LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After completing this section, you will be able to:

1. understand the significance of seating arrangements in a Chinese business setting
2. know that you should wait for someone to identify your seat for you
3. identify the significance of seating positions in traditional and modern Chinese meeting rooms
4. identify the significance of seating positions at a Chinese banquet
   

GENERAL

When attending a business or social meeting with the Chinese, seating arrangements take on great importance.  Where one sits in relation to others often conveys the relative status of a person as well as whether the person is a guest or host at an event or meeting.  Given the importance of seating placement, the Chinese have developed a series of rules that dictate where individuals must sit when attending a meeting or dinner.  Therefore, Westerners should not simply "take a seat" wherever they choose but be aware of their proper seat at the table.  Failure to do so may be viewed as a sign of disrespect to a Chinese host and disrupt the hierarchy that the seating placement is meant to signify.