What Is in a Chinese Meal?

When I go to a Chinese restaurant with my Western friends, they ask me what order, according to Chinese custom.
If you are Chinese, who form a kind of food to provide meals (for example), most Chinese simply say, "four dishes and a soup."
I do not know if this concept of food has become so popular in China, but that is considered a standard meal. Of course, there are many variations of the family to another, depending on the situation (for example, the number of people at the table what you can afford, and so on).
These "four meals" usually includes a meat dish, a fish dish and a vegetable dish. The room as short as possible of your choice. Although this is not the rule by all means, if we were guests at home or eating out, this is usually what you order. The constant availability of food is usually cooked rice.
And how to prepare food, in fact, we say, three-course meal for two, and six dishes for five people, and so on, always more than one or two units. This could be affecting many, but as a cake for dessert do not start in China, it is not unreasonable.
Oh, and not a bad thing if there are leftovers. While your guests will be pleased to see that you are ready, and enjoy all the dishes, but it should also worry that the food was not enough. If you have ever been invited to dinner with a Chinese family, never to finish all the food on the table, the guest, or panic, go to the kitchen and start cooking again.
And I like the idea of ​​sharing, because they are so, all other foods served at the table. Of course, if you do not like the idea, all with their own chopsticks to pick food from the same dish, you can always use a different spoon for each dish.
To return to the details of each meal, for example, for three weeks, I appeal to everyone, we prepare two dinners. These include a little 'flat' heavy ', a meat or fish (or soy for a night court "vegetarian"), a dish of vegetables and salads (especially for spring and summer).
The kitchen can be easily and quickly. But in China, it is important that each meal for different varieties of foods and flavors.