces and flour
Carbed
From personal experience, most chinatowns feel like streets in HongKong or Macau, nothing like towns of China mainland. Actually those chinatowns are established by HongKong & southeast Chinese origin immigrants many years ago.
hair vegetable isnow very rare.great thing
Fujian immigrants came to the US at a much later time than the Cantonese. Also the term Hokkien usually refers to the language/dialect spoken by the people of southern Fujian (Minnan), at least that's the case in Southeast Asia, where this particular usage of Hokkien originated. However, in the US, the Fujian immigrants predominantly came from the area surrounding the city of Fuzhou, which is in the northeast of the province. To most people, the dialects of southern Fujian and Fuzhou are mutually unintelligible.
Putian dialect ( between Quanzhou and Fuzhou ) ... th-cam.com/video/ffYx1cyHtIo/w-d-xo.html
U should visit Richmond, BC. It’s the most Chinese city outside China
i would say it is a typical chinatown, just like in new york and london etc. love from canada.
I am more familiar with the hot and sour soup, and scallion pancakes like China's in Chicago and New York. Also lion dance on New Year's or at exhibitions, not year round.
Okay, hi Eliza😂😂
Please sing California Dreamin in Chinese
Like Eliza’s smile and laugh
点赞👍
好看的视频，祝你们玩的开心 and 频道越多越好。small tip1: 与其说Chinatown 倒不如说 town of southeast of China. 最早移民到美国加拿大的华人多是中国东南沿海地区（广东/福建）的人, 所以导致带过去自己的文化习俗。现在越来越多的内地中国人移民到北美，说的都是普通话（Mandarin)，同时也带去自己的文化习俗。不得不说海外的Chinatown不能代表整个中国。😀
in the 90s and before when i was l SG, one can really get a very authentic catonese foods in SF and even had cinemas with catonese movies from Hong Kong. However, as the older generation is slowly gone, the Chinese food is becoming Americanized.... SF Chinatonw's culture representing the old cantonese culture. BTW, canton is the old name for Guangzhou which has quite different culture from other parts of China.
原来华人街很多人不会说普通话，谢谢分享，学习到了
If you want to try authentic Chinese food, go to Ala Shanghai, Ping’s Bistro in Bay Area.
Chinatown is a good introduction of Chinese culture to the west.
And a source of good Chinese food. 🎉
Nowadays , the immigrants are more China Chinese….last time it was more HK , Taiwan, South East Asia Chinese.
As a Chinese, what I hate most is the lion dance. That is not China today, it is the history of humiliation in the colonial era.
接广告了👍
be safe
Most Chinatowns were built by Chinese from Canton (Guangdong).
Actually, Chinatown residents were migrants from past hundreds of years, during which period, China was in Qing dynasty or RC(ruled by KMT), however, Modern China is based on PRC(from 1949). It’s really different, because after the establishment of PRC, the CPC(Chinese Communist Party) enacted many laws to regulate Chinese society(like forbidding prostitution and drugs). So I’d like to say, the custom of Chinatown is more like that in Taiwan(a part of China which was ruled by KMT) rather than China mainland.
What’s the Chinatown like in Sterling, VA?
China vs China towns in U.S.A.. day & night, sky & earth difference...1 time, I ate a wonton needle soup in S.F China town & it tasted so bad & I complainted to the manager,
sadly she said I did not know how to eat & enjoy Chinese foods... BS , myself born in Guangzhou China, also lived in Hong Kong many years. .. de Miami, Florida...
You two split?🤔🤔
👍👍👍
As a third-generation Chinese immigrating from Taishan, Guangdong, Chinatown is more about history but is completely different from China
have we ever met in tinder？
U cant possibly comparing china to chinatown in america. Even the food is much different, and the elderly in the park might be doing similliar stuff but the atmosphere is completely NOT the same.
Chinatown basically like 1970-80 China
The first time I have ever eaten Dimsum breakfast is in San Francisco when I had been studying there. I'm a third generation Myanmar-Chinese and our daily food is Yunnanese style cuisine. Our breakfast is pretty much like Vietnamese style breakfast Pho noodle with a little bit varietion ( for example, no bean sprouts )
Fun facts: Bruce Lee was born in San Francisco Chinatown's the Jackson Street Hospital on November 27, 1940 in the year of Dragon.
