What are the traditional Chinese etiquette?

1, the gift of worship and congratulations

China is a humane society since ancient times, people care for each other, mutual sympathy, in the worship and congratulations on the hanging there are many rituals and common rules. The ceremony of paying respect is usually performed during festivals, and it is a salute from the younger generation or people of lower status to their elders, and there are also mutual congratulations between peers.

Such as the ancient New Year's Day officials to congratulate the folk New Year's gift. When performing the ceremony, not only the attitude of respect, recite the words of congratulation, bow down and bow, but also have to congratulate the gift. The ritual of celebrating a hanging is mainly performed in the major events of life. A person's life has to go through several stages such as birth, adulthood, marriage, birthday celebration, death, etc. A series of life rituals are formed around these life nodes. The reproduction of children and grandchildren is a major family event, the birth ceremony is naturally grand and lively.

When the baby is full-term, relatives and friends have come to the door to congratulate, and gifts of nutritious food and young children's shoes, hats and clothing. When a child grows up, he or she has to perform a rite of passage, which in traditional Chinese society is known as the rite of passage of crown and maturity. At the age of 20, a man is crowned with a new name, which indicates that he is qualified to get married and take care of the affairs of the community. A woman who is 15 years old will have her hair pierced for maturity, indicating that she is old enough to get married.

Modern bar mitzvahs are held at the age of 18, and schools hold collective coming-of-age oath-taking ceremonies to emphasize young people's sense of adulthood. Marriage is a major event in life and was highly valued in traditional society. Traditional weddings had six procedures, the so-called "six rites of passage of the Duke of Zhou", namely, nacai, asking for a name, naji, naji, please period, and kiss welcome. The Song Dynasty simplified the three rites of passage, the coinage, and the kiss of welcome.

The climax of the wedding is the welcome, the groom will go to the woman's home to welcome the bride in person, and the newlyweds will go to the bridal chamber after paying homage to the bride, and perform the ritual of hair-tying and fm radio. On the wedding day, friends and relatives come to congratulate the host to feast on the guests. Birthday ceremonies are usually held after the age of forty. On the day of the birthday, there is a ceremony to celebrate the birthday, and friends and relatives send birthday gifts to congratulate them.

The last rite of passage in life is the funeral ceremony, which no one can escape. The Chinese emphasize the importance of sending off the dead, and funeral rites are well-developed. The death of a person in the right life, is a white wedding. Relatives and friends come to offer condolences. In order to express their feelings of mourning, people have to offer elegiac couplets, hanging scrolls, or gifts and gratuities. The deceased is usually buried in three or five days in the coffin. The rituals of worship and celebration show the spirit of social cooperation and social unity of the people to help each other.

2, dietary etiquette

Dietary etiquette in Chinese culture occupies an extremely important position in the pre-Qin people to "to enjoy the Yan's pro-fourth guests," and future generations of dinners and drinks is often a scene of etiquette live theater. Welcome the guests of the banquet is called "wind", "dust washing", send off the guests of the banquet is called "going away". The ritual of the banquet regardless of the welcome can not be separated from the wine, "no wine is not etiquette".

There are many etiquettes for drinking at banquets, and guests need to wait for their hosts to raise their glasses before drinking. The so-called: "Drink with others, do not start the goblet". Guests who want to express their gratitude to the host's hospitality, but also in the middle of the feast to raise a cup to the host to toast. In the process of eating, the same first master chopsticks to persuade food, guests can move chopsticks.

The so-called: "with people *** food, careful not to taste first". In ancient times, there is a list of eating rules, such as "when the food does not sigh", "*** food is not full, *** rice does not Ze hand", "do not throw the bone in the dog", etc., the hosts and guests respect each other, to create a harmonious eating The good atmosphere of civilized eating.

3, sitting etiquette

Traditional social etiquette is well ordered, seating also has a primary and secondary points of honor, the honored on the seat, the humble end of the seat. What kind of status to sit where there are certain rules, if you blindly sit in the wrong seat, not only the host is not happy, they will also be rude afterward to regret. If you can not grasp what kind of seat, the best way is to listen to the host arrangements.

Indoor seating to the east as the honor, that is, the guests sit on the west seat, the host is generally accompanied by the east seat. Elderly people can be arranged in a south-facing position, i.e., the north seat. The younger ones accompanying the guests are usually in the north-facing position, i.e. the south seat. The rules of sitting are, when eating and drinking, the human body is as close as possible to the food case, and when not eating and drinking, the body is as far back as possible, the so-called "virtual sitting after all". A guest, you should immediately rise to greet.

4, the gift of meeting

People should be warm and courteous in their daily meetings. How to meet with people of different status, there are certain rules. For example, the general greeting, in the traditional arching salute. Arching is the most common meeting etiquette, the way is hands together (generally the right hand within the fist, the left hand on top of the right hand) raised to the chest, standing without leaning down, said the general courtesy.

If you are a guest in someone's home, when you enter and take your seat, the host and the guest are polite to each other and make modest gestures, which is called "揖讓". This is called "揖讓", which is performed when the host and guest bow to each other in a polite and humble manner. The bowing gesture also involves clasping the fists with both hands, arching them up and then pressing them down, while at the same time bowing the head and slightly bending the upper body forward. Greetings are common in daily life, in addition to the social occasions mentioned above, to thank, congratulate, apologize, and trust others to do business, etc. also often perform the bowing ceremony.

It is also common for people of high status to make a bowing gesture in return to those of low status. In traditional society, the highest person also kneeling ceremony, that is, both knees on the ground, head and hands rhythmically touch the ground to bow, that is, the so-called kowtow. Nowadays, the kneeling ceremony can only be seen in the remote rural New Year's activities, and is generally no longer practiced. In today's society, people meet each other, generally practiced in the Western society introduced the handshake.

5, walking etiquette

Walking in the process of the same attention to interpersonal relationships, so there are walking etiquette. In ancient times, it was common to perform the "tend rite", that is, when a person of low status walks in front of a person of high status, he must bow his head and bend his waist, and show respect to the honored one by taking small steps quickly, and this is the "tend rite".

Traditional walking etiquette, there is also "line not in the middle of the road, stand not in the door" principle, that is, walking can not walk in the middle of the road, you should walk on the side; standing can not stand in the middle of the door. This not only shows respect to the honored, but also to avoid pedestrians.