Traditional food is painted as backward and dirty—except for tourists.
Instruction began early on a November 2018 morning. This lesson was not taught in a classroom, but in a makeshift kitchen as part of Xinjiang’s “household school” program. There, a teacher stood before her class of adult women and asked: “What do you like to eat for breakfast?”
The students responded in unison, “nan and milk” or “nan and tea.”
“You don’t eat a bowl of hot congee?” the teacher interjected. This question sparked additional discussion and “even more curiosity” among the women in attendance.
Not 酸粥, the connection to uyghurs is the gov. discouraging Uyghur students from eating their traditional breakfasts, flatbread and milk/tea, in favor of more traditionally han Chinese breakfast, congee or 煎饼.
This ties into the other cultural erasures going on.
Ohhhh I read the congee statement as you shouldn’t eat it, not that you should
Now I understand. Thanks!
High fives.