Westerners eat their phlegm
A Chinese farmer, in his eighties, complains about the rapid pace of westernisation in the country. He thinks China ought to be selective in adopting western culture confessing he has never been to Mcdonald’s or Starbucks. He believes burgers and coffee are bad for his digestive system.
He also believes the worst habit from the west is eating one’s own phlegm.“Do you know what western people do with their phlegm?” smoke billowing from his bamboo pipe.
“I was told they clear their throat, and then silently eat the phlegm” squinting his eyes adding more wrinkles to his weathered face.
“I find that habit vile” loudly clearing his throat and spitting the contents into a porcelain spittoon. As far as the farmer was concerned, he could never eat his own phlegm and the only civilised way to rid his mucus was to spit it out.
Deng would often expectorate loudly into a spittoon….
During the historic meeting in 1982 between Deng Xioping and Margaret Thatcher, Deng would often expectorate loudly into a spittoon strategically placed between them. In the polluted Beijing air, Margaret Thatcher was reported to have caught a cold and in the duration of the entire meeting coughed to clear her throat and politely swallowed her phlegm. She never used the spittoon. I wonder what Deng’s thought would be.
Had she used the spittoon and not swallowed her phlegm would the course of history change? Would she have kept British sovereignty over Hong Kong for another 150 years as Mrs Thatcher would have connected with Deng through the practice of communal spitting? Instead, she conceded to handing Hong Kong back to the Chinese in 1997, swallowing her last bit of mucus before she left the meeting.
In today’s global community, to expectorate loudly and openly is considered uncivilised not to mention unhealthy. To the west, it’s considered vile, a habit that is bred out of their children at a very young age.
What then is the alternative?
There are only two options, silently and in private spitting, the phlegm out OR simply swallowing it. Most would choose the latter as place and time often does not permit doing the former. The problem is, close to 1.4 billion people in the world find swallowing one’s phlegm vile and this Chinese farmer is one of them.
What then do we do? Lose the sovereignty of a nation or just do what the masses do and simply spit it out? The decision is up to you.
