Letters to the Editor
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saving face
dogs are eaten here, too (in my part of china). and they're served in restaurants that westerners also eat in. and they're served at tables with westerners present. i have been at many a meal where the local and delicious food is not to my liking. but there is *always* a plentiful amount of other things on the table to choose from. the author's major faux pas was to make a statement of value judgment against his host. and have it translated. just as he said it.
i, too, think the author was reaching just a little when he said his playmate was strung up and presented to him, freshly gutted. i've had live chickens/ducks presented to me as gifts (in my home), but then taken away to be, um, prepared. it's freshness at its most fresh. and that's an honor.
in restaurants or banquets, though, the only thing i've seen presented alive are the fish.