How much should one give in a Wedding Hong Bao?

[Strong Eagle]

Yep, all the Chinese weddings in the restaurants, Malay in the open community space below the HDB blockhouses or community centers, but also one recently in the restaurant - looked very different from the Chinese though, Indian, one only so not a representative sample - IIRC, in some temple-attached facilities space. I must say I enjoy very much the Malay ones, the traditional outfits, the drummers etc. Chinese are to me too much Westernized, probably because for the guests like myself it is only a reception not the real wedding. The Indian wedding I attended was also very traditional.

Yeah the drummers and the 'theatre' that goes with it is really cool! I've been the groom's attendant on two occasions (yeah, the guy with on stage with the fan lol. Both in KL, in hotels). Especially when they have the, er, 'dance troupe' that goes with the drumming with the fighting horses and so on!

I've ridden the motorcycle escort brigade for a Malay wedding. The groom had a big bike and thought it would be cool to have an escort. About 30 of us bikers obliged, and were treated to good food, and for this ang mo, an opportunity to see a Malay wedding from beginning to end. Good stuff.

[JR8]

Yep, all the Chinese weddings in the restaurants, Malay in the open community space below the HDB blockhouses or community centers, but also one recently in the restaurant - looked very different from the Chinese though, Indian, one only so not a representative sample - IIRC, in some temple-attached facilities space. I must say I enjoy very much the Malay ones, the traditional outfits, the drummers etc. Chinese are to me too much Westernized, probably because for the guests like myself it is only a reception not the real wedding. The Indian wedding I attended was also very traditional.

Yeah the drummers and the 'theatre' that goes with it is really cool! I've been the groom's attendant on two occasions (yeah, the guy with on stage with the fan lol. Both in KL, in hotels). Especially when they have the, er, 'dance troupe' that goes with the drumming with the fighting horses and so on!

I've ridden the motorcycle escort brigade for a Malay wedding. The groom had a big bike and thought it would be cool to have an escort. About 30 of us bikers obliged, and were treated to good food, and for this ang mo, an opportunity to see a Malay wedding from beginning to end. Good stuff.

Nice. Wonder what the locals (by-standers that you passed) would make of a Hog-squad going by! Terror what hor?

[Wind In My Hair]

Chinese are to me too much Westernized, probably because for the guests like myself it is only a reception not the real wedding.

Yes you're right. The traditional tea ceremony takes place usually before the big dinner, and is attended only by family and relatives. The couple kneel and offer tea to their parents and older relatives, who in turn give blessings in the form of angpow or gold.

The dinner is quite westernised in terms of dress, but the menu (cold dish, sharks fin soup etc) and yamseng (Chinese version of a toast, which is yelled at the top of the lungs) are quite non-western.

[JR8]

Chinese are to me too much Westernized, probably because for the guests like myself it is only a reception not the real wedding.

Yes you're right. The traditional tea ceremony takes place usually before the big dinner, and is attended only by family and relatives. The couple kneel and offer tea to their parents and older relatives, who in turn give blessings in the form of angpow or gold.

The dinner is quite westernised in terms of dress, but the menu (cold dish, sharks fin soup etc) and yamseng (Chinese version of a toast, which is yelled at the top of the lungs) are quite non-western.

Shark fin... ugh!
Do me a favour and watch this, and then tell me you'll eat it again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0qkr2cIe5c
'What shark finning looks like'

[Wind In My Hair]

Shark fin... ugh!
Do me a favour and watch this, and then tell me you'll eat it again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0qkr2cIe5c
'What shark finning looks like'

I've seen those before, and yes it's cruel. I wouldn't order sharks fin soup myself, but if it's part of a pre-ordered wedding dinner and already in a bowl in front of me, then it makes no difference to the poor shark whether I eat it or not right? If I felt strongly against it I should lobby the couple during the planning stage to ask them not to order sharks fin. So should you.

By the way, I hope you don't eat caviar. Or chicken. Or bacon. You have to be consistent about these things, you know.

[sundaymorningstaple]

By the way, I hope you don't eat caviar. Or chicken. Or bacon. You have to be consistent about these things, you know.

Bit of a difference I'd say. Today caviar is harvested surgically and the fish is kept alive to produce again. Chicken or bacon? didn't know we only cut off the legs and threw them back in the yard or sty. Now frog-legs I could agree with although I believe you have some Chinese dishes that consume the whole frog (if that's the case it okay). But none are amputated and thrown back into the wild still alive.

