No food and no God in the old days?

For younger generations ignorant of China?s history, this film may give the wrong impression that China has always been a land of plentiful food In fact during the ten years of the Culture Revolution, many people starved to death, and Buddhism and all other forms of religion were banned.  My uncle often talked about the wok in my grandmother?s house having rusted from lack of cooking.  There was literally nothing to cook, and my Grandmother was persecuted for her religious beliefs.

Weijun told me many sad stories about his family in northern China.  Often times when he was young he lived on bark from trees.   What little real food there was was severely rationed.  Once, Weijun?s father was bringing home a rationed can of cooking oil, which was supposed to last the family the entire year. Weijun?s father fell on the dirt road and spilled the precious oil!  He scooped the oil-soaked dirt into the can and brought it home to Weijun?s mother.  She boiled the dirt in water and scooped the oil from the top to recover a year?s worth.

I was happy to see how things have changed in China.  Ms. Qin has a Buddhist temple inside West Lake, and the staff can pray there.

One scene in the movie shows the traditional Chinese Buddhist ceremony of ?setting free?: one is supposed to set an animal free and save its little life in order to create good karma for oneself.  Ms. Qin ordered her staff to buy some live fish from a market, transport them in a bucket to a local river, and free them.   But by the time the staff got to the river the fish were belly up ? dead.  Ms. Qin meant well, but the ritual was not fulfilled.

Click here to see MAKING OF The Biggest Chinese Restaurant Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3