<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Thanks for all of the good ideas on how to eat in China, and especially
for the warm congratulations on the upcoming adoption of our 2nd Chinese
daughter!  Having been to China once before (pre- Celiac) to pick up our
first daughter  I'd like to add a couple of points that I feel need to
be stressed.  Don't drink the water.  Don't open your mouth in the
shower to avoid ingesting water,  and don't brush your teeth in it.  We
found it helpful to tie a wash rag around the faucet to remind us not to
turn it on.  Boil all water before drinking it...most of the hotels will
happily furnish you with plenty of boiled water.  It's best to drink
pure, unopened bottled water. Oh yes, you might want to be careful of
iced drinks since they can contain ice made with contaminated water.
You might also want to consider taking PetoBismal before and during your
trip as a precaution against stomach bugs.  We also took a series of
HepA and HepB shots before we left.  I understand that hepatitis A is
pretty common in China and easily transmitted.  Hep B might not be as
much of an issue unless you are adopting a child since it can be
transmitted through bodily fluids  (dirty diapers...).  Hope this
helps!  Becky

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The Chinese do not know celiac and do not even acknowledge its existence
- so trying to explain to them is impossible.  All the soy sauces used
in majority of Chinese cooking contain wheat and some contain MSG too.
I found the best solution was to ask for plain rice and vegetables with
NO soy sauce.  You can get lots of steamed fish, chicken etc. that is
safe and delicious.

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NEVER drink any water there and if you purchase any bottled water make
sure the cap is secure.  They refill the bottles and try to sell them
to you as new.

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I did take the "Gluten Rest. Card" from the back of the book "Against
the Grain" by Lowell Jax Peters (I'm never sure I have her name in the
correct order.)  It seemed to help.

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I cook Chinese alot, and I seldom use
flour, mostly corn starch. The problem would be the
hidden gluten--for example, they use a lot of boullion
type flavoring and sauces in cooking. They would not
think that these would have "flour" in them. Some
products in China do not list ingredients.

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The main difficulty is soy sauce - I took my own and did use it on
occasions.  Hot pots are great winter food in China - you cook your own
food in a pot of boiling water at The table.

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In terms of bringing your own food, don't bring too much of what you
can get there (fruit, for example!). Bring something portable that you
can reconstitute or minimizes bulk...I always bring those Uncle Ben's
Success Brown rice in a bag with me...you don't have to boil it in
water, you can soak it in water (your hotel ice bucket) overnight and it
will soften and absorb water.   Combine that with fresh fruit
(everywhere and very yummy) or a can of mandarin oranges (bring a can
opener) and that will set you up for breakfast.  Also they have LOTS of
soy milk products similar to yogurt (Yoplait types).

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You might want to take a cookbook with you, so if someone suggests
a dish, you could look up what's in it.  Tho they might make it
differently.

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i would ask that your food be steamed. bring your own tamari soy sauce
(wheat free. i use eden organic.)

ask how they cook it. when i had stir fried with no wheat or soy sauce,
it still affected me, probably because of cross contamination. the
steamer,

however, should be ok if it's just used to steam veggies and chicken,
whatever.