You Should Never Do When Eating Chinese Food

If you've ever found yourself getting a number of serious side-eye from your waitress, check yourself: Were you completely ignoring Chinese foodstuff etiquette?

You know how some chefs consider it rude to salt your food at the table? Adding soy sauce to your rice offends Chinese cooks in the equivalent way. The idea is that they've already seasoned your food to perfection, so you shouldn't need to add whatever thing more.

Never cross your chopsticks on the table.

Chinese people associate anything in an "x" symbol with disagreement. By putting your chopsticks in that formation, you're in essence denying your company.

The good way to serve yourself and others is by investment the handle of the teapot in one hand and pressing the lid with the additional as you pour.

There's a correct way to use your chopsticks on a shared dish.

Turn them just about so the end that touches the food is not the one you've been putting into your mouth all night.

Don't stick your chopsticks in a straight line into your rice.

In China, it's tradition to stick burning anger into rice to honor the dead, so doing the same with your chopsticks is bad form.

Lift your cup with two hands when making a toast.

This tradition is more representative now than when it began centuries ago. Having your left hand on your cup in addition to your right would signify that you were without arms It's also seen as polite to grab a cup with two hand when it's handed to you.

Never flip a fish.

Chinese restaurant often have whole fish on the menu, but if you order one, beware of the specific way to polish it off. Once you eat one side of the fish, pull the clean out and go on eating it. Flipping it over symbolize the fishermen's boats capsizing.

Don't tap your chopsticks against your bowl.

It's how on the streets people in the country ask for food, and it's seen as impolite to do so at the table.

Never "pop" a soup dumpling.

Soup dumplings, or xiao long bao as they're call in China, aren't like pistachios: They're not meant to be eaten any number of creative ways. The correct - and polite - way to chow down is by lightly biting the skin of the dumpling and slurping the potage before consumption the rest of it.