Eating habits:

It’s bad manners to use fingers to handle food, regardless of how difficult it is to get at – they can be pretty sensitive about this, so chopsticks are an essential component to culinary etiquette. Good friends will overlook the use of fingers if you can’t cope with chopsticks and may even light-heartedly joke about your situation. The truth is, many Chinese people can’t actually use them efficiently either and struggle with certain food, especially greasy dishes. Try picking peanuts with chopsticks for starters – a great way improve chopstick grip and dexterity. Many better establishments will have knives and forks if necessary. Equally, do not blow your nose using a handkerchief at the table or near anyone. The act of getting a snotty rag out to blow all your unwanted waste on at the table or even in public for that matter – whether it’s the railway station, lift or just in the street and having a good rummage - is frowned upon and they’ll look down on you (which is bizarre for a country that finds spitting generally acceptable). That said, if you do it discreetly and away from others in silence, you should be OK. Look out for sneezing: the Chinese sometimes fail to cover their mouths or catch their sneezes. They happily bellow out dirty vapours of germs with little care for its aim. In restaurants this is not so common but can still happen. Be on your guard! A further cultural difference is the habit of most Chinese people to eat loudly – the spicier the louder! It is not so important inChinato keep your mouth closed and the chomping of food can often be heard in public. A noodle establishment can become an orchestra of indiscreet slurping. The more sophisticated Chinese however, will avoid this and are usually much more refined. (See alsoEating with friendsandFood).