Chinese loogie-hawking at least has a purpose: "We Chinese think it's best just to get it out," a dinner companion explains, noting that Chinese find Western use of cloth handkerchiefs equally disgusting. No such rationale exists for the blithe comfort Chinese seem to display with their own s--t -- according to Sedaris, the Chinese are a people who gleefully defecate everywhere, dropping trou and planting yams in bathroom sinks, on the sidewalk, in supermarket aisles and on the surface of skating rinks.