How do you answer this question? For my part I know it's actually a greeting that simply means 'hi' but still every time I hear it I answer according to it's literal meaning, ie. "Hai mei you" or "Zhunbei chi" or "Xiexie, wo chile hen da de yige bisa he yidian bingqilin, dan wo chile tai duo. Xianzai jiu xiang outu. Ni ne?" I'm not much of one for routine pleasantries and instruct my students to never answer the question "How are you?" with "I'm fine thank you, and you?" but to opt instead for "I've got a dicky tummy" or "Not great, my dog's just died" or anything to break from the normal pattern of tedium that such routine answers invoke.

  And while we're on the subject of rice and routine, is it 'really' necessary to say 'Chi fan' at EVERY meal? My father-in-law (a lovely man) says it like a nervous tic. There are about four smoking dishes of food laid out on the table and a steaming pot of rice the size of a tractor tire in the middle, and i'm looking straight at them, with no mystery as to what we are about to do next, but sure as eggs is eggs, he sits down and says it like we were waiting for instruction. It's really the most glaring example of obsessive compulsive behaviour. I swear to God, i'd kiss the man if just once he'd sit down and say instead, "You lot, f**k off, i'm gonna have dinner."