A Comparison Study on Chinese and Western Banquet Cultures.doc

毕业论文(设计)B.A. Thesis A Comparison Study on Chinese and Western Banquet Cultures B.A. Candidate: Mo JinyuAdvisor: Yang Yingchun Foreign Language DepartmentJiaying UniversityJune 5, 2008AcknowledgementsI would like to express my gratitude to all those who offered me all kinds of help during the writing of this thesis. My deepest gratitude goes first and foremost to Ms. Yang Yingchun, my supervisor, for her constant encouragement and patient guidance. She has walked me through all the stages of the writing of this thesis. Without her consistent and illuminating instruction, this thesis could not have reached its present form. Second, a special acknowledgement should be shown to Dr. Tian Minggang, from whose lectures I benefited greatly. I am also greatly indebted to the professors and teachers at the Foreign Language Department who have instructed and helped me a lot in the past four years. Finally, I owe my sincere gratitude to my friends and my fellow classmates who gave me their help and time in listening to me and helping me work out my problems during the difficult course of the thesis. AbstractSharing food is a basic way that human beings show their friendship to others during the intercourses. Naturally, banquet becomes an etiquette to entertain the guests. With the rapid development of economy, the world has grown so small that we all depend on each other now. What happens in one place of the world affects other places. And frequent contacts are showing the importance of banquet culture. Different cultures have different conventions, the same with banquet. We must grasp the disparities between China and Western countries in banquet culture in order to work and live properly during the international communication. Chinese and Western banquet culture and their differences are the core of this paper. In the international contact, banquet is not only just to eat as others expected, but also it plays an essential role in the development of society and in the progress of human beings. Banquets are always held on many occasions for celebration, appreciation, or other matters. This paper focuses on the different forms and customs, especially on the comparison among the diet, table ware and etiquette in the banquet. It also tries to find out the social origin of the different conception and different banquet etiquette. Realizing the differences culture of banquet between China and the West is to the advantage of all the nearly 6 billion of people who share the planet to improve their interpersonal and intercultural communication abilities. When people deepen the understanding of their own cultures and prevail the cultures, they can learn positively about some special cultures from other countries. In addition, people who have abilities of dealing with multiple cultures can be skillful at developing intercultural communication.Key Words: banquet culture China and western countries differences concept摘 要共享食物历来是人类在各种交往活动中用以表示友谊的基本方式之一。宴会自然就成为接待宾客的一种礼节。随着经济全球化的日益发展紧密，世界变得越来越小，并相互依存相互影响。国际间人与人之间的交往日趋频繁,也就突显了宴请活动在国际交往中的重要性。不同的文化背景有着不同的习俗。宴请也不例外。从而，使得越来越多的人们需要了解在中西方国家在宴请习俗上的差异，以便能更好地交流，给生活和工作带来更大的便利。本文主要介绍中西方宴请习俗的差异。因为在国际交往中，宴请活动绝不像一般人所想象的那样，仅仅是吃吃饭这般简单，在社会进步和人类进程中有着无可替代的作用，包含了很多社会功能。通过对中西方国家宴请形式以及宴请习俗的论述，尤其着重于在宴会中饮食、餐具、礼仪等方面的对比，并力图寻求其根源，使人们了解到中西方宴请习俗的差异之处。认识到中西宴请文化的差异，有利于60亿地球人提高其在人际和跨文化交往的能力。在加深对自己国家文化的理解和发扬光大的同时，人们积极地去学习对方的文化特性，使自己成為具有多重文化能力，善于开展文化交际的人。关键词: 宴请习俗 差异 中西方 观念ContentsAcknowledgements.iAbstract (English).iiAbstract (Chinese). iii1. Introduction.12. Different banquet forms.2 2.1 The Western forms of banquet. 22.2 The main forms in China .62.3 The differences between Chinese and Western form.72.3.1 The singleness of Chinese banquet.82.3.2 The diversification of Western banquet.82.4 The causes of the differences. 92.4.1 Collectivism in China.102.4.2 Individualism in the West.113. The banquet customs and habits in China and the West.123.1 The concept of Chinese and Western diet.123.1.1 Sumptuous cuisine in Chinese banquet.12 3.1.2 Western rational concept of diet.163.2 Different etiquettes of banquet in China and the West.183.2.1 Seats arrangement. 183.2.2 Serving the courses.193.2.3 Table manners.213.2.3.1 The different tableware in China and the West .223.2.3.2 Eating behavior.234. Conclusion.24References.26viiA Comparative Study of Chinese and Western Banquet Cultures1. IntroductionEvery country in the world, West or East, has banquet customs. If it is needed in social intercourse, from officials to civilians, banquets are regular occasions where people often attend.The Old French word banquet, the likely source of our word, which is derived from Old French seems to have changed from “little bench” to “a meal taken on the family workbench” to “feast”.It plays an irreplaceable role in the development of society and in the progress of human beings. Banquets are usually held to celebrate the festivals, weddings, farewell or other special occasions. Concerning the means of social intercourse, the book Emily Posts Etiquette makes a summary of the purpose of dinner as follow, “to express gratitude to someone providing services; to celebrate for a new bargain; to win the customers trusts; to ask for help; to introduce one to others; to give suggestion or discuss some ideas” (2004:106). And each event is associated with particular treats. Nowadays, people sit together around a dinner table or just gather around a room because eating together enhance communication, understanding and friendship. This can be adequately reflected by various banquets in the world.Furthermore, with the