外国人讨论中国文化中的餐桌礼仪（上）Chinese table manners hold a lot of importance and are symbolic of Chinese traditions.
Adopting good dining etiquette can help one connect with Chinese family at home. It can also help leave good impressions with Chinese colleagues over formal business meals.
Coming from a Chinese-Malaysian family, Chinese eating customs has been a big part of my life. I’ve always found myself sticking by them.
在中国的饮食文化中，有一些用餐礼仪需要注意。
中国的用餐礼仪很重要，是中国传统的象征。
养成良好的用餐礼仪可以帮助一个人在家里与中国家庭建立联系。这也有助于在正式的商务餐上给中国同事留下好印象。
我来自一个马来西亚华人家庭，中餐的饮食习惯一直是我生活的重要组成部分。我发现自己一直在坚持这么做。
Seating arrangement
座位安排
There is usually an unspoken seating arrangement at the Chinese dining table This arrangement is a marker of hierarchical, honor and patriarchal structures in Chinese families, a reminder of one’s place at home.
Usually respected elders grandpa, grandma or the parents take the most venerable seat at the table, namely the seats facing the door which gives them full view of who comes and goes.
In Chinese culture, elders are deemed wisest and more deserving of respect. To loosely put it, They have earned ‘the best view’ and ‘watching their back’ at the table.
在中国的家庭中，座位安排是等级、荣誉和父权结构的标志，提醒着一个人在家里的地位。
受人尊敬的长辈，爷爷、奶奶或父母通常坐在餐桌上最受尊敬的位置，也就是对着门的座位，这样他们就能看到谁来了谁走了。
在中国文化中，老年人被认为是最有智慧的，更值得尊重。简单地说，简而言之，他们在餐桌上赢得了“最佳视角”和“背靠背”的位置。
Also, before one starts eating at a Chinese meal it’s customary to wait for everyone to be seated and for someone to invite everyone to tuck in. In Asian cultures, a meal is a chance to recognise the people in our lives. Togetherness, family and guānxì are virtues in Asian culture.
‘Sik fan’is what my grandma always said to signal the start of extended family dinners. She would then scoop pieces of yellow-skinned chicken for the kids.
此外，在开始吃中餐之前，习惯上要等所有人就座，并有人邀请所有人一起开始用餐。在亚洲文化中，一顿饭是认识我们生活中的人的机会。保持家庭和睦是亚洲文化的美德。
“吃饭”是我奶奶常说的，象征着大家庭聚餐的开始。然后她会给孩子们盛一些白切鸡肉。
Ordering and serving dishes
点菜和上菜
Sharing is a big part of Chinese meals in line with the notion of togetherness. At many Chinese banquets, tables are round as opposed to rectangular. No matter where one sits at a round table, they can see and talk with each other.
The concept of circle is symbolic of unity and the moon – two important markers among many Chinese people.
Very rarely is a single Chinese dish eaten by one person all for themselves. Each dish is usually shared or put on a revolving Lazy Susan in the middle of the table. This is helpful for my short arms wanting too reach the dishes on the other side of the table. On a side note, the Lazy Susan’s inventions supposedly has roots in the Western world.
分享是中国饮食的一个重要组成部分，这符合团体聚会的概念。在许多中国宴会上，桌子都是圆形的，而不是长方形的。无论一个人坐在圆桌的哪个位置，他们都可以看到对方并交谈。
圆代表着团结和满月——这对许多中国人来说是两个重要的标志。
一个人单独吃一道菜是非常罕见的。每道菜通常被共享或放在桌子中间旋转的转盘上。这有助于让我的短胳膊能够到桌子另一边的盘子。顺便说一句，“懒人转盘”的发明据说起源于西方世界。
Cutlery and table manners
餐具和餐桌礼仪
Chinese table manners are at times tied to Chinese superstitions. More often than dining superstitions are subtle reminders to be thankful for the present and food on the table.
Sticking chopsticks upright in a bowl is frowned upon. It resembles joss sticks at the altar , symbolic of death which is a taboo topic among stereotypical Chinese.
Banging chopsticks together is symbolic of beggars begging for money and being out of work is shameful to many a Chinese family.
中国的餐桌礼仪有时会与中国的迷信联系在一起。与吃饭相比，迷信更多的是在微妙地提醒人们要对现在的境遇和餐桌上的食物心存感激。
把筷子直立在碗里是不被允许的。它类似于祭坛上的香，象征着死亡，这是中国人忌讳的话题。
敲打筷子是乞丐乞讨的象征，对许多中国家庭来说，失业是可耻的。
Holding one’s rice bowl close to their mouth as they eat is encouraged. That way food won’t fall to the ground. Earning your food through hard work is prided upon in Asian cultures. My mum constantly said to me over dinner as a kid, “Finish your rice”.
