The Scandal of Real Food

Feb. 5th, 2021 | By Bradley Yam SY ‘21

Acccording to a Chinese idiom 割股疗亲, there is an ancient Chinese myth that a filial son can cure his parent’s diseases by cutting off meat from his leg and feeding it to them. Over time, the idiom has come to represent filial piety. This practice might seem superstitious, medieval, even barbaric to us, but it says something about the hierarchy of value in ancient Chinese society.