The food at Song Jiang Wushu School is very simple. There is a huge dining hall where more than 2,000 students can eat at the same time. The dishes are basic, and most foreigners don’t like the food there. So don’t expect anything like what you would order in a Chinese restaurant back home.
You basically get a metal plate, and the cooks scoop three different vegetable and meat mixtures onto it. It doesn’t look very clean, but it’s actually the healthiest food you’ll find in the area. For more information about wushu training in China, click here.
More: How Is the Food?
I think pictures say more than a thousand words, so check out the photos below. Personally, I like the food at the school, but I’m probably an exception. After all, other foreigners I met in China used to call me “Iron Stomach.” LOL.
Most of the dishes look like soup.
The most common ingredients are:
Gherkins
Tomatoes
Eggplants
Cauliflower
Paprika
Eggs
Chicken
Pork
Rice
Mantou (white Chinese bread)
Sometimes they just serve gherkins with eggs, or tomatoes with sugar. So yes, you really have to get used to this kind of food.
There are a few different restaurants in the same building. The cheapest one cooks for about 60 percent of the students. The cooks there are the friendliest, but the ingredients they use are lower quality. That said, all three restaurants cook more or less the same dishes, and in my opinion they also taste pretty much the same.
Advice: How Is the Food?
If you need something like McDonald’s, ask Mr. Li Chen about DICO’s. It’s a fast-food restaurant about 10 to 15 minutes from the school (at Guang Chang). In Chinese, DICO’s is called “De Ke Shi.” They serve normal hamburgers and French fries, similar to what you get in Europe or the U.S. You definitely won’t get diarrhea from DICO’s, but as you know, hamburgers aren’t exactly ideal for athletes. An average menu at DICO’s costs about 23 yuan (around 2 euros).
There are also some decent restaurants near the Yun Cheng bus station. The food there is more like European-style Chinese restaurants, but you’ll have to try a few before finding one you like. Unfortunately, the food there isn’t much cheaper than in Western countries.
If you want to eat outside the school regularly, I recommend buying a bike for 10 to 20 euros. It’s much faster and cheaper than taking a tricycle every time you want to leave the school. You can usually sell the bike for the same price when you leave after a few weeks or months. Ten to fifteen minutes doesn’t sound far, but walking can take almost an hour. In summer, the heat makes the walk unbearable.
If you need extra protein, ask the women with their mobile food stands at the school gate. When I’m there, I usually pay them to cook eggs for me every morning. Most of them have their own chickens, so it’s the cheapest place to buy eggs. They’ll hard-boil a few eggs for you every day, and if you pay a bit extra, they’ll even bring them to your room. This small service (10 hard-boiled eggs) costs about 10 yuan (around 1 euro) per day. Of course, egg prices can go up and down faster than I can update this page.
If you eat at very cheap restaurants outside the school, you risk upsetting your stomach. But honestly, once you decide to go to China, you should accept the idea that you’ll get diarrhea from time to time. Chinese hygiene standards are different from Western ones, and our weak stomachs don’t always handle that well.
In Yun Cheng, many people eat dog meat. On the way to the school, you’ll see small restaurants slaughtering and barbecuing dogs right on the sidewalk. Definitely not something for animal lovers with weak nerves. That said, the restaurants inside the school would never cook dog meat.
Pictures: How Is the Food?
Entrance to the lunchroom.
The cooks preparing to serve lunch.
A Chinese tomato-and-egg dish.
A Chinese gherkin-and-noodle dish.
An average menu at a Chinese martial arts school.
Another typical menu served at Song Jiang Wushu School.
Students enjoying lunch.
Young students having lunch at Song Jiang Wushu School.
A small Chinese fruit stand outside the school.
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