The Differences of Table Manners Between China and
Western Countries
Cla:11108 Name:冯婷
Abstract: This paper mainly focuses on the differences between table manners of China and Western countries.In our modern society, the cro-cultural communication between China and Western countries becomes a hot iue and the influences of Chinese and Western etiquette are increasingly profound, which demands a good understanding about the differences.In this paper, we attach more importance to the different table manners of China and Western countries, such as the different ways people sit for a meal, different dining concepts and different tablewares and so on.In this way, we can behave properly when communicating with people from different backgrounds, thus establishing a harmonious relationship with the westerners.Key words: table manners; cultural background; table culture
1.Introduction With the development of global economy, the popularization of cro-cultural communication is urging us to have a good mastery of the differences between china and western countries, especially the differences of table manners.Having dinner is more than the basic neceity of life.Instead, it is an important part of social formulae.“John Loke, a famous British philosopher once said, the purpose of playing a ceremonial role is to change the original stubborn to gentle, so that people’s temper can become more moderate and let people learn to respect for others and get along with each others.” (Hofstede, 1980) There is no doubt that sometimes some strangers become acquaintances, those acquaintances get a better understanding of the other even to the germination of love.Because table manner is so fantastic that it does us a favor on acquiring more information, opening up eyesight and expanding the circle of communication.It is obvious that table manners are quite important in people’s everyday life.There are numberle differences between Chinese and western food cultures, and those differences cause the differences of table manners.China is one of the four earliest civilizations in the world.Chinese nation is the only inheritance millennium civilization.Western society went through the darkne of Middle Ages and then came to Renaiance, gave birth to capitalism and modern civilization.Today, with the economic globalization, international commercial activities have become more and more frequent and cro-cultural communication has come into every nation’s daily life.In international commercial negotiations, Chinese representatives might have dinners with foreign counterparts, while in daily life we might be invited to dinners by foreign friends.This paper mainly talks about the differences of table manners between two cultures, to analyze the causes, aim to achieve a more succeful cro-culture communication.
2.Differences of Table Manners
“Social customs differ greatly from one country to another.It is therefore impoible to give guidelines that are universally applicable.Generally speaking, you should act naturally, always remaining friendly, courteous, and dignified.” (Qian, 2006)
The core ideology of Chinese culture is collective consciousne while the western thought core is individualism.So when western people are invited to dinner or party, they order their own food and drink their own wine, to avoid imposing their wills on other people.While Chinese people would consider it as an unreasonable behavior because in Chinese culture, individual must obey collective consciousne.Chinese people value harmonization, and there is an old saying that “Harmony is most precious.” So Chinese people like to dine and eat together.
2.1 Arrangement of Seat
2.1.1 Arrangement of Seat in Chinese Way
Chinese people always choose round tables when entertaining friends.There are lots of rules in China about where to set the round table and which seat takes precedence on the same table.
In China, people used to use the number of the tables to define the size of banquet.In small banquets which have two tables, the table on the left or farther to the portal is the top table.At bigger banquets that have three or more tables, the rules are much more complicated.The top table is always on the right hand and farthest to the portal.Besides, the distance to the top table is also taken into consideration.Generally, seats that closer to the top table take precedence.For example, on the wedding party, family members of the bride or the leaderships are arranged to the table that is closest to the top table.Hosts show their reverences to the guests by arranging seats in this way.
Seats at one table also have different meanings.In Chinese table manner, the seat opposite to the door is the honor seat, which is for chief guests or elders; the seats beside are the second honor seat which are for other guests; the seats that opposite to the honor seat are the inferior seats prepared for the host and hoste.So before the banquet, hosts should first invite the chief guest or elders to the honor seat, and then invite other guests to the second honor seat.Hosts sit down on the inferior seats after all the guests sit down.