မင်ဂလာပါ. If you cannot read it, ask your father
@@stchan8569 မင်္ဂလာပါ
@@directxxxx71 I hope you know what it means. That's to me the best and deepest greeting on planet earth. By the way, I don't have a single drop of Myanmar blood in me but I know the country well.
Bruce Lee was born in Seattle not San Francisco
@@sallyho146 Chinese Hospital will disagree with you.
Bless you for sneaking in a lovely China-related video while in the US. A slight pity you couldn’t unleash your mastery of Chinese on the locals! :D
Cantonese land in most of China towns from San Diego to Vancouver.
Unleash her Mandarin? Is Mandarin a weapon of mass communication or destruction? Pray tell.
@@EuroTravChannel 666
@@EuroTravChannel 大声告诉你，唯有自我殖民的人士才对外语有独特的单相思。对了，您的价值观下，您的口音不会还是”刚下船”的水平吧？
@@hangtuah888 What's meant here is that this bitch, soft as she is in her own country, should unleash that patent "free world" bravado on the Chinese. Unfortunately for her, in reality, we would've thought that there's sum thing won with her attempt at Chinese, otherwise known as chiang chang americant. Yes, you may correct the intentional typo as you recite the above out loud lol
If you enjoyed this video, raise your hand to show Katherine 😺ion your undying support 🙋🏻♂️✋👍
Thanks🌸
@@kats_journey_east you're welcome 👍
🙂✋🙂
@Elsa 油管有房属于是😂住这儿的
Rise hand bro you're everywhere omg😂😂
发菜（fa4cai4) grows in Qinghai and Inner Mongolia. It sounds like 发财（fa1cai2）in Cantonese, so it is very popular in Guangdong as a fortune gift for the Chinese New Year or opening of new business. However these “vegi-like” fungus is hard to get and harvesting them is extremely environment-damaging.
The harvest and sale of facai have been banned in China since 2000. Rich people with power and connections probably still get it for their private banquets, but you wouldn't see it elsewhere very much at all inside China.
对对对，反正广东人都知道发菜
@@merdufer banned, huh, makes sense I guess. for the environment.
@@merdufer Thanks for the info. So how do the merchants here get their supplies. Are they imitations or contraband?
I'm in the US and I can find it at my local asian supermarkets. had no idea it was that hard to get
Thank you for sharing another interesting trip of yours Katherine. Very few people have the spirit and strengths in different aspects as you to have travelled from east to the west in two big countries such as China and the U.S. Besides, as I watched I thought to myself, wait a minute, you are truly one of the so few in this world who is actually capable of teaching so many people, both in China and in the U.S., a lot. Really a lot, not only do you speak, read, and write better, clear, and accurate Chinese and English than many people in those two countries, you have accumulated so much knowledge and experiences than most people in those two countries about their own countries where they are borne and raised too! You can tell what are common or more authentic in those cultures and know much more about many different cultural aspects in those two countries too. You know and genuinely have experienced so much more than most people in those countries. Wonder if anyone recognized you in San Fran Chinatown due to your travelling?
Again, thank you. You are a lucky star and people who know you in person are lucky too.
it's like pizzas in the US are different than pizzas in Italy. Tacos in the US are also different from tacos in Mexico. And the Vietnamese "pho" soup in the US is also different from the pho in Vietnam. I think this can be said of many immigrant cultures too, the foods and cuisines tend to change as they are migrated away from the origin countries.
I was in Vietnam last month and it was so difficult to find the traditional Banh Mi I was familiar with from the 90s. They all want to add different ingredients now.
Hi K, great overview of SF. Can you give an quick update of what's going on with your other half in China? We kinda miss his mug. Hopefully, he got his tooth fixed. Lol.
Beautiful China ❤️🇨🇳.
China such a peaceful nation+ No.1 in helping nation in every field.
China is the future 💪💝
Thank you for doing such excellent work and promoting better understanding of the Chinese in the U.S. I am surprised that you never came across 髪菜 in China. It's one of many ingredients that go into Bhudda's Feast (羅漢齋). Chinatowns all over U.S. are fading or spreading out as Chinese immigrants' children grow up and move out to the suburbs. There's a Chinatown of sorts across the Bay in Richmond, and one down in San Jose (like Flushing is to Manhattan's Chinatown). Boston's Chinatown is shrinking but Chinese centers are springing up in Quincy (mainly Cantonese) and Lexington or Newton (Taiwanese and Mainlanders). Lion dancing is fading a little too, in quality if not quantity. It had been performed by those who practice martial arts. I did it back when I had a lot more hair on my head (and all of it was black). It's hard to get kids to put in that much work, not to mention enduting the pain. Keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing your future videos.
