Swallowing Clouds: A Playful Journey Through Chinese Culture, Language, and Cuisine

Larissa Liepins is a Toronto-based freelance journalist.

For most North Americans, written Chinese is the mysterious-looking
characters they find on restaurant menus. Chinese-American physicist and
author Anthony Zee uses this observation as the starting point for his
lighthearted look at China’s history, folktales, literature, and
customs. In the book, an update of the 1991 edition, he takes common
menu items like Ma Po Bean Curd and Beef Chow Mein, breaks down their
pictographic spelling, then tells hundreds of related stories and
anecdotes that are both instructive and entertaining.

Zee’s playful and informal text guides us from one character to the
next, demystifying and enchanting with each digression. In the chapter
on alcohol, his mother recalls eating live “drunken shrimp” on a
boat in China. We learn the many characters used to describe different
states of inebriation, and we hear the humorous story of how a Jin
Dynasty poet became a “wine immortal.” Other chapters delve into the
worlds of Chinese tea, vegetarianism, and Confucianism.

Occasionally, the author’s digressions lead to non sequiturs and
unfounded value judgments, and several chapters end abruptly. He also
glosses over the significant impact of the Chinese medicinal trade on
animal welfare in his chapter devoted to the Chinese belief that not
only certain plants, but animal parts as well, have curative or
invigorating properties.

Overall, however, Zee’s enthusiasm for the material is infectious,
and anyone interested in Chinese culture—but not necessarily ready to
tackle a textbook or a lengthy language course—will be delighted that
he has strayed from his specialty of theoretical physics to share his
vast knowledge of Chinese food and etymology. A table of characters and
radicals listed by chapter is a useful reference, as is the
bibliography, for those readers who are inspired to explore beyond the
scope of this book. At the very least for those who aren’t, ordering
dinner at the local Chinese restaurant will never be the same.