rapid development of global economy, we say the world is coming smaller and smaller. And official or business frequent contacts are showing the significant importance of banquet. There are great disparities between China and Western countries in banquet cultures. So the comparative study of Chinese and Western banquet culture will help us increase cross-cultural awareness. Moreover, appreciating and respecting cultural difference is essential if we are to avoid the cultural collision during the interaction.2. Different banquet forms Because of different history, geography, ideology, culture, life style, social customs, etc., people in different parts of the world, especially those in the East and those in the West do differ in their banquet patterns.2.1 The Western forms of banquetThough banquet means to give a dinner to people, there are different forms. This phenomenon presents distinctly in Western countries. The Western banquet forms, from formal to informal, are much more than Chinese banquet forms. General speaking, there are eight forms: Seated dinners; Buffet dinners; Luncheons; Receptions; Cocktail parties; BYOB and BYOF (=Bring your own bottles and bring your own food); Picnics; Tea parties.(1) Almost any dinner where guests are seated at a table and are served by someone other than themselves is considered a “formal” dinner today. Naturally, there are several degrees of formality, from large, “official” formal dinner to small, at-home dinners. (2) There are basically two types of buffets real buffets and seated or semi-buffets. At a real buffet, guests serve themselves in the dining room and carry their plates to another room, usually the living room, where they hold their food on their plates in their laps and set their glasses on the nearest table, on a coaster. At a seated or semi-buffet, guest are seated at the dining table or at small tables in the living room, hall or library where places are already set. The guests serve themselves from the buffet and then sit at the table rather than on the couch, etc.“If the party is large, put the table in the center of the room, so that two lines of guests may serve themselves at once. In this case, the main dish is divided into two parts and one platter or casserole placed at each end of the table. The plates are in two stacks beside them, with napkins and silver arranged next to the plates.Dishes of vegetables, salads, bread and butler and sauces and condiments are on each of the table so guests need to pass down only one side.”(Post, 1997: 69).Beverages and glasses are arranged on a sideboard or table and separated from the buffet table. If it is a seated buffet, water glasses are on the tables and are filled before the guests sit down. Wineglasses should also be at the guests places but are never filled in advance. Coffee may also be placed on the sideboard, or the hostess may serve it from a tray in the living room after dinner. (3) Invitations may be telephoned or and engraved card may be used for an elaborate luncheon, especially for one given in honor of a noted person. Often placemats or placemats plus a runner in the center of the table are used instead of a tablecloth. Flowers or a decorative ornament may be used as a centerpiece, and two or four dishes of fruit or candy may be placed where they look best. Two or three courses are sufficient at any but the most formal luncheon. Nevertheless, there are never exceeding six courses in the formal luncheon. (4) Since receptions are always given in someones honor, there is generally a receiving line, consisting of the host and / or hostess, guests of honor and, in some cases, various officials of the committee giving the reception. “One type that occurs quite frequently is when a grooms parents with to give a when the grooms parents friends have not been able to travel. The reception is given to introduce their new daughter-in-law to their friends.” (Post, 1997:79). The type of food served differs. Although there may be some tea-type sandwiches offered, small meatballs, dips, a cheese board, nuts, olives, etc. are added to the menu.(5) In an invitation to cocktail party, the host often give both a beginning and as ending time, as in “cocktails from 5:00 to 7:00.” All variety of alcoholic drinks are served, so it is a good idea to have scotch, bourbon, a blended whiskey, gin, vodka and rum. In addition, both sweet and dry vermouth, bitters, lemons, olives, tonic and seltzer or club soda provide necessary ingredients for many drinks. It is best to serve the alcohol according to the geographic location, own taste and the taste of the guests. Apart from the correct amount of liquor, it is also important to have nonalcoholic drinks, including tomato and fruit juices, colas, sparkling mineral waters and ginger ale or other noncola soda. In a large cocktail party, the guests can get the service of the waiters. (6) “BYOB” means “bring your own bottle”. The bottles are not intended as gifts for the hostess and host but are to be used by the guest for his or her cocktail and then may be taken home again. The host and/ or hostess provide mixers and soft drinks.“BYOF” means “bring your own food.” It rarely appears on “chip-in dinner” are used.(7) A picnic is always organized by a congenial group of people. One way is to give it by the host and/ or hostess, inviting the guests by telephone. Another way is to call and ask each person or couple to bring one dish. A third way to organize a picnic is to have each family to bring their own food and cook it over a community fire. These picnics can be at the beach, a park or in the parking lot before a football game or at any other location that would be pleasant and conductive to a good time for everyone.