[Strong Eagle]

By the way, I hope you don't eat caviar. Or chicken. Or bacon. You have to be consistent about these things, you know.

Bit of a difference I'd say. Today caviar is harvested surgically and the fish is kept alive to produce again. Chicken or bacon? didn't know we only cut off the legs and threw them back in the yard or sty. Now frog-legs I could agree with although I believe you have some Chinese dishes that consume the whole frog (if that's the case it okay). But none are amputated and thrown back into the wild still alive.

I dunno, SMS... I found this on the Internet... it must be true.

[Wind In My Hair]

Bit of a difference I'd say. Today caviar is harvested surgically and the fish is kept alive to produce again. Chicken or bacon? didn't know we only cut off the legs and threw them back in the yard or sty.

I don't deny throwing the shark back into the sea is cruel - those fishermen should be humane enough to at least kill the sharks outright, like they do chickens and pigs. Still, I find it just as cruel to keep a chicken (or pig) cooped all its life just to be fattened and killed. And I can't imagine being kept alive just to have my eggs regularly harvested. If you want to be kind, you have to be kind to all animals. My simplistic view anyway.

[sundaymorningstaple]

A domestic animal, raised for the table is a different animal than a grand magnificent animal like a free roaming shark, only to be murdered & tortured for some cartilage to throw in some stock as soup. That's why there are bag limits for wild turkeys in the us but domestic turkeys abound on farms. Two different sets of animal husbandry rules apply here. But, enough of that. Each to their own. I don't eat sharks fin either (except, in circumstances as you have pointed out). As far as eating wild animals is concerned, if the aren't on the endangered species lists, and there is a open hunting season I'll harvest for the table and no more.

[JR8]

Well as SMS says, there is a difference between farmed and wild animals.

Would I eat fin soup put down in front of me at a meal? No chance, I'd politely decline it. It is a pointless foodstuff anyway, it's collagen that you can't even digest. About as intelligent as eating tiger willy and drinking bear's bile.

And that is beside the cruelty that goes into getting it. Plus, per the discussion of wild versus farmed, sharks are the apex predators of the marine ecosystem, if they're taken out the whole chain collapses, as is happening in many areas (example: the Mediteranian Sea, totally fished out).

I'm no heart on the sleeve eco-nut, but couple the cruelty, pointlessness, and damage done to the environment... and it really is 'me me me' short sightedness. That dismays rather than surprises me.

[Wind In My Hair]

Ok guys, I can do links too. Read this and tell me honestly that it's not cruel to rear chicken, pigs and cows for food. At least the sharks lived most of their lives in wild, beautiful glory. Farmed food animals don't even get that.

http://factoidz.com/millions-of-animals ... -and-beef/

[JR8]

There can be cruelty in farming of those animals but...

1) None of them are endangered species
2) Farming them does not prejudice any ecosystem
3) The resulting meat produced provides economical nutrition to a large proportion of the population

[Wind In My Hair]

There can be cruelty in farming of those animals but...

1) None of them are endangered species
2) Farming them does not prejudice any ecosystem
3) The resulting meat produced provides economical nutrition to a large proportion of the population

Fair points. So cruelty is not the real issue, is it.

[Plavt]

Animals born and bred in captivity would for the most part not survive in the wild, their only purpose is to produce or become food. What most people find more horrifying is the greed of individuals and companies that feed the animals no end of anti-biotics and other rubbish that may or may not ultimately have an effect on humans CJD for example.

[JR8]

There can be cruelty in farming of those animals but...

1) None of them are endangered species
2) Farming them does not prejudice any ecosystem
3) The resulting meat produced provides economical nutrition to a large proportion of the population

Fair points. So cruelty is not the real issue, is it.

Nice try.

Farming and slaughthouse practises are regulated to what are generally accepted standards. If cruelty sometimes occurs, which I accept it does, that is humans erring, and not a part of the intended cycle of production.

A lot of shark fishing is illegal, the fishermen don't care for welfare one iota.

Do you supoort such blatant cruelty to provide a foostuff of zero nutritional value?

p.s. Anyone who does not like the ethics of intensively raised meat is at liberty to buy free range products. How many people do you know that exercise that choice?