An Analysis of Cultural Differences between Chinese and Western Table Manners

1、an analysis of cultural differences between chinese and western table manners1. introduction1.1 introduction of table mannerstable manners refer to the manners or etiquettes we use while eating at a table with other people. it includes seating arrangements, tableware setting, serving order, language

2、 and behaviors, etc.different cultures have different standards for table manners. sometimes, the same manners have different meanings in different countries. polite manners in asia may be considered as rude behaviors in europe. for instance, the japanese tend to make loud noises to show their respe

3、ct for cook while eating noodles. however, the westerners behave quietly differently. making noise is considered as impolite behavior in western countries. in todays society, table manners are not only something about etiquettes, but also a mirror of cultures.1.2 the importance of table mannersin re

4、cent years, with the globalization of social life and economy, people from different countries contact each other more frequently than before. however, they may misunderstand each other during their contacts. in cross-cultural communications, having proper manners is a master key to success. the dif

5、ferences of manners caused by cultural factors are the main reasons which lead to communication failures. therefore, it becomes important for us to understand cultural differences. table manners, one of the common social etiquettes, often come up firstly when we contact with westerners. only if we h

6、ave a good understanding of the cultural differences about table manners can we avoid unnecessary misunderstandings and conflicts in cross-cultural communications. this paper aims to talk about the cultural differences between chinese and western table manners.2. the origins of table manners2.1 orig

7、in of western table mannerswestern table manners are originated from merovingian dynasty (frankish dynasty). 1 they gained a good deal of enlightenment from byzantine culture and then formed a series of keen and cautious etiquettes. in roman times, table manners became more and more complicated and

8、autocratic. the king should sit on the highest seat. the princes, dukes and aristocrats must pass the dishes to the king when the music started. before 17th century, it was a habit for people to wear hat during the meal. however, different groups had different habits at that time. french people alwa

9、ys kept their hands on the table but the british put their hands on their laps if they didnt eating anything. 2 when french culture was influenced by italy, table manners became more graceful and exquisite. 2.2 origin of chinese table mannerschina is very famous for its courtesy. it is also known as

10、 “the land of courtesy and propriety”. etiquette occupies a very important position in traditional chinese culture. it has a far-reaching influence in national politics and peoples lives. chinese people have advocated that “food is the first necessities of the people” since ancient times. it is reco

11、rded that china had formed a series of perfect system of table manners since the zhou dynasty. these manners had great influence in ancient society. after a long-term spread, they are accepted by a large public and they still influence peoples lives in present-day society. 3. the differences between

12、 chinese and western table manners table manners include language and behavior, seat arrangement, tableware setting, orders of serving dishes, etc. however, there are many differences of table manners in different countries.3.1 different time sense of arriving at dinnerin western countries, people h

13、ave very strong sense of time. therefore, if someone is invited to dinner at five, he is usually expected to be there at five or not more than fifty minutes later. arriving late is considered to be impolite behaviors in western countries. once the guest is late for dinner, he should apologize deeply

14、 to the host and give an excuse. if the guest can not appear on time, he should call the host or hostess and give the reason. otherwise, people may regard him as an impolite and proud person. but now punctuality is also considered a good virtue of the chinese. state the reasons.3.2 different seat ar

15、rangements3.2.1 seat arrangements in western dinner partyboth chinese and westerners attach importance to seating arrangements. in western countries, people usually use long tables, round tables or square tables when they have a dinner party. generally speaking, long tables are used more commonly th

16、an others for western dinner parties. sometimes, the host places them together into t-shape or u-shape according to the limitation of space. although westerners consider “taking the right for upper” as their standard of making seating arrangements, different table forms have different principles of

17、making seating arrangements. for western dinner parties, two ways are commonly accepted: british style and french style. in british style, the host and the hostess sit at the end of the table. the male guest of honor sits on the right of the hostess and the second important male guest of honor sits

18、on the left. on the right of the host is a female guest of honor. see chart 3-1. 3 hostess female male hostess male femalemale 1 2 male 3 1 2 4female 3 4 femalemale 4 3 male 4 2 1 3female 2 1 female male female host female male host door door chart 3-1 chart 3-2 in french style, both host and hostes

19、s are seated in the middle. but the ways of seating arrangements for guests are similar to british style. see chart 3-2. 4in western countries, men and women are seated alternately (a man beside a woman) at the dinner table. husbands and wives are also separated since they believe that they should b

20、roaden their interpersonal relationships on any social occasions.when the guests take their seats, they should follow the principle of “l(fā)adies first”. when a woman enters, the men in the room usually stand up and remain standing until the woman is seated. whenever a man is introduced to a woman, he

