<p>Marite,
That is really interesting about your Chinese friend. But the other funny thing is, in Taiwan, my daughter’s “hostess” (the owner of the apartment - she is a friend of my friend) seemed very surprised and dismayed that my daughter did not know how to cook. (Actually, my D found that eating out was so cheap there it was not worth learning to cook.) But then the hostess’ sister, whose family lives in the same apt. building where my daughter was living, invited my daughter for dinner. And when my daughter told her hostess that her sister had invited her for dinner, the hostess asked incredulously, “My sister COOKED ???” So what chores people do or do not do for themselves obviously varies between people there, just as it does here.</p>