Don't sit down until you're shown your seat

At a business meeting or banquet, wait for your host to direct you to a seat rather than choosing one yourself — seating is arranged strictly by rank, and the seat facing the door is reserved for the guest of honor.

China BusinessstrictUpdated September 2, 2026

Wait to be told where to sit at a meeting or banquet table rather than taking a seat on your own, even if it seems like there’s an obvious open spot. Your host is actively managing the arrangement, and it’s saying something about rank whether you realize it or not.

If you’re hosting, seat your most senior guest facing the door (the seat of honor), directly across from your own most senior person, then fill in the remaining seats by descending rank outward from there.

Let the most senior people speak first in a meeting, and hold off on jumping into the conversation unless you’re directly addressed, especially if you’re junior on your side of the table.
This mirrors the seating hierarchy at a Chinese home dinner table — same underlying logic, formalized further for a business setting.

Why it matters

Seating order is a direct, visible statement of hierarchy and respect, and getting it wrong can cause a counterpart to lose face in front of colleagues, a serious misstep in a culture where saving face governs most formal interactions. The most senior guest is typically seated facing the door (or, on a square table, at the right-hand seat facing it), directly across from the most senior host, while junior staff fill in around them in descending order of rank. Meetings themselves follow the same hierarchy in how they run, senior members speak first and lead, junior staff generally stay quiet unless addressed directly.

Don't sit down until you're shown your seat

Why it matters

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