21、always stands up. but it is not the case for a woman when all the guests come to the dinner table, it is customary for the men to help the women by pushing their chairs under them zhang kuiwu, 2006:199. 5 this custom is closely connected with the bible. virgin mary, the mother of jesus, is a lofty,

22、kind and chaste woman in the minds of westerners. 6 people have a sincere commitment to her and they fall into a habit of respecting women.3.2.2 seat arrangement in china chinese people prefer using round table or eight-immortal table (i.e. an old fashioned square table for eight people) to entertai

23、n guests. unlike westerners, they follow the principle of “taking the left for upper” when they arrange seats for guests. in addition, the seat faced to the door or faced to the east is the seat of honor. according to the table forms, we can arrange seats in different ways. if we use square table to

24、 entertain guests, then the guests of honor sit on the right seat faced to the door. the person on his left is the second important people.see chart3-3. 71 1 2 3 2 3 4 5 4 5 6 7 6 7 host host door door chart 3-3 chart 3-4 if the dinner table is round, then the guest of honor sit on the seat faced to

25、 the door directly. see chart 3- 4. 8in china, women always sit by women and men sit by men. usually, women sit on the unimportant position, such as the seats in the corner. womens position today is related to the long-term domination of confucianism in the chinese history. confucianism advocated “m

26、ale domination and female subordination”, “three obedience (i.e. obedience to ones father before marriage, to ones husband after marriage to ones son after ones husbands death) and four virtues (i.e. morality, proper speech, modest manner, and diligent work) for a woman”. women lived in subsidiary p

27、osition. 3.3 language and behaviors at the tablefor a western dinner, there are usually 4 or 5 courses. it will be best to finish all the dishes if the feast is held at home. the hostess will be very happy because she may think that people like her cooking very much. one should not speak loudly duri

28、ng the meal. but remember to try to talk with the person sitting beside you. otherwise, he will think that you look down upon him. westerners advocate individualism. they usually avoid talking about their families. in western countries, there are many taboo behaviors at the dinner table, such as eat

29、ing with making noisy, waving knives and forks, making up, having hiccup, picking teeth, yawning, smoking, and sneezing. the westerners do not like to talk disgusting things at the table, and they always use a formal word to replace the toilet. for example: “where can i wash my hand?”, “i wonder if

30、i could go somewhere?”, “can i add some powder?” and so on.the westerners like to talk in what do you mean? their body languages are plentiful, such as making eyes, shaking hands, shrugging shoulders, etc. but once they sit at the table, they are dumb as a wooden chicken. they eat their own dishes q

31、uietly. in western countries, quietness is a distinctive feature at the dinner table. they eat dishes without making noise; eating soup without making noise. they talk with their neighbors instead of all the guests. making noise is considered as an impolite behavior in their minds. when their neighb

32、ors are talking, it is impolite to butt in. in the minds of westerners, food is the necessary of living. the purpose of having meal is to keep their body work in order. it is as similar as fueling a machine. therefore, manners at the table should be normal.in china, the courses at a dinner table are

33、 of great variety. usually, there are at least 7 or 8 dishes. chinese people are keen on face-saving. in their opinions, the rarer the food is, the more hospitable the host is. though his feast is sumptuous, the host always says: “there is nothing good for you to eat, please help yourselves.” genera

34、lly speaking, if a person wants to make a good impression on people, he should not eat too much though the food is delicious. in china, the host likes to pick up food for the guests to show his hospitality. modest is a virtue of chinese people. the languages and behaviors of people at the dinner tab

35、le reflect their principle of “downgrading oneself in order to make others feel superior”.contrary to westerners, chinese people look quiet on normal occasions. but once they sit at the table, they pour out words in a steady flow. having meal is considered as the most important thing in peoples live

36、s. if a foreigner takes part in a dinner party in china, he may be surprised by the noisy scene. chinese people prefer lively atmosphere. the restaurant is always full of hubbub. some are eating, some are talking, some are playing finger-guessing game, etc. if someone wants to hold a dinner party, h

37、e may invite hundreds of people. during the meal, people urge each other to drink and eat more again and again. noise at the table reflects peoples happiness in their heart. to some extent, it can also reflect that chinese people attach great importance to family harmony and they always have a good

38、relation with their neighborhoods. in the mind of chinese people, harmony is most precious.3.4 tableware settingone of the main differences of table manners between chinese and western is tableware. in western countries, people use knives and forks to eat while chinese people use chopsticks instead.

