Mrs. Jong's response suggests that she is a proud person, and that she's eager to maintain for herself and her family a strong identity as Chinese. Her response also hints that she's a bit gullible, probably because she's less comfortable with English than her children are and has to expend mental energy to understand words; she has less energy left over to read between the lines. Either that, or she uses her apparent discomfort with English as a manipulative tool.
This discussion of Chinese torture is brought up by Waverly near the beginning of the story. Mrs. Jong is styling her daughter's hair with bobby pins and being rather rough, when Waverly slyly asks her mother what Chinese torture is. Her mother responds "without a trace of knowing how wicked [Waverly] was being," and gives a literal answer, indicating that she doesn't realize her daughter is implying that the rough hairstyling is perhaps that torture:
"Chinese people do many things," she said simply. "Chinese people do business, do medicine, do painting. Not lazy like American people. We do torture. Best torture."
As you can see, Mrs. Jong's answer reveals that she's quick to turn the conversation to the difference between American and Chinese cultures.
However, I should add that there's an alternate way you can interpret this passage and Mrs. Jong's response. Notice how she sticks a bobby pin into Waverly's hair in an especially sharp manner right before answering the question about Chinese torture. Immediately afterward, Mrs. Jong gives no indication that she's aware her daughter is being sly. You could interpret these actions to mean that Mrs. Jong does realize what Waverly's doing and that she's fighting back in her own way: with the sharp nick of the bobby pin and the redirection of the conversation to Chinese cultural strengths, Mrs. Jong has deftly stifled Waverly's devious behavior.
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