[Zhang Fei]

[I think the people of China are more vulnerable because of a couple of decades of exposure to air pollution from coal-fired power plants and the fact many Chinese are notorious heavy smokers of cigarettes.]

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I gotta wonder if the communal dining using chopsticks without intermediate utensils like serving spoons or ladles is a factor. I’ve seen a Chinese acquaintance lick morsels off his chopsticks, presumably to clean them the way a cat would lick its paws. I think that’s the moral equivalent of double-dipping at a salad bar. Maybe I’m overly-sensitive, but that can’t be hygienic.

[catnipman]

“I gotta wonder if the communal dining using chopsticks without intermediate utensils like serving spoons or ladles is a factor.”

yeah, i saw that too (and obviously participated in communal dining that way as well) when i was in the PRC in the early 80’s, and in the really poor provinces we were served civit because it was all they had ... but what can you do? when in rome ...

(i also flew on PRC airlines then as well, and you talk about becoming fatalistic ... just think about how it feels to be sealed up in an aluminum rocket manufactured by the russians and operated by the PRC forty years ago ...)