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 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
Contents
Acknowledgements……………………………………………………..………….….i
Abstract (English)………………………………………………………………………ii
Abstract (Chinese)……………………………………………………..……….…… iii
- Introduction…………………………………………………………………..…….1
- 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
- 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
3.2.3.1 The different tableware in China and the West .………………..22
3.2.3.2 Eating behavior..………………………………………………..23
- Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………24
References……………………………………………………………………………………26
