津巴布韦时差论文-中西方餐桌礼仪对比(英文版)

2020年12月21日发(作者：杭观华)

Abstract
This paper mainly focuses on the differences of table manners of China and Western countries. In
our modern society, the cross-culture communication between China and Western countries
becomes a hot issue and the influences of Chinese and Western etiquette are increasingly profound,
which causes the differences in table manners. 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 table wares and so on. Meanwhile, it helps us
understand the situation. In this way, we can know well the western countries’ cultural background,
and can set up a harmonious relationship with the westerns.




Key Words:
table manners, cultural background, table culture














ii

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摘要
本文主要讲中西方餐桌礼仪的不同点和相同点. 在当今社会,随着中西方跨文化交流的平凡以
及中西方礼仪的影响加深,导致双方餐桌礼仪方面的差异产 生.本文着重于比较中西方在餐桌
礼仪.例如,就餐是人们不同的入座方式,不同的饮食概念以及不同的 餐具等等.此外还会指出不
同国家中的一些用餐禁忌来帮助人们更好的理解餐桌礼仪。通过此法,我们可 以更加了解西方
国家的文化背景,并且建立起良好的关系。


关键词：

































餐桌礼仪，文化背景，餐桌文化
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgements….......... .................................................. ......…………………………...……. i
Abstract…............ .................................................. ....……………………….................................. ii
摘要…........................................... .……............................................... .......................................... iii

1 Introduction….......................... ......……………………………………………………............. 1

2 Defence of table manners.................... .................................................. ................................... 2
2.1 Arrangement of seat............................... ...................………………..........…………........... .... 2
2.1.1 Arrangement of seat in Chinese way
2.1.2 Arrangement of seat in western way
2.1.3 The reason of seat arrangement
2.2 Tablewares…....................................... ............................…….................... .............................. 4
2.2.1 How to use and where to put Chinese tablewares
2.2.2 How to use and where to put western table ware
2.2.3 Reasons that cause the differences of tablewares
2.3 The right order of dish up..... .................................................. .................................................. ..8
2.3.1 Chinese order
2.3.2 Western order
2.3.3 Different value that reflected by those order
2.4 Different atmospheres at t able.............................................. .................................................. ..10
2.5 The way to finish eating............ .................................................. ..............................................11

3 Conclusion…............................ ...…………….………………………….…………………….. 12

Bibliog raphy…............................................ ……………...……………………………………… 13








1. Introduction
With the development of global economy, cross-culture communication has become more and more
frequent, and the differences between Chinese and western culture have become more obvious,
especially the differences of table manners.

Having dinner is more than the basic necessity of life. Instead, having dinner 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.” (Duan,
Chen, 2008) 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 numberless 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 darkness of Middle Ages and then came
to Renaissance, gave birth to capitalism and modern civilization. Today, with the economic
globalization, international commercial activities have become more and more frequently and
cross-culture communication has come into every nation’s daily life. In international commercial
negotiations, Chinese representatives might have dinners with foreign representatives, 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
cross-culture communication more successfully.




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2. Differences of table manners
“Social customs differ greatly from one country to another. It is therefore impossible 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 consciousness 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 working their wills to other people. While Chinese people would
consider it as unreasonable behavior because in Chinese culture, individual must obey collective
consciousness. Chinese people value harmonization, and there is an old saying that “Harmony is
most precious.” So Chinese people like to dine together 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 put 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 closest to the top table. Hosts show their reverences
to the guests by arranging seats by 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
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seat. Inferior seats are for the host and hostess. 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 perfer long table to round table when entertaining friends. The host and the
hostess 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 hostess, 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 are always hospitable 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 (unless 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 consciousness, and Chinese people believe
that individual consciousness should obey group consciousness. 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 the nation of etiquette, Chinese people
lay 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 ideoloy is individual consciousness. 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 consciousness, development and self
expression. 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.

