Insulting Gestures: China: Gesture 6 (Pouring a Full Cup of Tea)

Folklore Form/Genre: Chinese gesture/mannerism       Informant: Ruoni Wang

Name: Negative Implication of Pouring Tea Full               Place of Origin: China

Date Collected: 11/4/2018

Informant Data:

Ruoni was born in Chengdu, Sichuan, China in 1995. She believes she learned manners surrounding tea from her parents around when she was seven or eight. Ruoni is now a senior at Dartmouth College, where she studies Computer Science and Economics.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: 

I collected this gesture related to tea from Ruoni when interviewing her in Baker Library. I met Ruoni my freshman fall in the Global Village Living Learning Community. We were also in the same Sculpture I class, for which we often spent late nights working on sculptures while talking about cultural differences and adjustments that had to be made here in the U.S. versus in China. When asking her about gestures, she said that it was difficult for her to think of any of the top of her head. In fact, she noted that when she studied African American culture here in the U.S., she was actually surprised by the number and diversity of physical gestures she found since this greatly contrasts what is found in Chinese culture. However, she mentioned manners her parents taught her concerning a social tea setting. She learned this when she was seven or eight years old from her parents in the context of preparing to have a meal with other guests. This was a rude gesture to avoid.

Cultural Context: 

Having tea is a common social setting throughout China similar to as it is in Japan and like getting coffee is in other parts of the world such as the U.S. Whether you are the host or a guest, it is important to present yourself well and make good impressions. Even subtleties in the way the tea is served and consumed have implications and can be interpreted.

Item:

A host pouring a cup full for a guest is a negative gesture that hints at the fact that the host wants the guest to leave soon. Filling a cup full implies that there is no more tea after that pour. On the other hand, typically when the host pours tea for the guests, (s)he usually fills a cup just over half full. This symbolizes the continual relationship between the host and the guests as the host must refill cups every once in a while.

Transcript: 

“You should never fill a cup full of tea for your guests. Usually it is less, just more than half because that means a continuing relationship between the host and the guests. Otherwise, filling it full means you want them to leave.”

Informant’s Comments:

She doesn’t practice this much in the U.S. just because she doesn’t drink tea as often here, but it is something of a norm or habit back in China and is practiced throughout China, not just in certain subcultures.

Collector’s Comments: 

I think the symbolism in this gesture is really clear and interesting: the metaphor established between the continual pouring of tea and the relationship between host and guests. It sets standards for how a host should treat guests and how that relationship works in the Chinese culture.

Collector’s Name: Seamore Zhu

Tags/Keywords:

  • Gestures
  • China
  • Insulting
  • Tea
  • Mannerism

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