storing winter Chinese cabbage

冬储大白菜

(dōnɡchǔ dàbáicài)

A: My landlord bought 100 jin of Chinese cabbage yesterday that she stored in her house. She also asked me if I should go out and buy some. I'm so confused. There are only three people in that family.

我的房东昨天买了一百斤大白菜储存在家里, 还问我是不是也应该去买点, 这太让人费解了！他们一家才三口人啊！

(wǒde fánɡdōnɡ zuótiān mǎile yībǎijīn dàbáicài chǔcún zài jiālǐ, hái wènwǒ shì bùshì yě yīnɡɡāi qù mǎidiǎn, zhè tài rànɡrén fèijiě le！tāmen yījiā cái sānkǒurén a!)

B: A lot of older Beijingers do this, they call it storing winter Chinese cabbage. They do it because once winter arrives it is very hard to buy produce in Beijing during the winter.

很多老北京人都有买冬储大白菜的习惯。因为以前北京冬天很难买到蔬菜。

(hěnduō lǎo běijīnɡrén dōuyǒu mǎi dōnɡchǔ dàbáicài de xíɡuàn. yīnwèi yǐqián běijīnɡ dōnɡtiān hěnnán mǎidào shūcài.)

A: Seems unnecessary nowadays. If I run out of vegetables I can always order more online from a store down south.

现在没必要了吧。如果蔬菜消耗完了,我可以上网下单买啊。

(xiànzài méi bìyào le ba. rúɡuǒ shūcài xiāohào wán le,wǒ kěyǐ shànɡwǎnɡ xiàdān mǎi a.)