发菜以前小时候在广东一般过年过节才做，在广东以外的省份我甚至也没有见过。最近十几年年因为环境保护的关系已经把发菜列入一级保护植物。
@@achiwong4020 I heard about the protected status but I've been able to buy them in recent years.
There are probably some immitation 髮菜, the real thing is apparently some endangered plant in the deserts of Northwestern China...
I personally don't recall eating them in Hong Kong in recent years (I do recall the immitation variety, which tastes slightly different). Much more common when I was younger ~30 years ago.
@@sydneyfong A couple of decades ago, I was told that its was a moss that held desert sands together like plant roots conserve soil. Then people dug them up enmasse contributing to dust storms in northern China not to mention endangering the species. Like I said, I've been able to buy them in small quantities in recent years. I'll examine it and see if it's "imitation."
@@ernestwoo8243 现在市面上能见到都是人工在海里养殖的海发菜。以前看到那些都是沙漠里采摘的。
Thank you for the great video of SF Chinatown. I forwarded this video to the owner of the grocery store-like you visited and he was ecstatic. Thank you.
As a flight attendant I regularly visit San Francisco and China town is one place I go to almost every time. There is a Chinese cake shop where I can get traditional Chinese cakes and Hong Kong style cakes and they are quite authentic and delicious. The park in the video I’ve been to a few times before and one time was during Chinese New Year. As far as I know Chinese New Year celebration in San Francisco is one of the oldest & biggest in the whole of US. Great episode…
If I am not wrong, the early Chinese settlers in San Francisco came predominantly from Guangdong with a large majority from the county of Taishan. The Taishanese dialect is related to the Cantonese dialect and hence, it is not surprising the Chinese cuisine in SF has a Cantonese orientation. The more recent Chinese immigration are from places like Taiwan, Sichuan, etc and they bring other types of Chinese cuisine to the SF bay area. In particular with the influx of Chinese nationals studying in places like Stanford, UC Berkeley, etc, the SF bay area (aka Silicon Valley) is a great place to sample Chinese cuisine from all over China.
I suppose after the British took over Hong Kong, early adventurers from Toishan got there to lead ways from Toishanese to migrate around the world. 50 years ago, when I landed in US from SE Asia, I could use Toishanese in SF, NYC, and other US towns. Likewise, I could get my way around Toronto. On a Google search, I am surprised to learn that there are more Toishanese overseas than in the Toishan county in China.
2012 when 1st time to San Francisco, Oakland, all of them are cantonese and most of them not looks like Chinese. I don’t understand them and they are not happy , everyone has no smiles On the faces. Very different from Chinese in Beijing. Right now more and more Sichuan, northern China food in San Francisco Bay Area . Including hot pot , milk tea , which not existed in 2012
You are correct.
@@weizhang2834 There's boba milk tea next to Cisco in Milpitas at least by 2002. Even my Indian coworker drank it because Indians have the tradition of drinking milk tea (chai). But you may be right in that it's more common today in the bay area.
Taishanese here 😊
Someone once said (which I agree), China towns are like a slice of Chinese history with little change. But the China that it came from has changed very much resulting a strange mismatch.
Looks like style of china deep south. Quite different to mainstream of China culture.
Not 100% true though, even in the old school Chinatowns like the one in Manhattan there are plenty of modern style businesses like hot pot and bubble tea
Also, you would have to pay 15% additional service charge/tip for eating at restaurant at US.
Hi Katherine, I loved your video I'm from Philly but I lived and worked in China with my band many times for many years in 6 different cities. I love China, I sing in Chinese and, love the culture there please continue to make wonderful videos all the best to you God bless. Hope to see you someday around the world I'm in Dubai now but I'll travel later next year.
there is a Chinatown in Philly, Race Street and surrounding areas. i had a summer and part-time job there when i was in school long ago.
@@willengel2458 Yes there is one there but not so big and very different . Did you enjoy your time working there?
@@remixnation6272 i got the job through a friend i met in the Bahamas. Bahamas was my third home. of course, i enjoyed my time in Philly. 😁😁
@@willengel2458 Sounds great!! all the best to you take care thanks for your message.
Hope your audience understood your singing, mine cleared off. Since then I am hired by entities who want any crowded places cleared.
