Chinese New Year in Germany

Hi, I haven't been in Germany long and was wondering whether anyone knew if anywhere celebrated Chinese New Year? Its on January 29th this year which is this weekend. I must admit, I haven't been able to locate any chinatowns in German cities, apart from a sparse gathering of restaurants and shops in Frankfurt. Anyone know of a Chinatown? Will be most likely place where some celebration is going on this weekend.

In return, check out this link on Chinese Horoscopes, its pretty accurate! (BTW, I'm a Dragon)

Cheers, Billy

http://chinese.astrology.com/

wow that's spooky ...my wife's a right dragon too ...and she is a completely different star sign

Far as I know, there arent any Chinatowns in Germany. The nearest one is probably London!

Berlin is currently planning a Chinatown in Charlottenburg. There are already a number of Chinese retaurants in the planned area.

Thanks for your replies. Berlin sounds an interesting option, haven't been there and a lot of people are advising me to visit it. I heard that the main Chinese community is in Düsseldorf. Is there anyone in Düsseldorf who can confirm perhaps??

Don't say that to a person who comes from Düsseldorf! It has the highest Japanese community, that's why the Chinese don't go there! The Chinese visit Cologne!

OK Bombi, so I'm learning...is there anyone in Cologne on the board who can confirm perhaps? 1 in 4 people are statistically Chinese, but I've no idea where they are hidden in Germany! Or am I really in the minute minority over here? (perhaps that's why people keep looking at me?)

Zu den jüngeren und stark wachsenden Ausländergruppen zählen vor allem die 77.000 Chinesen. 63,4 % leben seit weniger als 4 Jahren hier. Immer wieder kehrende Zeitungsmeldungen - so "Schleuser pferchen 20 Chinesen in Kleinbus" am 22. Mai 2004 - lassen eine hohe Zahl von illegal hier lebenden und arbeitenden Chinesen vermuten. Die meisten sind jedoch auf legalem Wege, als Studierende oder auch Spezialitätenköche nach Deutschland gekommen. Die ersten 5.000 Köche aus Taiwan sind schon Mitte der 1960er-Jahre angeworben worden. Mit 9.109 Student/innen stellen Chinesen mittlerweile die drittgrößte Gruppe ausländischer Studierender in Deutschland. Chinesische Migranten sind mehrheitlich im Alter zwischen 18 und 35 Jahren und bleiben nur relativ kurz. Regionale Schwerpunkte bilden Nordrhein-Westfalen (11.123), Baden-Württemberg (10.084), Bayern (9.000) und Hessen (6.139). Vergleichsweise viele leben auch in Sachsen (3.486). Im Einzelnen dominieren das Ruhrgebiet mit der Rheinschiene zwischen Düsseldorf und Bonn sowie die Region zwischen Frankfurt/Main und Stuttgart als bevorzugter Wohnort. Ein Großteil der Chinesen lebt in Städten. Große Communities haben sich vor allem in Berlin (5.355) und Hamburg (3.122), aber auch in Stuttgart (1.956), Frankfurt/Main (1.747) und Dortmund (1.796) gebildet.

And try this. I can read any Chinese (Mandarin?) so don't know how useful the site is...

http://www.minichina.de/

Thanks Telford. I don't speak German yet, but am I correct in figuring out that its the last sentence thats important? Based upon the relative size of city and number of chinese there, Stuttgart looks most promising given I think Stuttgart is smaller than Frankfurt, but more concentration of Chinese? This would be great as Stutters is only 45 mins from Heidelberg! I may go exploring...

Thanks, Billy

copied the german text and translated for free from here

http://www.freetranslation.com/


not perfect, but one gets the jist.

That must be terrible for them ...could we have less of the height-ist remarks about the vertically challenged please ..absolutely shocking

LOL!java script:emoticon(':P', 'smid_7')

Given that there are well over 1,2 Billion Chinese now (or am I confusing India), its strange that there are only a few thousand in Germany.

That will change in the years to come though, the Chinese are coming!

Reminds me of that Monty Python cartoon sketch about the perils of being overrun by "International Communism"! They might yet even in 20-30 years or so become the biggest ethnic minority group in many western countries...

Still as long as we get some *real* Chinese food instead of watered-down entschärfte "China-Pfanne" dishes at the local Asia-Imbiss Im not bothered!

Thank you both for enlightening me. In my case, yes, the text translation is completely correct. I am short, and interestingly I am the tallest in my family of 10! No joke, but when the whole family goes out to dinner (which if you know Chinese families, this is a common occurence), 4 of the family have their legs dangling from the seats unable to reach the floor. I often have problems climbing onto bar stools (never any problems falling off...) but the view of the world is so much more interesting from down here you know.

No decent Chinese restaurants/food in Heidelberg, I have to go to Frankfurt for some Dim Sum, which I found near the train station.

Billy

Billy they mean "short stay in germany" and nothing about your height!

oh dear, some people

and Billy, what do you suggest I order next time by the chinkie?

I must check it out. Thats one thing I miss from Londons Chinatown - Dim Sum. Here in G I tend to buy my own deepfrozen and steam it at home.

Number 69 of course...(half rice, half chips...you can see I come from up north)

Depends on your taste, and whether you want the "real" stuff, or "western" stuff. There's a difference even in UK. For example, there is no such thing as Sweet and Sour in China, in the same way that there is no such thing as Onion Bahji in India.

Tell me which and I can help further...

