The pau with the red dot.

We Chinese are really fond of our paus, or also known as buns. 

So much that we stuff these little white puffs with various kinds of fillings, from the basic bean paste, to savoury meats, to hard-boiled eggs.

And then, with all that variety, of course you would have to start finding ways to differentiate them when the fillings are all hidden, warmly tucked away underneath their powder-white exteriors.

To solve that problem, colourful dots now decorate the tops of paus. 

A yellow dot for bak pau - chicken meat filling. A pink dot for lian rong pau - lotus paste filling.

And the all-time favourite, a red dot for char siew paus - sweet pork filling. 

 Some mornings, my mom would steam different paus for breakfast. And the char siew paus would ALWAYS run out very quickly, with me and my brother fighting for the last one. :)

The love for char siew paus has now extended to them having their own jokes. 

Here's one. (Disclaimer: It is VERY lame.)

Char siew pau and man tou (a plain bun) went to catch a sad movie, but only char siew pau came out crying. Why?

Think think!

I know a lot of you should be able to guess this!

Alright I'll spill the answer..

It's because char siew pau has feelings (fillings) but man tou didn't!

.......

-awkward silence.

Sorry guys, I won't tell bad jokes no more. -sniggers.