China Daily reporter Li Xing writes about her memories of the China Festival and Asia-Pacific Weeks, which closed on Sunday in Berlin.
　　Ingrid Simmross, a political scientist specializing in international relations, lingered at the counter where colourful Chinese knots were on display in the Asian Market on the Schloss Platz in Berlin.

After careful selection, she bought a couple of knots and began to queue up at the counter, where students from Beijing Service and Management School were cooking and selling Chinese snacks.

She bought a bowl of dumplings.

"My husband, Frank, and I have been to China seven or eight times," she said.

How did she compare the Chinese displays at the China Festival with goods she saw in China?

The items on display in Berlin, such as traditional art and calligraphy, are similar to the tourist markets in major cities in China, such as Beijing and Shanghai, she said.

"You cannot compare this with real China though," she said. "But these things are important for the German people to learn about China. Many do not go to China and they know very little about Chinese history and Chinese culture."

Sampling each dumpling with care, Simmross said most of the Chinese restaurants in Berlin serve Chinese fast-food. "It's not like (the dumplings) I've tasted here," she said.

Chinese acupuncture

Thomas Ross, 36, and his girlfriend Evelyn Heinrich, look intrigued as they watch Dong Guomin wield his small knife on a stone surface, about two square centimetres.

Dong, a national master of seal engraving from Beijing, was carving Ross' Chinese name to make a seal.

Ross is excited as he is leaving with a group of German doctors for Beijing and Nanjing on a study tour of acupuncture, very soon.

Ross first learned about how acupuncture could relieve pain when he was still in his teens. He went through formal training in Western medicine in his college years. During his medical practice, he discovered that Western medicine was lacking in dealing with chronic pain and illness.

He decided to study acupuncture.

Like all traditional Chinese medical doctors, Ross must try the needles on his own body first, in order to get familiar with the acupoints.

He said he must also get used to his body's reaction when the needles enter. "In Western medicine, it means pain," Ross said.

He has been practicing acupuncture for four years. A picture of a silver needle lies under his name on his business card.

Although he has gained some experience in treating general pain, especially shoulder and back pain, he looks forward to the study tour which will enable him to learn more about acupuncture.

Singing in harmony

Gesa Huneke is a choir leader at the Philipp-Melanchthon Protestant Church in the southeast corner of downtown Berlin. "Don't ask me who is better," she said during the intermission of a performance by the Inner Mongolia Choir from China. "They are much better."

She said that the members of the Inner Mongolia Choir have mastered more sophisticated singing techniques. "They produce better tones and different compositions," she said. "And they sing with their hearts."

She said she didn't expect the Inner Mongolian Choir to sing in harmony, or in rhythm. "Their singing is very rhythmic."

She detected that male soloists often produce a different tone to that of the choir, a tone that she later understood to be indigenous to the Mongolian people.

''The Mongolian singers are able to blend modern singing with ethnic tradition," Huneke said.

Herr Locking, the church's deacon, said: "They are just perfect."

Pioneering women

Dr Silvia Kettlehut contributed her own project to the China Festival.

"I've looked at the programmes and ours is one of the very few on gender development, with emphasis on women," she said with pride.

The project included a seminar between Chinese and German businesswomen and a photo documentation of business start-ups by women in China, which was on display at the Berliner Rathaus (Old Berlin City Hall).

"We had about 100 people at the seminar," she said.

But what she most valued was the photo and video documentation of 12 Chinese women entrepreneurs in Shanghai and Jiangsu Province, which Kettlehut and two of her friends, Astrid Lipinsky and Eva Woelfle, took earlier this year.

Kettlehut began to learn Chinese more than 10 years ago. Between 1986 and 1987, she had a chance to study Chinese at the Nanjing Normal University.

Ten years later, she went to Beijing again, working for two years at the German Academic Exchange Service.

Her stay and frequent trips to China have enabled her to follow closely the changes in China. "When we talk about the changes in China, we cannot overlook the fact that women have been affected and have contributed to the changes, too," she said.

A lot of women have been laid off from State-owned plants, she said. But she was moved to hear stories about unemployed women who found a good solution to their problems.

"They founded their own businesses," she said. "We felt we had to find out about them and share their stories."

Since most of the stories about new businesswomen came from Shanghai, Kettlehut and her friends went to Shanghai and Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province.

They were able to interview 12 women in Shanghai and Jiangsu.

Their businesses cover a wide range, from producing bacteria for cleaning river water, developing computer software on facial make-up analyses for beauty parlours, turning out Glistar brand notebooks and calendars for international markets, and growing health tea.

There were artists among them, too.

Liu Di manages a workshop and hires laid-off workers to hand-carve or paint over porcelain plates for decoration, while Jenny Chen runs her own arts and embroidery company, turning out classical fabrics and clothing of traditional Chinese and ethnic minority designs.

Kettlehut said that she learned that the Chinese women entrepreneurs did encounter many problems to begin with however.

"They said they had a very difficult time trying to secure their first loan," she said.

These Chinese women impressed Kettlehut and her friends with their good dresses, their seriousness and hardwork.

"They have modern ways to manage their businesses," she said. "Despite their successes, they are still learning and working hard."

She pointed out that the women are still faced with problems.

Hong Siping, a 41-year-old former textile worker, now runs a restaurant near the Baoshan Iron and Steel Company, which attracts about 500 guests a day.

Her other business is a factory that produces ink. "But her factory is now closed because new environment codes require her to upgrade the factory's facilities to make it environmentally-friendly," Kettlehut said.

Another woman, Huang Luyuan, raises goats. Her plant is also under renovation to comply with new environment protection codes, with financial support from the Canadian Government.

Whatever problems they have, the Chinese women share their own experiences with the German women entrepreneurs. "Hopefully, we will be able to bring the photo documentation to China," Kettlehut said.

Personal contact

Brigitte G. came to China on a study tour eight years ago with her husband. During the trip, she and her group visited Beijing, Suzhou, Shanghai, Guilin and Guangzhou. "We also spent five days in Tibet (autonomous region)," she said.

"It was a rewarding trip because I had very close contact with the local people," she said.

In Guangzhou, Brigitte and her husband had a chance to wander into a small alley near their hotel. On their way her husband tore a pocket on his jacket.

They went to a small family stall and asked, with hand gestures, if someone could help mend the pocket.

"The wife took over the jacket and started mending it," Brigitte recalled.

"We wanted to pay when she finished but she said 'No, No, No...'"

They also went to the Great Wall in Beijing, but it was very foggy. "I couldn't see a thing. But it was impressive," Brigitte said.

"I'd like to go back."

　　From Chinadaily.com.cn