Food is a fundamental necessity of life and therefore becomes a rich conveyor of cultural traditions and norms and attracts patterns of symbolic significance much like a magnet, for example, who is entitled to eat with whom, and when, and how food is to be shared. The cultural understandings surrounding the sharing of food illuminates social dynamics by distinguishing cohesive social units and social distance. Indeed, it can be said that a culture is encoded in the expectations of behavior associated with the communal act of dining. The purpose of this paper is to examine the historical continuity of symbol systems that structure Chinese society and how the structure is embedded in how the Chinese think about food and in the behavior surrounding the consumption of food.
Most anthropological research on food has been in the area of food insecurity, ritual and eating, and how identity can be demonstrated by food patterns (Mintz and Du Bois 99). This paper examines the symbolism, ritual and identity encoded in the consumption of food in the Chinese cultural heritage. To lay the ground work, first the types of foods eaten and the symbol system applied to food in the ancient China will be reviewed. Foods prepared and eaten from the prehistoric Yangshao era to the Chou period set the basic pattern that informs Chinese cuisine and symbol systems today. Second, an examination of the rise and fall of herbal tea shops in Hong Kong is used to discuss the ways that food can carry cultural identity and adapt to accommodate political and economic changes. The consumption of herbal tea is a way of consolidating a cultural identity and a way of transitioning to a new identity. Finally, the regulations surrounding table manners in Hong Kong are examined in terms of how they can delineate private and public space and determine social relationships. In the description of current table etiquette practiced in Hong Kong, the reader can see how the structure set up in ancient China is continued to the present day.
1. Ancient China
Later styles of Chinese food preferences and food management were formulated in Ancient China from the Yangshao Period (5000 – 3200 BC) to the Chou Period (200 BC) (Chang 25). Information on the types of food eaten during the early periods is obtained from archeological evidence and later in preserved literature, primarily poetry. As for style, the only information available from the archeological record is the type of food and whether or not the food was consumed in a raw or cooked form. Textual information begins in the Shang (1850 BC) and Chou civilizations (Chang 25).
The staple starch in ancient northern China was types of millet, but wheat, hemp, barley and rice were also eaten. By the Late Chou period, rice was regarded as the preferred and more expensive grain (Chang 26-27). The chief legume was the soybean. There is mixed evidence as to when peanuts, sesames, and broad beans arrived in China. Velvet and red beans were common in Ancient Northern China. Taro and Chinese yam were found in southern China and may have been a more important form of starch than rice in southern China (Chang 28). Many different vegetables were available most of which were gathered wild. The following vegetables occur in texts, but there is little archaeological evidence for them: malva, melon, gourd, turnip, Chinese leek, lettuce, field sowthistle, common cattail, smart weeds, wormwood grasses, ferns, wild beans, lotus roots, Chinese cabbage, mustard greens, garlic, spring onion, amaranth, Chinese water chestnuts and bamboo shoots (Chang 28).
As for animal foods, archeological remains of dogs and pigs have been the most commonly found mammals and have been found from as early as the Yangshao civilization right through to the Chou period (Chang 29). Occasionally, remains of cattle, sheep and goats are also found at Yangshao sites but were probably not domesticated until the Langshan period (2000 BC) (Chang 29). There is no evidence that milk or their products were consumed in ancient China. Evidence from oracle bones indicates that sheep and cattle were used in a sacrificial context, but were also probably consumed as part of the secular diet.
Many wild animals were part of the early diet, most notably deer and rabbit, but were not as important a part of the diet as dogs and pigs. Bones of exotic animals such as whale, elephant, tapir and bear were found, which suggested that some rare foods might have been imported. Chicken occurs frequently in texts, but other birds such as partridge and pheasant were eaten. Carp was the most common fish eaten, but mullet was also consumed. Other edible species were bees, cicadas, turtles, frogs and snails. Much evidence exists for the uses of alcoholic beverages, mostly made from grain, at feasts and other ceremonies. Information from the Chou Period show that food was prepared by boiling, steaming, frying, salting, pickling, drying, steeping and smoking (Chang 29-31).
