"Thank you" Gesture

Tea usually is served as soon as you have a seat in a restaurant. The servant serves you the tea cup and pour the tea for you when you read the menu and decide what to order. The tea pot is left with you on the table after the cup of every customer around the table is filled with tea, in order that you may serve yourself when you need more. When the servant pours the tea in one's cup, he or she often tips the table with his or her index and middle fingers for two or three times, showing the meaning of thanking the servant for his service and of being enough of the tea. The servant will stop pouring when seeing the gesture. See Eating and Drinking in China

Drinkable Water

Water is easily available in China, but please don't drink water that comes out of the tap. Drinkable water is available at restaurants and hotels. Very few cities, like Hong Kong and Guilin, have public direct drinking water system available. Highly suggest you take, when traveling, with you bottled spring water which can be bought anywhere at the station stalls and supermarkets.

Eating Ambience

Being surrounded by much loud talking and laughing that is usually heard in the market is a typical ambience at a Chinese restaurant. People like jollification when having a gathering and having meals undoubtedly can not be of exception. People regard it as a rule to judge if the dishes of a restaurant are of good taste that whether the restaurant is noisy or not, because the crowds at the restaurant indicate the deliciousness of the dishes. If you want a quiet place to enjoy your meals, restaurants also provide individual small rooms which Chinese people call "Baoxiang".