The culture of meals in China

It is well known that China has a long time history, which brings us lots of food and culture related to food. Maybe, you can not think that eating is a serious activity, but actually in Chinese's eye there are many rules that you should follow in the dinning table.

Chinese food culture is more than 2,000 years. Yes, that long! According to historical records, 2500 years age, a ruler of a small state in China held a big event to celebrate a victory of a war. Of course, a big meal was necessary. He had a special product---a kind of soup cooked by his Personal Executive Chef. It was so yummy that no one had it would say bad words about the soup any more. Because it was a big event. He invited everyone contributed to victory to have his special soup. However, since everyone wants to try its taste, there were too many people to drink soup. One of the people did not get the soup in the end. In Chinese culture, people with the top position should eat firstly and the people with lowest position should eat lastly. The person who did not get the soup became so angry, since he thought he was treated with prejudice. He went to the bar, had some drinks and told the people in the bar that one day he would destroy this state. Finally, he really did it. He became an advisor of other state and destroy this "uneven" state by him. 

Chinese also have some interesting things which even can not be found in wikipedia. For example, maybe Chinese firstly invented bankruptcy protection in the world. Amazing? It's called "Big Piece Meat Meal"(I have not idea how to translate it). You may ask what relationship is between bankruptcy and meal. Don't worry. It is easy to understand. When a family of farmers in a small village is so poor that they can not meet their liability in more than 100 years. Then, when a highly respected person of the village sees their situation, the respected one may give them an idea:"Big Piece Meat Meal". The respected one invites all the family's creditors to the poor family's house. They kill a fat pig to make a "Big Piece Meat Meal"---big pieces of pork. The respected person usually does a speech before the meal. He will say :"As you can see, he is too poor to pay back your money. I, as a guarantee, hold this event. After this meal, you can take whatever you want in this house, but should follow two rules. One, do not destroy the house. Two, after taking the things you want, you have no debtorcreditor relationship with this family." Once creditors started eating, it gives the meaning that they agree with these rules and will no longer ask this poor family to pay back. As a cost, the poor family will consider to be the lowest level in the small village for a long time. How long it is? I have no idea. But I was told that if a person have a "Big Piece Meat Meal", his great great grandson, maybe a rich man, has no rights to come to others' wedding, if not be invited, in this village.