Video: Chinese Dining Etiquette: The Entrance

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Let your Chinese counterpart walk through the door first when going to a meal together. Learn about other entrance etiquette situations from an international business consultant in this free etiquette video.

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Video Transcript

Hi, I'm Mark Kemsley. We're talking about the etiquette of meals in china and the entrance to the room where you're eating is something that's very important. If you're going to a meal together, perhaps you're arriving together at a restaurant or something, it's important that you let the guest, your Chinese counterpart to walk through the doorway before you. You know what, in the western world, we say ladies first, but in China it's more like important people first. So, you hold open a door, or, or whatever it is, just to walk through the doorway, it's important to let that person walk through the doorway before you do. Now, if it was an appointment or an arranged meeting, you're going to meet at that restaurant and you are the host, it's very important that you arrive before the guest does. So, you should be in the room and have everything ready by the time that the guest arrives. If you are the guest, you are invited to a restaurant, don't go early, because if you go early, the host may not be there and may not be ready and he really should be there and ready for you, by the time you come. Normally in China, you wouldn't be invited into somebody's home for a meal but it is possible. And, if you do, the first thing you have to remember when you come in is to take off your shoes. Now, take your shoes and just put them together in a corner next to the door where you came in. And, you, when you walk into the room, it's very important that even if they live in a humble circumstances, that you take a moment to look around and to tell them how beautiful it looks.