Beijing News reporter Dong Muzi
With the gradual and effective control of the epidemic in China and the gradual resumption of work and production in the catering industry, there are more and more policies, discussions and advocacy around us on safe eating, the use of public chopsticks, and the promotion of the meal sharing system.
As early as February, the four departments of Shanghai jointly issued the "Proposal on the Use of Public Chopsticks", and the next day the first batch of 100 restaurants in Shanghai promised to be equipped with corresponding chopsticks according to the number of diners and the number of dishes. On March 9, the Beijing Cuisine Association and the Beijing Catering Industry Association jointly issued the "Proposal for Promoting Public Chopsticks and Spoons to Build a Civilized Table". On March 16, Shandong took the lead in promulgating and implementing provincial-level local standards for meal sharing and contactless meals.
Today, even remote chinese towns are implementing a meal sharing system. According to Xinhua News Agency, in the hot pot restaurant in Ulanhot, the lobby manager found that "even if there is no reminder, most customers will ask each other to use chopsticks and spoons." ”
An epidemic has made Chinese quickly develop the habit of wearing masks, and now it is changing our customs about eating.
Previously, Wang Xiaohua, a professor at the School of Humanities of Shenzhen University, who had initiated relevant initiatives as a scholar, pointed out in the "Proposal on comprehensively promoting public tableware" that "shared meals are an untimely way of life and have been abandoned by most countries in the world." In his view, "in the world's mainstream catering industry, sharing meals has long been a common practice" and "we should not become retrogrades of mainstream culture".
Meals or meals? This is a problem. Some people think that Chinese nature is lively, and it is our tradition to eat around the table; some people think that the meal sharing system is not the standard of modern Western civilized society, and China is the first country to carry out the meal sharing system. There is some truth to these claims, but they are not necessarily completely accurate: the tradition of intimate eating is not as "ancient" as we think, only a little more than a thousand years ago; and the meal sharing system implemented by the ancient Chinese three thousand years ago is not behind the "modern concept" we uphold today.
How did China transition from a meal sharing system to a shared meal system? How is the Western meal sharing system different from the Chinese meal sharing system? What are the essential differences between the meal sharing system we are calling for today and the ancient Chinese meal sharing system? To this end, we chatted with Wang Xiaohua about the changes in food customs in China and the West from ancient times to modern times. In his view, promoting the use of public tableware is the best of both worlds than the meal sharing system. This technical choice does not spoil the intimate atmosphere of diners, but also avoids the huge risks of crossing each other's boundaries.
Wang Xiaohua is a professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Humanities of Shenzhen University. Director of the Institute of Body Aesthetics of Shenzhen University, member of the Evaluation Committee of Shenzhen University. Vice President of China Ecological Aesthetics Society, Vice President of China Young Ecodiskers Society, Standing Director of China Literary and Art Theory Society. He has published monographs such as "Body Imagery in Western Aesthetics" (published by People's Publishing House in 2016), "Introduction to Body Aesthetics" (China Social Sciences Press, 2016), "Body Poetics" (published by People's Publishing House in 2018), "Individual Philosophy" (published by Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore in July 2002), etc.
Is "eating a big table together" a Chinese tradition?
Beijing News: China is the first country in the world to carry out the meal sharing system, and it is also one of the countries with the longest history of the meal sharing system, which was first implemented in the Zhou Dynasty. Some studies have pointed out that the meal sharing system was a last resort of clans and tribes in the early history, and after the emergence of national civilization, the meal sharing system was the appeal of the social hierarchy of "the elderly and the young" to be respected and inferior. In your opinion, what factors are related to the formation of China's meal sharing system?
Wang Xiaohua: The discourse on the meal sharing system is not only related to cultural geography, but also implicates a historical genealogy. Although the corresponding literature has yet to be sorted out, we can think that the formation of the meal sharing system belongs to a social narrative
（socialnarratives）
。 According to the literature, the Zhou Dynasty implemented a system of sub-sealing. With the establishment of the corresponding system, a paradoxical situation emerged: it both formed a strict hierarchical order and implicated relatively clear group-self boundaries.
