On Chinese-Western Differences in Table Manners 浅析中西方餐桌礼仪差异及其原因 毕业论文.doc

on chinese-western differences in table manners浅析中西方餐桌礼仪差异及其原因abstract: with the development of chinas opening-up, more and more western culture gets into our sight. as we face with unfamiliar cultures and countries, some inevitable cultural conflicts might happen in the communication, which will seriously affect the contacts being carried out smoothly. table manners have a decisive position in the communication between china and western countries. during communication we will show our best image and avoid cultural conflicts. learning and using the right etiquette will not only step up our own impression, but also promote the benefit and strife of the company. this paper focuses on the differences of table manners between the west and china, and analyzes the reasons that caused the differences. key words: etiquette， table manner， difference， culture， reason 摘要: 随着中国对外开放程度的逐渐深入，西方社会的文化越来越多地映入了我们的眼帘.由于我们所面对的是来自陌生的文化和国家，思维方式、生活习惯和行为方式与我们迥然不同的人，在与之交往的过程中不可避免的会出现文化冲突的现象，严重影响了交往的顺利进行。餐桌礼仪在交际当中占了重要的地位。学习和运用正确的餐桌礼仪，已不仅仅是自身形象的需要，更是提高双效益、提升竞争力的需要。因此我们很有必要找出其深层次的原因，并提出一定的措施来培养跨文化交际的能力，避免文化冲突。该篇论文的重点是分析中西方在餐桌礼仪的差异，并且就这些差异及其造成的原因。关键词:礼仪， 餐桌礼仪， 差异， 文化， 原因outline:.the importance of table manners in international communication.the specific of table manners a 、arrival of time b、the concept of dishes c、the atmosphere on table d、seat arrangement e、customary action on table. the causes of different dining customs between the west and china a、different time concepts b、different ideas c、different behaviors regulation . conclusionson chinese-western differences in table manners. the importance of table manners in international communicationwith the development of opening-up policy, foreign etiquette enters to our daily life day by day. besides the commercial etiquette, the dinner table etiquette is very important, too. as there are many different cultures between china and western countries, we have different dinner table etiquettes. it will cause some difficulties when we do communicate with foreign country people. the fully warrens of the difference can prevent the failure in politeness and promote personal status in the dinner table.different table manners between china and western countries aarrival of time the westerners and chinese have the different view on time concepts. the westerners always combine time and money view together, thus there is a famous saying: time is money，which has become deeply ingrained in their mind. so they value their time very much. in their daily lives, they always arrange and plan their time carefully. they are often filled with a sense of urgency of time. they have a good hobby that they go to the party on time. if they have to go somewhere to have dinner with others, they must arrive on time. usually, when they want to go to someones home for dinner, they always get at about five minutes earlier. it isnt very polite for you get much earlier, maybe the hostess is busying doing preparation and so it is not suitable for you to reach at that time. but in china, we dont pay more attention on the time; we dont have certain standards about arrival time. arrive earlier, on time or a little late are all allowed.b. concept of dishes the chinese think much of their image in their friends mind and they think the richness of the food represents ones hospitality. they emphasize on the meal itself when they treats friends, so the food and wine at the banquet should be rich and colorful. if it can achieve, it must be delicious and expensive. otherwise, chinese people will not consider it as a treat. but the western people hold the opposite opinion. they think nothing is more than the nutrition of the food when they have their dinning. they pay great attention to the nutrition of the food rather than its color、flavor、shape and mean. their diet mainly focus on health, as if they dont care about the enjoyment of it is tastes. c、the atmosphere on tablewhile having dinner, chinese always like sit around the table together eat and drink, speak and laugh loudly to build liveliness and warmth table atmosphere. chinese people are always very enthusiastic on the table. at the beginning of the dinner, the host will hand around smoke, including formal party. and even the food is delicious enough, the host also will say: this isnt very much please help yourselves, forgive me and so on. during the dinning, sometimes chinese host use their chopsticks to put food in your bowl or plate. this is a sign of politeness. the appropriate thing to do would be to eat the whatever-it-is and say how yummy it is. if you feel uncomfortable with this, you can just say a polite thank you and leave the food there. in china wine is an essential thing on the dinning table, whatever the kind of the banquet is, wine is the necessity thing. sometimes for meaning the respect toward the party, people will drink all of time by cup and cup. the host should always make sure the guests drinks are sufficiently full. when people wish to clink drinks together in the form of a cheer, it is important to observe that younger members should clink the edge of their drink below the edge of an elder to show respect.different from the chinese table manner, western countries do not like the noisy ambiance. they advocate freedom and think that having dinning with noise is very rude and impolite and quiet dinning environment is the well-liking habit. they will respect the guests own idea. they will ask you to help yourselves and just ask you to eat this food; if you refuse they will not ask you another time. on the table, they protest quiet、enjoyable and peaceful dinning environment. they think even you are having meal you should