单项选择题

Although your Chinese host will not expect you to know everything about proper banquet behavior, he will greatly appreciate it when you are displaying some knowledge of the subject, because it shows that you have respect for Chinese culture, manners and traditions. Banquets are usually held in restaurants in private rooms that have been reserved for the purpose. You will be met at the door and guided to the banquet room. Traditionally, the head of your delegation should enter the room first. Do not be surprised if your hosts greet you with a loud round of applause. The proper response is to applaud back. Seating arrangements, which are based on rank, are stricter than in the West. Guests should never assume that they may sit where they please and should wait for hosts to guide them to their places. Traditionally, the Chinese regard the right side as the superior and the left side as the inferior. Therefore on formal occasions, including meetings and banquets, the host invariably arranges for the main guests to sit on his right side. At very formal banquets, people do not begin to eat until the principal host served a portion to the principal guest. Or, the host may simply raise his chopsticks and announce that eating has begun. After this point, one may serve oneself any food in any amount. Remember to go slow on eating. Don’’t fill yourself up when five courses are left to go. To stop eating in the middle of a banquet is rude, and your host may incorrectly think that something has been done to offend you. Drinking takes an important place in Chinese banquets. Toasting is necessary, and the drinking of spirits begins only after the host has made a toast at the beginning of the meal. When he says the words gan bei, which means bottoms up, all present should drain their glasses. After this initial toast, drinking and toasting are open to all. Subsequent toasts can be made from person to person or to the group as a whole. No words are needed to make a toast, and it is not necessary to drain your glass, although to do so is more respectful. When it is the proper time to eat at the formal banquet in China