Chinese Cuisine In Ancient China

1. Background

In China, in order to embody the Confucianism (儒家思想), not only the traditional customs, but also the Chinese table manners are used the social estate system and hierarchy as a principle.

Most of the ancient Chinese also had various specific requirements while having the meals. Those manners can determine a person’s status, culture deposit and family upbringing. Some manners are based on courtesy and status, as well as the ‘morals’ (品) in ancient Chinese. Moreover, there are also have some rules derived from traditional customs, which can reflect the Chinese traditional way of life and food culture.

In Japan, Japanese traditional cuisine can be divided into various types. Those types of Japanese Cuisine have their own origin and

2. Seating arrangement and rules

In China, there are commonly used the round table and also rectangular table.

For the round table, ‘top seat’ (上座) is the place that back against the wall and in the middle. No matter what occasions, it also needs to take seats one after another from both sides and the status of left hand side is higher than the right’s. Elders and betters, elderlies, teachers and guests should sit on the top seat, vice versa.

For the rectangular table, the top seat is on the short side which near the house. The others have a seat which is according to the hierarchy.

In Japan, The most important guest sits on the top seat which is placed farthest from the entrance. If there is a tokonoma (壁龕) in the room, the guest should be seated in front of it. The host or the others should sit next to the entrance.

Moreover, the Japanese are used to sitting on the floor when having a tea ceremony and traditional meals. The traditional way of sitting is kneeling, but nowadays, many Japanese and tourists would use the causal way to sit. Men should sit cross-legged and women with both legs to a

After those elderlies have a seat, the others can have a seat which is accorded the hierarchy and also need to be seated from left to right. For the traditional Korean meals, people are asked to cross-legged and sitting on the floor. If facing the elderly, they need to kneel on the floor.

3. Using of Tableware

There are the specific manners of using the tableware and have some taboos among these three countries. I would like to use chopsticks and bowl as the examples of China, Japan and South Korea. Chopsticks

In China, people cannot stick the chopsticks in the rice bowl vertically, because it seems like worship ancestors and this behavior is extremely impolite.

The Japanese would like to place their chopsticks horizontally. When they are not using the chopsticks, they cannot put it on the other cutlery. It should be placed in front of themselves.

In Korea, their chopsticks are made of stainless steel. Also, they need to exchange tablespoon and chopsticks from their hands while having the meals since their tablespoon and chopsticks are cannot use at the same time.