And all this time we thought the Chinese liked cartoons

Have you heard the one about the easily offended Chinese tourist? It goes something like this: Three-hundred-forty-four Chinese guests at a resort in Malaysia took offense to the cartoon image of a pig's head that appeared on their breakfast meal vouchers. They thought it was a "demeaning" personal attack. The hotel says it was high season for Muslim travelers and the restaurant workers were trying to distinguish the pork eaters from the non-pork eaters. Evidently a language barrier prevented this logical explanation from being explained properly to the Chinese tourists:

The protest escalated into a scuffle when police and security guards arrived with guns and dogs.

The incident was eventually resolved five hours later after the hotel offered a letter of apology and each tourist between 50 and 100 Malaysian Ringgit (US$13.37 and 26.74) in the presence of a Chinese embassy official.

Malaysian Deputy Tourism Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the hotel had fired the three workers involved in the incident.

"We are very regretful things have to happen that way because we value very much Chinese tourists," said Malaysian tourism board director Noridah Kamarudin.

When reached for comment, The Ugly American scoffed and challenged the Chinese to a pissing contest.