Dear laowai, don't mess with our Chinese-ness - China Daily Article

Both 鸡屁股 and 鸡臀部 can be used!

Btw, what's the chinese name of the chicken's "backside" (le croupion) ? 鸡屁股, 鸡臀部 or something more specific ?

As this muscle is a delicacy in many cultures, it should have a specific name in chinese cuisine.

Agreed. Incidentally, have you ever eaten chicken necks (鸡脖子)?

thanks chanelle for the link;a great read and refreshing to hear.

it's too bad she had to come out and say that it was all a joke. Even now, some of the comments to the follow-up article are all upset about the entire thing. The original article probably hit too close to home even as a joke.

Maybe in China one day, someone will publish "The Sea Cucumber, China's Finest News Source". I'm looking forward to headlines like, "Area Man changes name from Zhang to Andersson to get to the head of the Alphabet".

"It was all a joke"

here the follow up article from the China Daily.

When you have to eat dubious raw oysters, just squeeze plenty of lemon on it (or use 白酒) and hope it will do "the trick". ;o)

It takes a great deal of courage to eat raw oysters in China, from the standpoint of food sanitation.

FYI, I can now access the page of Chinadaily's article :

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2010-01/12/content_9303041.htm

must have been something in the format of the material you copied and pasted I suppose then.

I have no idea. Actually, I was also surprised by the wider column here. ;o)

kimiik,

How did you make the column wider?

Tripe is a popular Cantonese dim sum item.

Yummy! Sea cucumbers sound just like Jellied Eels. You Chinese should try some Tripe before you think all westerners are squeamish about their diet. But I'm a bit miffed that we don't have the same tolerance for arson over here. Please don't kill those of us who are just trying to join in with the general merriment; we've sent out the gun-boats before, and we'll do it again.

I think you're just worried that the white man will come over there, steal your women, take your jobs and move in next door to you, forcing the price of your property down and making your life a misery with all the loud music and partying.

I hope, I'm truly thrilled if there is someone on the inside satirizing these xenophobic and racist attitudes. I wonder if they'll get it.

I think like most good satire, it touches upon truth. She was talking about how Chinese people tend to feel, but not condoning the attitude. And like most good satire, some people entirely miss the point. Had she seriously had a problem with westerners using fireworks she would (I hope) have focused on the fact that to westerners it is all fun and games, but to Chinese people there are serious religious and cultural implications. But instead she chose to state that Chinese people were more serious about their dangerous frivolity. In my opinion.

On the other hand, the target audience of this paper, I was told consists mainly of high school and college students on the mainland, who would not understand this satire. In which case,it would be making fun of their audience. Is that possible? Maybe the alternative is more possible, which isn't far-fetched since even if the article is a little blatant and slightly exaggerated it is definitely reflective of very real, and common attitudes.

I thought it was funny from the first paragraph, but an indicator of the joke that the writer was making on her side was the indirect reference to the CCTV fire (here's the link:

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-02/11/content_7465570.htm

that happened about a year or two ago. This is the section:

we Chinese have great tolerance for fireworks; it's one night when you can do some damage and get away with it. For example, you can burn a building down, a brand new building, with stuff in it. How can you comprehend that level of generosity?

So I took it as firmly tongue in cheek, but i could be wrong.

I find it very hard to believe it would be serious. The comments are hardly a good indicator; after all, the people who don't realize it's a joke are the ones that are offended and are thus more likely to comment. Look at the YouTube comments on the videos from The Onion (if you're not in China, of course). They're full of people thinking it's for real.

oh really? it may be serious? I was surprised when people were questioning whether it was a joke or not.It certainly struck me as something written with the intention of being funny and not serious at all.It sounded almost childish and playful the way some humour can be pitched.I didn't read the replies though of those who may have been more familiar with the context or the other reference.I guess I better take another look.

Yeah, I know they exist. I guess you are right. Still, I am skeptical for the same reason as what you wrote in your last sentence.

perhaps personally, but I've met multiple native Chinese people with English at native-level, including a flawless American accent. anyway, these people also happen to be too enlightened to have written such an article in earnest.