(8) The invitations to a tea party should be sent in advance. Only for a formal tea party, it is necessary to write an invitation card, while the informal one is always telephoned. Food at a tea party usually consists of tea sandwiches and several kinds of sweets. Cookies, cupcakes, fruitcake or slices of ice cake are of the offered. In addition, petit fours and miniature pastries may be served. The most important thing in a tea party should be serving hot tea to the guests. The hostess may ask close friends beforehand, if they will pour and unless they have very valid reasons, they should accept. Sometimes, after an hour, the first two are relieved by two other friends. 2.2 The main forms in ChinaThough eight western forms can be found in China, there are three main banquet forms popular in China:Seated dinners;Receptions;Gathering.The most common form in China is seated dinners. The birth, the completion of first month of a baby are all worth dinning together; the sixtieth birthday usually excites people to eat much more; and on the day of a marriage or someone going to the better world, called “wedding and funeral” in China, a big whole-family banquet is still indispensable. In these seated dinners, people always sit together around in a round table. But the guest of honor is seated in an order distinguished by status and seniority, and other seats do not arranged in order. According to ancient formalities, the host of a banquet issued invitations to his guests well in advance. On the banquet day the host or person in charge of protocol would greet the guests, who were then ushered into the sitting room for tea. When the banquet was about to begin, the guest would be led to their seats in the banqueting hall. （2）In China, receptions are given in some formal cases, and always served in restaurants or halls. It is usually organized by the government organs, social groups, enterprises and institutions and other social organizations. For instance, the Chinese embassy in England held a reception to celebrate the International Womens Day. Also, some company gave a reception for the client after making a deal A written invitation is necessary for a reception. And it should be extended well in advance.If the reception is large, round tables and seats are always placed. In addiction, the host or sponsor may have savants to help considerably. Like seated dinner, the seats are not arranged except the guest of honor. At a very formal reception, place cards are arranged on a table, and then the guest can serve themselves after the reception begins. An atmosphere of warm friendship prevails at the reception.(3) A gathering is frequently held to entertain some intimate friends or relatives. Besides, when a guest comes, people are used to holding a party called “giving a dinner of welcome” while another called “giving a dinner of farewell” is given when the guest is leaving. Moving to new premises needs a house warming and a promotion brings a celebration, too.In China, there is a common sense that it is the hosts responsibility to serve guests with food and drinks to the guests, which is made contrast to the Western style. Most of times, Chinese prefer to feast the guests at home, because they think that it will be more casual. Furthermore, the hostess is great willing to cook for the guests by her own and the food are prepared well and attractively presented. This style of dinner is always casual and without any etiquette. People just want to create a atmosphere of harmony or mutual cavity and respect. As now, gathering is a relaxed way that intimate friends or relatives get together and eat together to enhance their friendship. 2.3 The differences between Chinese and Western formsAccording to the forms above we can see that although Chinese and Western countries are somewhat alike. In the points of culture, they have more differences from each other rather than similarity. 2.3.1 The singleness of Chinese banquetThough there are three forms of Chinese banquet, they have something in common. In other words, in China, no matter what kind of banquet will be held, there will be only one format, is that everyone seats around a dinner table and shares the food. People always appreciate the delicate dishes set on the table. Besides, the seat of honor is for the highest status and the master take the least prominent seat.Being surrounded by much loud talking and laughing that is usually heard in the market is a typical ambience in a Chinese banquet. People like jollity when having a gathering, and having meals undoubtedly will be without any exception. People regard it as a vector to judge if the dishes are of good taste and the guests enjoy them. If a banquet is given to celebrate wedding or birthday or housewarming, the host regularly invites tens of people. And the banquets are hosted in varying degrees of extravagance, especially in a restaurant. 2.3.2 The diversification of Western banquetIn Western countries, the form generally depends on status of the guests, the aim that the host wants to achieve and the degree of convenience; therefore, it requires various kinds of banquets to satisfy the social need. In international communication between governments, state banquet should be held to entertain the visiting head of state, while formal dinner for the foreign or domestic guests with high position. As for business guests, relatives, friends, colleagues, or other needed to be entertained, some will be entertained through the banquet norma