Five entities which are considered Chinese but are actually not!!

With rising tensions between India and China, which are nuclear power states, fastest-growing economics, developing and whatnot, we have seen a rise in social media wave of hatred and rivalry. This wave is calling out and trending twitter hashtags and stories calling out for a boycott of Chinese products, good and services which is a farse idea. Amidst all these many of companies and goods have already fallen under the soup for their alleged Chinese links. Even Indian companies are being forced to show their patriotic/nationalistic feelings by making them show 100% Indian or Make In India labels. On the other hand with previous false notions, we had already branded a few of these as Chinese even if they are not. Whether it is food, apps, technology etc... the wrong perception still remains.

Credits- SCMP

I didn't get enough time to draft a detailed article rather I have just made a short article. I have included few food items not only because I am a foodie but also of inherent misconception and for Ramdas Athawale's statements that we should boycott restaurant which sells Chinese food. 

1. Momos and Ramen 

Contrary to popular belief, Momos which is a popular steam-cooked dish feels like a Chinese dish when you hear or taste it is actually not of Chinese origin but Nepali-Ladakhi Tibetan origin. Due to the local climate which makes it difficult to cook food due to low atmospheric temperature and low pressure, locals prefer hot steamed foods like noodles, soup and momos. For those who don't know about momos, it is actually a dish filled with vegetable or meat filling inside the dough and is of various shapes. It is eaten with spicy chutney. On the contrary Chinese do have their own variety which they call as Dumplings, originated in Canton.

Credits- Wikipedia

Top Ramen is a popular brand of instant noodles in the world. It is also popular in India. Although we are familiar with Noodles which is Chinese, you also have a modified variety of the same- Ramen. Ramen is nothing but Japanese style Soupy noodles served with egg which was invented by Nissin founder which owns Top Ramen. So ramen is from Japan and not China.

Credits- Pikist 

2. PubG

Players Unknown BattleGrounds is One of the most widely played and most downloaded mobile game. Recent trending hashtags and also top google stats show that people do have a belief that the game is Chinese. PubG is owned by PubG Corporation which is based in Santa Monica California, but an offshoot of Blue Hole Games which is now known as Krafton Game Union. Blue Hole game is based in a Seongnam suburb of Seoul in South Korea. PubG was then a PC game.

Credits- Flickr

Bluehole wanting to expand to other markets found it's the largest market ever in China. It teamed up with Shenzhen based Tencent, which is a videogaming company in China for the same. Tencent has a 10% stake in Bluehole and also distributes the android version of PubG across the globe. Even if you say Tencent is a Chinese company it is not enough to say that PubG is Chinese. 

Credits- Wikipedia 

3. Chings Secret

Sounds Chinese name, Looks Chinese, Tastes Chinese. It is a brand which sells Chinese cuisine agro-based items, like noodles, chutneys, sauce, soups, masalas etc. It was recently under attack from fringe groups amidst the boycott. The truth is that the Chings Secret brand is owned by Capital Foods Pvt Ltd which is an Indian Company based in Mumbai. It sells food items labelled under the banner "Desi Chinese" meaning a fusion of Chinese and Indian flavours.

Credits- FB page of Chings Secret 

4. Zoom

The most popular video conferencing app. It saw multifold growth this lockdown period across the globe. With Atmanirbhar Bharat multiple social media fake news forwards claimed that Zoom is a Chinese App. Zoom Communications Technological Company is a company based in San Jose, Silicon Valley, California and is traded on Nasdaq. It is purely a US company. Its CEO Eric Yuan is an ex-Cisco Webex employee who resigned and established this company starting from scratch. Zoom is now planning to build its own data centre in India ie in Bangalore. Without a doubt, we can say Zoom has brought a new tech revolution, which companies like Google, Facebook, Jio etc. are trying to copy.  

Credits- Flickr 

5. Gobi Manchurian 

Who doesn't love a yummy plate of Gobi Manchurian with Roti or Fried Rice? It is one of the most sought after vegetarian side-dish in restaurants and parties. Many restaurants with Chinese names like Mainland China, for having a Chinese name. But just because it has 'Manchurian' in its name it is not a Chinese dish. The story of Gobi Manchurian begins from a colony in Kolkata which has a Chinese community living there. They made a dish with Gobi florets dipped in batter, fried and dipped in saucy gravy which came to be known as Gobi Manchurian. Gobi means Cauliflower in Hindi. Gobi Manchurian is a dish from Indo-Chinese cuisine which is a fusion of both country's cuisine. You can replace the Gobi with Paneer, Bread, Soya etc to give different types of Manchurian curries. 

Credits- Pexels

Also read the myths and realities of boycott China Movement. 

Always understand there are multiple products which we don't know its original place of origin, we just assume many of it and spread fake news. The only request is to become an aware consumer and not fall for popular opinion or social media hashtags. Always think twice before you take action. 

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