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2.2 Tablewares

2.2.1 How to use and where to put Chinese tablewares
Chinese tablewares involve chopsticks, small dish, bowl and glass. At formal banquets, glass
is put on the upper left of the plate, while wineglass on the upper right. Chopsticks and spoon
are always put together on the right hand of the plate. Toothpick and ashtray are also
necessary.

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 bad manner to talk with chopsticks in hand, or even brandish
chopsticks. The third bad manner of using chopsticks is to insert chopsticks straightly into the
food, because only when sacrificing the death do Chinese people doing so. Just remember
that chopsticks are tablewares that 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 assist
chopsticks picking food in 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 bowl and wait for a while. It is impolite to put the spoon in
to mouth, or lick the spoon over and over again.

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2.2.1.3 Plate
The plate in 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 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 waitress to shift one.

2.2.1.4 Glass
Glasses are used to store soft drink like water, coke, soda water or fruit juice. Do not use
glass to drink wine or put the glass up side down. Besides, you can not spit out the drink back
to the glass. It is impolite and might make guests fell 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; it
can not clean face or perspiration.

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 glass. Western
tablewares have a more complicated rule in how to put than Chinese tablewares. At formal
western banquets, the tablewares are always put in the same way. The common principles are:
the place plate is in the middle; knife on the right; fork on the left; spoon sidelong ahead the
place plate; staple food on the left; tablewares on the right; other tablewares act according to
the circumstances.
The number of the wineglass is equal to the number of wine’s kind. The proper order to put
glasses from left to right is: strong drink glass, wine glass, champagne glass and beer glass.
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The napkin is put on the place plate. If there is something to put in the plate before the guests
sit down, the napkin would be put behind the place 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 put in the way that looks like the
Chinese word “八”. 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 dessert
spoon. Soup spoon is always put on the outermost right side, together with the knife. Dessert
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 that 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. The other exception
is that oyster fork is on the right hand of dinner plate, which is on the outmost side of
tablewares. Spoons are on the right hand of forks. The outmost one is soup spoon; the one
between knives and soup spoon is dessert spoon; the leftmost one is dessert fork. Usually, in
order to distinguish dessert tablewares from other tablewares, people used to put the dessert
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
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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 embarrassed and will also make bad impression to
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 the 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. 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 out their ideas of independence. While chopsticks arose the together-food
system, which gives prominence to the happiness that old and young eating together. And it
also makes Chinese people have a strong sense of family.




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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, desserts 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.
Hot dishes should send from left of the inferior seat that opposite to the honor seat. Small
dishes should first send to guests and then to the host. There are some main methods for dish
up: first one is serving a big dish and guests get food by themselves; the second one is that
the waiter hold the plate and serve the guests one by one; the third one is to divide the food
into small dishes and every guest has a share. At formal western banquets, having dishes is
just like enjoying a PPT. But an appropriate Chinese dinner contains more. 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. Desserts can be a perfect end of the dinner. Desserts are always sweet soup
like red bean paste or gingili paste. There are also many other kinds of desserts like pudding
or ice cream. Today, Chinese prefer to have fruits instead of tranditional desserts. The fruits
can be apples or watermelon or other fruits that taste fresh and clean. This 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, desserts and then
coffee or fruits. Cold dishes and soup can eat together with bread. The cold dishes are also
called appetizing dish, which is the first dish of the dinner. The main kind of cold dishes are
caviar, foie gras, smoked salmon or other things. As cold dishes are used to stimulate appetite,
so the dishes always have flavor characteristics and the tastes are mainly salty and sour.
Besides, cold dishes have small quantity and high quality. Appetizing wine is always served
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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. Dessert is the sixth dish which serves after entree. Actually, desserts
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 that reflected by those order
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 possible 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.
China is a state of ceremonies and value loyal and piety. Value of such country is collectivism,
so Chinese people pay attention on respecting the old and loving the young. The arrangement
for dinner can obviously prove it.
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
expression. Western people believe that that if someone can not achieve his goal,it is idleness
that causes his failure, not fatality. They also believe that losing fight means losing success.
So western people prefer to be served individually. They have their own food in their own
plates and everyone chooses their favorite food. They would not eat the food they dislike, like
Chinese people always do. they only eat what they like.
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2.4 Different atmospheres at table
Noisy and quiet is the main different of table atmosphere between Chinese culture and western
culture. Chinese table atmosphere always noisy and always the noisier the better. While western
table atmosphere is always quiet.

