Two people raise earthenware cups to each other across a square table, a large wine jar stands between them, and pickled mustard greens with red chili, tofu with black wood ear and peanuts, sliced beef and another cup lie around it.
Seats and toasts
Introduction
The order of places at the table, and the order and manners of toasting.
Seating and toasts covers how places are arranged at a banquet and the general manners of toasting. In the Li ji seats are ordered by compass direction and by age, as in the line about mats facing south or north with the west as the place of honour, and those of sixty sit while those of fifty stand in attendance. The Shi ji gives the seating at the Hongmen banquet by direction too, with King Xiang and Xiang Bo facing east and the Duke of Pei facing north. In the Li ji rite of the village drinking ceremony, the guest toasts the host, the host toasts the assistant, the assistant toasts the other guests, and the order follows age. Drinking games and rules specific to alcohol belong to Drinking Customs, and general table manners belong to Table Customs and Taboos.