2.1.2 Arrangement of Seat in Western Way
Western people prefer long table to round table when entertaining friends.The host and the hoste seat at both end of the table, while guests seat at other seats.Men and women are arranged to seat alternately.The chief guest sits at the upper right side of the hoste, and the wife of the chief guest seats at the upper right side of the host.Western gentlemen are very particular about “Lady first”, they always show respect to ladies.In China, left is honor and right is secondary; middle is honor and slant is secondary.While in western, right is honor and left is secondary.
The proper way to take the seat in western is to sit by the left hand.Elbows can never put onto the table and hands are forbidden to touch feet.It is better not to walk out before the banquet is finished (unle you really need to).During the dinner, it is better to sit straightly.
2.1.3 The Reason of Seat Arrangement
The main ideology in Chinese culture is group consciousne, and Chinese people believe that individual consciousne should obey group consciousne.So Chinese people choose round tables for banquets.When sitting around round tables, people can talk to each other freely and the atmosphere can be very pulsating.As a nation of etiquette, China puts emphasis on piety and honesty, and revering elders while caring the young is one of the traditional virtues.So come out the rules for seat arrangement.While in western culture, the main ideology is individual consciousne.They believe that everybody’s behavior has their own meaning and value, and personal abilities are reflected by those behaviors.Western philosophy places extra emphasis on individual consciousne, development and self expreion.They believe that everybody equals, so they like to use long tables and do not have so many complicated rules for seat arrangement as Chinese people do.
2.2 Tablewares 2.2.1 How to Use and Where to Put Chinese Tablewares
Chinese tablewares involve chopsticks, small dish, bowl and gla.At formal banquets, water pump is put on the upper left of the plate, while winegla on the upper right.Chopsticks and spoon are always put together on the right hand of the plate.Toothpick and ashtray are also neceary.
2.2.1.1 Chopsticks
Chopsticks are the main tablewares in Chinese food culture, they always appear in couple.It’s better not to lick chopsticks( whether there are dregs of food or not) before you pick food from the plates.Using chopsticks that licked to pick up food is very impolite and will make other guests feel sick.It is also a bad manner to talk with chopsticks in hand, or even brandish chopsticks.Just remember that chopsticks are tablewares only used to pick food.It is impolite to use chopsticks to clean tooth or scratch, or pick other things that aren’t food.
2.2.1.2 Spoon
The main function for spoon is scooping food.Sometimes spoon is also used to aist chopsticks in picking food of big size.It is better not to pick food only by spoon or scoop too much food at one time.Never scoop a full spoon of food at one time or the food might splash out and stain tablecloth or clothes.The right way to use spoon is: scoop the food, and wait for seconds to make sure that the soup will not splash out, and then move the spoon back, enjoying the food.If the spoon is not needed, put it on your own plate; do not put it on the table directly.Once you scoop the food, you should never put them back.It’s better to eat at once or put into your plate.If the food is too scalding to eat, never stir the food or blow by mouth.You can put them into the blow and wait for a while.It is impolite to put the spoon in to mouth, or lick the spoon over and over again.
2.2.1.3 Plate
The plate of smaller size is small dish, which is used to put food, just like bowl.Plates on the table should not move or pile up.The main function of small dish is to store food that picked from the public plates temporarily.When using small dishes, you should not put too much food together at one time.It is very impolite and might affect the tastes of food.The dreg of food or bones should be put at the edge of the plate.You can not spit them from mouth directly to the plate or table or to the ground.You should use chopsticks to bring them to the plate.If the small dish is full, you can ask the waiter or waitre to shift one.
2.2.1.4 Gla
Water pumps are used to store soft drink like water, coke, soda water or fruit juice.Do not use water pomp to drink wine or put the water pomp up side down.Besides, you can not spit out the drink back to the pump.It is impolite and might make guests feel sick.
