30 August 2003
Irish Times

It has been more than seven years since Dongxue Dai first came to Ireland. She initially came here to study a Masters in computers and is now a software tester in Dublin. Originally from the Shandong province of China, she hasn't been home for three years.

As a Falun Gong practitioner, she was denied renewal of her Chinese passport in 2000, but has since received Irish citizenship. However, she was recently unable to travel home for her mother's funeral. Her sisters were also detained in labour camps until they denounced Falun Gong. Dongxue practises her exercises, a mix of various practices, such as meditation, qi-gong and Chinese philosophy, most evenings outside the Chinese embassy as a form of protest.

Now dishes such as the jiaozai have an almost sentimental value for her, as they bring back memories of home. "These dumplings remind me of my family because we would often make them together, all eight of us. We would make lots of noise, and my mother would give out to us, but we had good fun making them together."

Though she is now here in Ireland for the foreseeable future, she still misses China. "Here, eating Chinese food and speaking Chinese is very important to me because I miss being able to be Chinese." Food plays a big part in Chinese social life, and she would prefer to have a meal than go to the pub. Dai explains, "There is an old Chinese saying: 'When you are well fed, you won't feel homesick'."

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