Chinese says,
"Start
it Great, End it Great"
So is the Meal
Meal does
not end until the bill is paid. In other words, there are more "rules" to follow to show the respect
to the people dining together with you.
Now you know that you have to eat the food together with the rice or congee.
If you are done with your bowl of rice or congee, you will do either one of the followings: |
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- If someone on the same table with you and ask if you want to have
some more rice/congee, which the Chinese always do, you can go ahead to place another order. Or else, don’t take any
initiative to do so.
- If you are half way full and someone ask you if you want to have some more,
you can ask people on the same table and see if they mind to split that bowl of rice or congee with you. If they don’t,
go ahead ordering.
- If you don’t want any more rice or congee, but some more food in front
of you. And at the same time, at least 1 person or more is still eating. You better stop and wait till everybody has stopped.
Then, you can pick up your chopsticks and eat again.
- For ladies, do not put on any lipsticks even
you are completely done. The Chinese will think that you are in a hurry to leave.
- NEVER,
EVER leave in the middle or before everybody is done for the meal. The Chinese will wonder why you came here if you are in
a hurry to leave. Some of them will never ask you to join them for meal next time anymore.
In my family, my mother is always the
one making sure that we finish the very last piece of food on the plates. Because to her, there are a lot of people out there
in another part of the world suffering hunger.
But some families like to leave some on a plate without packing
back home. To them, this means a kind of luck.
So, all you can do is to follow what your Chinese friends or relatives
do.
When it comes to paying bill, Chinese seldom split the amount among everybody. Most of the time, someone has
already said that he/she is going to buy the meal for everybody before going to the restaurant. But like my family, we dine
out every week. So, we take turn to pay the bill.
And be prepared to see this happens always in the Chinese restaurant…..The
Chinese fight for paying the bill. They are not mad at each other. But they just want to be nice and show their respect to
buy the meal for everyone.
I know it’s a long trip for you to go through all of these “rules”,
huh? But acting right will make everybody happy. One of the most important thing is that they will be very impressed of your
performance and respect to their culture and customs. They will respect and love you more. Believe me!Since some of the Chinese
have been influenced by the western culture, you may see, like some of them using plate to eat instead of bowl. For instance,
one of my uncles’family, they started using plates after coming back from Canada. |
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