2.2.1.5 Napkin
In middle-size or big-size restaurants in China, waiters will first offer a wet warm towel to every guest.This kind of towel is used to clean hands.After cleaning, you should put it back to the plate and the waiter will take it away.Sometime at big banquets, waiter would offer another towel.Different from the first towel, the second one can only use to clean mouth.2.2.2 How to Use and Where to Put Western Table Ware
In western culture, tablewares for food contain knife, fork, spoon, plate and gla.The rules of setting them in a polite way are more complicated than those of china.At formal western banquets, the tablewares are always put in the same way.The common principles are: the service plate is in the middle; knife on the right; fork on the left; spoon sidelong ahead the service plate; staple food on the left; tablewares on the right; other tablewares act according to the circumstances.
The number of the winegla is equal to the number of wine’s kind.The proper order to put glaes from left to right is: water gla, champagne gla, red wine gla, white wine gla and sherry gla.The napkin is put on the service plate.
2.2.2.1 Knife and Fork
The right way to use knife and fork is: knife is used to cut food and fork is used to carry food into mouth.If you need to put down the knife and fork during the dinner, you should put them on both sides of the plate, and knife and fork should be croed a little bit.After dinner (or you do not want to eat any more), you should put the fork and knife parallel on the plate with the fork’s reverse side up.That means you have finished the dinner.You can use knife and fork in a French way that handle fork in your left hand and knife in the right hand; you can also use them in an English way that handle knife in your left hand and fork in the right hand.It depends on your own.
2.2.2.2 Spoon
Usually there are two kinds of spoons: the big one is soup spoon and the small one is deert spoon.Soup spoon is always put on the outermost right side, together with the knife.Deert spoon is put together with desert knife and fork.
2.2.2.3 The Right Order to Use Tableware
Although there are so many tablewares at western dinner, the rule for using tablewares is simple.The right order to use tablewares is to pick from outside to inside.There is an exception that when salad is sent together with entrée, the knife and fork closest to the plate are salad knife and fork.The salad plate is on the left of the dinner knife and fork.If there is no salad plate, salad knife and fork will send together with salad.Spoons are on the right hand of forks.The outmost one is soup spoon; the one between knives and soup spoon is deert spoon; the leftmost one is deert fork.Usually, in order to distinguish deert tablewares from other tablewares, people used to put the deert tablewares above the dinner plate.
Napkins are also important in western dinner.After sitting down, you can drink appetizer and chatting with other guests.Just before the dinner begins, you can open the napkin and put it on your knees.By this way you can protect your clothes from been stained by food.Besides, you can only put the napkin on your knees.Putting napkin under your ties or put one corner into your collar would make you look embarraed and will also leave bad impreion on other guests.2.2.3 Reasons That Cause the Differences of Tablewares
The difference of chopsticks, knife and fork is the main difference of table manners between Chinese and western culture.The reasons that cause this difference is environment: nature environment and social environment.
Chopsticks are invented thousands years ago at the place where bamboo grew luxuriantly.In China, the north area yield wood while the south area yield bamboo.The Chinese ancestors used local materials to produce chopsticks and bamboo became the original material of chopsticks.Knives and forks are invented much later than chopsticks.To the study of Pro.You Xiuling, knives and forks can relate to ancient European nomads’ habits and customs.As a nation of equestrian, the nomads carried knives wherever they went.They always use knives to cut the cooked meat off, and then use the knives to send the meat into mouth.In order to improve eating gesture, Europeans began to use forks after about the 15th century.At that time, the forks had only two tips.Forks used today in modern style have four tips were invented in the 18th century.(Pamela, 1998)Chopsticks and forks not only cause the differences of food culture, but also cause the differences of life perceptions between Chinese and western cultures.The knife and the fork arose the shared-food system.On the contrary, the chopsticks always coordinate with the all families.Western people eat separately since their childhood, and this creates their ideas of independence.While chopsticks arose the together-food system, which gives prominence to the happine that old and young eating together.And it also makes Chinese people have a strong sense of family.
