Don't Arrive Too Late or Too Early When invited to luncheon, dinner, or supper, it is very impolite to arrive late, as it is usually planned to have the meal at the exact hour given in the invitation. By arriving late, you will not only keep the other guests waiting, but greatly inconvenience the hostess and spoil the dinner. Western cooking is not, like Chinese, served up at the last minute, dish by dish from the frying pan. The dishes are all cooked, and planned to be ready exactly on the hour for which you are invited. If you are twenty minutes late, the meat will be overdone, the cauliflower will have lost its freshness, the French fried potatoes their crispness, the other guests their tempers, and the hostess her good opinion of your manners. It is just as important not to arrive too early. Your hostess may still be dressing or busy arranging the table or cooking the dinner, and not prepared to meet you. One should plan to arrive no more than five minutes before the appointment time---just in time to remove one's wraps and meet the other guests before dinner. When you arrive, the hostess or some member of the family will probably meet you at the door and take your coat and hat. In the winter time you should dress more lightly than usual, as you may expect the rooms to be warmer than in most Chinese homes. It is bad manners to open a window or a door in another person's home without first asking permission, and before you do that, you should consider the comfort of the other people present. Your hostess will accompany you into the room where the guests are assembled and introduce you to anyone you may not already know. Then she may indicate a seat for you, or you may find one to suit yourself. There is no order of importance of seats, so it does not matter where or when you sit down, except that a gentleman never sits when any lady is still standing. As later guests arrive, you will rise to be introduced to them if you are a gentleman; if a lady, you will not rise except for older ladies or persons of special importance.