当来中国的游客发现一桌标准的8人晚宴有4道凉菜、4道热菜，并配以汤和米饭时，他们往往会感到惊讶。一桌标准的宴席(banquet)包括4~8道准备好的凉菜，8道热菜—每次只上1道热菜，以及2-4道观赏大菜(whole-sized showpiecedish)。同坐一张桌子的人互相敬酒时通常会“干杯(GanBei)”。“干杯”是指举起酒杯,将酒全部喝完，让玻璃杯或酒杯“连最后一滴也干了”。人们干杯时传递给别人的信息是：自己是真诚、快乐的。向主人敬酒时，外国人更愿意接受的方式是喝一小口而不是喝干整杯。

  Visitors to China are often surprised when a standard dinner for a table of eight people consists of four courses of cold dishes and four courses of hot dishes,coupled with soup and steamed rice. A standard banquet consists of four to eight prepared cold dishes, eight hot dishes served one at a time, and two to four whole-sized showpiece dishes. People at a table usually “Gan Bei" when toasting to each other. “Gan Bei” means to raise one's wine glass and drink it all the way down so that the glass or cup is “dried up to the last drop”. People drink up their wine to communicate the message to others that they are sincere and joyful. It is quite acceptable for a foreign guest to take a sip instead of emptying the glass when toasting to his or her host.