According to the records of the Book of Rites, at that time, the difference between the main guests was particularly emphasized during the dinner: "People are greeted outside the gate, entered, three strokes and then to the steps, three concessions and then rise, so the honor is also honored." ”
("The Righteousness of Township Drinking")
Since the position of the guest of honor can be constantly changed, a system of communication that determines the boundaries of individuals will inevitably take shape. This is the main cause of the meal sharing system.
The "Chronicle of Meng Tianjun" once recorded the process of the dinner during the Spring and Autumn Warring States period: "Meng Tianjun once entertained guests at night, and there was a person who covered the fire. The guest was angry, did not wait for the meal, and quit the food. Meng tasted the king and compared himself to his meal. Shame on you, kill yourself. The fact that "the meal is not waiting" makes the guests angry is a meaningful detail. This shows that the individuals at that time already had a sense of demarcation. Although it is not yet equivalent to the modern concept of intersubjectivity, it has implicated a set of laws of distribution.
However, dividing equally was not the practice at the time. In most cases, the hierarchy derives from strict food distribution rules:
"The ritual of drinking in the village: Sixty sit, and fifty serve to listen to political service, so ming honors the chief." Sixty three beans, seventy four beans, eighty five beans, ninety six beans, so Ming pension also. ("The Righteousness of Township Drinking")
The Taibai Yin Jing, written in the Tang Dynasty, has a similar saying:
"When the ancients became a teacher, they would reward them with cattle wine, reward them in an orderly manner, and have a discrepancy in the feast, so as to inspire the public."
Southern Tang Dynasty painter Gu Hongzhong's "Han Xizai Night Feast", in which the painting is divided into meals.
Beijing News: "Eating a big table together" is regarded by many people as a "tradition" in China today, but in fact, it took Chinese a long time to choose the "shared meal system". During the Song Dynasty, the shared meal system was accepted by the nobility and some people in the true sense. It was not until the Qing Dynasty that the shared meal system really became the main form of eating, which continues to this day. Some studies have pointed out that the reason why the shared meal system became popular in China was related to the new high chairs and large tables in the 5th and 6th centuries AD, and the changes in customs brought about by the national changes of the rulers of the country. In your opinion, what is the evolution of the shared meal system, and what are the key elements?
Wang Xiaohua: From a historical point of view, the emergence of the shared meal system also belongs to the sociological narrative. Since the Beginning of the Qin Dynasty, the sub-feudal system has been rapidly replaced by a unified social system, which directly affects the way individuals eat:
First, the strict and cumbersome etiquette system of the Zhou Dynasty began to be abandoned;
Second, individuals are thrown into a homogenized social structure. With the prominence of these two characteristics, the way of eating may change from point to point.
When the social structure is homogenized, the demand for "integration" will inevitably prevail. Although the meal sharing system has never been completely abandoned
(Still used by the upper class)
But a new dietary fad has emerged.
From the wei and jin dynasties of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the narrative of "tongpan" formed a continuous genealogy:
"And if my brother is at home, he will eat with the same plate, and if he has a near journey, he will not arrive, and he will wait for him to return, and if he has not eaten in the middle, he will endure hunger."
(Book of Wei, Liechuan, vol. 46)
；
"Although we eat and drink together, we often look at each other and do not say a word."
(New Book of Tang, Liechuan, vol. 145)
"Eat to the point, melt the treasure, and do not eat with it." Shang: Why not eat with the wise brother. Rong Yue: The subject cannot be on the same plate as the mouth of Xie Qi. ”
(Taiping Guangji, vol. 246, Witty II)
In this process, the change of instruments does play an auxiliary role. For example, the advent of high chairs and large tables favored the formation of the shared meal system. It is precisely under the joint action of a variety of factors that the shared meal system gradually takes the upper hand. By the Song Dynasty, there were more and more relevant records, indicating that a new fashion was fixed. In the process of the sharing system gradually becoming mainstream, the change is also paradoxical: it has not only created populism on the table, but also more or less obscured or even eliminated the boundaries between individuals.
