Etiquette of "spitting out" bones etc in China

In China you regularly see restaurant patrons spit out bones and other bits from their soup etc straight onto the table, and you can also read in various places online that this is OK.

But is it always OK? Does it depend how classy the restaurant is? I prefer the cheap end of the scale but even then there can seem to be a wide range super cheap street food places and cheaper than most other countries but still neat and cheerfully decorated places.

Also China is very large with many regions and ethnicities so conceivably not uniform dining etiquette.

Just now I was at a nice cheap place in Chengdu (paid ¥15 when you can easily pay half or less) and though the tablecloth was covered by glass I opted to spit in the ashtray instead of straight onto the table. Could this even be considered rude in comparison with spitting the "normal way"?

(By "spit" I don't necessarily mean as a projectile, usually you just drop it gently from your mouth, just in case anybody might interpret it that way...)

Best Answer

Unfortunately there is no definitive answer that I could find on the subject.

There are several blogs that say that it is OK to do this:

Foodster
China Pulse
[China Highlights][4]

And some that say NO:

Asiania

Personally that seems to be Ok in some western restaurants as well. Like Texas Roadhouse, where throwing Peanut Shells on the Floor is their shtick. :)

[4]:

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