Analysis of the Reasons for the Differences Between Chinese and English Table Manners

【Abstract】With the development of globalization， international activities and international communication are becoming more and more frequent， no matter in which field， the communication on table manners have become a fashionable way of communication. British table manners are quite different from Chinese table manners， here we analyse the reasons.

【Key words】table manners; globalization; reasons

【作者簡介】江家慧（1995.06-），女，漢族，武漢工程大學，研三在讀，研究方向：高等教育學。

1. Introduction

“Britain is a country that pays great attention to etiquette. With the development of globalization， international activities and international communication are becoming increasingly frequent in this world” . As a result， the differences between Chinese and western etiquette are becoming more and more obvious. “No matter which field we are in， communication on the table has become a kind of fashion ”

2. Reasons

The national culture is greatly influenced by the geographical environment. China is located in the southeast of the Asian continent， the northwest of China is vast desert， grassland and the Gobi desert， while the southeast of China is near vast sea. The Yellow River is a hotbed of Chinese culture. The land is fertile， but the weather conditions are bad. Although the weather conditions are bad， people fight together and they live in a harmony. There are two other characteristics of Chinese culture， which are the pursuit of love and benevolence. Chinese people are pursuing to develop technology， and many technologies are well developed， such as agricultural technology and medicine are very developed. Love is the core of Confucian ideas. Love and benevolence have profound influence on the traditional Chinese culture. The natural life information provided by the birthplace of British culture is not so abundant， people must strive to explore the mysteries of nature. Therefore， to explore the mysteries of nature， the development and utilization of natural resources to serve human kind has become the mainstream of European spirit. In the process of conquering nature and cultivating scientific consciousness， British people pay special attention to the development of rational thinking. At the same time， in the process of understanding the nature， British people are constantly aware of their own.

Another major feature of British culture is the individualism as the social standard， they are self-centered， they like focusing on the dignity of personality. The dividing line between the interests of British people is obvious， each British people has his own living space， they have non-interference to each other. Differences in the development of physical phenomena affect differences of diets. In the view of Chinese people， different things together can form beauty and life in harmony， such as cook beautiful food by cooked with different food materials; British people emphasis on forming a structure directly from a wide vision. In the eyes of people in the world ，the western world is an entity in the world， in fact ，it is a world of specific and accurate form. But for Chinese people， they attach great importance to “eat”， stress that “hunger breeds discontentment”; the British diet is of rational concept， the British diet is a kind of diet regardless of food color， flavor and taste， shape， delicate taste and whether it is a balanced diet or not.