Beijing News: Some studies have pointed out that the popularity of the chinese shared meal system has objectively promoted the progress of Chinese cooking. How do you see the impact of the shared meal system on our food culture?
Wang Xiaohua: As the traditional boundaries have dissolved, drinking rituals have also begun to change. In Li Bai's poems, drinking at the same table has become the norm:
"To cook sheep and slaughter cattle for pleasure, one will drink three hundred cups at a time." / Cen Fuzi, Dan Qiusheng, will enter the wine, the cup does not stop. / With a song of Jun, please listen to it for me. ”
(Li Bai, "Will Enter the Wine")
It's a feast with a carnival atmosphere, and it's a time of cups and plates. Boundaries have dissolved and food has become a temporary public resource.
"Shusen" Lee Bai Images
Through the interpretation of the psalms that have been handed down, I find that persuasion soon became a by-product of the dining system:
"Golden-headed chicken, silver-tailed sheep, the master raised a case to persuade guests to taste." / Meng Gongjunqing sat in the full hall, talking about the big debate Hong Zhong Bang. / Jin Qianwei, Jade Qianwei, must not pack up the yellow soup, and advise the king to drink this by candle. / Jun did not see the owner's tooth chip did not come off, the wife did not get up in the middle of the night, and regretted not drinking ten thousand times a day. ”
([Yuan] Yang Weizhen's "Will Enter the Wine, Will Enter the Wine")
"The host advised the guests to drink all night, as if afraid of the Ming Dynasty's non-teenagers." / Xinfeng wine trough dripping red dew, there are also a number of 1,000 buckets. ”
([Ming] Shen Zhou's "Will Enter the Wine")
"A gentleman who returns drunk." There will be wine, and the wine will be preserved without hesitation. ”
([Ming] Zhu Chengyong's "Will Enter the Wine")
Works such as "Will Drink" actually belong to the song of persuasion. From the Tang Dynasty onwards, it formed a series that has continued to the present. The bold wind rendered in the poem may bring about the pleasure of liberation, but it also leads to a forced dining ceremony. From this perspective, this shift is not what we usually call progress.
Why is it difficult for us to accept public chopsticks or meal sharing?
Beijing News: For today's Chinese, has the shared meal system become a cultural gene? Many people may feel that the use of public chopsticks between family members is an affront to the intimacy of people and seems angry. What factors cause Chinese to resist chopsticks or not to accept the meal sharing system?
Wang Xiaohua: If we reduce the shared meal system to a historical dimension, then this question is not difficult to answer. It is not a manifestation of cultural genes, but a product of a specific context. It could even be said that it is a fragment of the social narrative. Since China has also undergone a shift from meal sharing to shared meals, we cannot equate specific ways of eating with national externalization.
As some scholars have pointed out, with the beginning of modernity, the initiative of the meal sharing system has emerged. For example, during the May Fourth New Culture Movement, some intellectuals advocated "abolishing chopsticks and bowls and eating together, and implementing the method of eating Chinese food and western food." For example, in 1931, the "Chinese Health Journal" published Mr. Wang Zude's short article "The Vices of Eating Together", reminding people to pay attention to the drawbacks of the shared meal system:
"Co-eating habits, contagious diseases." The harm to public health is enormous. Even the highest society is not exempt. Covering the phase has been along for a long time, it has become a habit, and it is no longer known that it is harmful! ”
In exploring solutions, the article proposes:
"Advocate public chopsticks. Use two chopsticks per person. Take the dish with chopsticks and place it in your own bowl. Then send it to your mouth with chopsticks. ”
Corresponding such initiatives, although they have only had a partial impact, are likely to indicate future megatrends. In the process of transformation, the change of perception takes time. When many people feel that the use of public utensils affects the sense of intimacy, he or she clearly ignores the boundaries that should be between individuals. In fact, the citation of public tableware is probably the best option we can do right now: it both preserves the populist spirit of the traditional meal-sharing system while avoiding cross-contagion between individuals.
