Taken from the Blog of an "African Chinese Guy" who had his very own 'Bizarre Foods' Experience!
I always wondered why in parts of China and surrounding areas that people would eat just about anything. Now I finally know. It's because "Big eaters win" (Kingston, 90). There's a sense of pride and triumph associated with eating, and there are people who eat a lot as means for training (Sumo Wrestlers)! Hence, eating is a means of indicating strength in these areas. The narrator's family has taken part in this, "My mother has cooked for us: raccoons, skunks, hawks, city pigeons, wild ducks, wild geese, black-skinned bantams, snakes, garden snails, turtles..., and catfish," plus the mother used to say, "The emperors [would] eat the peaked hump of purple dromedaries... They used chopsticks made from rhinoceros horn, and they ate ducks' tongues and monkeys' lips" (Kingston, 90). I was utterly shocked by this revelation, but it has settled one of my curiosities that had been developing for a very, very long time. Thank you, Maxine!
A small Bizarre Foods Excerpt!
I've also been curious about how Asian people, especially Chinese people, always have so much discipline. What forces do these individuals draw their power from? I, for one, am extremely curious and skeptical as to how one person can get so focused upon a single mundane task like sitting. I could sit maybe for an entire hour, at most, without moving, but Brave Orchid is the grand master of discipline in that area. I mean she is about sixty-eight at this point, so I guess she's conserving energy, but the act is still amazing! And not only that, "Brave Orchid would add her will power to the forces that keep an airplane up. Her head hurt with the concentration" (Kingston, 113). It's absolutely amazing the kind of things people with such intense discipline and focus can be capable of. I mean it's not physically possible, but how amazing is that will-power and self-confidence that allows her to truly believe in herself! And she had been doing it for a while, "She had already been waiting at the airport for nine hours. She was wakeful" (Kingston, 113). Such will power is extraordinary. Kingston has helped clear up a lot for me and for that I am thankful!
Self-Confidence!
At least now I can walk about Austin or wherever and talk about some aspects of Chinese beliefs with some frankness and modesty. Before this clarification, I would just imagine up all sorts of reasons as to why people just north of my birth-country (India) had some questionable eating habits, but now I know. And I also understand how self-confidence and a 'mind over matter' attitude can go a far and very long way. I'm impressed by the latter characteristic; it's one that I desire to have within myself as well. The next question I need to answered is 'How to do that?' Hopefully, Kingston can show me the answer to that as well!
Book-Citation (MLA format):
"Kingston, Maxine. The Woman Warrior. Vintage International. New York: Random House, Inc., 1989. 90 & 113. Print."
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