The Chinese love to eat out, especially when they entertain guests. This habit results in the abundance of restaurants everywhere. Eating together, like the westerners drinking in pubs or bars with friends, is a social gathering, a thanksgiving for the food, a celebration of family ties and the bonds of friendship.

    Unlike in a western restaurant that every diner will be offered a menu, in a Chinese restaurant, one menu is offered to the entire table even if there are a dozen of diners. Normally the one who receives the menu and orders the food will pay for the table. Or the one who sits near the door will pay for the table. The Chinese find ��splitting the bill" very ungracious and embarrassing. The common practice is that the other diners will take turns to pay for the meals later. The courses ordered will be cold dishes and hot ones. Normally the last course served is soup. Fruit served at last will be regarded as dessert.

    Unlike the courtesies of some cultures that require people to eat quietly, the Chinese like to talk loudly when eating in restaurants. Most likely, the guests will challenge each other to drinking games throughout the meal.

    At the meal table, the diners usually let their formal hair down, expose their personal preferences and try to demonstrate their goodwill and friendship by sharing the food together. So some people take advantage of this opportunity to have their business done at the table. Some use food and drink as one of their primary tools in creating and sustaining cooperative relationship with other people.