While I was in Guilin, a medium sized city in Guangxi province, I befriended a middle-aged tourist from Singapore by the name of John. Ethnically Chinese, John spoke Mandarin fluently and had traveled extensively throughout China.

After a day of sightseeing with John in Guilin, he took me to a relatively upscale Chinese restaurant located in the heart of the tourist quarter. When John found out that I was a strict vegetarian, we began a conversation about the exoticism of Chinese cuisine - in particular, the diverse dishes normally offered at most Chinese restaurants.

Tongue in Cheek, John said “Chinese people eat anything moves.” Although this is a popular stereotype about Chinese people, it does have some basis in reality. Traditionally, Chinese people have a considerably more diverse and exotic diet than Westerners; the diet includes a greater variety of protein matter – including fried insects and grub, turtles, snakes, sharks, civets as well other mammals and wild animals – in addition to aphrodisiacs which often consist of the sexual organs and body parts of certain animals.

Usually you will have to go to a Gourmet Chinese restaurant in order to have the some of the more exotic dishes.

Rather than being critical about the Culinary Culture of Chinese people, let’s just say there are significant cultural differences between the West and the East.

Back to the story at hand – I had some delicious vegetarian food at the restaurant while John and the taxi driver devoured some very exotic seafood dishes. After making his selection from the menu, John was invited into the back room of the restaurant to choose which fish would be killed for his meal.

After finishing our dinner, we walked outside the restaurant where we saw a variety of animals in cages – civets, turtles, snakes and some rather exotic and large fishes in an aquarium. All these creatures were waiting to be selected and carved up for someone’s meal. Fortunately, I didn’t see any dogs, monkeys or bats in cages, otherwise I may have gotten sick.

It should be noted that most Chinese restaurants do not normally supply napkins to their customers. Upon request, they will provide a set of napkins for 5 yuan (75 cents USD).

The following opinion is deemed not to be prejudicial but emphasizes the cultural differences between Chinese and American cultures as seen by a westerner

I learned a lot about Chinese Culture during my brief visit to Mainland China. My education started on the flight between Bangkok and Guangzhou.

Several Chinese people were having a conversation on the plane, however they were a couple of rows apart and their voices were very loud. Unfortunately I was caught in the crossfire so to speak.

Needless to say, their loud, booming voices gave me a headache. On my subsequent flights within China, the same scenario happened.

Lesson 1: Chinese people have very loud voices and having a conversation with someone several rows away on a plane is considered acceptable

My education continued at Guangzhou Airport. I walked inside an airport café and while looking for an empty table, I observed three Chinese men smoking cigarettes at a table by the window. One of the gentlemen had a hacking cough and proceeded to spit on the floor of the café not only once but three times.

As proof this was not an aberration, later on during my trip while traveling on a public bus, the same thing happened. Several men had hacking coughs - I presume they were smokers- and they proceeded to spit on the floor of the bus.

Lesson 2: Spitting in public places is acceptable in Chinese culture

During my 9 days in China, I observed that over 50% of the men smoke cigarettes and most of them are heavy smokers with a couple of packs a day habit. Due to their heavy smoking, many of the men have a hacking cough – symptoms of bronchitis.

Lesson 3: Smoking among men in China is the norm - In Chinese culture, smoking is considered a good way to make friends

Despite the obvious cultural differences and language difficulties, I found that Chinese people are very friendly and hospitable to Western visitors.