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A Chinese cookbook for happiness and success
published by: epubli GmbH, Berlin, www.epubli.de
Copyright: © 2014 Nadine Koerner
ISBN 978-3-8442-8027-2
1. Introduction
1.1 Why a Chinese cookbook for happiness and success and why you need it.
How happy were you on March 20th this year?
You were very happy? Great, thank God, you don’t need to continue reading this book.
Not overtly happy for some reasons? Keep on reading.
You cannot recall any specific feelings from the 20th of March at all?
Keep on reading and please note that the United Nations has named the 20 March the International Day of Happiness![1]
Taking this as a reason to reflect, on 20th of March I walked along the Bijiang River in Shunde, South China. About 6.35 am, the sun rose, painting the sky from soft red, pink, orange to a warm yellow, creating a magnificent, nearly magical moment. A Chinese man with long grey beard in a white sleeveless shirt and wide grey trousers, washed or faded out, practiced Tai Chi along the river, smiling all the time. He seemed completely happy and at peace with himself and the world - like so many Chinese people I had watched when they were doing their morning exercises along the river. I smiled at him, caught his eyes, smiled and went closer. Why did he seem to be so happy, was he really so happy?
He gave me an even bigger smile. So I took all my courage and asked: “Sorry to interrupt you, but you seem to be very happy…!”
He continued moving slowly, gently, and apparently effortlessly and answered: ‘Happy? Of course I am happy!”
So I asked again: “Sorry again, why you are so happy and what actually does happiness mean to you?”
A fresh breeze came along from the river and the leaves of the palm trees along the river moved like to a fine music.
Calmly the man answered: “See, I have everything I need. Happiness is just like this: the cat has fish to eat and the dog has bones to gnaw. A dog should not hunt for the fish and the cat should not look for bones and they will always be happy.’
I nodded and replied: “Sorry again, but what is it then that we should look for?”
The man replied: ‘Well, most people look for money and other possessions, equaled with success and happiness. These are the unhappy people. If you truly want to be happy, remember that happiness and success are what you define them to be.”
Then he paused for a second, took a deep breath and continued: “as for me, it is to practice here every morning and be one with nature.’
If you were not overtly happy on March 20th or most other days of the year, it is time to pause and reflect.
It is well true that most people strive for money, career, fame, villas, and fancy cars, because they correlate those ‘things’ with success. And in their mind, once they are successful, they will be happy. Are you one of those people? Is it really like that? And what is it exactly, that makes you happy?
For most Chinese people, food is one of the keys to happiness; this is described by the philosopher and writer Lin Yutang, who lived from 1895 till 1976: “How a Chinese spirit glows over a good feast! How apt is he to cry out that life is beautiful when his stomach and his intestines are well filled! From this well filled stomach suffuses and radiates a happiness that is spiritual…”[2] Similarly, the Taiwanese archeologist and sinologist Chang brought to attention that “Chinese people are especially preoccupied with food” and “food is at the center of, or at least it accompanies or symbolizes, many social interactions.”[3]
Interestingly there is also a Vietnamese saying that “happiness is eating Chinese food, having a Japanese wife and living in a Western house.”[4]
That food is directly linked to happiness in China can be noticed during Chinese New Year, when foods are eaten, which symbolise happiness and good fortune like small shrimps and fish. Besides that food has been linked to happiness and success in China for a long time already, China is also one of the few countries, where the government actively seeks measures to increase happiness levels of the people (see chapter 2.4)
Consequently there are many good reasons to learn more about Chinese cuisine and cooking.
But why do you need THIS cookbook?
For most people, cooking is an every day activity and necessity, which takes time. Most cookbooks teach you only one thing: how to cook food. THIS book teaches you how to cook and how to use the time you spend on cooking for enhancing your happiness and success at the same time! In addition, this book helps you to:
apprehend what happiness for you is and what you need to be happy - and thus promote your happiness
become conscious what success means for you and in which areas you want to be successful – and thus promote your success
find out the reasons why you are not as happy or successful as you might want to be and show solutions
cook delicious, easy and healthy Chinese recipes
release stress, as cooking is a proven ‘stress-reliever’[5]
keeps you in the moment and shifts your attention from worries to recipes for happy and successful living
and thus enhance not only your happiness and success but your overall long-term well-being, the secret to a long and fulfilled life.
1.2 The definition of happiness and success around the world
Ask a hundred people what happiness is and you get a hundred answers. Therefore one of the greatest challenges in the study of happiness lies in its definition. Happiness can be seen as a vast umbrella term that can mean different things to different people. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, happiness is defined as either good fortune in the sense of prosperity or as a state of well-being and contentment in the sense of joy or as a pleasurable or satisfying experience.[6]
In psychology, happiness is often comprehended in three ways—as a hedonic state, a cognitive state, or a general life philosophy. Happiness then can refer to a way of thinking, such as being optimistic; a way of feeling joy, pleasure, relief, or gratitude; or simply a way of being. Most definitions in psychology include ‘a predominance of positive over negative affect’ and ‘satisfaction with life as a whole’. Other disciplines and people make a clearer distinction between the concept of happiness and the positive emotions the word describes. Happiness in that way can be simply drive reduction. It’s as if you’re driving down the highway and your stomach is growling. You see a McDonald’s drive-in, pull over and order a double cheeseburger and a McFlurry. That makes you ‘happy’. Well for a moment, the moment you are eating. But that satisfaction is fleeting—the resultant heartburn likely lasts longer than your gratification. Thus, happiness is a conscious state of mind, entrenched in the neo-cortex, the region of the brain responsible for planning, decision–making and thinking. So you eat a double cheeseburger and think, “Oh man, I feel good, I am happy now.”
When analyzing dictionary definitions of happiness from different nations, it turns out that the most frequent definition of happiness highlights good luck and favorable external conditions, as in the case of estimated 80 % of nations. However, luck didn’t factor into the modern conception of happiness in Spain, Argentina, Ecuador, India, and Kenya.[7]
In American English, happiness means favorable internal conditions like feelings and studies show that many young Americans associate happiness with excitement, while older generations link it with comforting, peaceful emotions. For North Americans and Europeans, happiness tends to be defined in terms of personal achievement and happiness is said to correlate