Like most peoples, Chinese are very proud of their customs:

"...shaving your baby’s hair to make a calligraphy brush; and when she turns a year old, having her grab an object from a selection of different items (i.e. a pen, coins, an official seal and toys) in a ceremony known as zhua zhou (抓周) to help eager parents foresee their child’s future career path."

Apart from making a brush out of the hair, this ritual is eerily similar to “taierea motului” in Romania. And this is just one example of many customs that are considered unique.

Traditional food suffers from the same problem. About a month ago a Chinese colleague of mine invited me to have some traditional Chinese food. It consisted of a soup made with bread (not soup in a bread bowl, but just bread as an ingredient). This soup was not unlike Zuppa Gallurese, a traditional Sardinian dish. After the soup came some “bread, stuffed with mutton”. Again, this traditional Chinese dish turned out to be very similar to Shoarma (or Shaorma, or, I kid you not, I’ve even seen it spelled Shawarma).

How can people be proud of anything? The more you travel, the more it turns out we’re all the same.