The Chinese love for char siu is strong – so strong, in fact, that frustrated parents often resort to hollering, “Giving birth to char siu is better than giving birth to you”. The not-so-subtle meaning of the phrase is that a slab of barbecued pork would be infinitely better than their disappointing offspring. It is a Cantonese phrase that the Singapore outpost of the popular Crystal Jade restaurant chain latched onto for a promotion to celebrate Parents’ Day in the Lion City.
The restaurant is offering a free plate of char siu on selected days in June if diners bring their parents and have them recite the phrase – “ ” in Cantonese – in front of staff. In a promotional video on the restaurant’s social media platforms, a stern mother scolds her daughter for never picking up her phone, and for always leaving the house early and returning late. “Giving birth to char siu is better than giving birth to you,” she says, unhappily.
“At least char siu is nice to eat!” A plate of barbecued pork arrives on the table and the daughter sweetly places a piece in her mother’s bowl. The video ends with the phrase “be better than a char siew”. While clearly meant to be tongue in cheek, Crystal Jade’s use of the phrase has seen it roasted by internet users, who called the ad demeaning; some suggested its marketing staff should be sacked.
Others leapt to their defence, pointing out that the phrase is in common use and “super funny”, and that although Cantone.