In China, people are usually very tolerant of foreigners lacking chopstick skills. In fact, western style utensils will be politely offered even if they aren’t requested.

However, to participate fully in the dining experience, visitors should try using chopsticks. A little practice at a local Chinese restaurant before traveling will go a long way.

If serving spoons or serving chopsticks are provided, diners should use them to pick up food. If not, guests can use their own chopsticks to pick up the food and place it on their plates while trying to only touch one’s own selection with one’s chopsticks.

For those who want to be even more polite, chopsticks can be reversed so that one picks up food from the clean end that doesn’t touch the mouth. Diners should also use the clean end when passing food to others. A personal spoon should never be used to serve oneself from a shared bowl or plate

Guests should not drop chopsticks since this is considered bad luck, as is sticking chopsticks straight up in a rice bowl. Pointing a chopstick at someone is considered rude. Guests should never play with their chopsticks and should use them only for eating.

Toasting and Drinking Alcohol at Meals in China

Toasts are an important part of a shared meal, especially at Chinese banquets. Good manners call for guests to wait for the host(s) to make a toast before drinking. “Ganbei” (Gan-bye) is a typical toast that literally translated means “dry bottom.” But this doesn’t mean that guests are required to drain a whole glass at once.

After a toast, guests should raise their glasses with two hands and tip them slightly in the direction of the person who is toasting, to show that they have taken a drink

Those who don’t drink alcohol should inform the host at the beginning of the meal. Guests who prefer to sip an alcoholic drink slowly can say “suiyi” which means “as you like”, implying that either party can drink as little or as much as he or she chooses.

Who Pays the Bill at Restaurants in China?

The concept of “going Dutch” isn’t widely practiced in China. Dining etiquette usually requires the person who organizes the meal pays the bill. It’s expected that guests reciprocate by inviting the host out in the future and picking up the tab.

Dining out iin China is an adventure. Following a few simple customs will make traveling in China an enjoyable cultural as well as a social experience.

The copyright of the article Eating Etiquette in China for Visitors in China Travel is owned by Marilyn DeAngelis Pennell. Permission to republish Eating Etiquette in China for Visitors in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Chopsticks were developed about 5,000 years ago in China. It is likely that people cooked their food in large pots which retained heat well, and hasty eaters then broke twigs off trees to retrieve the food. By 400 BCE, a large population and dwindling resources forced people to conserve fuel. Food was chopped into small pieces so it could be cooked more rapidly, thus needing less fuel.

CAS 0389-1935A-D: Japanese chopstick/ knife set
CAS 0389-1935 A-DThe pieces of food were small enough that they negated the need for knives at the dinner table, and chopsticks became staple utensils. It is also thought that Confucius, a vegetarian, advised people not to use knives at the table because knives would remind them of the slaughterhouse. Chinese chopsticks, called kuai-zi (quick little fellows), are usually 9 to 10 inches long and rectangular with a blunt end. By 500 CE, chopstick use had spread from China to present-day Vietnam, Korea, and Japan. The chopsticks to the left, while Japanese, are rectangular in the Chinese style.

In Japan, chopsticks were originally considered precious and were used exclusively for religious ceremonies. The earliest chopsticks used for eating looked like tweezers; they were made from one piece of bamboo that was joined at the top. By the 10th Century, chopsticks were being produced in two separate pieces.

Japanese chopsticks differed in design from Chinese chopsticks in that they were rounded and came to a point; they were also shorter (7 inches long for females and 8 inches long for males).

The Japanese usually made their chopsticks out of wood. To the lower right are chopsticks with a characteristic Japanese style. Starting in the 17th Century, they were the first to lacquer these wooden chopsticks, making them slippery but usable. The Japanese were also the first to create disposable wooden chopsticks (called wari-bashi), which appeared in 1878.CAS 0389-1939 A-D

Traditionally, chopsticks have been made from a variety of materials. Bamboo has been the most popular because it is inexpensive, readily available, easy to split, resistant to heat, and has no perceptible odor or taste. Cedar, sandalwood, teak, pine, and bone have also been used. The wealthy, however, often had chopsticks made from jade, gold, bronze, brass, agate, coral, ivory, and silver. In fact, during dynastic times it was thought that silver chopsticks would turn black if they came into contact with poisoned food. It is now known that silver has no reaction to arsenic or cyanide, but if rotten eggs, onion, or garlic are used, the hydrogen sulfide they release might cause these chopsticks to

 

How to Eat With Chopsticks

Do you love Asian food, but want the full experience by eating it as it was meant to be eaten - with chopsticks? Chopsticks are the main eating utensil in China, Korea, Taiwan, & Vietnam. Watching others using chopsticks can make it look so easy, but when you try it, you end up asking for a fork. Here's how to say goodbye to that fork for good and put those chopsticks to work!