Chang demonstrated that cultural significance of food, its preparation, and how it is consumed in ancient China is preserved in Chou poetry and onwards (36-39). Descriptions of meals in Chinese poetry only record food consumed by the upper classes. There does not appear to be any descriptions of simple vegetable dishes that presumably the lower classes consumed. The amount of food one is entitled to consume is regulated by rank and age. Each person is said to require four bowls of grain to fill his stomach. However, a high ranking minister was entitled to eight additional non-grain dishes, and a low ranking minister was entitled to six additional non-grain dishes. A man of sixty is entitled to three non-grain dishes, a man of seventy, four, and a man of eighty, five, and a man of ninety, six (Chang 37). Chang makes no mention of women or children and stated that it is not known if poor people were subject to the same strict rules.
Did poor people necessarily eat like lone boors? Did they not also have their own rules in their own company? They must have, but, alas, their rules are not preserved in the available records. (Chang 39)
Even greater detail accompanies the spatial arrangement of the food. Chang describes the intricate and precise placement of dishes before the diner, for example, what types of meat and how they were folded dictated that they must be placed to the right of the diner, whereas other types of meat folded in different ways must be placed to the left of the diner. The rules regarding the presentation of food indicated that cultural symbols were encoded into the process of eating (37-38). Highly formalized procedures that integrated the recognition of rank also characterized table manners when eating with others, and children were instructed on eating etiquette from an early age (Chang 38-39). The ritualization of spatial arrangements and other regulations surrounding the taking of meals suggests a great attention was paid to social stratification.
Chang posits that the duality of yin and yang that informs Chinese civilization today can be found in ancient China in the food, food serving ware, and rituals surrounding food (46). For example, sustenance was divided into drink (yang) and food (yin). Food was further divided into grain/rice (fan) and dishes (ts’ai). Dishes were vegetables other than grain, and meat, and could be classified as either yang or yin. The basic meal consists of drink (water) and fan. This division is so fundamental that alcohol is regarded as fan.on the basis that it is made from grain. A more elaborate meal included ts’ai. Chang described a hierarchy with fan at the bottom and ts’ai at the top that included a guide as to the portions of each class of food that one must eat, specifically, more fan should be consumed than ts’ai (Chang 40-41). As will be discussed below, this symbolic division of food into types developed in ancient China remains the framework of cultural understandings of food and its consumption, including the hierarchy and strict proportions, and structures table manners in Hong Kong today. As Chang stated:
This arrangement of food classes and the beliefs and rules associated with them, is in my opinion is the structural essence of the Chinese way of eating, and it has not changed from at least the Chou period to today.
In the ancient texts wherever enumerations of things to eat and drink appear, the same hierarchy of food-drink contrasts is shown. (40)
2. Food and Chinese Identity in herbal tea shops in Hong Kong
Sea Ling Cheng chronicles the rise and fall of herbal tea shops in terms of the political and economic changes that occurred in Hong Kong in the period leading up to Hong Kong’s return to China in 1997 (1997). Cheng suggested that the political changes taking place in Hong Kong fostered feelings of insecurity and the residents sought to re-affirm cultural identity in the traditions of the herbal tea shop. Cheng also demonstrates how the tea shops stayed afloat in economic downturns by maintaining their function as a social gathering place.
The health benefits of herbal tea described by Cheng echo the dichotomies found in Chang’s review of ancient Chinese foods (Chang 48) and the need to balance the opposing factors. Cheng describes a health belief system composed of the dichotomies hot/cold and wet/dry that, if unbalanced in results in bodily discomfort (Cheng 52).
Different effects are associated with the various herbal teas – chrysanthemum tea and five-flower tea are assumed to be mildly cooling, while sesame drink, sugarcane juice and sour plum juice are good for promoting digestion, and since their effects are mild, they can also be simply taken as a drink. Twenty-four-herb tea is generally perceived as strongly cooling and good for curing “hot” diseases like flu and fevers. (52)
Cooling teas were thought to counteract the hot and humid Hong Kong climate, particularly during the summer.
Traditionally, herbal teas were dispensed for free or inexpensively at Taoist temples to people who could not afford other medicines. The Chinese residents of Hong Kong were poor and eagerly accepted herbal teas as a folk remedy (Cheng 53). Wong Lo Kat was the first herbal tea shop registered in Hong Kong in 1897. Wong Lo Kat is the name of a man who was reputed to have discovered a combination of herbal ingredients that cured all illnesses.
