Western cooking educators are hellbent on the view that tofu is unmanageable without the firmest, chewiest possible texture.

Hmm, I didn’t know China was the west.

What do you mean? China traditionally uses all kinds of tofu, from hard to jelly.

Yes, china has many kinds of tofu. Pressing for firm tofu is very common in most of China. So to say that firm tofu if somehow only a western thing seems odd to me.