Eating Your Way Across China 137You are not required to tip in China. If you are at a
restaurant that you go to often or have asked for special
treatment, you may elect to give a small tip. Normally tips
go into a common pool and they are either kept as additional
income by the owner of the restaurant, or they are split
among all of the staff. If you want one particular person to
receive the tip, you should discreetly slip them the money.
Do not feel insulted if everyone seems to finish dinner and
get up to leave at the same time. Chinese rarely linger over a
formal meal. They like to eat punctually, in more traditional
places this means between 6:00 and 7:00 pm. Once the meal
is finished, they will leave.
Walk your most important guests to the door and
accompany them to their car or taxi. Be profuse about your
appreciation for them coming to the dinner. Warmly promise
that you will meet again soon.
FOOD SCAMS
A word of warning to China newcomers, one of the most
common scams involves restaurants. There are two things
that may happen. The first is that you meet a person on the
street who strikes up a friendly conversation with you and
then invites you to have a meal with them, either to get to