When I went to my cousin; wedding in Vancouver, I discocered these are a lot of Chinese
custons that I was clueless to, which is pretty emvarrassing considering I am half Chinese
! One of the most intersting ones dealt with tea. Every time someone had their cup filled
with tea by another person, they would tap two fingers against the table. At first, I
thought it was just a weird thing my family did, but then they explained to me it is
actually an old Chinese custom for the Cantonese. There are a few reasons behind this.
It starts with Emperor Qianlong. He used to travel among the citizens in disgaise to get
a feel of how everyday people were living. One time he went to a restaurant with one of
his servants and actually poured his servant a cup of tea(which is unheard of for an
Emperor at that time). The servant had to show he was grateful, but didn,t want to do a
customary bow since it would blow the Emperor's cover, so he tapped his fingers on the
table to show his gratitude.But there is a more practical reason for doing this. If you
ever eat with the Chinese, theypour tea all meal long. And, like most other cultures,
they like to speak and have a good time that their tea was poured it would constantly
break up the conversation. The tapping of the fingeres is a way to say "thank you" if you
are in the middle of a coversation.
However, a "Thank You" is always preferred. Just like any other custom, there is a time
and place for tapping fingers. If you are with a quiet group it is always better
to say "thank
you" instead of tapping yur fingers. It isn't that big of a deal, but it would be weird
if you were waiting in silence with one other preson and only tapped your fingers when
they way, poured you a cup of tea. Just think of it this way, you would never give a
thumbs-up to someone who did you a favor if you could just say "thanks!"