Chinese New Year is almost here! Time for food, family, ang pows, and more food.
It’s also time for all the CNY reunion dinners, where family members near and far gather back in their hometowns to celebrate with one another, and what better way to do that than over a nice meal? Well, if you’re headed for a few CNY reunion dinners yourself, here are some do’s and don’ts to take note of!
1. The host, eldest or highest ranking person at the table should always be the first to eat
Source: Lingholic
The only exception is when they ask you to start eating first… but even then you need to do the most Asian ‘paiseh’ gesture and say “No lah, you eat first”!
2. When your chopsticks are not in use, do NOT stick them upright into your rice
Source: Parhlo
This action is often done by Chinese people when paying homage to their ancestors and is therefore seen as a symbol of death. So, make sure you don’t unknowingly go around wishing death upon your relatives!
3. Serve the people beside you first before you start eating or drinking
Source: EuroTalk
Whether they’re younger or older, it’s always nice to scoop some dishes for them first. This is considered good manners!
The same applies for drinks. When pouring tea, pour for others first before pouring for yourself. Chinese courtesy at its finest!
4. Speaking of tea, whenever pouring for someone else, make sure you know the right way to hold a teapot!
Source: Shutterstock
Use your right hand to hold the handle, NOT left! And then, place your other hand on the lid; this is a sign of respect for the person you are serving and it also ensures that the lid doesn’t come tumbling off.
5. Keep your elbows off the table!
Source: BrideStory
Nobody really knows why it’s bad, but for decades, we’ve all been told that it’s rude, so just don’t. Also, in terms of practicality, placing your elbows on the table might cause the table to slant or flip over, and you’ll also be taking up more space at the table!
6. When eating a whole fish, never ever turn it over
Source: Seeds
This custom began in Chinese fishing communities where people believed that flipping a fish over symbolised a capsized boat and is therefore considered bad luck.
Instead, just lift the tail up and scrape the meat out.
7. Do not use your chopsticks to point at anything or anyone
Source: Ikidane
Chopsticks are seen as an extension of our fingers, so similar to how pointing fingers at people is rude, so is pointing with chopsticks.
8. Before gobbling down your food, make sure to greet your relatives, “uncle, auntie, sek fan”
Source: Chrastly
It’s just good manners to do so!
And there you have it, just some of the do’s and don’ts of a CNY reunion dinner! At the end of the day, just remember to be respectful and enjoy yourself! CNY is about family after all. <3
However, although many of us will get to see our families this CNY, there are also people out there who unfortunately have no families to reunite with. In view of this, Alibaba has announced a CNY initiative to give back to society!
In fact, Alibaba Group’s Tmall World will be making generous contributions to five charity homes right here in Malaysia! There will also be plenty of gifts for the kids in these homes! Yay! Now that’s how you celebrate CNY!
Additionally, Tmall World is rewarding its Malaysian customers with a mega CNY reunion dinner too!
Besides delicious food, attendees (which will include children from the five charity homes as well) can expect awesome performances by international artiste Michael Wong himself, a.k.a. Guang Liang (光良).
The dinner is “by invite only” so, perhaps you’ll be one of the lucky 270 winners attending this mega dinner!
Here’s how you can participate:
- Complete this slogan “The first thing I shopped on Taobao…” with up to three (3) words or less
- Submit your answer here
Each winner will win two (2) tickets! Hurry though, contest ends 24 January 2018!
Details of the event are as below:
Event: Tmall World Chinese New Year Dinner
Date: 26 January 2018
Venue: Setia City Convention Centre, Shah Alam
You can find out more about the event and contest deets here!
