Feast Day

At the end of November, Americans the world over have a sudden craving for roast turkey. Mike Peters explores the tradition in China.

Thanksgiving turkey hasn't always been known or appreciated in China.

In Diplomatic Incidents, a hilarious memoir of life as a diplomat's wife, Cherry Denman writes of her American friends' frustration in 1980s Beijing as the November holiday approached. "In China, we found that turkeys could not be imported because the word was not on the list of agreed imports. The Americans solved this for their Thanksgiving by persuading the relevant official that a turkey was no more than a large Texas chicken, and chicken was, of course, already on the list."