Similarly, slurping one’s food or asking for another serving is not rude. It’s seen as showing appreciation for a Chinese meal.
Fried food always tempts us into descending towards gluttony. Fried Maggi Goreng | Weekly Photo Challenge: Descent.
吃东西的时候，应该把饭碗放在嘴边。这样食物就不会掉到地上。在亚洲文化中，通过努力工作来获得食物是一种值得骄傲的事情。小时候吃饭时，妈妈经常对我说:“把饭吃完”。
吃东西时发出声音或要求再上一份并不粗鲁。这被视为对中餐的欣赏。
Drinking
喝酒礼仪
As part of many big Chinese meals (think reunx dinners and wedding banquets), it’s customary to toast to the occasion.
When proposing a toast, pick an event. Get everyone at the table to stand up and raise their glasses. Lead the toast by shouting ‘yum seng‘ (飲勝 / drink to success).
Everyone will yell the phrase too as they raise their drinks higher in the air. The louder and longer the yum seng, the more auspicious it’s touted to be.
Oddly enough at each extended family dinner, I’m usually the last to stand up for the yum seng toast, last to raise my glass of tea…and as if on cue, everyone else around the table will burst into a deafening chorus of yummm senggg – which can go on for a minute or more like this Chinese dinner.
作为许多中国大餐的一部分(比如团圆饭和婚宴)，敬酒是一种习俗。
敬酒时，选择一个主题，让在座的每个人都站起来，举起酒杯。然后喊“干杯”(飲勝)。
每个人把酒杯举到高处时也会喊这句话。“干杯”的声音越响、时间越长，就越被认为是吉祥的。
奇怪的是，在每次大家庭聚餐中，我通常是最后一个站起来举起我的酒杯……就好像得到了提醒，桌子周围的每个人都会爆发出震耳欲聋的“干杯”——这可能会持续一分钟或更长时间。
Finishing the meal
吃完饭
When a Chinese banquet meal ends, there are usually complimentary wet hand wipes given out to clean your hands. It’s respectful to thank the hosts too.
Generally it is not polite to leave without the host or eldest person’s permission. But if you have to leave early, let them know and thank them for the invitation in the first place.
It is also considered polite to offer to pay the bill or offer to shout the hosts a meal another time.
中国宴会结束后，主人通常会赠送湿纸巾来擦手。感谢主人也是一种尊重。
一般来说，未经主人或长辈的允许就离开是不礼貌的。但如果你必须提前离开，首先要让他们知道并感谢他们的邀请。
另外，主动为主人买单或另找时间喊主人吃饭也被认为是礼貌的行为。
* * *
Chinese dining etiquette is more than just unspoken cultural rules and routine. It begets a sense of selflessness and togetherness. It’s never about oneself all the time but also others around us – making sure everyone has a seat at the table, sharing food and appreciating each other’s presence throughout the meal.
Eating is a daily affair. It can feel mundane if you eat the same dishes with the same people regularly, even if it’s once a year at a certain time of the year. But though you may not feel excited gathering to eat together, your sheer presence at the table does matter.
中国的用餐礼仪不仅仅是约定俗成的惯例。它会带来一种无私和团结的感觉。这从来都不是关于自己的，而是关于我们周围的其他人的——确保每个人都在餐桌上有一个座位，分享食物，在整个用餐过程中欣赏彼此的存在。
吃是每天都要做的事。如果你经常和同样的人吃同样的菜，即使是在一年中的某个特定时间，你也会觉得很平淡。尽管一起吃饭你可能不会感到兴奋，但你出现在餐桌旁这一点本身就很重要。
When you sit down for a meal together, there’s an unspoken agreement to be together and put aside differences for a moment, no matter where you’ve been and what you’ve done. As author Emily Post said about treating others:
‘Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.’
当你们一起坐下来吃饭时，有一个不言而喻的协议，那就是现在在一起吃饭，暂时抛开分歧，不管你去过哪里，做过什么。正如作家艾米丽·波斯特在对待他人时所说:
“礼仪是对他人感受的敏感感知。如果你有这样的意识，不管你用什么叉子，你都是有个有礼貌的人。”
Each time I look around at the rest of the family shouting yummm senggg at the top of their lungs, my mouth twitches upwards ever so slightly. There’s something special about being a part of a typical Chinese meal.
It’s uplifting to say the least. And fun. Each time my family drags on the yummm senggg in unwavering rousing unison of a chorus, I hold my glass of tea up a little higher. Always.
每当我环顾四周，看到家里的其他人大声喊着“干杯”的时候，我的嘴就会微微向上翘起。作为其中的一份子参与典型的中餐是很特别的。
至少可以说是令人振奋的和非常有趣的。每次我的家人坚定而振奋的齐声喊着“干杯”的时候，我都会把我的酒杯举得更高一点，永远。
