Chinese customs pertaining to culinary culture are a tradition that vary with each occasion like the Chinese New Year. Lawrence Lo, founder of the LHY Etiquette Consultancy Limited, listed some of the Chinese etiquettes that are not to be forgotten on the day.

1. Do not leave the chopsticks vertically in rice bowl:

In Chinese culture, there has been the habit of burning two incense sticks during the funeral of the deceased loved ones. Therefore, when you go out for dinner, leaving chopsticks in the rice bowl upright is considered offensive as this symbolizes the meaning of death, which they call the “si” factor. While this may be a difficult process to leave the stick in stand everytime you have to sip the soup or the ‘cha’, fortunately you will find yourself relishing the dinner.
 

2. Never turn over the fish:

In Chinese restaurants, you will never find being served fish in parts, but only has a whole fish. As you relish the fish through the tender top side, though this seems logical to turn the fish upside down, unfortunately you will find your Chinese friend telling you this to be offensive and will teach you how to remove the fish bone from near the tail to dislodge the bone to disclose the meat below. Fish symbolizes the boat in Chinese culture.
 

3. Slurp your noodles:

Chinese believes that slurping your noodles is good table manners, which is very much in contrast to the Western culture, where is considered as uncivilized. This is to say your host that you are relishing the dinner and is much similar to the habit of mixing the wine in the mouth to mix well with oxygen and telling that the wine is good.
 

4. Tapping the Table 

If you are hosting a Chinese dinner party then do not forget to prepare lots of tea, as they believe in letting not to run the teacup dry. As your teacup is being filled, you in response do not forget to tap the table acknowledging in gratitude. Tea drinking is a culture in southeast China and tapping with two fingers has been shown as a gesture of courtesy by replacing the habit of bending the knees and is much similar to saying ‘thank you’ in the Western culture.

5. Order An Even Number of Dishes:

Once again, an odd number of dishes symbolizes death and so it is considered to be a good gesture to order enough food in even numbers, which you can procure in batches.

Lo says that the customs need to be strictly maintained at formal events and banquets,  everything goes at informal gatherings. So while you can keep the above mentioned customs in mind, adhering to them strictly is not as important as having fun on the Chinese New Year. 

Image Credit :millspaughfamily.net