Stills from the movie "Eating Men and Women".
Beijing News: Since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, you have launched the public chopsticks initiative as a scholar. According to personal observation, how many times have the attitudes of modern and contemporary Chinese towards public chopsticks and meal sharing have changed? Why and what are the results?
Wang Xiaohua: According to my personal memory, since 2003, contemporary talk about the meal sharing system has been rising. On the whole, most people's reactions to it have a lingering ambiguity: both a vague awareness of the inadequacies and even risks of the shared meal system, and a nostalgia for its populist meaning and the corresponding intimate atmosphere.
In fact, it is precisely aware of this ambivalence that advocates of the meal-sharing system have revised their claims and begun to promote the use of public tableware: this technical choice does not destroy the intimate atmosphere of diners, but also avoids the huge risk of crossing each other's boundaries; it is the middle way of the dietary level, the best of both worlds.
Since it has been implemented as a practical procedure, it can be a set of body skills. If we follow this path, results are just around the corner.
Beijing News: What is the main demand of your public chopsticks initiative?
Wang Xiaohua: My main appeal is to establish the necessary boundaries of individual interaction and advocate a way of eating that is more in line with the modern spirit. According to my recent statistics, advocates of China's contemporary meal sharing system are mainly in the catering and medical industries. In the absence of male chopsticks, not only food is shared, but also viruses and bacteria in the saliva. According to incomplete statistics, more than half of the Chinese infected with Helicobacter pylori, and stomach cancer has become a common disease. More than half of the world's stomach cancer patients occur in China. Nearly 700,000 people die of stomach cancer each year. In addition, the ghosts of epidemics such as hepatitis A also linger everywhere. When the outbreak hit, restaurants were reduced to minefields that people were reluctant to approach. From the perspective of public health alone, it is imperative to comprehensively promote public chopsticks.
Beijing News: Although some people today call for a return to the meal sharing system, the meal sharing system in the modern sense seems to be fundamentally different from the ancient Chinese meal sharing system?
Wang Xiaohua: The ancient meal sharing system highlights the difference in status, and the modern meal sharing system emphasizes the reasonable boundaries between individuals. There is a fundamental difference between the two.
What I advocate is the modern meal sharing system. It is not aimed at the populist spirit inherent in the meal system, but at its transgression of individual boundaries. For example, in the midst of a mess, the boundaries between individuals are ignored or even forgotten. This scenario clearly has sociological connotations that should be reflected.
How is the modern meal sharing system in the West different from the ancient Chinese meal sharing system?
Beijing News: We all know that the West is a society with a meal sharing system. Interestingly, China moved from a shared meal system to a shared meal society, while the West shifted from a shared meal system to a shared meal system. Can you tell us about the historical evolution of Western society towards the meal sharing system?
Wang Xiaohua: In order to promote the concept of meal sharing, I visited the UK in 2004 and read a lot of literature. According to the information I have, the Western meal sharing system is also a product of social transformation. Before the Renaissance, Westerners did not practice the modern sense of the meal sharing system, and people took it for granted to eat on the same plate. Banquets at this time often allow two or more diners to share a soup bowl, and people are accustomed to grabbing food directly with their hands. To show respect for others, public handwashing before meals becomes part of etiquette:
When diners enter the hall, first at the aquamanile
(Water tank)
Wash your hands. Handwashing must be done openly so that others know that the neighbor's hand is clean when reaching for food.
This continued around the sixteenth century
(Some remote areas may be longer)
。 With the deepening of the Renaissance, Western Europe began to abandon the narrow vision and habits of the Middle Ages and carry out a revolution in daily life. People are increasingly ashamed of their previous habits and urgently feel the need for new rules. In 1530, the Dutch thinker Erasmus
(Erasmus)
The Etiquette of children was published. In this book, written for the French prince of the year, the author makes detailed provisions on dining etiquette:
"Take care to trim your nails before eating. Otherwise, the dirt in the nails will penetrate deep into the food. ”；
"Don't be the first to put your hand on the plate; only wolves and gluttons do that. Don't put your whole hand in at the same time — use up to three fingers. ”；
"Take the first piece of meat or fish you touch, and don't stab at the plate and try to take a bigger piece of food."