During the dire conditions of the Japanese occupation, the poor Chinese escaped their squalid living conditions in the comfort and sociality of the herbal tea shops (Cheng 53-54).
The lack of reasonable housing drove people out of their “homes” but recreational facilities were also inadequate. So, for those economically less advantaged people, herbal tea shops provided a channel of escape from their humdrum lives by creating an easily accessible and comfortable public place that connected them with each other and the world at large. In this way, herbal teach shops played a socially integrating role (Cheng 56).
In the 1950s, the types of drinks available at the shop expanded beyond herbal teas to other health promoting drinks such as almond drinks, five-flower tea, chrysanthemum tea, and sesame drink. Further, people came to the shops to enjoy the electric fan and to listen to the radio. For the price of a 10-cent drink, patrons could listen to the popular plays, stories and music broadcast by Rediffusion (Hong Kong) Limited (Cheng 57). As different technologies emerged, they were installed in tea shops to attract a range of customers.
In the 1950s jukeboxes in some herbal tea shops were a major attraction for the younger generations. Many local Cantonese films produced in this period featured trendy young people (men with a slick-back hair style, folded-up shirt collars and women typically in mini-skirts) socializing and dancing to western music from the jukeboxes in the herbal tea shops (Cheng 57)
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With the arrival of television, Hong Kong residents now had glimpses of the rest of the world. As Hong Kong’s economy grew and accommodations improved, local Hong Kong and western lifestyles became the models to follow. Identification with the Chinese mainland fell off, as did the patronage of herbal tea shops (Cheng 58-59).
The social functions of the herbal tea shops that had been so prominent in the past decades were progressively taken over by the family or other entertainment establishments. More importantly, its “traditional roots” led to its marginalization in the march towards a metropolitan identity (Cheng 58-59).
McDonald’s, Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken, with their American look and immaculate facilities, filled the vacuum left by the herbal tea shops as gathering places. The practice of eating out became a mark of personal economic success and modernity. The consumption of food outside the home reflected the prospering economy and the changing self- image of Hong Kong residents (Cheng 59). Other indications that the residents of Hong Kong were distinguishing themselves from mainland China and Taiwan were the rise in popularity of Cantonese pop songs with lyrics that depicted the local lifestyle and aspirations over the Mandarin pop songs (Cheng 60).
In the herbal tea shops, ‘To retain its “traditional” image, Wong Lo Kat continues with its old practice of giving sweet preserved plums to those who have had the bitter taste of twenty-four herb tea’ (Cheng 61). Cheng refers to this fashion and the return of traditionally decorated Hong Kong eating establishments during this time as “nostalgic eating” (66). An increased identification with traditional Chinese décor accompanied the lead up to Hong Kong’s return to China, and according to Cheng, was the result of an “identify discontinuity” (68).
3. Table Etiquette
Cooper begins his description of table manners in Hong Kong with a brief overview of the anthropological literature of food and its importance in adapting a population as to what is good or not good to eat, and how the symbolic ordering of the culture is reflected in the preparation and eating of food. As Cooper points out, table manners are so ingrained and at such an early age that deviations from the cultural norm evoke disgust and identify the individual as either a child or a barbarian (179). The categorization set out by the Chou period in China is clearly identifiable in Hong Kong food categories today. If fan (grain or rice) is not included, it is not a meal. Rice is generally not eaten at breakfast, therefore it not regarded as a proper meal but rather a snack to get you through to lunch time (Cooper 180).
