China was originally a split meal system since ancient times, and only after the Northern Song Dynasty did it evolve to the present-day combined meal system. The history of separate meals is much longer than that of combined meals.

From the ancient wall paintings, we can see that the meal, people were seated at the back of their respective tables, each spaced a considerable distance from each other, each with a set of the same meal, each eating their own. This is a typical meal system. The famous Hongmen Banquet, is so dry.

And from the split meal to the meal, the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, completed in the Northern Song Dynasty. This transformation is the result of social development and progress.

Evolution of distribution

This is one of the most basic conditions for the transition from sharing to sharing. When food was relatively scarce, "per capita" was the more appropriate principle of distribution. In order to obtain the average, it is necessary to divide the food into equal portions before the meal, which formed the original meal system. After all, people have different interests, tastes and habits, and different needs. When food is relatively plentiful, people are in a position to choose according to their own preferences, i.e., "to each according to his own needs". This is the most suitable way of distribution for a joint meal.

The evolution of residential architecture

Originally, the kitchen and dining room were integrated, and people used to have a fireplace in the house, where the cooking utensils were set on the fire, and when the food was ready, it was distributed by a fixed person, and everyone ate around the fire. Here is both the cooking center, but also a place to eat. By the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the division of labor between the kitchen and the dining room had become popular. This division of labor promoted the refinement of meal preparation and reduced many of the eating processes that diners had to complete before. For example, the clumsy and laborious work of cutting and boning large chunks of cooked meat could now be done in the kitchen, and the dining room would be filled with finely processed meals. We can imagine, without this division of labor before, if the use of joint meals, for the average family of four or five people (in fact, in ancient times, the family is not divided, usually more than four or five people), in the same eating utensils, hands and feet cutting the same plate of food, it seems to be self-inflicted, and with this division of labor, people only need to get from the same eating utensils to get the food they want to be able to do.

The evolution of food diversification

Our meals are advancing, and the variety of dishes is becoming more and more plentiful. The split meal system obviously cannot adapt to the evolution of food diversification. If 8 people eat 12 dishes, each person a share of the meal will need nearly a hundred kinds of tableware, which is not only a waste of manpower and tableware, but also take up a lot of space, in each person's small chopping board (ancient times a kind of low for holding food tools) are placed on the 12 eating utensils is also almost impossible.

The evolution of dining furniture

A long time ago we did not have tables and chairs. Previously, the ancient people used to "sit on the ground, with the case and food", that is, with the reed woven mat on the ground as a seating device, placed in front of the case or a chopping board in order to hold the eating utensils and other things as a case of food, eating on the seat sitting on their knees to eat, that is, the so-called "跽坐". After the nomads entered the central plains, and the culture of the central plains region of mutual integration, influence, brought new furniture. As early as the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the nomadic Hu bed (a relatively low chair) has been introduced to the Central Plains. The application of this chair so that the original kneeling position into a sitting position, so that the short chopping board is no longer adapted to the requirements of the change in sitting position, will gradually be eliminated. And, at this time, the house is taller than before, just need tall furniture. So the big case high table began to appear and rapid development. Then, if you follow the original meal system, each person has to have a set of tall tables and chairs, four or five people may still be able to (in fact, it is already very crowded), the number of people will cause more waste, but also too heavy, occupying much space, why not merge into one, with the plate and eat it?

The evolution of working hours

Our ancestors have always followed the natural law of "work at sunrise, rest at sunset". During the period from the Shang Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the system of two meals a day was basically practiced, i.e., "the hour of food (seven to nine o'clock), and the hour of the next market (fifteen to seventeen o'clock)". Around the end of the Warring States period, the three-meal-a-day system became popular, with the addition of the "Banzuke" (19:00 to 21:00). In order to eat during this time, lighting was necessary, and the lighting tools of the time were by no means as bright as the electric lamps we have now, and their range of light was also very narrow. A feast of divided meals would require many sources of light, but would still be dim and blurred. The use of joint meals can be unified and convenient solution to the problem of lighting.

The evolution of eating utensils

Our ancestors used knives and forks rather than chopsticks, just as Westerners do now. Forks and knives were used with both the right and left hands, so there was a considerable distance between people. At the same time, the knife and fork were only suitable for close transmission, which was probably limited to the distance from the plate in front of the chest to the mouth. If this distance were to be extended as required by the communal system, it would have to extend at least from the mouth to the center of the table, i.e., at least longer than the radius of the table. Obviously, knives and forks could not take on the function of transmitting this distance. When chopsticks appeared, it was much easier to share a meal. From this point of view, we can probably understand that Westerners still use knives and forks to eat, and they maintain a separate meal system is mutually exclusive.

