China's Pre-Meal Culture: Why Is This Table Habit so Popular?

To a lot of people, the Cantonese table manners are quite exemplary.

While many diners may think that traditions such as filling a bowl with hot water or tea before starting a meal are Cantonese, a lot of other provinces in southern China do this as well. 

But the Cantonese certainly made this custom popular!

You’ve probably seen the below package at restaurants before:

You’ll notice customers around you pop the plastic package open and immediately pour hot water in to clean their chopsticks, spoons, bowl, and cup. All in one go.

Scientists have long disputed the rumor that boiling water at 100 degrees for three minutes can kill bacteria, and the Cantonese continue to do so to rinse their bowls and cups before starting a meal.

This habitual practice is called lǒng 碗( lǒng bowl) / or 洗碗 (xǐ wǎn).

Back in the day, Cantonese diners would use lǒng bowls due to poor sanitary conditions in the region. Weather in the Guangdong province is hot and humid where food scraps and oil on rice bowls could easily breed bacteria. 

Although conditions have improved since then, this habit of boiling water to clean dishes prior to a meal has persisted.

In reality, people living in Guangdong province know lǒng bowls don’t really disinfect their dishes that much, but it’s a tradition. Only when the temperature of their tableware is warm enough will dinners settle and start ordering food.

The photo below depicts exactly how the Cantonese do it! Haha

Photo credit：@微调家刘巴布

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If we dive a bit deeper into this pre-meal ritual, you’ll find a more social meaning behind it. This is usually a sign of care and love that has taken over the Cantonese table culture.

If you’re going out with a group of people, those who get to the table early will help cleaning the dishes before the others arrive, and then they’ll say “I’ve already washed it for you.”

People who arrive at the table early will help others to finish cleaning the dishes. When others arrive, you will say "I have washed for you. 

Parents do it for their children, and younger generations help the elderly at the table, all as a show of love and affection. It’s also common for couples to clean each other’s dishes before a meal.

Here’s how the process usually goes:

1.  Pour the water into the cup. 

The temperature should be moderate, otherwise, you might run the risk of burning yourself.

2. Stir the tea or water quickly with your chopsticks.

Then pour the tea or hot water into your bowl while the temperature is still warm. 

Put your cup upside down inside the bowl and rotate it about 5 times.

Finally, pick up the bowl and tilt it around to make sure the tea can flow evenly all over inside, and pour it into your table’s communal tea bowl.

Lǒng 碗 is just one of many table habits that people from Guangdong province and other southern regions of the country are accustomed to. 

We’ll talk about those in further details in our next article.

Meanwhile, we always appreciate it when you share the article so more people can learn about China and its vast array of fascinating cultures!

Have you picked up on any other habits used in China? 

Let us know in the comment section below!

Editor: Crystal Huang

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