I go to China all the time, and luve in SF... no our China town or any Chinatown around the world feels like China. It feels like the back streets of Hong Kong.
很客观公正的介绍，喜欢这样的有内涵的介绍
The hair vegetable (Fa Cai) is very popular in southern China. I guess not so much in the north. Fa Cai has a similar pronunciation to 发财, which means making a fortune. Fa Cai is used in a dish 蚝豉发菜 (dried oyster with hair vegetable), which sounds like 好事发财 (good fortune). So, this dish is popular among southern Chinese families during Chinese New Year.
Surprisingly, though mostly enjoyed in South China, this vegetable (Nostoc flagelliforme) is a type of cyanobacteria growing in the Gobi Desert to the very far north. Problem is, this species can't be farmed efficiently, and its wild habitat is threatened (itself likely being the only vegetation of the habitats and if harvested, the whole place would become a desolate desert), so national laws now (since 2000) forbid harvesting of Nostoc flagelliforme from the North, and that's why it is now rarely seen in markets within China. Katherine could ask the shop owners in San Francisco about the source of their Nostoc flagelliforme to investigate, for the sake of our earth.
I'm a foreigner who's been living in China for six years (in the northeast and Beijing). I'd never heard of or seen this vegetable until now. lol I also learned recently that 年糕 is called that because it's eaten at Chinese New Year, but again, never saw it at New Year up here. haha China's such a hugely diverse place. I learn things every day.
It's illegal to eat in China already. It used to be one of my favor dish when I was a kid.
Not that popular anymore as it was forbidden and illegal to eat.
Thanks a bundle for sharing more great content and experiences! And for leaving no Rosetta Stone unturned!
Enjoyed the lion dances. They're very unique looking lions aren't they?
It could be worse, Sydney had 5 lions escaped from the zoo, and they could have ended up in the San Francisco Chinatown.
@@hangtuah888, the High Five have already booked their flights.
@@yinhoukhor7109 I hope they have the green code to enter San Francisco Chinatown.😂😂😂
Fat Choy was pretty popular before especially for new year and vegetarian cuisine. I read china banned it in the market because harvesting them is very damaging to the environment. Personally I don’t think the food is that tasty in SF Chinatown in general but it depends on the restaurant. Unfortunately Chinatown was not created to spread culture.
The Chinatowns we know today are really the consequence of the Chinese exclusion laws which created the conditions, between racism and the law itself, for segregated, isolated Chinatowns. Chinese were forced to stay inside these areas. It eventually becomes a safe haven to provide support for new immigrants after US lifted the exclusion act in 1965.
Are you willing to give up your life in America and go back to China? you are not willing! When the motherland is in trouble, your ancestors fled directly. You don’t know that the Chinese government has a special regulation for overseas Chinese from all countries in the world, and you can go through the naturalization procedures very simply, but you don’t know that
@@江润儿 I was not born in China. I don't even speak Chinese well. But Zhuhai would be a possibility if I want to retire in China. This is something to look into after the covid pandemic is over. Right now it is just not the best time to travel with all the virus and geopolitics.
There are no free lunches in the US and there are a lot discrimination and bias here. I know many people still think the moon is bigger in the west. But it is not. My situation is different than most people. I can actually live either side without any issue except my health coverage is in the US.
Best Wishes from Queensland Katherine. Love your vids-Go safe.
I use to go to SF Chinatown all the time when I was living in the US back in 1989 to 2004. Most of the places you shown are familiar to me and still look the same. Some memory.
Always interesting to see someone check out how "authentic" those towns are.
One of the quotes supposedly spoken by Mark Twain but it is not, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." In the summer, it can get pretty cold. I missed SFO and reminisced that I ate a whole large bowl of "rice soup" (porridge) at a Teochew Restaurant in Chinatown whilst my 2 colleagues could not finish one bowl. In the end, I also cleaned their bowl. SFO Chinatown like all Chinatown in the US has a sad history to its existence. It is more like a ghetto for the early Chinese immigrants.
It ws attacked during the period leading up to the introduction of the Chinese Exclusion Act 1882. Many Chinese were killed. To many outsiders and the westerners, it might be a ghetto but in reality it was a place of safe haven where strength is derived from being together and unity as well as numbers provided the needed protection from being abused and picked on.
