Mad about mooncake game



中秋博饼原是郑成功为安抚士兵的思乡之情而发明的一种游戏.发展到今天,越发受到闽南及台湾地区人们的喜爱.就连客居这里的老外朋友也迷上了它.每到此时,他们也和本地人一样,像模像样地掷起了子,而对于刚来不久的外籍人士,这种趣味无穷的游戏则成了他们慰藉乡愁的灵丹妙药.这样的功效,怕是当年的郑成功也没有想到的吧!

Chinese claim Koxinga's greatest achievement was liberating Taiwan from the Dutch, but I disagree. I think his chief accomplishment was inventing the mooncake game, which has become our family's favorite Chinese tradition!

It is true that Koxinga was a great warrior. He was the last military leader to hold out against the Manchu invaders, and from the heights of Gulangyu Islet's Sunlight Rock he trained his troops while proclaiming, "Remember the Ming!" Various statues on Sunlight Rock commemorate Koxinga's sojourn(逗留) there before he sailed to Taiwan on April 21, 1661, with 25,000 men and hundreds of war junks(帆船). On January 27, 1662, the Dutch surrendered their prize of 38 years but it was after the war that Koxinga showed his humanity-by letting the Dutch depart in peace with their possessions, and by creating the delightful mooncake game to keep his homesick troops occupied.

For 16 years, our family has delighted in Koxinga's mooncake game on Mid-Autumn Festival, which is held on the 15th day of the 8th Lunar month (Sept. 28th in 2004). Prizes used to be cookies and mooncakes (which range from bite-sized to the 3.934 ton monstrosity(巨物) created by Nanning chefs in 2001). Our two sons loved the game so much that when they were little they made cardboard mooncakes and played it year round!

Fortunately, prizes are more practical nowadays-items like toothbrushes and towels. In fact, our family has become so used to winning hoards(贮藏) of toothpaste that if we ever miss a Mid-Autumn Festival in Xiamen, we'll be in danger of losing our teeth!

In "Amoy Magic-Guide to Xiamen", I wrote that the mooncake game was played only in South Fujian and Taiwan (since the ancestors of 1/4 of Taiwanese came from South Fujian), but during the past year overseas Chinese have e-mailed me to say that it is also played in communities throughout the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia-virtually every place that has overseas Chinese of Fujian origin (which is just about every place!).

I suspect that some of Xiamen's Laowai, especially new arrivals, may be as homesick as Koxinga's troops were in Taiwan but the cure is coming! This Mid-Autumn Festival, as the brightest moon of the year illuminates our enchanting little island and the night resounds(回响) with the sound of laughter and dice ringing in porcelain bowls, chances are you'll be playing the game yourself in the homes of Chinese friends and colleagues.

But before you roll the bones, bone up(熟习) on the game by reading the rules in Amoy Magic-Guide to Xiamen (Pages 374-5). And if you win Zhuangyuan, the Grand Prize, share it with me!

Dr. Bill Brown
MBA Center
Xiamen University
http://www.amoymagic.mts.cn

About the mooncake game



Mid-autumn Festival is one of the traditional Chinese festivals which falls on the 15th day of the 8th month on the lunar calendar. It is a perfect occasion for family members gathering together to eat moon cakes and watch the harvest moon when it is the brightest and roundest of the year.

Unique to Xiamen is the festival custom of playing the mooncake game in which players roll six dice for six kinds of prizes. Traditionally the prizes were moon cakes created especially for this game. However, in recent years people have begun to prefer other prizes such as soap, towels, shampoo, toothpaste, etc., and even domestic electrical appliances.

Today, playing the mooncake game during Mid-autumn Festival not only means winning prizes, but also gives a chance to accelerate people's communication and relationships.

Sunshine Top10 Count Down



Sunshine FM里有一个固定环节Sunshine Top10 Count Down,播出时间是每周五晚上9点.这个环节开始于2002年9月,到现在已经有两周年了.

在这个环节中,根据听众对节目中推荐的最新欧美新歌的投票情况盘点一周的欧美新歌排行.投票的方式有网站,BBS,Email,手机短信等等.

Sunshine Top10　Count Down让我从中了解本地听众对欧美流行音乐的关注程度以及听众的欣赏口味.喜欢欧美流行音乐的人群有:白领,中学生,大学生,其中有一大部分人是英语爱好者.

学生群体的口味会更广泛一些,他们喜欢的音乐类型比较多元化,有喜欢Hip Hop 的如Eminem和Nelly,有喜欢流行类的如Backstreet Boys和Westlife,有喜欢乡村的如Alan Jackson,Shania Twain,也有喜欢R&B如All 4 one和Usher,还有喜欢摇滚如Linkin Park和Avril Lavigne,以及喜欢另类怪异的Slipnot和Marylin Manson.学生群体会经常来节目的BBS中推荐他们喜欢的音乐,甚至会因为不同的音乐爱好而吵得面红耳赤.上班族多喜欢怀旧一些的英文老歌和Jazz,而且以抒情居多,职场上一天的纷扰后,哪里还听得进去Avril Lavigne的无理的呐喊和Linkin Park的狂飙.温和如水的卡朋特,深沉成熟的Nat King Cole和轻快优雅的小野丽莎当然比较合适.

近期Sunshine FM将推出的新专辑有: Bjork的"Medulla", Nelly的"Sweat"和"Suit", Billy Crawford的"Big City",还有Duran Duran的"Astronaut"等.(欢迎登陆厦广音乐台网站www.fm909.com.cn)