Abstract: Table etiquette means making good manners to express our politeness and respect to the   other party during eating. The paper talks about the differences before, during and after the meal between Chinese and American table etiquette from the guest’s perspective. Table etiquettes vary from culture to culture, and these differences actively reflect the connotations and characteristics of different cultures. Based on the analysis, the author finds that equality and respect are the universal codes of modern etiquette culture, and that the differences are mainly attributed to the fact that privacy and harmony play different roles in these two cultures. American etiquette culture takes privacy as a more important element than harmony in communications, while in Chinese etiquette culture, harmony is more important than privacy.

Key words: Table Etiquette in China and America; cultural influences; cross-cultural communication

摘要：餐桌礼仪即是在用餐中表现人的礼貌表达对他人的尊重。 本文从宾客的角度论述了中美两国之间的餐前、餐中、餐后礼仪的不同。不同的文化附有不同的餐桌礼仪。反过来，礼仪的不同特征又反映了不同的文化观念。从观念的角度来看，中西方最明显的不同点就是：西方人更倾向于个人主义而中国人更喜欢和谐的集体主义。

关键词：中美餐桌礼仪；文化影响；跨文化交际