Enigma of China Read Online Free PDF

In the official media, there was only the good and great news about China. The authorities wanted to present a picture of a harmonious society and didn’t permit any negative news or commentary. Like an increasing number of people, Peiqin felt she had no choice but to get more and more of her news online. In contrast to the official media, the Internet provided less-filtered information, though even it wasn’t free from government control.
    Peiqin used the computer Qinqin left at home for her Web surfing. The campus computers ran much faster, and Qinqin studied there most of the time. He only checked e-mail or played games at home on the weekend, so Peiqin could use the computer as much as she liked during the week.
    She heard voices and footsteps approaching the door. She rose and opened the door and saw, to her surprise, not just Yu but also Chen standing there.
    “What wind has brought you over today, Chief Inspector Chen?”
    “He was talking to me about a case,” Yu said, “involving Internet searches. I told him you’re a pro-”
    “So here I am,” Chen said, holding high a bottle of Shaoxing rice wine. “A student’s gift to his teacher, a must in the Confucian tradition.”
    “Don’t listen to him,” she said. “It’s dinnertime. You should have told me earlier.”
    “I’m no stranger, Peiqin. That’s why I’ve come without giving you advance notice. We’ll just have whatever you’ve already prepared.”
    “But there’s only one bowl of eight treasures hot sauce,” she said, glancing over her shoulder at the table. “With Qinqin off at college, we sometimes have nothing but noodles with a spoonful of sauce on top.”
    “The sauce isn’t bad,” Yu cut in, “fried with diced pork, dry tofu, peanuts, cucumber, shrimp, and whatnot-”
    “So it’s called eight treasures,” Chen said with a grin. “I know. It’s a Shanghai specialty. Really delicious!”
    “No, it won’t do for a distinguished guest like you. We can’t afford to lose face like that,” Peiqin said in mock dismay. “But have a cup of Dragon Well tea first and I’ll see what I can put together.”
    In less than five minutes, Peiqin was able to put two cold dishes on the table: tofu mixed with chopped green onion and sesame oil, and sliced thousand-year egg in soy sauce with minced ginger.
    “Something for your beer,” she said, putting a bottle of Qingdao and two cups on the table.
    “Don’t go out of your way for me, Peiqin.”
    “Let her have her way,” Yu said, opening the beer bottle with a pop.
    She put the sauce of eight treasures into the microwave and a bunch of noodles into a pot of boiling water. While those cooked, she stir-fried several eggs into an omeletlike dish called super crabmeat and roe.
    Chen helped himself to a spoonful of the omelet the moment it was placed on the table. “It tastes absolutely exquisite,” he declared. “You have to tell me the recipe.”
    “It’s easy. You just need to separate the yolk from the white. Fry the white first, and then the yolk. Add a lot of minced ginger, Zhenjiang vinegar, and a generous pinch of sugar too.”
    She ladled out the noodles, placed them into bowls, and poured the sauce on top of them.
    “Laomian style,” she said before serving a soup of dried green cabbage.
    “Wow, that’s the soup I’ve been missing.”
    “The fresh cabbage was so cheap back in the early spring, I bought several baskets and dried it at home,” she said. She shook out several drops of sesame oil onto the greenish surface of the soup.
    “When I was a child, my mother used to dry cabbage at home, too. She would boil the cabbage, then air dry it on a rope stretched across our small room.”
    “Oh, we have not visited your mother for a while.”
    “Don’t worry about her. She’s doing fine for a woman her age.”
    Chen changed the subject: “I hear you’ve become quite Web savvy, Peiqin. Yu told me about it.”
    “She’s absolutely hooked,” Yu chipped in,