Chang describes the rules regarding the spatial arrangement of food set before a person (37-38). According to Cooper, the recognition of a need to spatially organize a meal exists in Honk Kong today. Each person has his or her own bowl of fan, which is placed in front of the individual. However, ts’ai dishes are shared and are placed in the middle of the table (Cooper 180). Further spatial distinctions are made with regard to eating utensils. Before each person is the personal bowl of fan, chopsticks, a spoon, and a saucer. Chopsticks are used to take a piece from the communal ts’ai and place it on top of the fan. The bowl is raised to the mouth and the fan and ts’ai are placed into the mouth with the chopsticks. To eat with the bowl remaining on the table indicates a disinterest in the food and is regarded as an insult to the host (Cooper 180). The rules that can be extracted from the use of bowls, dishes and chopsticks are a division of private and public space with the bowl being private, the ts’ai dish as public, and the chopsticks as mediating between the two (Cooper 180). Anything that touches the mouth, i.e. the bowl of fan, is classified as private space and kept within the immediate vicinity of the person to whom it belongs.
When one has finished the rice in one’s bowl, one does not continue to eat of the communal ts’ai dishes. To eat ts’ai without rice in one’s bowl is to appear a glutton interested only in ts’ai, of which one must consume a great deal to get full without rice. (181)
At formal occasions such as weddings and New Years’ banquets, the proportions of fan and ts’ai are reversed in order to emphasize the sumptuousness of the meal.
rice is not served until last. Thus at a banquet, one may eat ts’ai without rice in one’s bowl, and one is expected to fill up on ts’ai such that when the rice is finally served, one can only take a token portion, which is to say, this has been a real feast. (Cooper 183)
Cooper describes the overriding rule of communal eating as one of “deference to others” (181). Beyond deference, social status is embedded in the rules of dining as a group. In order of eating, adults take precedence over children, and a guest of honor must be the last to leave the table. When dining out, paying for the check for all the guests marks the payer’s status over the other guests. Among equals, paying the check is done in the expectation of eventual reciprocity. However, if the status between two diners is considerable, it is impolite for the one of lower status to take the check. Cooper describes a refinement of status jockeying.
Of course the wider social context must also be taken into consideration. One may be desirous of seeking a favor of an important person, in which case paying the check may be a mild form of pressure in which the obligation of reciprocity is finessed, enjoining one’s fellow diner to comply with one’s request. Food events are first and foremost social events. (183)
In his description of table etiquette in Hong Kong, Cooper demonstrates the persistence of the ancient Chinese fan and ts’ai distinctions dictating what and relatively how much you eat, the cultural value of deference, and the carefully observed social structure played out in the microcosm of the dining table. Cheng demonstrated how spaces in which food is consumed serve as public gathering places where people can socialize and acquire information. In fact, the herbal tea shops in Hong Kong were instrumental in facilitating change by revealing new western lifestyles and disseminating news from the rest of the world, which was particularly important at a time of political unrest. The waxing and waning of the popularity of the herbal tea shops and the types of food served in the tea shops indexed the changing cultural affiliations and anxiety as the residents of Hong Kong moved toward reunion with mainland China. Chinese medicine in the form of herbal tea was resurrected as a meaningful symbol of a desirable life.
In conclusion, Cooper is correct when he states you are how you eat (179) in Hong Kong. In the case of Hong Kong’s herbal tea shops, you are where you drink tea. The dichotomized worldview of yin and yang is repeated throughout the centuries by being encoded in the classification of edibles into fan and ts’ai. It could be argued that the entire traditional cosmology is embedded in the food consumption patterns because of the critical role food plays in maintaining life. Chinese food traditions have a strong structure that has endured over centuries. Within the culture, patterns of behavior surrounding the consumption of food defined the social strata. To affiliate or deviate from the structure is a way the Chinese, notably in Hong Kong, expressed their evolving cultural identity.
Works Cited
Chang, Kwang-chih. “1: Ancient China,” Food in Chinese Culture: Anthropological and Historical Perspectives. Ed. Kwang-chih Chang. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977, 23-52. Print.
Cheng, Sea Ling. “Back to the Future: Herbal Tea Shops in Hong Kong,” Hong Kong: Anthropological Essays on a Chinese Metropolis. Eds. Grant Evans and Marie Tam. Oxon, UK: Cruzon Press, 1997, 51-73. Print.
Cooper, Eugene. “Chinese Table Manners: You Are How You Eat.” Human Organization 45.2 (1986) : 179-184. Print.
Mintz, Sidney, W. and Du Bois, Christine, M. “The Anthropology of Food and Eating.” Annual Review of Anthropology 31 (2002) : 99-119. Print.