Interesting that he was specific about the restaurant (Teochew) . An "Ang Mo" speaking the Teochew dialect ( 8 tones - likely the oldest and hardest to learn)... th-cam.com/video/5o0-g0ZCr9g/w-d-xo.html
@@LLL-hh5el Who cares what the others think as it was the first attack on the Chinese prior to the implementation of the Chinese Exclusion Act 1882. So sad as some lost their lives defending their rights.
Excellent work, Katherine! That's what I expect to watch. I am looking forwards to more CA videos. Are you going to explore LA, silicon valley or those reputable universities?
Having been to SF over the decades. CT in SF is unique. It's like going back 100 years to China, food wise. The food hadn't evolved whereas the whole Chinese community in the world, has. I even heard that there are old Chinese there who hadn't learnt English. Talk about living in the past. I have been to many cities in China too and live in HK.
谁说的几十年中国食物没变？河北的安徽板面，新疆的大盘鸡。东北麻辣烫！改革开放几十年人口流动其实各地菜系发生很大变化了！当然汉堡和披萨在西方国家通用的快餐在中国还是小吃！🤔
上面的comment, 就是說中國國內的食物都有改變，反而在美國唐人街的食物，一路都沒有甚麼改變。
@@freefree1219 国内最流行的还是川湘菜！都打到粤菜和苏菜老家了！把本地口味都改变了！北方情况稍微好点！在国外粤菜能流行，在国内就是不行。自己不行还不改变，天天吐槽川菜不健康，但是自己吃的比谁都得劲！无语！我是北方人！那么多年从没见过一个粤菜馆。广东人迷的自信真他妈受不了！快手抖音粤菜吹很多，但是平常就看不到粤菜！
This is the video I was really hoping you would make. Comparing China food with American "Chinese" food. Btw, really love those scenes of SF Chinatown. I've been to different parts of China and as you mentioned, the cuisine is so diverse. Still can't decide if I like the various types of dumplings in Xi-an or the hot pot soups up north in Harbin better. There were dishes I enjoyed in all the parts of China I've visited.
Despite my love for the many types of food in China... I still have a guilty pleasure for American "Chinese" food. May not be fully authentic and (as you said) replicates only one region style of cooking in China. Yet, the dishes can still taste great if you pick the right restaurant. And I can never get tired of good old "orange chicken" and "chow fun noodles" with a fun "fortune cookie" every now and then. 😊
What about orange duck aka the Donald? He still thinks he won the election.😂😂😂
@@hangtuah888 Took me a little while to catch your meaning... but yeah kind of funny! 😄
Interesting comparison - and crazy prices for food there! The Chinese food in Sydney's Chinatown is a bit closer to the real thing, possibly because there are huge numbers of Chinese students here and recent migrants who expect the same as in China.
Is my understanding of the lingua franca deteriorating? How come so many people are eating fake Chinese food? Is fake Chinese food like the virus, very infectious? Maybe one should use a mask when eating it.
The fa cai is actually cooked with vegies for chinese new year. I think it is said to signify prosperity or something.
After cooked it is something like strips of rice noodles but black.
I think it is more of a hong kong thing.
The fat choy (lit hair vegetable) isn't a vegetable as such, but a kind of bacteria! Although it comes from the north Qinghai/Gobi desert it is more common in southern Chinese vegetarian cuisine!
fungus
In Guangzhou whenever a shop is opened there is a lion dance. Or you can go to Foshan and near the IP man area they have very impressive daily shows
When I first time visited NYC Chinatown in early 90s, I thought people there stayed in "民国" (40-50s) time. A few years later I realized that my brain about China stayed in the late 80s. Thanks to the internet as well as the people like you and your reports, now we know the China and the world well.
Love your channel. Great content. Keep up the good work. Thank you!
Great program. but If you have not lived in China's countryside (rural area) for some years, you cannot say you know China.
中国是个多元的国家，光靠农村也并不能真正了解中国，还是要多走多看，然后再选择一个地方长期呆着才行.虽然农村的确占了中国文化的绝大部分.
Super interesting to see how you found the sounds and activities of the people in the parks to be most similar to China! Keeping the culture alive
Thank you for having this in-depth comparison, especially the "real" Chinese food with what we call them Chinese food everyday in Chinatown. Still catching up your previous videos, they are very enjoyable. 👍
Have you been eating fake Chinese food?😂😂😂
@@hangtuah888 Most Chinese food in the US is Chinese-American food. So I wouldn’t call it “fake” entirely.