“But in the West, it emphasizes individual rights and privacy. They will prepare course according
to the number of guests, and they will not do more than necessary, in order to avoid wasting a lot of
food. They also do not urge others drinking and picking up food to others. Western meal is dull but
pays more attention to the nutrition and balanced diet.” (Luo, 2007)

Chinese people consider eating as the happiest thing in their lives, and the great pomp and
circumstance of dinner always surprise foreign people. People begin to talk at the time they sit
down, and they would keep talking during the whole dinner. They also like to help the other guests
with the food and wine during the dinner. By this way they show respect and wormth to the guests.
Everybody at the table talking, drinking, eating, and enjoying the pulsating atmosphere. Noisy
atmosphere can reflect the guests’ happiness from their hearts. In a way, this kind of “noisy” can
reflect Chinese people’s collectivism.

Western people always begin to eat food from their own plates. They also talk at table, but they talk
quietly and keep the voice at the stage that can only be heard. You can not make noises when
drinking soup. If the soup is too hot to drink, you can wait for a while and do not blow the soup.
Chewing with your mouth closed and do not making noises when eating. It is very impolite to talk
with food in mouth. Swallow the food in mouth before you talk.

China has a long history of wine culture. Wine can make people closer, so Chinese people like to
raise their glasses to toast. So it is normal to see the guests urging others to drink at dinner. Some
people like to treat drinking as fighting and try their best to urge other people to drink more. The
definition of “cheers” in China is to drink up all the wine in the glass, which is quite different from
the west.

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While Chinese people consider drinking as a way for social intercourse, western people consider
drinking as a way to enjoy. They pay particular attention to the posture of holding the glass. Usually,
people use fingers to hold the foot of the goblets. You can jiggle the goblets to make the wine more
delectable, but you can not shake violently because this behavior is very rude. Besides, you can not
watch people or even peep through the glass when drinking, those are all impolite behaviors. The
definition of “cheers” in western culture is just taking a sip of the wine. The way that Chinese
people drink seems very rude and indecorum in western culture.

2.5 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, there are two ways to finish eating. The first one is 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. When attending a wedding dinner party, no matter how the
tablewares put, once the chief guest finishes eating, all the tablewares should be taken away. So at
banquets, just remember that the chief guests are the center of everything. At dinner party, every
dish has it’s own corresponding knife and fork. The right order to use the knives and forks is from
outside to inside, because the tablewares are put in the same order of dish up. When having
antipasto or desserts, if the food can be picked by fork, there is no need to use knife. Just leave the
knives that have not used on the table when you finish eating. Although putting the knife and fork
together on the plate parallel is the sign of finished eating, there is no need to put the knives that
have not used onto the dirty plate.





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3. Conclusion
In sum, Chinese table culture pays particular attention to the order among people. This kind of
culture 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 recessive to another. We should
avoid using our own culture, morality and value to judge foreign culture. We should treat foreign
culture objectively and comprehendly. At the same time, we should insist on our own culture and
avoid to follow foreign culture blindly.

In cross culture communication, the misunderstandings caused by culture barrier appear frequently.
Sometimes well-meaning talking might make people embarrassed. So, studying the differences
between different cultures and studying the right actions of cross-culture communication are
necessary. The purpose of knowing the differences and similarities of table manners is to understand
the present cross-cultural situation and to have a better idea of people’s relationships by avoiding
unnecessary 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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中西方餐桌礼仪对比研究
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