Iwas stuffing dollops of minced meat into jiaozi - for news cameras. I had thought I'd signed up for a class, and I had, but it also turned out to be a televised contest.

Furthermore, I wouldn't have needed the instruction if I'd had any idea as to how to make jiaozi. So, like the others, I was starting from scratch not only in terms of ingredients but also in skill set.

I'm very good at eating dumplings. But I'm not very astute at making them, as I discovered at the recent competition of nine foreign journalists hosted by the Shangri-La Hotel, Beijing. The event would air on Beijing TV's Lifestyle Channel in early February.