2.3 The Right Order of Dish Up
2.3.1 Chinese Order
Chinese order for dish up is: cold dishes, drink and wine, hot dishes, staple food, deerts and fruits.At big banquets, the same dish should be sent to each table at the same time.The order should keep traditional that first cold dishes and then hot dishes.Cold dishes help stimulating the appetite; warm soup helps keeping warm, especially in winter; after appetite stimulated and body warmed, there come the entrees.Hosts would try their best to make the entrees ingratiate every guest’s taste.Staple food come after entrees.The staple food can be noodles or rice.Deerts can be a perfect end of the dinner.Deerts are always sweet soup like red bean paste, pudding or icecream.Today, Chinese prefer to have fruits instead of traditional deerts.The fruits can be apples or watermelon or other fruits that taste fresh and clean, which is much healthier.
All these procedures can not only make the whole dinner harmonious and ordered, but also help promoting communication between hosts and guests.
2.3.2 Western Order
Western order for dish up is: butter and bread, cold dishes, soup, entree, deerts and then coffee or fruits.Cold dishes and soup can eat together with bread.The cold dishes are also called appetizers, which is the first dish of the dinner.The main kind of cold dishes are caviar, smoked salmon or other things.As cold dishes are used to stimulate appetite, so the dishes always taste salty and sour. Besides, cold dishes have small quantity and high quality.Appetizing wine is always served together with cold dishes.The second dish in western dinner is soup, which is quite different from Chinese dinner.There are four kinds of soup: clear soup, cream soup, vegetable soup and cold soup.Fish dishes are the third dish of western dinner, which is also called side dish.Usually, seafood together with eggs and bread are called side dish, as those food have soft taste and are easy to digest.Entree is the forth dish, which have pork or beef as main food.Beef or steak is the most representative food for entree.Vegetables can serve after entree, sometimes they are served together with entree.So vegetable can also be a side dish.The vegetable dish is also called salad in western.Deert is the sixth dish which serves after entree.Actually, deerts always contain staple food, like pudding, pancake, ice cream, cheese, fruit and so on.The last dish is drink, coffee or tea.Usually, coffee and tea are served together with sugar and clean cream.
2.3.3 Different Value Reflected By Those Orders
Value is the deepest stage of culture.Social members use value to evaluate behavior and things, to choose the most proper standard for themselves from every poible goal.Values are the nucleus of culture.Values are also human’s reaction to social existence.People in the same nature and social environment hold the same value.So every social and country has their own values.People’s actions in table manner are epitomes of their values.(Johannesen, 1986) The value of collectivism is the priority in Chinese people’s mind, which can be observed in the arrangement for dinner.While in western countries, individualism occupies the leading position of values.Everyone has their own value and these values reflect their personal abilities.This is because western philosophic thinking pays attention on individualism, personal development and self expreion.
2.4 The Way to Finish Eating
At Chinese dinner table, after eating, the chopsticks should put orderly at the right side of the bowl, and leave after the host signals to leave.Hosts should signal after all the guests put down their chopsticks.
At western dinner table, it is a finishing signal to put the knife and fork together on the plate parallel, with the fork’s back side up and the knife’s edge inside.Try to put the handles into the plate too.By this way, guests can avoid the tablewares from falling and will make it easier for the waiters to tidy up.
3.Conclusion
To sum up, Chinese table culture pays particular attention to the order among people, which is based on Chinese ethical rule and gives prominence to interpersonal idea; Western table culture pays particular attention more on harmoniously use of tools and fuse “man” and “tools” together.
Every culture in the world is equal, with no one being dominant or receive to another.We should avoid using our own culture, morality and value to judge foreign culture.We should treat foreign culture fairly and equally. In cro culture communication, the misunderstandings caused by culture barrier appear frequently.Sometimes well-meaning talking might make people embarraed.So, studying the differences between different cultures and studying the right actions of cro-culture communication are neceary.The purpose of knowing the differences and similarities of table manners is to understand the present cro-cultural situation and to have a better idea of people’s relationships by avoiding unneceary misunderstanding and mistakes.Through comparing the table manners of China and Western countries and keeping pace with the changing world can be more meaningful to all people.
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