Chinese Table Manners

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Chinese Table Manners

• What to do and what not to do

By Aaron King 9MW
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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

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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

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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

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Things that you should not do continued

• Never stab your food as if your chopsticks were a
  fork
• Dont 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
• Dont eat food until you have been told to by the
  host
• Dont pour drinks for others if you are the guest

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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.

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Bibliography
Author year title Date accessed site
Unknown 2008 Table Manners 26/09/08 http//www.travelchinaguide.com/essential/chinese-etiquette/table-manners/
Unknown 2007 Table Manners 26/09/08 http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_manners
Unknown 2008 Food Culture 26/09/08 http//www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/cuisine.htm