The humble watermelon。 The epitome of summer。
But how do you know if it’s perfectly ripe? Well, one theory is that if you
knock hard on the outside, the sound you hear will help determine if it’s ready
to eat。
That theory lead to a huge online debate in China about what kind of people
engaged in the art of ’watermelon knocking’?
这种办法在中国网上引起了热烈的讨论,哪里的人才懂得“敲西瓜”的技巧?
The discussion, which thousands of people contributed to on the Chinese
micro blogging site Sina Weibo, was kicked off by an obscure event thousands of
miles away in Italy。
远隔万里的意大利发生了一件令人费解的事件,引起了成千上万中国人在新浪微博上的讨论。
It all began when a Chinese social media user posted the picture below of a
sign in an Italian supermarket asking customers not to knock on the watermelons。
The sign was stuck in a crate full of watermelons which read: “please stop
knocking on the watermelons, they will not respond to it!”
There is no indication that the supermarket was targeting this message at
customers with Chinese heritage。 The sign was in Italian not Mandarin。 But
somehow it was taken as an attack on a practice which some Chinese observers
regarded as being unique to their national customs。
According to What’s On Weibo, the photo was widely shared after Chinese
media outlets reported that the notice was aimed directly at Chinese customers。
But some social media users were quick to establish that the art of knocking
watermelons is not exclusive to China and is in fact universal。 The viral photo
was originally posted by a user on Weibo who calls himself ’Isolated Guardian’。
He is allegedly a Chinese man living in Milan。 The photo has since been removed
from his page。
据What’s On
Weibo称,一些中国媒体认为牌子上的警告是针对中国顾客,之后这张照片在网上被频频转发。但是一些网友很快表示,并不只是中国人敲西瓜,很多其他国家也使用这个小技巧。这张广为传播的照片最初是由一名微博账号为“孤岛守护者“的网友发布的。据称,他是一位生活在米兰的中国人,已经将照片从微博上删除。
The topic of watermelons is another example of how some people in China are
concerned about how they are perceived around the world。 Recently, China’s
foreign ministry denied reports that Chinese food companies were canning human
flesh and selling it in Africa as corned beef。 The K Zambian tabloid ACHEPA has
since issued an apology。 Chinese tourists were also under fire from a model in
Thailand who accused them of stepping on her feet and pushing their way to the
front of the line。 She also blamed them for dirty airport toilets。
Chinese social media users are keen to address and restore their reputation
online。 Online users are keen to show they know better, especially on the
subject of watermelons。