Chinese culture highly values family life, respect for the elderly and respect for traditions. For them, any pretext is good to organize a meal in which the whole family gathers.
The first difficulty that you will find when tasting a good Chinese menu is the use of chopsticks . The best thing is that we find a good teacher and that we practice a lot.
Warn you that a gesture considered rude is to play with chopsticks on the table or make noises with them, that is, when we are not eating we must leave them on the table. Prepare for the differences that you will find in the way of eating , the arrangement and order of the dishes, the posture at the table, etc.
In China they consider it "inappropriate" to eat with the head held high . It is not well seen to use your hands to eat, instead it is totally normal to suck and spit the bones on the tablecloth.
Traditionally the food is not finished in the restaurant , our Chinese host will continue ordering dishes as long as he sees that we continue eating, we must avoid giving the feeling that the amount of food that has been put on the table is scarce.
Normally the most formal meals start with cold dishes (always an even number), then fried dishes , then fish, and finally soup.
While waiting for the food, it is normal that they serve us nuts and hot tea . If there are sweet dishes, it does not have to be served at the end of the meal. The food can be accompanied by hot tea or any other cold drink that we want.