On Chinese dining etiquette...

With the Chinese ascent in economic might and all the talk that the coming decades will be all red rising, so it seems that everything Chinese are in vogue. First, there's this rage about why Chinese mothers are superior (I'll write more on that, and its absurdity), and now gwei-lo wants to learn manners at a Chinese dining table.

Which is all well and good. Afterall, it's always good to be cross-cultural and understand more from other cultures. I'm all for it. What irks me sometimes, is how people (particularly people like Amy Chua and some such) who would abuse the obvious lack of understanding on everything Chinese by the other countries, snap some outrageous headline-wrapping titles with the word "Chinese" in it, and call themselves an expert. These people not only cheapens the Chinese culture, but have done a huge disservice for fellow Chinese (not the least, keeping alive stereotypes that others have tried to hard to shatter).

Compared to Chua, the article on the five Chinese dining etiquette I read today seems almost harmless. Afterall, if you're a gwei-lo, Chinese would not mind it at all if you flip the fish on the plate. But perhaps one thing that is missing is that, nowhere does it mention, that these etiquette universal in China at all. Much as the vast cultural difference even within the yanks and the deep south in America, so too is the food, culture and even etiquette from across China. What is mentioned in that article should be labeled as southern China - or more appropriately, Hong Kong Chinese - dining manner. Hong Kong started out as a fishing port more than a century ago, that's why the etiquette on eating fish (and treating it right, even as they're sitting on the plate to serve as your food) is so important. So are the fingers knocking during tea pouring, and others.

But, would anyone care to add clarification to that? Probably not. Afterall, Hong Kong is now part of China, and everything is supposed to be under one big auspice of Chinese style. But to think that there is one universal style that is Chinese, it's totally naive and ignorant.

Which is exactly what Chua has done. Hers is arguably worse, because she's not even born in the East. She's just a freaking hypocrite who writes in a loud way to get attention, and once she succeeds in that, she wants to backpedal for her own self-image.

There is a colloquial saying in Cantonese (ie. Hong Kong, to be exact), that one can do loud things to get attention. The exact wordings are, to be "out of steps" (or stepping out from others' steps). Chua most certainly did that, but with all of my despise, as a mother, as a Chinese born and raised in Hong Kong, and swim in the Chinese culture.

PS: I can't believe I morph from talking about dining etiquette to Chua again. :)