39、 you xiuling, professor of zhejiang university, believes that table wares not only reflect the different table manners between east and west but also make an impact on peoples attitude to life. (you xiuling 2002) 9 in his opinion, using knives and forks leads to a system of separating meal while cho

40、pstick brings the system of eating together at one table. to some extent, separating meal is related to the formation of the consciousness of individualism. on the contrary, eating together emphasizes that both the old and the young should sit together. as a result, chinese people are very family co

41、nscious. 3.4.1 western tableware setting table wares are of a great variety in western countries. for a formal meal, table wares usually include napkins, plates, spoons, water goblets, wine glasses, knives and forks. 10generally, the napkin is placed in the plate. but if there is something that need

42、s to be put in the plate before dinner, the napkin will be placed beside the plate. for a western dinner, plates can be divided into dinner plate, salad plate and butter plate according to its function. usually, dinner plate is not on the table until the guests are seated. salad plate is to the left

43、 of the forks. butter plate is on the upper left of the table. there are two spoons for a dinner, one for soup and the other for dessert. soup spoon is bigger than dessert spoon and both of them are placed on the right with knives on their left. the water goblet is positioned above the knives and sp

44、oons with wine glasses. 11 at a western dinner party, wineglasses can be divided into sherry glass, champagne glass, beer glass, snifter, claret or red wine glass and white wine glass, etc. people place them above the knives in a straight row with the taller on the left and the shorter on the right.

45、 knives include dinner knife, salad knife, butter knife and fish knife. butter knife is put across the butter plate horizontally and the others are placed next to the plate on the right. there are three forks at the dinner table, one for salad, one for dinner and one for fish. 12 the fish fork is pl

46、aced at the far left. the salad fork is closed to the plate and the dinner fork is between the fish fork and the salad fork. we should pay attention to something when we have meal with knives and forks. a simple rule is that using knives and forks in the order in which they lie, beginning from the o

47、utside. be sure not to wield knife in the air during the meal. there is difference between americans and europeans in their left hands and keep the knives in their right hands while eating. in the usa, one cuts food with knife in his right hand. after that, he may puts down the knife and then change

48、s the fork from his left hand to his right hand. briefly speaking, american people use just one hand in eating while europeans use both hands. during the meal, if someone wants to stop eating and wants to talk or take a rest, he should put the knife and fork in the shape of chinese character “八” wit

49、h the blade towards to himself. 13 it means he will continue to eat after a short while. if a guest put his knife and fork abreast in the middle or on the right of the plate, it means he has finished his meal.3.4.2 chinese tableware setting in china, table wares mainly include plates, bowls, glasses

50、, small dishes, spoons and chopsticks. sometimes, there are also paper napkin, ashtray and toothpick on the table. most table wares are for public use, so each guest only has a bowl, a small dish, a spoon, a pair of chopsticks and at most two glasses (one for water and one for wine). the common way

51、of setting table wares is to put the bowl on the upper left of the small dish, and the wineglass is placed on the upper right. 14 usually, the chopsticks are wrapped in paper and placed to the right of the bowl. chopsticks, as the main table wares in china, have a particular standard in using; a pro

52、per gesture is to keep a pair of chopsticks in the right hand, clench the higher position of them with thumb and first finger, and the other three fingers should flex naturally to hold the chopsticks. chinese people have a long history of using chopsticks. therefore, for some reason, they gradually

53、formed some certain taboos in using method: chopsticks should be of the same length. if the chopsticks are various in lengths, it is called “san chang liang duan” which means unforeseen disaster in chinese. in the earlier times, one would be put into a coffin after he died. before the lid is laid on

54、 the coffin, the coffin is made of 5 pieces of boards. two boards are short and the other three are long. that is “san chang liang duan” in chinese. so in the mind of chinese people, “san chang liang duan” means unlucky. therefore, the chopsticks must be uniform in length. do not tap your bowl or pl

55、ate with chopsticks. in the past, beggars tapped their bowls to attract pedestrians attention so that they could get food or money from them. therefore, tapping bowl is considered as contemptible behavior. it is impolite to rummage through the serving plate for food with chopsticks. it looks like a

56、grave robber digging up the grave and looking for treasures. so dont behave like that if you really want to make a good impression. do remember not to stick the chopsticks upright in the bowl. in chinese tradition, when a person passed away, his family will do some ceremony for him. they put a shrine in front of his spirit tablet (with the name, birthday, etc, of the dead inscribed). the shrine includes a bowl with incense stuck upright in it. if you stick the chopsticks upright in the bowl, people may think that you wish death upon one of them at the table.3.5 dif