A Westerner said to his Chinese friend . “ Chinese people slurp when drinking soup . It ’ s disgusting . ” The Chinese friend replied , “ Westerners make a lot of noise licking their fingers when eating . It ’ s even worse . ”   Everyone has his own habits , but these habits are not very good . The noise often spoils other people ’ s appetite .   I attended a course on table manners while I was in the United States . Some of the things we learnt included how to place the napkin and utensils and how to pass the bread . Before each course , the teacher would ask if we wanted to learn the Continental European way or the American way . We always said “ American way . ” It ’ s amazing that everyone is so used to their own table manners . What is the Chinese way ?   The westerners use knives and forks to eat so it is complicated . The Chinese use a pair of chopsticks and eat out of the same plate . I assume it is less complicated , right ?   Not really . I did some research about Chinese table manners . The important rule is to remain silent while eating . Of course , this refers to family meals only . Not talking over meals is supposed to be good for the health . It is impolite if people do not talk to each other during a social party . The table arrangements and serving order for a social party are equally complicated . Each dish should be placed in the correct position . When fish is served , the tail should be pointing at the guest because tail meat is supposed to be tasty . If it is in winter , the stomach should face the right-hand side of the guest because that portion of the fish is very rich in winter . Each dish should be commenced by the eldest person who is seated at the head of the table . The diners should sit close to the table so food won ’ t drop on their cloths . No noise should be made when chewing . No one should move food back to the communal plate even if he doesn ’ t like it . One should drink soup slowly and is not supposed to make a lot of noise . All these table manners are very similar to Western habits .   It seems that people share the same basic sense of etiquette regardless of their background . Apart from the different tools used for eating we seem to follow the same principles . We do not let inappropriate manners spoil other people ’ s appetite.Westerners like to say , “ bon appetite ” before meals which is one way to suggest “ mind your table manners . ” Is there such an expression in Chinese ? 