keep image. in china, the host will ask you to eat the food all the way. in our mind, maybe someone is shy to eat much, if the host asks the customer to eat; it will show their hospitality.d、seat arrangement chinese and the western dinner table etiquette have the slight difference. as we use different type of tables, we have different seat arrangements. as china generally use round table and the regular arrangement is: the seats which affronts to the door are the most important seats. so the oldest or the guest of honor or the high state guest will sit at the door-affront seats. the host and the hostess will sit at the lesser seats along with the ordinarily guests. nearby the important seats right hand seat is the first head seat, generally it sits gentleman; right side the male masters seat is the second head seat, generally is madam. left side of mostly peoples seat is the third head table; the male masters left side seat is the fourth head seat. in western countries, they usually use long table, while china use round table. in western, the host and hostess sit at the both sides, and then bases on the importance to arrange the seats. near the host and the hostess is more important while farther is less important, the rest will be deduced by this analogy. e、customary action on table in china, usually we cannot stand up to nip food and it is not so polite. men will hand round cigarettes to each other during the meal, especially the host. in western, they obey many rules, too. take the different usage of facility for example:chinese use chopsticks to eat, while western people use knife as their tool. different table utensils make different customs when they want to have a rest during the meal.in china, chopsticks can be rested horizontally on ones plate or bowl to keep them off the table entirelya chopstick rest can also be used to keep the points off the table. never stab chopsticks into a bowl of rice and leave them standing upwards. any stick-like object facing upward resembles the incense sticks that some asians use as offerings to deceased family members. this is considered the ultimate faux pas on the dining table.in western countries, when they want to leave the table while having the meal, they must ask the host or hostess to be excused before leaving the table. at the same time, they must put the dinner cloth on the middle of the chair and put the edge of knife towards oneself. every having finished one course, hold the knife and fork together. if you want to talk to other you neednt put down the knife, hold it is ok. when you have finished your meal, place your knife and fork side by side on the plate. this signals that you have finished eating. the causes of different dining customs between the west and china there are variety reasons to cause the culture conflict between china and western countries, as to its root, they have different cultures and different history backgrounds which causes different ideas and behaviors, even is conflict. lets look the following major causes in details a、different time concepts as there are different cultures and customs between china and western, our education is different, too. so, we accept the different views on the time concept. the westerners always combine time and money view together, they think time is important as the money. in their mind, time cannot waste for it is limited. they value their time very much. in their daily lives, they always arranged and planed their time carefully. they are often filled with a sense of urgency of time. they have a good hobby that they go to the party on time. meanwhile, china accepts the freedom time rule. in our mind, sometimes we neednt have to obey the timetable. we will not be like a western person generally so strict of carrying on according to the plan while the western person usually does not adapt to thisb、different notion culture will affect peoples view on things. different country has its different culture, so it is obviously that the thinking model between china and western are different. western culture leans to logic and analyze, while the eastern culture pay more attention on ones intuition. as to the traditional of the culture, chinese people especially believe their own intuition. they insist the experience and feeling during the thing, this phenomenon also happens in the communication between west and east. compared with western thinking model, the eastern idea is blanket and unclearly. this difference will affect the communication between different culture countries.c、different behaviors regulation behaviors regulation means the single standard, which the society can accept. that means something that can tell people what is the right way to solve this matter and what is unsuitable to do. when different background culture people do communication with each other, they usually judge the rationality by own code of conduct. so it is inevitable for them to misunderstand others and whats more it will destroy the friendship between people. for example: in china, it is kind to pat childrens head, but it is a very terrible thing in the western country. they think it is unexpected thing to a child; his parents will get very angry for this. and the other different things: in china, men always smoke after they finish the meal, they think it is a kind of enjoyment, while, in western countries, they consider this behavior is not polite to women and children and it is also a rude thing to smoke on a table. so, it is very important for us to recognize and use the different regulation behaviors when we do business between foreign countries. in order to ensure the communication will be smoothly, you should understand each others conduct. especially remember the f