A short YouTube monologue by Chris Collins (uploaded July 29, 2025) in the series 'Books That Changed My Life' featuring Michele Wong McSween and a reading from The Joy Luck Club. The speaker reads a humorous passage about 'Chinese torture' and comments on cultural pride and stereotypes, noting amusement at the line 'We do torture best torture.'
This exchange is pretty funny in the book. Okay, about torture. I asked her. Ma, what is Chinese torture? My mother shook her head. A bobby pin was wedged between her lips. She wetted her palm and smoothed the hair against my ear, then pushed the pin in so that it nicked sharply against my scalp. I remember those days. Who say this word? She asked with a trace of knowing how wicked I was being. I shrugged my shoulders and said, some boy in my class said Chinese people do Chinese torture. Chinese people do many things, she said simply. Chinese people do business, do medicine, do painting. Not lazy like American people. We do torture best torture.
I actually tag this because we take pride in doing things the best no matter what it is. I cracked up when I read that. Okay, yes, we call this torture, but we do it best way.
