Chinese Feast on Holiday Dinner : Thanksgiving: Exchange students are puzzled by cranberries, but enjoy special meal served at a church.

The woks sizzled as cooks stir-fried corn and carrots in the parish kitchen Friday night. Volunteers scooped the vegetables onto paper plates with a generous serving of pork-fried rice and a steaming bowl of winter melon soup to round out the meal.

And, of course, there were turkey and cranberries. After all, this was a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, even if it came a day late.

For their first Thanksgiving meal, 74 Chinese exchange students and their eight teachers feasted on almost-typical holiday fare. Though many of them had never eaten turkey before, and the cranberries seemed to mystify them, there were few leftovers. Hungry junior high schoolers don’t leave many scraps.

The students, part of the first large-scale exchange program between mainland China and the Los Angeles Unified School District, were the guests of the Chinese Christian Alliance Church in Northridge, whose members hoped the dinner would help the children understand the importance of Thanksgiving in the Unites States.

“We want to tell them the meaning of Thanksgiving,” said pastor Fred D. Khong. “We come together once a year to give thanks to God. Everything we have we owe to the creator.”

The meal came only four days after one of the students, Bin-Feng Zheng, 12, was killed after being struck by a car while crossing a street outside his Woodland Hills apartment building.

The Rev. Khong saw the dinner as an opportunity to reach out to the students.

“The tragedy has happened and we’ll try to help them,” said Khong. “They’re all asking about life and death. We will gather in groups after dinner to help them see the meaning of life. But we will not focus on the tragedy. The focus tonight is on the meaning of Thanksgiving.”

After a dessert of raspberry-swirl ice cream and an Oreo cookie, the children watched as Khong, Esther Wong and the Rev. Andy Ching acted in a brief skit that explained the history of Thanksgiving celebrations.

Khong played the part of a journalist interviewing two pilgrims.

“Why did you come to this country?” Khong asked.

“We are in search of religious freedom,” replied Ching.

“Where did you get your food?” Khong queried.

“The Indians offered us roast turkey and corn,” answered Wong.

“It’s a very interesting holiday,” said Sun Yi Qian, who also goes by the nickname Marty. “There is no such holiday in China. This is the first time I’ve tasted turkey and it’s quite tasty.”

He said there is a similar but more boisterous celebration during the Chinese New Year, when family members come together for feasts and parties. “It’s an opportunity for family reunion and to share the happiness,” he said.

And in the spirit of the American holiday, Yi Qian said he, too, had many things to be thankful for, including his parents, whom he hoped to make proud, and the opportunity to learn about American traditions while studying in the United States.

Cousins Chu Ching Bing and Chu Jer Bing, who have adopted the names John and Fred, respectively, were busy trying to translate the names of the Thanksgiving dishes into Chinese on their pocket-sized electronic translator. On either side of the tiny device’s screen, Chinese and English characters spelled out “cranberries.”

At the press of a button, the computer burped out the English pronunciation, which the boys quickly and adroitly mimicked.

After games of Simon Says and Pictionary, the students gathered in the church to sing “A Turkey Song:”

“If God can love a turkey, God can love you,” they sang. “You are a turkey, but I am one, too.”