ABSTRACT:There is an old saying goes: “food is the first necessities of the people.” Food culture can reflect different cultural backgrounds of different nationalities to some extent. Table manners, as one part of the food culture, have their special cultural meanings. With the globalization of economy, people from different countries contact with each other more frequently than before. Whether political meetings or business dealings, there must be a sumptuous dinner. Therefore, to know better about different table manners becomes very important.
In this paper, the author first gives the definition and importance of table manners. She also briefly introduces the origins of Chinese and western table manners. The research methods she used in this paper are comparison and contrast. She makes a comparison of table manners between Chinese and western from the banquet forms, time sense of arriving at a dinner, seat arrangement, tableware setting, orders of serving dishes, language and behavior and the atmosphere at the table. And she also tries to find out the cultural factors hidden behind them. The author aims to make readers to know better about cultural differences between Chinese and western so that they can avoid misunderstandings and conflicts in the cross-cultural communication.
Keywords: Chinese; Western; table manners; cultural differences
摘 要:俗话说：“民以食为天。”饮食文化在一定程度上能够反映出不同民族间独特的文化背景。餐桌礼仪作为饮食文化的一部分，也有其特定的文化含义。随着经济全球化的发展，各国间的往来日益频繁。不管是政治会晤还是商业往来都少不了一顿丰盛的晚宴。因此，熟知不同的餐桌礼仪文化已经变得至关重要。
本文首先概述了餐桌礼仪的定义以及了解不同餐桌礼仪文化的重要性，并简要介绍了中西餐桌礼仪文化的起源。然后采用了对比和对照的分析方法，对中西餐桌礼仪的宴会形式，出席时间，座位安排，餐具陈设，上菜顺序，语言举止以及就餐氛围这几方面进行了研究，分析了其背后隐藏的文化因素。旨在让读者能够对中西文化间的差异有一个更加深入的了解，避免在跨文化交际中造成不必要的误解与冲突。
关键词：中国； 西方；餐桌礼仪；文化差异
