Xinhua Headlines: Once upon a time in Iraq: Food, war, and the pursuit of peace-Xinhua
This drone photo taken on Aug. 24, 2026 shows a poster for the film "Once Upon a Time in the Middle East" in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)by Xinhua writers Wang Meiqi, Wang Xiaopeng and Yang YuanyuanBEIJING, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- In the closing scene of the hit Chinese film "Once Upon a Time in the Middle East," sunlight fills a post-war restaurant as a waiter introduces the house specialty, namely "Xu Fu Rice Stew," a humble dish born out of wartime hardship.It begins as a simple pot of braised rice, made by a Chinese cook named Xu Fu for hungry children fleeing a regional fight. Yet the dish holds something deeper -- a shared hope for peace.The waiter is played by Ameen Muneer Mohammed Al-Obaidi, an Iraqi who goes by the Chinese name Fang Haoming. He is a young...