双语 | 10大外国人无法理解的中国奇怪习俗，你知道几个？
No. 1 Whisking eggs with chopsticks .
用筷子打蛋，那打蛋器是做什么用的？
Chopsticks are not your ordinary cooking utensils, they're Chinese people's favorite tool in the kitchen. They are extremely versatile – apart from being used to shovel food into your mouth, they're great for stirring boiling food, deep-frying something, flipping stakes when grilling... and beating eggs as well! And the reason being? One explanation is, chopsticks offer more precision and allow more flexibility. Plus, they come in handy! Why dirty more utensils then? Now you know why there's no place for egg beaters in a Chinese kitchen.
Here's the problem: you may have to take out all other utensils to get the one you need when you cook. Isn't that annoying? So why are we doing that? Well, it's an innovative way to save room in the kitchen. Since an oven takes up a lot of space, why not fill its spacious interior with cooking tools, most of which stand idle anyway, as you only use one or two at a time?
This is also called 'the first knuckle method': place your index finger on the levelled surface of the rice which has been poured into a pot or a rice cooker before adding water until it reaches your first knuckle. This may seem puzzling to Westerners who prefer using measuring cups. 'How inaccurate!', you may suspect. But believe it or not, it works! Chinese People have been cooking rice for several thousand years, long before cup measurements and electric rice cookers were invented. If you want to find out how reliable this method is, test it out yourself!
Almost in every Chinese household, there's a drawer or cupboard where stashes of used plastic grocery bags are kept. This may be a unique way of recycling plastic bags for the Chinese. They can be either turned into trash bin liners or used for other household needs.
As you know, it's good manners to remove your shoes before entering someone's home in China. So it's no wonder such spectacular array of shoes is created when visitors are abound. This scene may not be seen on a daily basis, as there's normally shoe cupboard at the front entrance of every home. However, don't be taken aback if you do see it!
If you see a biscuit container in a Chinese home, don't try to open it in glee, because most likely it's a sewing box in disguise! Many Chinese people, especially the older generations, have the habit of keeping old biscuit boxes as storage boxes, which are used to store stuff like sewing kits, jewelries and other odd items. This is also a great way to recycle used package boxes!
I bet many Chinese have at least one of those pajamas with cartoon patterns, some along with suspicious English words like 'dnly' and 'iphoe' printed on them. Don't ask me why this has become popular – we're also wondering!
Have cravings for ice-cream? Fine. Just don't open the ice-cream box in the fridge because it's used to keep raw chicken legs! Like the transformed sewing box, the same principle applies. So don't be surprised to find ice-cream boxes in different sizes in the fridge of a Chinese's home. Each is used to keep different foodstuff!
You may have come across this strange pose at some tourist attractions in China. Why this posture is 'universal' among parents while taking photos of their child remains a myth to us, too.
This is big no-no. Children in China who dare do this will be scolded by adults, for it's associated with funeral, where a bowl of rice is left with two chopsticks standing vertically in the center. Bear this in mind if you visit a Chinese family.