A Banquet in China

Above: The Beiwei Hotel, adjacent to the campus; you can see just a bit of the photo of the huge cooked chicken on the left side of the overhang advertising its excellent restaurant.


One of the continuing topics we're discussing in China is "culture shock" or how to deal with intercultural surprises. In preparation for that, the students have read Encountering the Chinese, a guide for people studying and doing business in China. I recommend it: it's well-written and has footnotes that are as interesting as the text. North Central has been using it regularly for students going to China.

On Tuesday I was fortunate enough to be invited to my first Chinese banquet - a luncheon for one of my favorite academics, Dr. Roger Ames. Roger is a professor of philosophy at the University of Hawaii, a director of the Asian Studies Development Program at the East-West Center, and a renowned expert on Confucianism - so expert that he also teaches at Peking University, and was asked by Beiwei (our college here in Beijing) to teach a class on Chinese philosophy. Among his thirteen or so books are his translations of the Analects of Confucius and the Daodeching. The president of Beiwai was a student of Roger's at the University of Hawaii many years ago. I have been fortunate enough to attend two three-week ASDP seminars, one on Southeast Asia and one on China. I also brought Roger to NCC to speak on Confucianism a few years ago. Our class of NCC students here at Beiwei happened to attend a lecture a few days ago by another distinguished member of the faculty who spoke to us about Confucianism and Daoism; at the end of the lecture I asked if he knew Roger. Not only did he know him - he was hosting a luncheon for him the next day and invited me on the spot. Not only was I honored - I was a little overwhelmed. Was this the sort of invitation I should say yes to immediately, or was it just a polite gesture? Wouldn't it be hard to add another person at the last minute? The trouble with trying to remember your intercultural training is that you don't have the book in front of you when the occasion arises.

In any case, I said yes, remembering at least that last-minute invitations to events like that are not unusual and should be heeded. I knew that the Beiwai Hotel was quite fancy, and the restaurant on the second floor well-known for its delicious food. A huge sign on the building displays a large cooked chicken; when I saw it this summer I was puzzled, but arriving at the restaurant I realized the restaurant had a chicken theme when I saw a person-sized statue of a chicken on the second floor.

The professor who had given our lecture had written instructions in Chinese for me so that the staff would direct me to the right place. Almost everyone was already seated in the private room; I'll have to remember to come early if I get invited again to a banquet. The president of the university sat to Roger's left; to the left of the president the dean who had been our lecturer; I was seated at Roger's right. At that point I started to feel like an imposter: perhaps I had overstated my relationship? Seating at a banquet is a serious business. The professor to my right translated for me, because almost all of the conversation was in Chinese. I have heard enough Chinese now to recognize Roger's Vancouver accent in his perfect and idiomatic Chinese (I know it's idiomatic because his lectures often includes explanations of Chinese phrases). The president of the university, clearly very fond of Roger, told stories about his days as a student at the University of Hawaii. While my companion to the right (a dean and professor of English) was translating, she was also serving me from the dishes on the huge glass lazy susan that took up a large part of the round table. The food was exquisite: tiny salty shrimp in their shells, to be eaten whole; a purple eggplant dish with garlic; wonton purses filled with chopped seafood and tied with scallions; pumpkin soup; a molded vegetable pate; a dish of fresh mango and cashews; chopped garlicky fish in its skin; soft pine nut cookies; small pastries flavored with cocoanut and filled with beanpaste; beer, wine, juice, and hot tea. The waitresses made sure the glasses were always full; my seatmate made sure I always had something to eat; I tried to behave myself.

It's important at a Chinese banquet to keep up with the toasts. Hu Wenzong and Cornelius Grove, editors of Encountering the Chinese, remind us that you must toast, although it doesn't have to be with beer or alcohol. Although the famous "thimble-sized" glasses were on the table at the outset, I don't think anyone drank maotai, the fiery clear Chinese alcohol. I alternated toasting with beer and tomato juice. Not only that: there is a specific way to clink the glasses together. Out of modesty, my hostess to the right explained, you try to put your own glass lower than that of the person you are cheering if he or she is older, or the distinguished guest, or of a higher rank. Ah, I had forgotten that. I hoped they would forgive me. Roger and the president engaged in a little contest of toasting, each trying to get lower than the other.

At the end of the banquet, as Hu and Grove write, the host gets up and everyone leaves at the same time - quite "abruptly, by American standards." Just as they said, the president of Beiwei looked at his watch (Roger's lecture was to begin shortly), and everyone left. In fact, they started leaving almost too soon to distribute the gifts the staff or faculty members had wrapped. I wish I had taken a photo (I thought it might be too forward) when they realized they had forgotten to take one. And they gave me a gift as well, which I knew not to open on the spot. I waited until my class to open it in front of the students: it's a beautiful yellow silk scarf.