Billy

@ Rick_de; Yep, there are several restuarants I found opposite the main station in Frankfurt, just before you get into the red-light district! The one I went into was upstairs on the corner, think it had a red banner. It had all the usual dim sum suspects that you would expect in a London or Manchester Chinatown establishment, and it isn't the frozen stuff. Also more Chinese dishes like Deuw Pie Tow Mein or Hor Fun, and Ho Yow Gai Lang, and Steamed Sea Bass (just like my mother used to make). The place was very ornate inside, and I thought it would be very costly, but it turned out to be quite reasonable really - probably because of the competition straight outside. Plan to go back sometime. They also spoke cantonese so it was nice to order something that I could understand and have a chat about stuff!
Am also a bit ambitious, and am planning to make my own Sui Mai, and my wicked Spare Rib Sauce, both which can be frozen. If you ever visit Heidelberg, then drop in! Hope I can find all the bits over here!

Billy

I have a so-called master-sauce for chilli-pork spare ribs (a recipe from western china) , I made it
15 years ago and everytime you use it more ingredients are added, the ribs are cooked in the sauce
and it is re-frozen afterwards. The flavour of the sauce gets better and better every year, I've read that
in china they have master-sauces which are over 100 years old ...I bet they are good ...just talking
about it makes want to go and buy some ribs tonight

Nice! I don't have any sauces that old, they don't tend to last very long around the house once the smell of Roasting Ribs starts infusing around the neighbourhood. Used to make the sauce in batches and store them in Cart D'Or ice cream tubs in the freezer, but somehow they always go missing when friends visit! I'm getting that cookin' feeling...sounds like this weekend's project.

Come on then chaps, publish those spare rib sauce recipes, right here right now

Not to mention Chicken Tikka Masala!!
java script:emoticon(':rolleyes:', 'smid_17')

thanks for the tips and the invite! Im especially partial to shrimp Shau Mai, being a veggie, more or less. As for wicked sauces, my fav barbecue sauce has to be Hoi Sin - what do you think of that?

By the way, a supplementary question.. Ive been thinking of learning chinese, which would you recommend for us europeans, ie cantonese or mandarin. Isnt mandarin the one spoken by most of the population in China, cantonese only found in Hong Kong and some other places?? Which is easier? (if you can call it easy - dont think you can!!

OK 'will do in the Recipe section, but I won't have time to do it today

Re the Dim Sum again...

Thats actually not a bad idea for a new imbiss. After all we now have sushi imbisses popping up all over the place, how about Dim-Sum Imbiss as well?

Hi there. Hoi Sin sauce can be bought in the shops and is OK for ribs. However, the sauce I make uses Hoi Sin as a base, and adds a load of other things in too (including half a bottle of sherry!). I subscribe to the tinned variety of Hoi Sin Sauce where I can, not the glass bottled ones. Not sure if I have seen those over here in Germany.

Re: Chinese. There is only 1 written language so the written side of Chinese should makes no difference. Mandarin is the Business Language of China and spoken mainly on mainland China. Cantonese is the more colloquial dialect spoken in Hong Kong and globally, and that's why you find that anyone outside China tend to speak it. However, mainland Chinese are starting to travel the globe as Globalisation starts taking hold.
I find that Mandarin is quite hard to learn being brought up on Cantonese. Cantonese uses voice and nasal sounds, but Mandarin uses contortions of the tongue and teeth and is harsher. If you have a clean slate, I would probably opt for Mandarin given the Business application. Beware, its going to be tough from scratch!

Good luck! Billy

I asked this question to the local chinese restaurant in Heidelberg. They said that there were Dim Sum places in HD some years ago, but the only people who ate it was Chinese, and there weren't enough to keep the businesses going. So they packed up. The German taste did not adapt to Dim Sum, and even in UK there are still people who do not like it. Some of it may seem too gelatenous for their liking. Also the concept of "value for money" which pervades whole of German culture would probably not work either; paying x Euros for 4 dumplings...??
Wonder if we could invent the Bratwerst Dumpling?

My tip for learning chinese:-

Put a raison right to the back of your throat, not quite swallowing, the sounds that follow sound very chinese,
the same can be applied with a small peanut, but it tends to sound arabic

its the way i tell em

Hi there. Hoi Sin sauce can be bought in the shops and is OK for ribs. However, the sauce I make uses Hoi Sin as a base, and adds a load of other things in too (including half a bottle of sherry!).

- after which youll be well sloshed! What else do you add (apart from the sherry)?

I subscribe to the tinned variety of Hoi Sin Sauce where I can, not the glass bottled ones.

- me too. The glass jar stuff doesnt taste the same. Even though the shops sometimes try to tell you theres no difference. Oh yes there is!

Not sure if I have seen those over here in Germany.

Yes you can get it here, maybe not at all asia shops perhaps, but Ive never had much difficulty. Just dont try buying asian foodstuffs from ordinary supermarkets here, its overpriced and mostly not very good in my experience.

Re: Chinese. There is only 1 written language so the written side of Chinese should makes no difference. Mandarin is the Business Language of China and spoken mainly on mainland China. Cantonese is the more colloquial dialect spoken in Hong Kong and globally, and that's why you find that anyone outside China tend to speak it. However, mainland Chinese are starting to travel the globe as Globalisation starts taking hold.

- thats what I said - the Chinese are coming!

I find that Mandarin is quite hard to learn being brought up on Cantonese. Cantonese uses voice and nasal sounds, but Mandarin uses contortions of the tongue and teeth and is harsher.

- I want to learn a language, not join the zoo!!

If you have a clean slate, I would probably opt for Mandarin given the Business application. Beware, its going to be tough from scratch!

- well I think itll be tough whichever I choose. I wont notice any difference in difficulty between Cantonese and Mandarin anyway, being a complete beginner. Itll just be damn difficult! If I do learn, then it will prob be Mandarin, maybe just the basics to start with. After all, with all this global outsourcing we are all going to have to move to China in the next 20 or so years anyway in order to find work when our jobs go down the pan, so I might as well start preparing now!! :-))