This was an ancient gesture in China. The story was that one of the early 
Emperors liked to dress as a commoner and travel about the Middle Kingdom to 
see how the peasants were getting along. Frequently, as he and his staff were 
sitting
about the table in some inn, he would pour tea for everyone. They could not 
kowtow to their lord without giving away his identity, so they would make this 
gesture, using their hand to imitate the act of kneeling. Now Chinese people 
used it to thank each other at the dinner table. From time to time, Judge Fang 
caught himself doing it, and thought about what a peculiar thing it was to be 
Chinese in a world without an Emperor.