英语论文A Comparison Study on Chinese and Western Banquet Cultures.pdf

毕业论文 设计 b a thesis a a comparisoncomparison studystudy onon chinesechinese andand westernwestern banquetbanquet culturescultures b a candidate mo jinyu advisor yang yingchun foreign language department jiaying university june 5 2008 毕业论文 设计 i acknowledgements i 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 毕业论文 设计 ii abstract sharing 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 毕业论文 设计 iii abilities of dealing with multiple cultures can be skillful at developing intercultural communication key words banquet culturechina and western countriesdifferences concept 毕业论文 设计 iv 摘摘 要要 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 关键词关键词 宴请习俗差异中西方观念 毕业论文 设计 v contents acknowledgements i abstract english ii abstract chinese iii 1 introduction 1 2 different banquet forms 2 2 1 the western forms of banquet 2 2 2 the main forms in china 6 2 3 the differences between chinese and western form 7 2 3 1 the singleness of chinese banquet 8 2 3 2 the diversification of western banquet 8 2 4 the causes of the differences 9 2 4 1 collectivism in china 10 2 4 2 individualism in the west 11 3 the banquet customs and habits in china and the west 12 3 1 the concept of chinese and western diet 12 3 1 1 sumptuous cuisine in chinese banquet 12 3 1 2 western rational concept of diet 16 3 2 different etiquettes of banquet in china and the west 18 3 2 1 seats arrangement 18 3 2 2 serving the courses 19 3 2 3 table manners 21 毕业论文 设计 vi 3 2 3 1 the different tableware in china and the west 22 3 2 3 2 eating behavior 23 4 conclusion 24 references 26 毕业论文 设计 1 a a comparcomparativeative studystudy o of f chinesechinese andand westernwestern banquetbanquet culturescultures 1 introduction every 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 post s 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 customer s 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 毕业论文 设计 2 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 banquet though 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 毕业论文 设计 3 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 毕业论文 设计 4 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 someone s 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 groom s parents with to give a when the groom s 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 毕业论文 设计 5 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 毕业论文 设计 6 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 china though 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 毕业论文 设计 7 embassy in england held a reception to celebrate the international women s 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 host s 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 forms 毕业论文 设计 8 according 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 1the singleness of chinese banquet though 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 2the diversification of western banquet in 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 毕业论文 设计 9 business guests relatives friends colleagues or other needed to be entertained some will be entertained through the banquet normality while some are depended on the situations that is to say some should be regarded as formal and some can be casual what emphasized is to achieve the aim for example luncheon is always adopted in american business activities some of the managers almost have luncheon date every day this kind of banquet is generally arranged in a restaurant which is convenient for both the host and the guest the afternoon teas are often given just to entertain friends or in the honor of visiting friends family houseguests or celebrities to welcome that suits the host s fancy from welcoming spring to perking up a dreary mid winter day we should know that some types of social events require a pay back invitation in the west parties in private homes whether luncheons brunches cocktail or dinner parties do require a return invitation then you will find that a cocktail is an appreciate way for you because you can repay all the friends to a cocktail once moreover a housewarming is specifically a party to show the new house to friends and to celebrate the happiness there it generally is a cocktail party or a cocktail buffet as simple or as elaborate as host s wish 2 4 the causes of the differences of chinese