, Columnist
Tension Boils Over Spilled Noodles in China: Adam Minter
This article is for subscribers only.
Fifteen years after political reunification, a skirmish over spilled, instant noodles has shown how far the citizens of Hong Kong and mainland China have to go before they can unify socially.
Sometime last week, a mainland child, yet to be named, was traveling with her mother, also yet to be named, on a Hong Kong subway train. The child was eating dry noodles in the train car and spilled a few on the floor. Eating is prohibited in Hong Kong’s subway cars, and several Hong Kong locals, harboring a serious passion for subway protocol, scolded the little girl and her mother.