Transcript Chinese Table Manners

Chinese Table Manners
What to do and what not
to do
Things that you should do
• Leave the best food for the elderly, even if it is
your most favourite dish
• Always hold your chopsticks in you right hand and
correctly- between the thumb and fingers
• Pick the food that is at the top and closet to you
of the dish
• If you are the one closet to the tea pot, you
should pour the tea for others
• If you are eating food with bones the bones are
to be spat out in a neat pile next to the food
Things that you should do continued
• Rice is to be eaten from a small bowl held in the left
hand. The rice bowl is held to the mouth and the rice is
shoved into your mouth with your chopsticks
• If you pick something up you have to eat it
• If you are one of the youngest, and you are about to
clink glasses in the form of a cheer, you must clink the
rim of your glass below the rim of the elders, as a sign
of respect
• If you are hosting a meal, the elder or the guest of
honour must be seated at the end of the table, facing
the door
• If there is soup it is polite to lift the noodles into the
spoon
Things that you should not do
• Do not smoke at the dinner table
• Don't wave your chopsticks round as if they were
an extension of your hand, and do not bang them
on the table
• If you are at a formal banquet, never clear your
plate, because it is saying to the banquet host
that he has provided an inadequate feast
• Never stick your chopsticks upright in your bowl,
because any stick like object facing upwards
resembles incense sticks which are used to morn
deaths and such
• Never dig around to find your favourite foods
Things that you should not do
continued
• Never stab your food as if your chopsticks
were a fork
• Don’t use your own chopsticks to pick up food
if a pair of communal chopsticks are available
• If there is a bowl and a plate in front of you,
do not put the food on the plate
• Don’t eat food until you have been told to by
the host
• Don’t pour drinks for others if you are the guest
Why are these manners so different
from ours?
Because China was separated from the western
world for many centuries, they didnt have any
other manners to influence their own. Their
manners are all about respect for elders, and
family, as well as their guest and business.
Although some of them are weird or strict,
they are there to please others, and make
others feel better.
Bibliography
Author year title
Date
site
accessed
Unknown
2008
Table Manners
26/09/08
http://www.travelchinaguide.co
m/essential/chineseetiquette/table-manners/
Unknown
2007
Table Manners
26/09/08
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ta
ble_manners
Unknown
2008
Food Culture
26/09/08
http://www.travelchinaguide.co
m/intro/cuisine.htm