Yesterday I at supper at a Chinese restaurant. As I was checking out, the clerk asked me if I use a blanket when I sleep. I said that I did. Then he asked if I keep my beard over the blanket or under it. I thought for a moment and decided I really didn't know, so I told him I didn't know. Then he explained that there is a famous Chinese painting of a man whith a long beard who was asked the same question. He also said he didn't know.
Then I told him I sometimes sleep with my hair like this, whereupon I took my hair and wrapped it around my neck (beard under the hair). He told me to be careful so I don't choke myself.
Unusual story. An even more unusual thing to ask a customer at a restaurant! Fortunately you didn't take offence to his inquisitiveness.
"Chokng on your hair" - I'd say that he was either just joking around with you or he has some strange Chinese superstitions.
Uh, not choking on my hair but being choked, i.e., strangled, by my hair (remember, I was wrapping it around my neck -- I can wrap it around my neck and tuck it in to keep my neck warm).