Gan Bei

We had a course in "banquet etiquette" today, that is, how to behave at banquets. We've been told that banquets are a fairly common occurence. Perhaps as often as once a month people from your department and from the university will get together for dinner, and there is a certain protocal you need to follow and certain rules that must be observed. For example, you wait to be told where you will be seated; you don't start in on the dishes (which are put on a sort of lazy susan) until the guest of honor begins; you should bring the bowl you are eating in up to your mouth rather than leave it on the table. Indeed, there is an interesting system with the bowls. Essentially, you are given what we would consider a very small bowl to eat in. Much of the food is taken off of the plates on the lazy susan and consumed. There is a small plate to be put under the bowl that is to be used for scraps and such.

But most of the discussion on banquet etiquette concerned drinking. Drinking is a big part of any banquet, and if you have read Peter Hessler's "River Town," which is his account of two years spent as a Peace Corps volunteer in China, you will know that this can get out of hand. It becomes a matter of face to drink when you are being toasted. The only problem is that there are a lot of toasts and that the local alcohol you are being toasted with (beijou) is rather strong. So you really have to watch out. The beijou is served in what I estimmate to be one-half ounce shot glasses. The trick is to empty of few at the start of the banquet (the traditional toast is "Gan bei" or "bottoms up," which means you are supposed to empty your glass. If you don't it is taken as quite an insult. So the trick is to do a few of these at the start of the banquet to prove your merit and then sip slowly the rest of the banquet. It sounds good in theory, but we will see how it works from practice.

The picture is from the practice banquet that we did today.