From these regulations, it can be seen that although Sixteenth-century Europe began to pay attention to respecting others when eating, and even required princes to take into account the feelings of their neighbors, they still did not implement a meal sharing system.
It was not until the seventeenth century, with the proliferation of modernity and the rise of discourse about individual rights, that people's way of eating underwent fundamental changes. Everyone eats with knives and forks on their plates, and the dishes are washed at any time. If you are still eating in common tableware, ask diners to "wipe their spoons every time before taking food from other plates, because others don't want to drink the soup you have touched with the spoons you have used", "Even if you are eating with a very elegant person, it is not enough to wipe your own spoon, you should not use it and ask for another one".
Later, habits such as wiping spoons and changing spoons were gradually replaced by the custom of using public tableware, "spoons are served with dinner plates to serve soup or obtain sauces". After a series of meticulous changes, new ways of eating were established: "Each person has his own plate and spoon, and the soup is distributed by specialized public tools, in line with the new needs of social life, and a new style is acquired for eating." This new style of eating, which we call the meal-sharing system today, "was first a habit of the upper class, then became the standard, and extended to the whole society." ”
Stills from "The Chef's Table".
Beijing News: What social and cultural factors are mainly related to the establishment of the mainstream status of the Western meal sharing system? For example, the popularization of modern health concepts, the individualistic tradition of Western society? Is this the result of the promotion of the state or related institutions and social forces, or is it accompanied by modernization, is it a natural choice for people?
Wang Xiaohua: In Western countries, the practice of the meal sharing system belongs to modern table manners
（table manner）
category. It drives it at all levels: the state, social groups, intellectuals
(Thinkers such as Erasmus)
。 It was thanks to the perseverance of many that modern table manners finally took shape. This is obviously not a natural process. Because of this, the shared meal system of different Western countries also shows certain differences.
From the perspective of historical evolution, the main factor driving the meal sharing system is the rise of modernity. Beginning with the Renaissance, the old categories of "master", "slave", and "guest" were replaced by concepts such as "good", "equal", "stranger", "friend", etc., and respect for others became an essential character for the new type of individual.
In this context, leaving one's saliva on someone else's food is offensive and should obviously be avoided. Thus, a new practice arose: "Each person chooses his own favorite food and eats only the food he chooses." This shows that this "new practice" is certainly related to hygiene habits, but it has a deeper motivation.
Stills from the documentary "New Year on the Tip of the Tongue".
Beijing News: From this point of view, although China and Western Europe have their own meal sharing systems in history, it seems that there are essential differences between the two meal sharing systems?
Wang Xiaohua: This may involve the stage of food culture. The Zhou Dynasty meal sharing system that Chinese people often talk about belongs to ancient culture, and the meal sharing system after the European Renaissance belongs to the modern category. If you compare the two, the essential difference will naturally appear.
When we advocate the use of public chopsticks today, we are looking more at contemporary considerations. This is the difference we should pay attention to.
Beijing News: What is the attitude of Today's Westerners towards the shared meal system?
Wang Xiaohua: According to my investigation, the attitude of Westerners towards the shared meal system is contradictory: on the one hand, it is a way of eating that they have bid farewell to; on the other hand, the prevailing cultural pluralism makes them reluctant to explicitly criticize the customs of other countries. Of course, when they entertain themselves, the meal system is basically not in the scope of choice: either eat a buffet, or use public tableware, without exception.
Beijing News: If the modern concept of hygiene is also an important reason for the Western meal sharing system, then will the custom of Westerners often meet and kiss during the epidemic also cause controversy?
Wang Xiaohua: Kissing is an optional social practice, but the meal system is not.
The inscription material is stills of "New Year on the Tip of the Tongue".
Writing 丨 Dong Muzi
Edited by 丨 安也
Proofreading 丨 Wang Xin