The dinner table, for the family, is the most concentrated and most frequent meeting occasion. The big and small things at home, are decided at the dinner table; outside what is new, but also at the dinner table to say. The dinner table is the family meeting table, but also the family "press conference" the best place. For a family with strict education, the dining table often becomes a platform for education, and this dining table education occupies a pivotal position in family education.

In my experience, the most profound impact of table education is "dining education", which is the first lesson of table education, the enlightenment of life cultivation. Dining education is about a series of rules for eating, from entering the door and taking a seat, carrying a bowl and chopsticks to serving food, every bit of it, and all of it is not required to be in order. The rules of these rules, sometimes close to the harsh, but many of them are full of the truth of the world.

On the table. Guests should be seated first, and only after the guests are seated can they sit down; sitting position can only sit on half of the stool, and remind the guests when they get up, so as not to guests that end of the sit biased and fall; hands can not be all lying on the table, especially with chopsticks and elbows to be careful, do not poke the guests. Children are not allowed to come to the table at random, and can only eat after the guests have finished eating. When I was a child, I couldn't understand this, I always felt aggrieved and thought my parents were a bit unkind. As an adult, only to understand the reasoning: the child's self-control ability is weak, to see a good meal is only their own first stretch chopsticks, which will slow down the guests; if it is snotty, salivating as shrimp more than the gangway to the body are climbing to the table, it will make the guests frowned, appetite, the guests will feel that the child is not taught, do the host's face naturally.

Serving food. Guests to come, the younger generation to take the initiative to give the guests to feast, feast when the rice shovel can not touch the rice pot ring, that is no rice to eat the signal, inauspicious, the guests will not dare to hear eat; rice to be full of, not too little, less guests will think that you can not afford to be stingy; can not be loaded with rice, or guests are not good to the bowl of vegetables; can not be made along the edge of the bowl are all the rice particles; in the process of eating, we must pay attention to the guest's bowl at all times, in order to The first thing you need to do is to take the initiative to serve your guests with enthusiasm at any time.

Bowls. Can not be lazy left hand propped up on the table and the bowl of rice on the table, that is "eating the old man rice", must use the hands up; adults can use the palm of the bowl to hold the bottom of the bowl, while the children must be used with the thumb with the palm of the bowl rim, so as not to fall.

Pinch the vegetables. Their chopsticks into the bowl of vegetables, can only clip the bowl is located in their own chest side of the dishes, can not be extended to the side, the opposite side of the bowl to go; not to use chopsticks in the bowl of vegetables in order to find their favorite dishes and a burst of stirring messy rummage, can only clip to what is what. Because even though it is in a bowl to eat food, you do this both rude, but also make people feel unhygienic. In addition, in rural families, as the host also enthusiastically for the guests to clip delicious dishes, this is the way of hospitality. However, this rule has been difficult to find in urban families, the host is to take into account the hygiene of the Gonzo; in today's rural areas this point is slowly fading, and the hospitality of the guests only greeted with public chopsticks.

Eating. Guests in the seat, can not just focus on their own food, but also warmly greet guests to eat; chopsticks can not touch the bowl edge clanking; chewing can not be out of the sound, the bar bar is really unsightly; drink soup when drinking ZiZi sound is also ungainly; and then hungry can not be wolf swallowing, but to chew and slow swallowing, so that both the stomach has the benefit of the guests will not see the ugly to. After eating can not wipe their own mouth on the go, but to wait for the guests to put the bowl to go; sometimes accompanied by the guests to eat together.

These sparkling total rules, everywhere through the courtesy of the guests of the hospitality, but also implies a self-restraint, the first after their own attitude. I've been to a friend's home as a guest, friend's only son did not wait for the dishes on the table, too early to start yelling. The food was just served on the table, reached out in the bowl to grab vegetables to eat; when eating, chopsticks in the bowl of vegetables flopping around, looking for delicious ...... heart can not help but be a little unhappy. Although he is a small child, still do not understand, but give people the feeling that there is always a lack of education. Every time at this time, will recall the hours of parents on their own in the dining aspects of the earnest advice, can not help but feel the Department of, feel that there is no rule is not round, some of the most basic things are never out of date. They are detailed and trivial, but if you can remember to comply with, will make people benefit from a lifetime.

In addition to dining etiquette, there is also education about food, thrift, manners, and so on. There are a thousand kinds of education in millions of families, but no matter what form of education, there is a basic theme, that is, closely around how to treat people, how to deal with the world, how to cultivate the character of people and other reasons to carry out.

The dining table education is the cohesion and epitome of all the education of a family, his educational enlightenment function, his subtle influence is in the classroom and books are difficult to learn, but also difficult to replace.