Different For Chinese

As I was looking through my old columns from South China Morning Post trying to get some other newspaper gigs (do newspapers even exist anymore?) I found the above story from Norway.
Allowed only 450 words I couldn’t quite cover all the things the guy said about all the things that are only for Chinese people (Chinese cooking, Chinese eating (unless with forks), Chinese language, characters… pretty much the whole thing, except swinging around to look at the Great Wall occasionally, perhaps).

Of course that was nothing I haven’t heard a hundred times before, even, no, especially in Hong Kong: “wow, you can even go to the market”! but I have to wonder why it’s “of course I eat sandwiches every day, but you’re not supposed to even know about gong bao chicken, that’s for Chinese!”. Is the brainwashing from young about Chinese things being hidden, special, protected and only for Chinese (or so inferior/superior that only Chinese could possibly be interested in/understand them) so pervasive? Or maybe they’ve all read Rudyard Kipling’s poem about East is East and decided, once and for all, it was true?

I’ve been hearing the same for 27 years from probably 85% of all strangers I’ve ever talked to, so it can’t be a one-off.

As usual, if Caucasians told any of those things to Chinese living in western countries, there’d be a trotting down to the magistrate’s court like you’ve never seen.

南華早報 – Laam Wah Jou Bou (SCMP)
三文治 – Saam man ji (sandwich)
中餐 – Jung chan (Chinese food)

Talking of Chinese food – book a dinner at my Sichuan restaurant today! Minimum 6, maximum 18 people.