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| Chinese Dining Culture |
"A Chinese dinner host will not
expect a visitor to know all the traditions associated
with a Chinese meal. But the visitor who knows some
of them will gain 'face' and give 'face' to his
host!"
Investigating those traditions is part of the fun
of a China visit, where English-speaking friends
or business associates will happily tell you the
whys and wherefores of seemingly arcane rituals.
You may even hear different versions of how a particular
dining tradition originated!
Foreign visitors will be forgiven for not knowing
dining etiquette, just as they will be good-naturedly
offered a knife and fork if their chopstick prowess
is not up to par. Just as Chinese food, however,
seems to taste better when it is eaten with chopsticks,
so the whole meal will be more enjoyable if one
knows a little of the ancient traditions and beliefs
that place the meal in a 5,000-year-old culinary
heritage.
Why is a fish never turned over? Why do tea-drinkers
surreptitiously tap tables? Why will there be a
place laid for a guest who will never come? Why
is it not improper to slurp you soup but improper
to eat a fish head? Why are Chinese dinner tables
round and how will you know who is the guest of
honor? How and why will you say "Cheers"?
Although Western customs have influenced some dining
habits in China, the majority of old traditions
still live on. The guest of honour will usually be
seated facing the door of entry, directly opposite
the host. The next most honoured guest will be seated
to the left of the guest of honour. If the host has
any doubts about the correct order of precedence
for his guests, he will seat them on the basis of
age.
The host sits near the door, as in Western practice,
so that he is nearest to the kitchen. If the meal
is held in the host's home, he can then bring each
dish to the table more quickly. He will himself
serve his guests portions of food, on the tacit
understanding that they are far too polite to help
themselves.
But for some dishes, especially fish, the host would
never do so - for the good reason that the dish
would become too cold by the end of the service.
Instead, each guest is expected to help himself
The guest of honour naturally receives the choicest
morsels, and is expected to lead the way when necessary.
With a fish course, the fish head would be left
for the guest of honour - and it is the most nutritious
part (the eyes and lips are the valued delicacies
offered to the senior lady present). The platter
holding the fish will always be laid on the table
in such a way that the fish head points towards
the guest of honour (at family meals, the head faces
the head of the family). If visitors find that they
are the guest of honour and are unwilling to accept
the duties involved, they should always delegate
the honour to the person on their left, or politely
turn the platter so that the fish head faces the
host.
At the end of the meal, when the guest of honour
feels that everyone appears to have had their fill
of post-prandial brandy or ceremonial final cups
of tea, he should rise. In theory, no other diner
can rise until the guest of honour has, and such
a social nicety has often resulted in a meal being
very lengthy! Nowadays, however, the host will usually
give an appropriate, discreet hint to the guest
of honour.
In a restaurant, the signs that a meal is ending
are more obvious. A bowl of fruit will be presented,
fresh towels will be provided for wiping mouths
and hands, and the final pot of tea - a ceremonial
farewell greeting - will not be refilled.
Seating & Dining Customs
If a Chinese dinner has been arranged in a restaurant,
the host will usually sit nearest the kitchen or
service door. Then he will be in the least-favoured
position - sitting where the waiter will stand while
serving individual portions of food (the waiter's
"mark" being his serving utensils laid
on the table). Some hosts, however, seat their most
junior guests or family members at this slightly
awkward spot so that the host can talk more easily
to guests on either side of him. It is also becoming
more common for hosts to sit next to foreign guests
of honour.
Should you find yourself in one of the "junior"
seats on either side of the server's position, take
comfort from the fact that your fellow diners are
either even more "important" or older
than you and you are honoured to be sitting with
them, or your host has flattered you by deciding
you are one of the least status-conscious guests!
Whatever your table position is, you may be expected
to make at least one toast during the meal - to
the course which is about to commence, if necessary,
when everyone else has used up all socially-acceptable
topics of mutual esteem! Every person stands up
for a moment, raises his or her glass, and finds
out who has the strongest constitution!
Taking one's turn is also expected for tea-pouring
at smaller gatherings where each guest leans over
or rises to fill fellow-diners' tea cups. The almost
surreptitious finger-tapping on the table that greets
the pouring service is said to date back to a ploy
invented by a Qing Dynasty emperor. While making
an incognito tour of South China, the emperor visited
a teahouse. In order to maintain his cover as an
ordinary member of a party of travellers, the emperor
took his turn at pouring tea for his companions.
They started to acknowledge this astonishing
honour
by bowing in the usual fashion but the emperor told
them they could simply tap the table with three
fingers - two of which would represent their prostrate
limbs, while the third finger would symbolize their
bowed heads. The custom survives in China, especially
South China as a silent token of thanks for the
gesture.
Other older habits have been known to make some
visitors a little uncomfortable when not used to
fellow diners slurping their soup, laying discarded
bones on the tablecloth, and audibly making a meal
of a meal.
The second habit is dying out now that most restaurants
provide side-plates for bones but it is still possible
to see waiters clearing a table by sweeping everything
into the middle of a tablecloth - rice bowls, chopsticks,
bones and all - in order to have a vacant table
as quickly as possible.
As for meal-time noises, they are considered sounds
of culinary appreciation, the slurping of soup also
being an acceptable way of cooling it down before
it burns the tongue.
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