Sampan Congee

In this episode, Linxi Chan, who's originally from Jiangsu Province but spent four years in Guangzhou in Sun Ye-Sen University. He feels sad to hear about the possible reduction in Cantonese broadcasting. A dialect is an unalienable part of a folk culture. Linxi believes that only by understanding Cantonese, can one get to see the true color of Guangzhou, which is unique and irreplacable. He also worries that his own dialect might be confronted with the same crisis because it has a much smaller population of speakers in the country, comparing to Cantonese.

In this Episode, Xiaoyi Fan, as a native Cantonese speaker talked about her reaction to the proposal. She loves the dialect and pointed out the value of keeping Cantonese broadcasting. By citing Hong Kong as an example, Xiaoyi believes that standardizing a language is apparently unnecessary. If Hong Kong can establish its international profile with Cantonese, so can Guanghzou. She wishes to protect the language so as to protect the local culture.

What is Sampan Congee? It is easy to tell that it is a kind of congees. But what is sampan? What does it have to do with congee? What are the ingredients for this typical Cantonese congee? How does it taste? Last but not least, what does it represent? Why am I naming my first English blog after it? According to Wikipedia, “a sampan is a relatively flat bottomed Chinese wooden boat from 3.5 to 4.5 m (11.5 to 14.8 ft) long.” It is called shān bǎn in Chinese and written as 舢舨 . “The word comes from the original Cantonese term for boats, literally meaning “three planks”.” However, the characters have been changed as modern Chinese language evolved. Sampans are generally used for fishing or transportation, in coastal areas or rivers. Some of them include a small shelter on board and can be used as a permanent habitation on inland waters. Now you might be able to reason what Sampan Congee means. Yes, it is a kind of congee cook on a sampan. It is also known as its Cantonese pronunci