Chinese Table Manners

1. Chinese Table Manners What to do and what not to do By Aaron King 9MW

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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.

7. Bibliography