Chinese banquets are held for a variety reasons, such as weddings, graduations, end of the year company celebrations or as thank you business dinners. No matter the occasion, knowing Chinese banquet etiquette can ensure you and your hosts has a memorable time.
Invitations to the Chinese Banquet:
Guests are normally invited by telephone, e-mail or in-person before a formal paper invitation is sent. Sometimes the host, but usually an intermediary like the host’s assistant or company secretary, will contact guests to see if they are available before actually sending out paper invitations.Once the formal invitation has been received, an RSVP is expected. It is common for spouses to be invited to banquets. While Chinese hosts often invite foreign spouses to attend, they seldom bring their own spouses.
It is not uncommon to receive an invitation at the last minute, sometimes even a few hours before the actual event as the paper invitation is really just a formality. Invitations are printed in Chinese but more often they are bilingual with Chinese on one side and English on the other.
Banquets last 90 minutes to two hours and, when held at dinner time tend to start at 6pm or 6:30pm. By 9pm, the festivities are usually over unless karaoke is involved, in which case, the evening could extend much later.
Arriving at the Chinese Banquet:
Promptness is a must. The Chinese do not arrive ‘fashionably late.’ If you are part of a delegation that has been invited to the banquet, the entire delegation is expected to arrive together and enter the venue together. Usually an assistant greets guests at the door and escorts them to the banquet hall where the host is waiting to receive guests.Seating at a Chinese Banquet:
After all guests have arrived, the host will make an announcement that everyone can be seated. Banquets usually start on time but if the guest of honor or VIP guests are late, then everyone will be expected to wait until they have arrived. The host and his or her assistants or the banquet hall staff will lead guests to their assigned seats.At many banquets, a place card at each place setting will display the name of the guest who is assigned to that seat. The guest’s name is written in the guest’s native language but sometimes the cards will also include the name in Chinese too. Sometimes, the head table, often the table farthest from the door, will be the only table with place cards. In these instances, guests not seated at the head table can sit where ever they want.
Guests are seated by rank order with the most important guests seated at the head table. The most honored guest is seated to the right of the main host and facing the door or facing the entertainment if entertainment is part of the banquet. If the most senior guest has an interpreter, the interpreter sits to the right of the honored guest. Other distinguished guests are seated to the principal host’s left.
The second-ranking hosts sit across from the top-ranking guests at the head table. The second-ranking guests sit to the second-ranking hosts’ right. The remaining high ranking hosts are equally dispersed at other tables at the banquet to serve as hosts of the tables. For example, third- and forth-ranking hosts may sit at the second table and fifth- and six-ranking hosts may sit at the third table with their guests seated to the right and so on. These high ranking hosts are seated facing the principal host so that eye contact can be maintained.
The banquet tables are round and seat either 10 or 12 guests. Guests are evenly distributed among the tables to ensure each table has an equal number of people, equal number of high ranking guests, and equal number of Chinese and foreigners (if applicable).
The remaining lower ranking guests take the remaining seats. Spouses are typically seated next to their spouses though sometimes they may be placed to the host’s left or at another table when there are too many VIPs.
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Read more about Chinese banquet etiquette, including: place settings, food, toasts, and table manners.
